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So here is the list of every new release that I saw this year, in order of my entirely personal preference. It is a shorter list that usual which I think I blame on Disney+ for releasing all of those Marvel and Star Wars TV shows, and of course on Netflix and Stranger Things, each episode of which was like a movie in its own right so that took some time.

I have added very brief reviews to each of these as well but only a line or two. Most of these are discussed in full on the website somewhere.

In terms of an overall analysis, it has been a fairly strong year. Nothing blew me away like Promising Young Woman which topped my list last year and there was nothing I returned to like Palm Springs which was my number two. The most infectiously enjoyable movie I saw this year was Matilda the Musical and actually RRR is definitely worth a watch if you want to have a good time in front of the screen. (A more detailed discussion of my whole top ten, including these, has also just been posted for you to have a look at if you want.) Some of the big blockbusters were a disappointment this year and feature at the bottom but Top Gun Maverick was really good and Black Panther Wakanda Forever is probably the best female lead superhero movie we have had so that is worth mentioning.

Speaking of feminist films, in the year that the Best Director and Best Film awards at the Oscar both went to female film makers (The Power of the Dog is on last year’s list, I didn’t see Coda in time to rank it but did do a review), I am conscious that there are only four movies in my whole top twenty that are directed by a woman; Aftersun, Catherine Called Birdy, Don’t Worry Darling and The Souvenir Part 2. There were some other great female centric stories here though. My top two both fit into this as do films like the aforementioned Matilda and Black Panther as well as Fresh, Prey, She Said and Scream.

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UK Streaming key:

Amazon Prime = A

Netflix = N

Disney+ = D+

Sky/Now TV = S

iTunes and other rental or purchase sites = iT

Mubi = M

Paramount+ = P

Not Yet Streaming = NS

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1. Everything Everywhere All at Once

The most imaginative and thrilling piece of audacious cinema, it had to come out at the top.

A

2. The Worst Person in the World

Also quite groundbreaking but in a very different way.

iT

M

3. Nope

You’ll be picking up a theme here because this was also not the film you’d expect. I love it when film makers give audiences something new and unexpected and Jordan Peele excels at that.

iT

4. Decision to Leave

A little more what I’d expect but when you know a director is going to give you an atmospheric and thrilling movie, it is no bad thing when you get it.

M

5. Living

Just so gently moving and quietly inspiring.

NS

6. Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical

All the strengths of Roald Dahl’s wonderful original story with some brilliant narrative additions, those delightful songs and a great series of performances by the cast.

NS

7. Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Not the best superhero film ever but it does have the best central performance in a superhero film ever. Tragedy shaped this film but it shaped it into something really good.

Comes to D+ January

8. Aftersun

Aftersun takes you on a little trip with its two lead characters but you’re not quite sure where.

NS

9. Cyrano

A classic love story told in a refreshing way.

A

10. RRR

Oh my God, this film is just incredible. No mainstream film maker in the US or the UK would dare go where this movie goes but thankfully these are not the only places that mainstream film makers are making films.

N

11. Official Competition

Hard to describe but impossible not to enjoy. A parlour piece about movie industry egos.

iT

12. Fresh

Daisy Edgar-Jone is great in Where the Crawdads Sing but is better in this. This is a surprising as that was predictable. The most disturbing film on Disney+.

D+

13. Belfast

Kenneth Branagh story of growing up in Belfast in the 70s is a delight. It certainly doesn’t ignore the troubles but it reframes them. A better movie about the Irish unrest than The Banshees of Inishiren.

iT

14. Pinocchio (Dir. Guillermo del Toro)

Two films directed by Guillermo del Toro in a year is a real treat. This has the better story so is the better movie. Pinocchio like you’ve never seen it before.

N

15. The Innocents

and two films by Eskil Vogt who also wrote The Worst Person in the World. That one was about being an adult with little sense of control, this one is about being a child with too much uncontrollable power.

iT

16. Catherine Called Birdy

Another film about adolescents fighting for control, this time in a cruelly patriarchal medieval society.

A

17. The Gray Man

A good solid action film built around two or three solid star performances.

N

18. Don’t Worry Darling

Nowhere near as bad as people said it was. A compelling yarn that can’t quite handle its denouement.

iT

19. The Souvenir Part II

Better than Part I, a fascinating portrait of a young film maker.

iT

20. Scream

A really clever reworking of the established Scream formula with some new things to say about the state of modern cinema. The best thing Jenna Ortega did this year.

