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Every year is a good year for dramatic movies, but 2022 gave us an ’80s hit returning in such spectacular fashion it took the world by storm. On the other end of the spectrum, Batman is back (again) with another great film, and Pinocchio showed up twice—though only one version made our list.

Here are our picks for the Top 5 Drama Films of 2022.

– Dylan Blight

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5.) Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson

2022 was oddly the year of Pinocchio. First, there was the Russian-made and thoroughly memed Pinocchio: A True Story, then Disney’s forgettable live-action remake and finally—the best of the bunch—Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The film is absolutely stunning, with immense care poured into its stop-motion animation. One glance at del Toro lovingly cradling a Pinocchio puppet tells you what this project means to him.

Del Toro reworks the classic tale of a wooden boy into something entirely his own. Setting the film in Italy between the two World Wars adds fascinating texture, as does the notion of Pinocchio as an immortal entity. While Pinocchio is often considered a children’s story, this version includes ideas sure to go over kids’ heads—or prompt big questions like, “Why do they want Pinocchio to fight?” and “Who the hell is Mussolini?” An absolute rollercoaster, brought to life in the only medium that could suit it: animation.

– Ashley Hobley

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4.) Spencer

Pablo Larraín

I could have nearly slotted Spencer into our best horror list. The film is strung so tightly with suspense that every twang feels like it could uproot the entire royal family—which is the point. Spencer chronicles Diana’s Christmas weekend with the royals before she decides to leave Charles. She’s a bird trapped in a nest of predators, with the Queen as the lead spider.

– Dylan Blight

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3.) The Batman

Matt Reeves

Every time we think we’re sick of Batman movies, someone arrives with a fresh angle and we’re ready for a new trilogy. That’s what Matt Reeves did with Robert Pattinson in The Batman—a film that finally leans hard into the “world’s greatest detective.” Channeling Se7en and Zodiac, this Batman tracks a violent, sadistic Riddler. It’s dark and brooding, and it commits to the idea that Bruce Wayne is the mask; Batman is who he really is.

– Dylan Blight

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2.) Top Gun: Maverick

Joseph Kosinski

Top Gun: Maverick was the action event of the year—arguably the cinematic event. With Tom Cruise returning as Maverick after 36 years, it would have been easy to lean on nostalgia, CGI dogfights, and a token game of beach football. Instead, Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski crafted a modern action masterpiece, doing what no one else has: putting the actors in real fighter jets to capture their genuine physical reactions.

Maverick gets a spectacular re-introduction before returning to Top Gun to train the Navy’s best for an impossible mission. The trainees are excellent and distinct—this isn’t just the Tom Cruise show. From the arrogant Hangman to Phoenix (the squad’s lone female pilot) and her weapons systems officer Bob, to Rooster—the son of Goose with a fraught history with Maverick—the younger cast holds its own.

Add a sweet courtship with Jennifer Connelly’s Penny, a pitch-perfect Val Kilmer appearance as Iceman, and the most thrilling final 45 minutes in recent memory, and you’ve got the new benchmark for legacy sequels—one unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon.

– Ashley Hobley

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1.) The Northman

Robert Eggers

Robert Eggers’ Viking epic isn’t anything like the light-feathered, good-natured Viking stories of recent years. It feeds on historical brutality and the Norse mythology shaping its world. Alexander Skarsgård is terrific as Amleth, who watches his uncle take everything from him as a child—including his father. Consumed by vengeance, his quest leads him to Anya Taylor-Joy’s Olga. Love awaits him, but he cannot forgive, and destiny pulls him forward. Amleth moves in sheep’s clothing, inching toward revenge in one of 2022’s biggest epics.

– Dylan Blight

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Dylan Blight and
Ashley Hobley
compiled this Top 5 list. The movies nominated must have had a theatrical release in a cinema, VOD or on a streaming platform between
December 27th 2021 – December 27th 2022.