It is that time of year, and this has been a long ass year. I've been a bit M.I.A.... and more on that in a post soon.
For those who are not aware of this post, here is a reminder:
The Good is my favorite movie of the year. Simple.
The Bad is my least favorite movie of the year. Also simple.
The Ugly is my surprise of the year. Always a positive, but it doesn't have to be a movie. It could be a performance, it could be an actor/actress over multiple projects.
The Unforgiven is the opposite of The Ugly. A disappointment in the year.
So... are we ready? Let's get to it!
THE GOOD for 2022 was a bit difficult for me. I had a few movies that I can say that I didn't just love, but were epic in multiple ways. After some back and forth, I can declare THE GOOD for 2022 is... Bullet Train! A murder mystery wrapped in a Deadpool movie. It was fun. It was entertaining. The performances were amazing. The action was smooth. Brad Pitt nailed the goofiness. Nothing was out of place. I had a few MUST sees in 2022, but this one takes the prize. Watch it, if you haven't already.
Honorable Mentions: The Batman(I know... something beat Batman), Sonic the Hedgehog 2(a sequel to an awesome video game movie that was equally as awesome... it deserves the praise)
THE BAD of 2022 was also difficult, I had seen any that were inherently bad... until I saw one. And that movie was... Amsterdam. Stellar cast, including Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington... we even had Robert DeNiro! Also... supposedly based on a true story, but if this was true, they were all on drugs. The movie didn't feel like it had any direction. And if it had any, that was EVERYWHERE. It couldn't commit to any one kind of movie. And I wasn't that I couldn't follow it... I didn't WANT to. It just wasn't good. I finished the movie, but all the hope I had for it dissipated. Some might like it, but I didn't. And I really wanted to.
Dishonorable Mention: Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City(released Nov 2021, but I didn't watch it until this year)
THE UGLY of 2022 was ALSO difficult. Might be the most difficult of the categories this year. There were a few awesome Surprises. And I've decided to highlight 2 of them. The first is a movie... a Christmas movie. Violent Night is such a fun movie. The storyline is okay for what it was, with a weird second story arc(if you know, you know). But it was a very adult Home Alone type movie mixed with John Wick. And DAMMIT was it fun! David Harbour got an awesome role... and speaking of awesome roles... the second Ugly is Austin Butler as Elvis IN Elvis. The Elvis movie was pretty good, but Austin Butler was perfect as Elvis. Doing some of his own singing in the role, got the mannerisms down... he was Elvis in this movie. Even though I thought they got the production and presentation switched up on the film, Austin Butler deserves an Oscar Nom at VERY LEAST.
Honorable Mentions: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story(Al wrote an autobiopic that wasn't about his life, but a parody of biopics), Everything Everywhere All At Once(the other Multiverse flick this year)
Special Mention: Jared Leto as Morbius(the movie wasn't good... but it was the best character development in a Comic book movie in a long time. Kudos to Jared Leto)
And now... THE UNFORGIVEN of 2022. And that is easy... Sony Pictures over Morbius. As I just mentioned, Jared Leto did great as Morbius, and Matt Smith was pretty good as "Milo". But the rest of the film was terrible. And then they got baited into releasing it again, where it became the first film to flop twice. The Sony Pictures Venom movies were great... and Morbius had potential, but Sony failed with it... and they have more projects coming. I shudder just thinking about it.
Dishonorable Mention: Firestarter(the original is legendary due to Drew Barrymore... this remake wasn't left in the oven long enough)
And a final Special Mention: Spirited is a Christmas Musical starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell about the spirits in the afterlife giving one unlucky soul the Christmas Carol treatment each year. I'm not a fan of musicals. Just not my genres. But this one worked so well for me... the story was muddied by the singing... and it swerved me TWICE during the film(looking back at it, there is plenty of foreshadowing, just... pay attention). It was a wonderful movie... watch it... and then add it to your yearly watchlist. The reasons this gets a special mention only... one, I waited to watch it... two, limited theater release and on Apple TV+. Hard to watch if you don't have that.
There they are... The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Unforgiven of 2022.
It was a decent year of movies! Hopefully 2023 is better!
Until next time...
Don't forget...
