20 Best Movies Of 2022

2022 has been quite the year for cinema, and though Hollywood is still very much reeling from the impact of the pandemic, the industry has continued its long road to recovery in encouraging fashion.

But whether you ventured out of your house or stayed home and stuck to streaming, the last 12 months have offered up an embarrassment of riches where movies are concerned.

It's been an especially strong year for horror both critically and commercially, but many of the year's most anticipated films indeed either met or exceeded the hype, and as usual a bevy of virtually unknown projects blew us all away totally out of nowhere.

These 20 films, then, represent the finest that cinema had to offer in 2022, from mega-budget blockbusters to the smallest indies, and everything else in-between.

While some viewed this past year as the calm before the storm given the huge slate of films due out in 2023, it certainly didn't feel like it, especially if you were game for seeking out the hidden gems.

But seek no longer, as these 20 movies should absolutely be on your watchlist if you've not seen them yet...

Though James Cameron's long-awaited blockbuster sequel is certainly far more impressive as a mesmerising technological achievement than a piece of storytelling, what a rich meal of a movie - nay, an experience - it truly is.

Cameron has evidently spent the 13 years since the first Avatar working hard to deliver a sequel that once again shames just about every other tentpole in the game.

Avatar: The Way of Water may be arguably lengthy to a fault, wears its emotions on its sleeve, and has a few less-than-persuasive narrative turns, but as a staggering, eye-wateringly beautiful spectacle, it's mostly overwhelming in a good way.

And above all else, it proves the viability of Avatar as a franchise, and likely leaves many eager for Avatar 3 when it apparently drops in 2024. We'll see about that.