Last year had an outstanding range of movies to watch, and it was an entertaining, yet difficult, task to rank the best five. From scary thrillers like Smile, to action packed sensations like Avatar: The Way of Water, this past year left movie fanatics wonderstruck.

#5 – Bullet Train is an action-packed wonder that keeps everybody on the edge of their seats throughout the entirety of the film. There are many different characters that are introduced and then shockingly killed off over and over again, so we only really got to understand two or three of the characters. The main character, Ladybug, who is played by Brad Pitt, adds a sense of humor to his very serious, undercover job. I believe the best parts of the movie are all the parts with Lemon and Tangerine. They are the dynamic duo of comedic villains that never seem to stop entertaining. Half of me wished that the movie was based around them because I could not get enough of them. This was easily the funniest movie I had seen all year, and I could watch it a hundred more times.

#4 – The Batman is the best superhero movie I have seen since Avengers: Endgame. Robert Pattinson’s breakout movie, Twilight, showed how skilled he is at acting, but the diverse way that he portrayed Batman made me love and respect the actor more than I ever have before. He added a new, darker twist that made me sympathize for Batman, while also fearing him. This movie brings a new darkness to Bruce Wayne and his past, and it got very emotional in some scenes. The antagonist in The Batman, Paul Dano, seemed to be born to play the role of the Riddler. One of the only critiques I have of this movie is that I was not able to see more of the Riddler. Every time he was on screen, I got goosebumps, and the first time we got to see his face was way too late in the movie. Nevertheless, the acting in this movie was absolutely breathtaking, and really makes you feel like you are a part of the movie.

#3 – Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is, in my opinion, the second best mystery movie of all time, only behind the first Knives Out. Accordingly, the bar was set extremely high for the sequel, and it easily bypassed it. Detective Blanc made a historic return, and he did not let down his reputation as the greatest detective on the planet. The movie undergoes countless twist and turns, but they all come together in the end and leave you wondering how the directors can think of such a masterpiece. For instance, nobody knew that Andi had a twin sister that took her identity when she died. All of the different characters really made the movie shine. They each had their own separate personalities from Claire the diva, to Lionel the Brainiac. The directors also did a great job with bringing publicity to it by bringing in star Madeline Cline and bringing back Detective Blanc from the first movie. There is not much unpleasant to be said about either Knives Out, and we ready for another one.

#2 – Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven total awards at the Oscars including best picture. This astonishing movie deserved every one of those awards, and arguably more. First, the CGI in this film was outstanding, and it really makes you think of all the possibilities for movies in the future. Everything Everywhere All at Once takes place in California, and it follows the life of a Chinese-American immigrant mother, Evelyn Quan Wang, who somehow gets sucked into the battle of the century. She traverses through the multiverse to obtain special combat skills to help her defeat the enemy. The twist is that the enemy is her daughter, Joy Wang. Throughout the movie, Evelyn tries to figure out how to defeat her daughter with these special skills, but she eventually realizes that her daughter was not necessarily evil. Instead, she simply did not feel loved by her mother. Evelyn makes her way to Joy and embraces her daughter. Thereafter, everyone lived happily ever after. Everything Everywhere All at Once could be my top-rated movie, but there is one problem with the movie: it felt like a similar plot to many movies I have seen before. In other words, the story was quite cliché, and although I thoroughly enjoyed it, it felt repetitive. There were many different possibilities that the directors took have taken to finish the ending effectively, but they just wanted the “and everything all worked out in the end.” Regardless, it does not take anything away from the generational entertainment that this movie brought to me and so many others.

#1 – Top Gun: Maverick is easily the best movie from 2022. This was the perfect ending to Maverick’s story, even though it took about 37 years to release. In addition, there was an excellent story line that resembled parts from the first Top Gun. We got to see Rooster and the continuation of his father’s story, through him. It was extremely nostalgic for viewers that watched Top Gun when it originally came out. Top Gun advocate Craig Drez thoroughly enjoyed Maverick: “The movie was even more inspiring than the original. If you don’t get goosebumps through this action-packed adventure, then you just might be dead.” Unlike Mr. Drez, I had not watched the first Top Gun before seeing Maverick, so when I saw it in theaters for the first time, I was really stunned how captivating it was. When the movie was over, I was almost in tears. I remember having a certain sense of unlimited patriotism that I had never had felt before. There has never been a movie that has inspired me nearly as much as Top Gun: Maverick, and it will hold a special place in my heart as one of the best movies of all time.