2022 was the first full year that movies came back to movie theaters. And the result was a spectacular year for big-screen popcorn entertainment. Of course, the year still had its fair share of great smaller, independent films and streaming films. I don’t know if there’s any thematic subject that ties the films of 2022 together neatly, but if anything, it’s in its cohesion to give both casual moviegoers and hardcore cinephiles enough to be excited about.

I also changed the way I’ll do my Top 10 going forward; rather than a fully ranked list of the ten best films, I’ll simply share my “Movie of the Year”, along with an unranked, alphabetical list of the remaining nine. So without further ado, here are my ten favorite films of 2022.

Every year has its share of flops and misfires, but 2022’s worst films were less misguided pieces of auteur filmmaking (though there were certainly instances of that) and more studio algorithms passing as entertainment. It’s not that big budget filmmaking hit a new low this year – Top Gun: Maverick and Everything Everywhere All at Once and others reinvigorated the theater experience week after week! – but too many felt hollow and formulaic. Plenty of films passed muster as being merely forgettable, but nevertheless, here are the five worst films I saw in 2022.

Honorable Mentions

• Ambulance
• Cha Cha Real Smooth
• Happening
• Hustle
• Kimi
• X

Every year brings new, exciting performances from actors old and new, and 2022 has been no different in its first six months. Here are the best. *Note: I have not yet seen Elvis but, by all accounts, Austin Butler would belong on this list

Honorable Mentions:

• Joel Kim Booster, Fire Island
• Mia Goth, X
• Justin H. Min, After Yang
• Glen Powell, Top Gun: Maverick
• Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One
• Alexander Skarsgård, The Northman
• Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

The first half of the year usually produces one or two solid hits that may make it into the bottom half of critics’ end-of-year lists. 2022 so far has produced enough great material that makes the second half even more exciting. Here are the best movie scenes of the year so far.