So this year I had a lot of time to really dig into films, TV series, and video games as half of the year I was only working a few college courses and the other half I was looking for a new career. That being said, it is time for me to give a year round up on the best (and worst) of the bunch.
Film
Everything Everywhere All At Once turned out to be, by far, my favorite film not only of the year, but it made my all-time top ten list as well. This is an amazing accomplishment as I had pretty much cemented my top ten and it stayed the same for many years. The second unbelievable thing is that it came from studio A24 which I (usually) can't stand. One of the few other films in that studio is Swiss Army Man and, guess what, it was directed by the same Daniels who did EEAAO! Fantastic film and I'm going to watch it one more time on the 31st of this year.
Elvis made it to second place for me this year. I do have to put a disclaimer here that I love Baz Luhrman's work (with the exception of Australia so I am biased. That being said, this one turned out to be a true spectacle and was over the top in typical Baz style. Austin Butler did an amazing job and it felt like we were actually looking at Elvis on the screen instead of an actor.
The Batman tried a new take on the superhero and fell way short. Time to give Batman a much needed rest.
The Outfit turned out to be one of my top ten for the year. Mark Ryland will go on to have a second fantastic performance later in the year with The Phantom of the Open.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Oh, how the franchise connected to the Potterverse fell and fell hard! I once considered myself a Potterhead but after the last two Fantastic Beast films and the Transphobia from J.K. Rowling, it's now fallen off of my radar.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Films Well, this year wasn't the best for them. My favorite character, Doctor Strange, made a passable film. Thor, who I had come to like for character growth over the films, fell flat. Thankfully, Black Panther was there to pick up the slack and gave us a good emotional take on the character but with a less than memorable bad guy.
Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers This one turned out to be a fun throwback. It turned out much better than I expected and it was a lot of fun. I really hope they continue with another one. It brought back a lot of memories.
Top Gun: Maverick This one was both amazing and stupid at the same time. On one hand, seeing this in the theater was the ultimate summer movie experience. It had all of the right components to be a great throwback and popcorn flick. Then, thinking about the logic behind it, my brain can't handle how dumb the writing was for it.
Apple TV Films There were a couple of winners here and the quality of the films and shows they produce have been pretty consistently high. This year, two stood out for me, Cha Cha Real Smooth and The Greatest Beer Run Ever, both of which made it to my top ten for the year.
Where the Crawdads Sing For such a fanastic book, the movie failed to capture the mood. It was too 'clean' and they left a lot of good stuff out. I was so looking forward to this one but it felt very flat.
Prey OK, I sorta knew the director at one time so I might be biased but this one is a Predator film we've been missing for years. It brought it back to the original tone and I look forward to a sequel!
Clerks III I've been a fan of Kevin Smith since the beginning so I may be biased. That being said, this film had so much heart and hit me in the emotional ballsack. We are a year apart in age but I 'get' his writing.
Bros I went into this one blind but because Billy Eichner talked so passionately about it on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, I checked it out and I'm happy I did. It was well done and heartfelt and I enjoyed it very much.
Hellraiser A Hulu original, it attempted to bring the franchise back. While it didn't QUITE make it, it did do a good job of reintroducing the world and gave me hope for future installments.
All Quiet on the Western Front Talk about brutal! This Netflix original turned out to be an excellent, and scary, version of one of my favorite books.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story I should have liked this one more as I'm such a big Al fan, but the second half didn't quite make it there for me. I wanted it to, I really did! The first half, however, was excellent!
Good Night Oppy This one was a fun documentary about the Mars rovers. Thing is, they humanize them so by the time Oppy's mission is over, you feel kind sad for a robot on a planet far away!
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Another Netflix original, this one turned out to be an accomplishment. Where the live-action Pinocchio from Disney, earlier this year, got panned, the GdT version was a masterpiece in stop-motion!
RRR I almost forgot to mention one of the greatest films this year, a Hindi film, nonetheless! Like Top Gun: Maverick, RRR was a blockbuster in every sense of the word. It has a three-hour runtime but it is so worth it! It's on Netflix, check it out now!
I probably missed others but the list above is what I was thinking about for this year.
