Joe Hughes' Film reviews

Hello and welcome to my fourth annual end of year look back at the films I've throughout the year. This year I managed to watch 387 films with 171 of them being from the past 52 weeks, which is what I'll be focusing on and categorisng in this blog post. Like in the previous 3 installments, this is just my opinion. My choices for best or worst will most likely be different to yours. Art is indeed subejctive. With that out of the way, here is my 2022 in film categorised: The Batman by Greig Fraser All Quiet On The Western Front  by James Friend ELVIS by Mandy Walker Everything Everywhere All At Once by Larkin Seiple Living by Jamie Ramsay NOPE  by Hoyte Van Hoytema Day Shift SCREAM Texas Chainsaw Massacre Maidenhead End of The Road Hatching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever by Ludwig Göransson All Quiet On The Western Front by Volker Bertelmann Entergalactic by Kid Cudi Living by Emilie Levienaise-Fa NOPE by Michael Abels The Batman by Michael Giacchino The Sky is

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of December 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4. Matilda: The Musical This was my final cinema trip of December 2022 and this year in general. I would've waited until January 2023 to see this on Netflix, but chose the cinema primarily because I wanted to bump the cinema trips of this month to 4...and also I didn't want to see Avatar II, at least until next year. I think the most I've saw of this film prior to release was the clip of the girl with the red cap dancing through a hallway, it was shared relentlessly on Tiktok to the very point of it being tiresome everytime it came on my FYP. * This was surprisingly enjoyable and was a perfect theatrical translation of a stage musical. Definetley worth seeing a cinema before it arrives on Netflix in a couple of weeks. It was surreal seeing a theatrical version of the opening Netflix logo. There was not a single bad perf

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of November 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 3 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #3. Prey For The Devil I first heard about this at my Superscreen screening of 'NOPE' back in August and dreaded watching it after all the negative reviews came out, which is why I've left until post-October to see it. I guess the only thing about the film that drawn me to it was the lead star, Jacqueline Byers. Everything else about the film look generic and horror-cliche. * 'Prey For The Devil' was mediocre at best. Performances-wise, Jacqueline Byers and Colin Salmon definitely carried the film, for me anyway. I also thought the film itself was shot pretty okay too, nothing groundbreaking or hauntingly beautiful. Out of the dozens of predictable jumpscares, I only jumped at one, the being in the mortuary scene. While I was bored for somewhat most of the film, it definitely needed an extra 30 or so

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of October 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4: Amsterdam This was my first cinema trip of October 2022. To be perfectly honest, outside of Taylor Swift, Anya-Taylor Joy and Zoe Saldana, I had no interest or personal reason in seeing this. Hence why I replaced the poster to Taylor Swift's character on my Letterboxd account, I wish there was a poster with just them 3, that would've been amazing! The 30% on Rotten Tomatoes definitely seemed off-putting, especially when the is just over 2 hours long too. * 'Amsterdam' was okay. Nothing more, nothing less. I usually don't mind Timothy Olyphant film/TV appearances (He's great in Disney+'s The Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett) but wow, I instantly hated him in this after killing Taylor's character. Straight-up irredeemable. Thank God the film still had Anya and Zoe because I probably would

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of September 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4: Ticket To Paradise  I literally only wanted to see this because of Billie Lourd, everything else about it did not interest me at all (Clooney, Roberts, a "trying to stop a wedding story", etc). * Man, I was insanely glad Billie was in the film for more than 5 scenes because I would've been far more bored than I already was. She truly was the saving grace of the entire dull and unfunny 91+ minute runtime. 4/10 #3: Don't Worry Darling My final cinema trip of September 2022. This was one of my most anticipated films of 2022 up until a couple of weeks ago when all the behind the scenes controversy came to light and the Venice Film Festival fiasco. Even when it was anticipated, I just wanted to see it for Florence Pugh. Now, I'm ONLY doing it for her. * This movie was certainly "a movie".

