Former President Barack Obama Reveals List of Favorite 2022 Movies

By Patrick Cavanaugh

As we come to the end of the year, movie fans are reflecting on their favorite movies of the year, which even includes former president Barack Obama also looking back at his favorite films from 2022. Like many year-end lists, Obama included the crowd-pleasing Top Gun: Maverick and the multiverse-spanning Everything Everywhere All at Once, which sit at 96% and 95% positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, respectively. Also populating the list are historical films like The Woman King and Till, along with a number of independent dramas. You can check out the full list of his favorite films below.

"I saw some great movies this year -- here are some of my favorites. What did I miss?" the former president tweeted.

His selections are as follows:

  • The Fabelmans
  • Decision to Leave
  • The Woman King
  • Emily the Criminal
  • Petite Maman
  • Descendant
  • Happening
  • Till
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once
  • Top Gun: Maverick
  • The Good Boss
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
  • A Hero
  • Hit the Road
  • Tár
  • After Yang

With this list being populated by some of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, there aren't too many surprises and a majority of this list would overlap with top 10 lists from a variety of outlets, yet one entry that many audiences have overlooked is the Aubrey Plaza-starring Emily the Criminal. The film premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival before being released this past August, and even while it earned positive reviews, it failed to leave much of an impact on audiences at large.

Luckily, the film has found its fans after arriving on Netflix earlier this month, with it quickly becoming one of the service's trending films. Plaza herself, who also produced the film, shared her surprise and appreciation at the film's newfound popularity.

"I'm shocked. Man, it's everything you could ask for such a small movie to be ... I mean, I don't know what the other top four movies are, but we were number two last week in between Bullet Train and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio." Plaza shared with The Playlist. "And I'm looking at it going, 'Our movie was so small.' And the fact that it's broken through the noise is, it's just ... Honestly, it's like a dream come true. I mean, I can't believe it." 

Stay tuned for details on other best-of lists.

What do you think of Obama's list? Let us know in the comments!

0comments
Start the Conversation

of