By Mark Pukalo
There were a lot of good films in 2022, but I saw an abundance of really bad ones that were either boring, hard to follow, disgusting, or the story was poorly written and directed.
In several other years it was difficult to pick the absolute worst of the 12-month period. It was simple in 2022. "Dashcam" was truly vile.
Dashcam's main character was instantly hateable. You may say I disliked Annie Hardy because she was a wacko righty, anti-vaccine lunatic. Sure. That didn't help. But I can honestly say the film would still be at the bottom of the barrel even if she was a Democrat.
The rest of the list is filled with stories or movie-making that just didn't cut it. Bruce Willis shows up again and could have had a few on here. My "passable" list, which will be revealed along with my Best of 2022 ratings in about a month or so, has several top stars in bad films.
I try to watch anything I can. You never know. There are often movies on many people's "worst of the year" lists that I actually liked a lot. A perfect example from 2022 is Netflix's "The Bubble," which I enjoyed. It was just goofy fun to me with a great cast. Not sure why it annoyed so many people.
Some critics had No. 2, 4 and 10 on their best of the year ratings. To each his or her own, but here is my list of the worst for 2022.
Dishonorable Mention: After Ever Happy (why do they keep making these movies? I can't hate Hardin any more), American Carnage (immigrants sent to weird health care facility), Bob's Burgers: The Movie (thought the cartoon was a mess), Redeeming Love (nice man tries to convert prostitute to wife. mindless script), The System (dumb prison drama)
Worst 10
10. Pearl - The more horrific prequel to X just did not hit me right, despite critics liking it pretty universally. Mia Goth does fine as Pearl, but the movie is gross.
9. 365 Days: This Day - It's really a porn movie with some weird storyline in between. Polish beauty Anna-Maria Sieklucka being on the screen keeps it out of the top five.
8. Windfall - Bad movie about a billionaires' house being broken into that got even worse with a mindless ending.
7. Halloween Ends - The long-time series of movies ends with a whimper.
6. Vendetta - It's amazing how many bad crime/action movies Bruce Willis has been in the last 3-4 years.
5. Morbius - Dark Marvel film never pulls you in enough to care where it is going.
4. You Won't Be Alone - A witch steals a daughter and I'm not sure how anyone could sit through the ugly, foggy story.
3. Firestarter - It's just really bad in every way, and extremely boring. Perhaps they should have set the film on fire.
2. Crimes of the Future - Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart in a futuristic story about humans adapting to a synthetic environment that causes mutations. Impossible to follow or care about anything in this complicated film.
1. Dashcam - An incredibly despicable woman named Annie Hardy live streams a weird, horror-filled night in her life for the internet. Right there with Mother! as one of worst few movies of all time.
PREVIOUS WORST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
2021 - False Positive
2020 - Dolittle
2019 - Cold Pursuit
2018: Mile 22
2017 - Mother!
2016 - 13 Hours and Hail Caesar!
2015 - Chappie
2014 - The Monuments Men
2013 - The Place Between the Pines
2012 - Cloud Atlas
2011 - Tree of Life