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of August 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 3 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #3: DC League of Super Pets This was my first film and cinema trip of August 2022. It was only a matter of time before the pairing of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart would make the leap to animation after starring in 3 films together. * This was pleasantly enjoyable. The only part I majorly laughed was Dog-El message toward the end of the film "The dog in the mirror is you...FIREWORKS SUCK!", or maybe when the turtle swesred. The animation was quite great also, very unique art-style. Ace's backstory was quite heartbreaking and perhaps the most emotional part of the entire film. I loved how during the post-credits scene Dwayne voiced both Black Adam and his dog, as well as Krypto. I really hope there is a sequel, just to see how that dynamic would work in a feature length film. 7/10 #2: Bullet Train 

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of July 2022 ranked from worst to best. #3. The Railway Children Return This was my last cinema trip of July 2022. Now, I would be lying if I said Sheridan Smith wasn't the only reason I wanted to see this. But, she is. I never saw the 1970 original and had little to no-interest in seeing the 2022 continuation/soft-reboot. * This was okay, great story though the pacing was very off. It might've worked better as a series than 90 minute film. Quite simply, Sheridan Smith's role was the only thing about the movie that kept me invested throughout the runtime. 5.2/10 #2. Minions: The Rise of Gru This was my first cinema trip of July 2022. This film, I think, has waited the longest to release after SEVERAL delays. Once in 2020 due to it being unfinished, then in 2021 perhaps due to Covid being prominent at the time, and finally releasing in 2022. As a franchise, I can sorta understa

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of June 2022 ranked from worst to best. ( SPOILERS FOR THE FILMS PICTURED ABOVE!) #3: Jurassic World: Dominion This was my first cinema trip of June 2022 and also my first Superscreen experience in Cineworld since December 2019 during a partial 2nd viewing of Jumanji: The Next Level. Personally, I think the Jurassic series (1993-now) dipped in quality right after the first film. But, I will say, I was happy when the news broke that Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neil were all finally returning together for Jurassic World: Dominion. The Jurassic World films have all been quite decent up to now, with both Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard carrying the 2015 and 2018 films. * This felt like it went on forever. The first hour was quite dull. But, the last 30-40 were both eras of Jurassic era collided was pretty great. The pacing was very off though. During the Malta sequences, I honestly thought I wa

​ All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of May 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILERS FOR ALL FILMS PICTURED ABOVE!) #4. Top Gun: Maverick This was the first film I saw with my brother as well as my dad for the first time since 'Spider-Man 3' all the way back in May/June 2007. I never saw the 1986 original, and to be honest, Jenifer Connelly was the only thing that interested me in seeing this. * This definitely warranted it numerous delays. Visually, it was spectacular. The score by Hans Zimmer was also great. The film had a relatively simple and straightforward story, which is always a plus. It was quite heartbreaking that Val Kilmer's throat cancer was acknowledged, which made that scene between Tom and Val even more powerful. It was interesting seeing post-Mission Impossible Tom Cruise actually flying the jets in this film, definitely helped with the immersion. Though her screentime was quite very slim, I enjoyed every

​All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of April 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILERS FOR ALL FILMS PICTURED ABOVE!) #4: Sonic 2  I enjoyed the first film back in March 2020, it was fun and the redesigned Sonic definitely helped the enjoyment. The trailer to the second film looked quite exciting as it seemed the people involved were finally moving more towards the video game side with the inclusion of Knuckles, Tails and Robotnik's classic egg shaped machines. * This was pretty decent. Alot better than the first film. I loved the Ugandan Knuckles reference in the opening. Idris Elba as Knuckles was perhaps the best part of the entire film, he steals every scene he is in. I love his oblivious and completely serious line delivery. The storyline with Sonic and co. is great and exciting but the human side still brings the film to a screeching halt. It literally goes from a high-octane chase through the Alps to a dull and uninteresting Hallmark-esque love st