Alright, it's the podcast you've all been waiting for: For all, three of you who listen, anyway. Today I'm going to name call and gush on my top films of 2022, so let's get right to it. The bottom of my list and number 17 is Joradn Peele's Nope. I believe it's his third movie. He made Get Out, which I wasn't a fan of, but I know I need to rewatch, and Us, a movie that I absolutely adored. So Peele was already batting 50% with me. When I saw he was tackling aliens, I was all in. So, before I go on, I want to give a disclaimer that I may be biased against this film because, well, I wrote it. You heard me. Years and years ago when I was striving to become an author, I came up with a concept and wrote the first several chapters of a book where flying saucers descended upon a Western-type ghost town. Yup, with the flying horse and people getting beamed up, and even the rain water cascading down around the flying saucer to create the illusion that you were inside a circular waterfall. Except in my version, there was going to be literally thousands of spaceships that covered the face of the earth, blocking out the rain and the sun while the alien residents lived above us where their saucers formed a sort of landscape for them to live their lives on while the rest of us died from lack of sunlight and earth essentially became their underground sewer system. So, Peele's movie didn't go quite the way I planned the story, but there were enough similarities that I kept being taken out of the movie. I'm not saying he stole my idea or whatever, because I realize there's only so many good ideas floating around in the ether for us to grab hold of. He just got the idea and made a movie about it. So I say good on him. Though this isn't may favorite film of the year, it's still an enjoyable watch, and I'll probably revisit it one day. Number 16 is Lost City. This one stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, but I'll be honest, it was Brad Pitt who was the true star in this movie. My gripe with it is that it did that thing that most comedies do, where the first half is really funny, like it knows it wants to be a comedy, but then the second half completely forgets to tell the jokes. So this is a half-and-half movie for me. I recommend watching the first half, for sure, at least everything with Brad Pritt, but if you turn it off halfway through, you're really not missing much.Number 15 is Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. That's right, it's the Roger Rabbit sequel we never got, but it's certainly a good companion piece. I remember I laughed quite a bit toward the beginning, and the mystery element held my attention throughout. Also, kudos to Disney for not pumping this cute little film with any woke crap. None that I saw, anyway. I think if you never saw the original cartoon it's based off of, some of it will be lost on you, especially the nostalgic scenes, but I think overall it was a creative, out-of-the-box concept that was executed quite well from people that clearly, CLEARLY loved and embraced the original source material. Father Stu is a movie that I think had a theatrical release, but you can catch it now on Netflix. It's number 14 on my list. This one's got Mark Whalberg and my very own Mel Gibson. These two respectable gentlemen are men of faith in real life -- you can keep that anti-semitism crap to yourself, I won't hear it -- and so they were able to pull from real life experiences to tell this true story of a boxer-turned-priest. It's low on my list because it was filmed in the most conventional of ways where it felt like I'd seen it all before, but I still respect it for what it is, and I love that faith-based movies can still be made accessible to the general public. Number 13 is Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. I did not want to see this movie, but the reviews convinced me otherwise. That's probably what's going to happen with Avatar: Way of Water. But this movie was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. It was pleasant because the characters were special and life-like, and it was unexpected, because this wasn't the same Pinocchio story we've been told a million times. There are several deviations from the source material that don't compromise the source material's intended morals or values, or even the story itself. So if you're a fan of the Pinocchio story in any way, but want something different from the characters, this is definitely the right movie for you. Nic Cage stars as Nic Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and this is movie number 12 on my list, though honestly, I could have thrown this movie anywhere below my top 5 and be happy where it landed. I just kind of stuck it in there at random. And though Nic Cage is why you go see this movie, Pedro Pascal is why you stay. Pedro Pascal, you'll remember him as Mando from the Mandalorian, is the true star and heart of this movie. I'd even go so far as to say he delivered one of the best performances of the year, because he just won you over...
