2022 Top Five - Movies

Today I have my top five movies of 2022. There have been a ton of movies released this year. I have seen a good portion of them. There are some movies I haven't watched yet, but will soon and may have to put some addendums on this piece in the future. I also watch more movies now than ever. When the pandemic started my wife and I started to have quarantine date nights. These nights included ordering dinner from a local restaurant and picking a movie to watch. We turn off our phones and pay attention. It was one of the first things we implemented at the start of the pandemic and we still do it to this day. It kept me sane at the start of COVID. It is one of my favorite things. That being said, let's get to my countdown.

I do want to shout out two movies that just missed the cut for me. "Nope" was great. I loved the imagery. I loved the story. The alien was scary and unique. And the Gordy story line was terrifying. Jordan Peele is an amazing director. I also really enjoyed "Weird". It was a perfect parody movie of a parody singer. I expected a lot from it and it exceeded all of my expectations. Daniel Radcliffe and Evan Rachel Wood were magnetic. They gave award worthy performances. "Weird" is a movie everyone should seek out. Okay, now to the top five.

At number 5 I have "The Northman". This movie is tough to convince people to watch, but when they do, they always come back and tell me they liked it. It is brutal. They speak in Viking tongue from time to time. It is dark and bleak. But the performances are wonderful. Alexander Skaarsgard was electric. The two big fight scenes with him were incredible. Anya Taylor Joy is up to task and crushes her performance. They are a great duo. This movie is violent and gory and the pacing is weird. But it is a movie that is so great when you give in and enjoy the watch. Nicole Kidman plays a villain. The imagery is incredible. "The Northman" is a ride but a worthwhile and fun ride in the end. The final battle scene is one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed in a movie. It is amazing.

At number 4 I have "Prey". This is the best version of "Predator" for me. They tell the best story. The Predator looks cool as hell. The acting is dynamite. I love that they take us back to the 17 or 1800's. I love that it is through the eyes of a Native American tribe. I love that a female is the lead, and the movie's biggest badass. And the fight scenes in this movie are great. When the Predator and a bear fight, that is awesome. When the Predator hunts people down, it is terrifying and enthralling. The fight scene with the lead, her brother and the Predator is dynamite. The fur trapper massacre is fulfilling since they were so evil. "Prey" is a perfect action movie for the modern era.

At number 3 I have "RRR". This movie is nuts and amazing. It is over three hours long. It took me three sittings to finish it. The movie switches from English to Hindi the whole time. The two leads are portrayed as superheroes even though they are regular dudes. There are tons of Bollywood dance scenes that totally rule. Some scenes in this movie are some of the best action scenes I have seen. The opener with one of the leads and a tiger is amazing. When the two leads are fighting the bad guys and one is riding the others shoulders, just wow. The whole back plot of some vicious diseases ravaging a neighborhood, too real. Seeing the war that is depicted was incredible. "RRR" is a movie I never would have watched if not for the urging of friends and people on podcasts raving about it. I'm glad they did and I'm stoked I watched.

At number 2 I have "Hustle". This is as paint by numbers as a sports movie can get and it totally worked on me. Adam Sandler is wonderful in this movie. He can really act when given good material. Add on his love for basketball and this is a perfect movie for him. Queen Latifah is excellent as his wife. She could be put upon and moody, but she never is. She handles her life situation great. Juancho Hernangomez was the perfect choice for Bo Cruz. He is not too big a star, but he knows what it takes to make it to the NBA. The training scenes felt real with him. Ben Foster is a perfect foil. Anthony Edwards was awesome and looked to be having a blast. Robert Duvall is barely in the movie, but he owns his scenes. I love this movie. My son loves this movie. So do his teammates on his basketball team. "Hustle" is a near perfect sports movie.

At number 1 have "Everything Everywhere All at Once". This was an easy pick for me. This movie is an absolute homerun. This movie has it all. This is one of the most emotional movies I have ever watched. This movie made me laugh and cry in equal measures. The performances are second to none. Michelle Yeoh is electric. Ke Huay Quan is a revelation. Stephaine Hsu is truly a dynamo. Jamie Lee Curtis is awesome. This movie is simply the best. The way they do the multiverse stuff is the best use ever on screen. The movie is more about family dynamics as opposed to superhero stuff. It is about immigration, divided family, coming to terms with loved ones and living the best possible life you can, in any universe. "Everything Everywhere All at Once" has moved me in no way any other movie has. It is not only the best movie of this year, I believe it is one of the best movies ever made.