S

P

21. Nightmare Alley

The other del Toro movie, atmospheric but oddly predictable.

D+

22. Top Gun Maverick

Yes, I got sucked up in the jet stream too. It isn’t the masterwork of modern cinema some said it was (the gender politics are off for a start) but it is a great return to 80s cinema.

iT

P

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23. Elvis

Not as good when it tries to tell the story of his life but great when it puts him on the stage. I am too young to have seen Elvis but not having been able to do that I am pleased to have seen Elvis.

iT

24. Prey

One of the best female empowerment stories of the year which is not what we’ve had from Predator films in the past.

D+

25. The Black Phone

The young girl in this is also a feminist firestorm. She is not in it enough but she is enough of a reason to see the film.

iT

26. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Definitely not as good as Knives Out but still a lot of fun. It has three brilliant moments which I won’t give away other than to say ‘hammer’, ‘solving the murder mystery’ and ‘glass and fire’.

N

27. See How They Run

Another fun murder mystery.

D+

28. She Said

Not quite as good at giving women a voice as it could have been, unless you wanted those women to be the two journalists.

iT

29. The Menu

Also not quite what it could have been or what it though it was but an enjoyable little amuse bouche.

NS

30. The Banshees of Inishiren

A very heavy handed metaphor for the Irish civil war but I guess that hand gets lighter as the story progresses. Great performances throughout though.

D+

31. Ticket to Paradise

I can’t tell you it is a great film but I had a great time watching it. Julia Roberts and George Clooney power this movie with their star wattage.

iT

32. Rosalind

and Kaitlin Dever (who is also in Ticket to Paradise) fuels this film with hers. It’s not Shakespeare but it’s fun.

D+

33. The Batman

Might actually have been a better film without having Batman in it. A fairly compelling film noir.

S

34. The Duke

Gently charming like an old Ealing Comedy, only not one of the dark ones.

iT

35. Kimi

A quite surprising little thriller with a good female lead.

S

36. Bullet Train

A fun ride, just that. No more, no less.

iT

37. The Sound of 007

A very interesting journey through sixty years of film music in the franchise where the music matters more than most.

A

38. The Phantom of the Open

Like The Duke, another charming film about a minor middle aged miscreant. They’d make a great double bill.

iT

39. Blonde

Both not enough about Marilyn and too much about Marilyn but an important story to tell, even with the embellishments.

N

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40. Triangle of Sadness

Probably about three different films in one, each not quite as good as the one before it.

iT

41. Wendell and Wild

Another one of 2022’s great film makers turns his hand to stop motion animation; this time it is Jordan Peele not del Toro. He only did the story and played one of the parts though, the direction is from Coraline’s Henry Selick which is the real selling point.

N

42. Belle

Incredible animation but a slightly flawed story.

iT

43. Barbarian

This is the second most disturbing thing on Disney+. A great little horror film.

D+

44. Lightyear

It’s no Toy Story and I’m not sure Buzz should have got out of his box for this but it’s fine.

D+

45. Turning Red

Another film where the metaphor sits a little large.

D+

46. Mrs Harris Goes to Paris

Fluffy but couture.

iT

47. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

In the end I just don’t think I can forgive them for what they did with Peggy Carter. They took the MCU’s greatest female character and made her into an easy punchline.

D+

48. Downton Abbey: A New Era

There is absolutely nothing new about this film at all but I do love these people so it was good to spend time with them again.

iT

49. Death on the Nile

A great performance from Emma Mackey who emerges as a fully fledged film star in a movie that doesn’t quite deserve it.

D+

50. Amsterdam

Slight but entertaining, I’m not sure why so many people took against it. It is very far from being director David O. Russell’s worst film.

D+

51. Slumberland

Jason Mamoa appears to pick up a film Johnny Depp was dropped from but it’s hard to deny he did a better job. This is a fun kid’s adventure fantasy movie.

N

52. Disenchanted

It’s fine it just isn’t a touch on the film it follows and it does undo some of the good work there.

D+

53. Enola Holmes 2

Again, it’s fine but it’s a retread.

N

54. The Lost City

If you fancy a foreign holiday with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum that this is what you get.

