If you’ve been paying close attention to Paste Magazine for the past month—or to the film-covering media at large as 2022 comes to a close—you’ll be sick to death of lists. Beneath that sickness, though, there might still be a lingering curiosity. “Sure, these might be the best movies of the year, but who picked ‘em, and do their tastes resonate with mine?” That’s a perfect place to be as a reader and moviegoer, because nothing makes criticism go down smoother than finding a critic you’re in sync with. Lists in a vacuum have their uses, but personal best-of ballots can serve as markers of camaraderie: The first signs of a productive, lasting, engaging creative relationship.
So, one final list for 2022, where I, your humble Movies Editor Jacob Oller, and my Associate Editor Jesse Hassenger, list out the ten movies that moved us most over the year. You may notice that we only have one movie of overlap, Pixar’s excellent Turning Red, which makes (I think) for a nicely diversified selection.
I hope you find something to rage against, to nod along vigorously with, or to desperately Google because you think “Hey, the rest of these were good, so I might as well trust these folks after all.” You can also yell at me for pushing Hit the Road through as our #1 overall pick because it’s incredible and I don’t care.
These are the Paste Movies editors’ top tens for 2022:
Jacob Oller
10. Turning Red
9. Belle
8. RRR
7. Dual
6. Tár
5. A Love Song
4. A Hero
3. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
2. Athena
1. Hit the Road
Jesse Hassenger
10. Babylon
9. Decision to Leave
8. Turning Red
7. Nope
6. After Yang
5. The Fabelmans
4. Kimi
3. The Banshees of Inisherin
2. X
1. Aftersun
Jacob Oller is Movies Editor at Paste Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter at @jacoboller.
For all the latest movie news, reviews, lists and features, follow @PasteMovies.