That is it for movies. Come back tomorrow for my top TV shows of 2022. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "The Northman"

My wife is out of town for work and when she leaves I tend to watch movies that she is not interested in when we do date night. I've seen some solid and not so solid movies during these work trips. I've also seen "Titane", and I'm still confused by it. Last night I watched "The Northman".

I've wanted to see this for quite some time. My dad is really into viking culture lately, the preview looked badass, I like Alexander Skarsgard and I have enjoyed every Robert Eggers directed movie I have seen, especially "The Lighthouse". I had high hopes going into this movie.

“The Northman” did not disappoint. Sure it was a bit too long and some stuff could have been cut out, but for the most part, this movie was very, very well made. I am not as into the viking stuff as my dad, but I do like the stories I have been told. I am also kind of enamored with their lifestyle back in the early 1000's. It is all intriguing to me. This movie, from what I've read and watched, has to be one of the more accurate portrayals of life back then. It was brutal. It looked old. It looked archaic. Eggers and the writers did not sugarcoat the awfulness that some vikings lived with. There was pillaging and murdering and assaults happening left and right. I appreciate the fact that they put it out there bare bones. I do not like when other movie makers glorify and deify these people. They were not the best. There is one battle scene in particular, right in the first 45 minutes, that is one of the best and most brutal things I have ever watched. This group of vikings pillages a town during the day. At one point a person throws a spear at Skarsgard's character, he catches it and throws it back, impaling someone else in the process. After that, Skarsgard proceeds to murder three or four people, and when he gets to the last person, he bites into their neck, as if he is a dog feeding on his prey. That was another thing. There are so many dog references in this movie. From start to finish, dogs are involved and it is gruesome. But I liked what I was seeing.

I liked how they made this movie. I was fully in on Skarsgard. I'm relatively new to him. My wife watched "True Blood", but I did not. And I loved when he was on the most recent season of "Atlanta". But this was a juicy leading role for him and he nailed it. He was magnetic. He put in a ton of work on his body and it showed. He played his character to perfection. He was the only viking I rooted for, but there were times when he was just as bad as the rest. As for the rest of the cast, they were up to the task. Anya Taylor Joy was great. She looked and acted like a viking queen. She was a total badass as well. I loved her in this. Ethan Hawke was dope. He is having a bit of a renaissance. Nicole Kidman was ruthless and evil and totally nailed it. Claes Bang was a bad, bad dude, but I kind of sided with him a little bit in the end. Willem Dafoe was as creepy as ever and it was so fitting for this movie. Bjork had a bit part and it was exactly what she thrives at doing, being weird and using her cool voice. It was just a perfect cast in a very good movie.

I mentioned that one fight scene at the top, but this movie was filled with some of the best, and most real, fight scenes I've watched in a movie. There was one where they were playing some kind of old game, and when Skarsgard goes to protect a child, oh my was that nuts. There was another one where he takes on multiple fighters and beats them, until he is contained and proceeds to get repeatedly punched in the face. When he was tied up it was the most real looking torture thing I have seen since "Zero Dark Thirty". When he gets Taylor Joy to feed the guards hallucinogenic mushrooms, and what happens next, it was wild. My favorite was when Skarsgard returned to the site of his capture and freed the people at night time. That was rad. And brutal. And gory. And kind of sad. But it was so well done. And the final battle scene, no spoilers, was totally worth the anticipation and build up. It ended on a perfect crescendo. I sat on my couch and just kind of stewed in what I had just watched. I really thought about it all. And I came away thinking this was one of the better movies I have watched in some time. It is beautiful to look at, well acted and directed, very well written and super interesting.

I definitely recommend the movie under the caveat that it is slow in certain parts and that the movie is very heavy with viking and Icelandic language. But Skarsgard, Taylor Joy and those battle scenes are totally worth it in the end. "The Northman" lived up to my personal hype.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.