Top 10 (as of December 23rd, 2022)
01) Everything Everywhere All At Once
02) Elvis
03) All Quiet on the Western Front
04) Prey
05) Clerks III
06) RRR
07) The Greatest Beer Run Ever
08) Cha Cha Real Smooth
09) The Outfit
10) Tar
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Television
The Orville OK, I admit, we were late to the party on this series but it has turned out to be one of our favorites. In the first season and a half it was a little too silly but by the time the middle of the second season comes around and the third season is in full swing, they have some superb writing and episodes! If you're a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, tune in to The Orville! I HOPE there is a season four!
The Expanse Talking about great science fiction, the beginning of the year brought about the end of one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, Sci-Fi show of all-time! It went out on its own terms but there is still story to tell!
Peacemaker Talk about a show I didn't know I needed in my life. This one was so fun and was about one of the least likeable characters from The Suicide Squad film but it just ended up working and I look forward to season two!
Severance Talking about shows that I didn't know I needed, Severance blew the doors off of us this year! Such a fanastic show and one of our favorites, by far! It is so hard to explain but so fanastic in its execution. This may well be my favorite show of this year!
Our Flag Means Death We were recommended this one by a friend and since Taika Waititi was directing and acting in it, we dove in. It was a fun one and season two should be equally as fun.
Halo This one got raked across the coals and wasn't renewed but I ended up enjoying it. I don't know enough about the game lore to be disappointed with the story.
The Old Man This one had two great actors behind it, John Lithgow and Jeff Bridges, but it just never landed for me. I'd prefer to watch Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. (I was sad about this one).
Resident Evil was a Netflix original based upon the video games. While it also didn't land with audiences and was not renewed, I liked the direction it was going. Was it typical Resident Evil? No. But did it have a story that built to something by the end of the season? Yes.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Made it three episodes in. The CGI was horrible but more than this, the unforgiveable writing. Once there was twerking involved, I tuned out and don't regret it.
Welcome to Wrexham I'm not a sports guy but this one was really good and I look forward to another season, if they make one. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McIlleney buy a low-level football (soccer) team in Wales but it's about so much more than just this. Well worth the watch and I watched my first soccer match because of it!
Andor Talk about a suprise hit! Star Wars shows on Disney+ have been fun, but more for the family. Andor stepped it up and really gave adults their first look into the SWU and it shined! Fantastic and I can't wait for season two!
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities This one is technically eight short films but it is labeled under television as these are more like Twilight Zone meet Black Mirror in ways. There are some that were fanastic and some that weren't but the majority were excellent and I look forward to seeing more in season two!
Werewolf by Night This one came out of the blue for me. I watched it the first day it was up and then watched it again the second, this time with my wife. What a pleasant surprise! Very different but one I'll return to every Halloween!
The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special Why? Who said we needed this? UGH.
Obi-Wan Kenobi This one was fun and well done. It is hard to compare to the serious adult version of Star Wars with Andor but Obi-Wan ended up being a fun story that added a bit to the lore.
I don't have a definitive top ten for television shows but if I had to put them in some sort of tops for the years, I would go:
1) Severance
2) The Expanse
3) Andor
4) The Orville
5) Werewolf by Night
6) Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
7) Obi-Wan Kenobi
I only leave out Doom Patrol, The Dragon Prince, Mythic Quest and His Dark Materials as we're still in the process of watching them. That and The Witcher: Blood Origins is coming up in two days.
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Video Games
There aren't as many entries for 2022 here but there are some that definitely require notice.
Horizon Forbidden West brought us the second game in the franchise and, while I liked the story in the first one better, this one continued the lore and was still amazing and beautiful. It's the reason I really wanted a PS5!
Stray OK, so I fell in love with this easy quick game where you play a cat. It was way more fun than it should have been!
Well I guess that's it! I did go back and play a bunch of old games this year including the three Last of Us games in preparation of the new HBO series and Jedi: Fallen Order in preparation of the new game coming out in March.
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THE WINNERS of 2022
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Severance
Horizon Forbidden West
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So that's it. I've probably missed some here and there but these are the things I wanted to bring up for this year!
Enjoy!
P.S. I know no one will ever read this...
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