The Best of 2022
The multiverse, a murder mystery and manipulative malcontents make their marks
Much like 2021 was a marginal improvement on 2020, the same is true for 2022 compared to last year - at least for me. Picking up every bug going and constantly knackering my joints - especially my shoulders - meant most of this year has been quite painful for me and has also affected my attention span somewhat. As a result, I didn't get through anywhere near as much TV as I wanted, but at least I got to go to the cinema more often, although I'm hoping that becomes an even more regular occurrence in 2023.
BEST MOVIE /// Everything Everywhere All At Once
I knew after watching this movie once that it would be hard to dislodge as my favourite film of the year, and it's a task that has ultimately proven impossible, even if Top Gun: Maverick, The Banshees of Inisherin (review to come!) and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery provided some stiff competition. I've enjoyed watching it multiple times since and also countless reaction videos on YouTube, I love this movie so much.
It's got a brilliant premise, a cast delivering a number career-best performances, great action choreography, drama, comedy, romance and more - really living up to the movie's title, with every aspect balanced to perfection. It's already picked up a lot of awards from film critics and various awards organisers, and I expect it to keep racking them up for the foreseeable future.
BEST GAME /// Pentiment
Having thought that the 2018 God of War was 'merely' very good, and not being a fan of From Software games (I have Dark Souls III installed and have played just a bit of so far), I was never going to have God of War: Ragnarok or Elden Ring as my game of the year, but also because I prefer narrative-centred games where the player gets to impact what happens to some degree.
The only reason I haven't reviewed Pentiment yet is because I'm still playing it, but what I have played is enough to put it clear of the other other contenders, Beacon Pines and Marvel's Midnight Suns. I love the art style, the writing is great - as are the font choices for said writing - and I'm taking my time with it because I don't want it to end. I've no idea if there will be a second game, but I'm really, really hoping there will be - or, at least, a spiritual successor.
BEST TV SHOW /// House of the Dragon
Not to put down House of the Dragon, which I enjoyed a lot, but it has kind of won by default thanks to my not watching much TV in 2022. The only real challenger from what I watched would've been She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which I also really enjoyed, but that show was just lacking that dangerous edge to it that tipped things in the fantasy show's favour, despite how shitty things got for Jen.
It also helped House of the Dragon that it had more episodes, all of which were much longer and allowed more of the cast to show off how good they were. I love Tatiana Maslany as Jen/She-Hulk, but Paddy Considine as Viserys was obscenely good for the episodes he featured in, while the rest of the major players were also excellent, leaving Tatiana rather outnumbered in the respective great performances comparison!
ANTICIPATING 2023
To finish with, I'll also look ahead to what I'm most anticipating in 2023:
Movies: Wow, there's a lot here! The usual MCU stuff; a new animated Spider-Verse film; a new (final?) Indiana Jones movie; the first part a Mission: Impossible duology; Dune: Part II, which will hopefully provide some kind of closure to the abruptly-ended Part I; Barbie, which has already had a brilliant teaser trailer; and I'm sure there will be a ton of others that I'll grow more interested to see closer to their releases.
Games: I've still got Pentiment and Marvel's Midnight Suns to finish, but I think it'll be another year of working on my backlog, with Game Pass allowing me to try out newer releases. A couple of titles that stand out are Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, but I'm sure there'll be more to come that I don't even know about right now.
TV: Where do I even start? Much like with the games, I've got a hell of a backlog to get through, including really wanting to get up to date with the Star Wars TV stuff - I'm just starting the fifth season of Clone Wars, but have basically every other show, live-action and animated, to get through as well. Never mind stuff like Succession, Atlanta and various other continuing shows on top of those already finished that I'd like to get through.
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