S

P

55. Thor Love and Thunder

Oh Taika, your last Thor movie was wonderful. It had the perfect balance of pathos and humour. This one does not.

D+

56. Where the Crawdads Sing

Epic, beautiful and totally predictable.

iT

57. Dual

A weird story about clones and the complexity of existence.

A

58. Do Revenge

This isn’t Heathers despite it wishing so much that it was. Still, shoot for the stars and you might land slightly higher up than a few other people.

N

59. After Yang

Like Dual, it explores life (with robots this time, not clones) but doesn’t really seem to have any of its own.

A

60. Persuasion

Not actually anywhere near as bad as the reviews said it was. I mean I don’t agree with The Spectator that everyone involved should be sent to prison. It is quite funny in places and Dakota Johnson is great in it.

N

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61. The Adam Project

Ryan Reynolds does his thing again. I’m not sure how much longer he can get away with this, at least one more movie it seems. Twelve year old Walker Scobell is actually the real star but he is also doing Reynolds’ schtick.

N

62. Three Thousand Years of Longing

Not worth the wait in the end.

iT

63. The Northman

Brilliant for sure but such hard work.

iT

64. Men

Also very clever but not much fun. The ending is full on and actually not as good as the start.

iT

65. Uncharted

Whereas this is not very clever but still a lot of fun.

S

66. The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Here is an example of how a movie can be full of colour yet still totally black and white. It paints its title character as a bit of an innocent while also making it clear that she wasn’t. I’m not actually sure how they did this but it’s not a strength, it’s an inconsistency.

D+

67. Strange World

I wrote a piece off the back on this about gay characters in Disney animated films and have spent the days since arguing with bigots online. For starting that conversation this movie has to be applauded.

D+

68. Lou

This is another film where the older person in the town who likes to keep themselves to themselves gets involved in an incident and turns out to be ex-CIA. It’s a woman this time but that doesn’t stop this being very generic.

N

69. My Best Friend’s Exorcism

This is essentially Mean Girls meets The Conjuring and it largely works but not as well as I feel it could have.

A

70. The Princess

Whereas this is Sleeping Beauty meets The Raid and definitely doesn’t work as well as that should have.

D+

71. An Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

I don’t think this film had aspirations to be Being John Malkovich meets The Player but it doesn’t even manage Tropic Thunder meets Get Shorty.

iT

72. Jurassic World: Dominion

The previous Jurassic Park film left them with a really good idea around dinosaurs being loose in the world but they took that gift and completely ignored it in favour of just doing a bad remake of the first movie.

iT

73. My Policeman

A film that forgets any sense of subtlety alongside half of it’s plot.

A

74. Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers

All the best gags are in the background in this movie, it would have been nice if a few of the good ones had been front and centre.

D+

75. X

A seedy passionless sex drama that turns into a distasteful thrill-less horror film.

A

76. Samaritan

Samaritans are generally knows as being good, that’s the reputation given them in The Bible. That’s not a word that you could really associate with this movie through.

A

77. The Bubble

It’s not that the bubble bursts, more that it never really gets inflated.

N

78. Avatar: The Way of Water

If you think about how they made Top Gun Maverick, by taking the cameras and the actors up in the jet planes, and how much of the background special effects here are used to recreate images they could have captured by just filming in Polynesia, this really is CGI dick swinging. If they’d spent a fraction of the time finessing the plot and characterisation I’d have forgiven it but as it is I don’t, I resent it.

NS

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79. Save the Cinema

Save your time.

S

80. Deep Water

A film that includes lengthy shots of snails sliding along glass to help build the tension.

A

81. Pinocchio (Dir. Robert Zemeckis)

This is Pinocchio is told in totally the same way you have seen it before and not only does it manage to add nothing, it even takes some of the previous joy away.

D+

82. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

It turns out the secrets of Dumbledore weren’t really worth hiding in the first place and yet I wish they’d kept them to themselves.

iT

83. Licorice Pizza

This film is a two hander between one really compelling character and one who is utterly and mind numbingly annoying. It drove me nuts.

iT

84. Senior Year

Netflix has had more Oscar nominations than any another studio for the last three years in a row. They’re not totally letting that eclipse their once held reputation as the kings of the straight to streaming dirge though. You’ve got to respect that.

N

85. Ambulance

Dumb action cinema at its absolute dumbest.

S