With my best television shows of 2022-list having now been released, it’s time to stop delaying these awards posts. Just like the last few years, I’m splitting up my awards into two parts. This post — the first part — celebrates the best in television, superhero storytelling, gaming, and in music. The film awards will be revealed in an upcoming post, but, for now, we’ve got a lot of great stuff to get to. So, let’s do that!
Host Jimmy Kimmel is danced off the stage by dancers performing the ‘Naatu Naatu’ dance from RRR — PHOTO: Carlos Barria/Reuters.
We’ve now all had some time to sleep on and sit with the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, and, so, now feels like a good time to look back and assess what is supposed to be the biggest night in Hollywood. Jimmy Kimmel was back to be the host, all of the categories were back, and it never got physical like last year did. It was therefore meant to be a normal Oscars ceremony, but what does a normal Oscars ceremony look like in 2023, and how should we feel about this year’s list of winners? Well, I have thoughts.
The wait is almost over. Soon Oscar statuettes will be handed out by Hollywood (often) to Hollywood in an annual celebration of cinema that sometimes gets it right. I can’t wait. This year, it certainly looks like the stars have aligned for Everything Everywhere All at Once, one of the very best films of 2022. But, and this will be interesting, how many awards will the current Oscars favorite go home with once the night is over and done with? Can SAG-winner Michelle Yeoh still win, even though Cate Blanchett appears to be the industry favorite? Will AMPAS go for the young star in Austin Butler or the comeback king in Brendan Fraser? Well, here’s what I think will happen on the biggest night in Hollywood.
It’s time. I’ve seen everything that I feel like I need to see before I can publish my best TV/streaming shows list for 2022. Today, I’ll list ten shows that I think were absolutely fantastic last year. You’ll find a lot of different shows on this list. Some of them are big franchise entries, but there are also new favorites and an experimental show that I was obsessed with last year. So, without further ado, let’s get to it. Counting down from ten to one, these are the best television shows of 2022.
Since the release of Park Chan-wook’s 2016 period piece masterpiece The Handmaiden, longtime fans of his have had to wait quite a while until his next feature film. Since then he has co-written Lee Kyoung-mi’s The Truth Beneath, worked on short films with his brother, produced the Daveed Diggs-led series adaptation of Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, and directed the underseen but quite strong limited series adaptation of John le Carré’s The Little Drummer Girl. Six years is a long time to wait for a new film from such a gifted auteur. Now that I’ve finally had the chance to see his latest film, Decision to Leave, it brings me great joy to state that it was worth the wait. Decision to Leave, which earned Park Chan-wook the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, is one of his best films.
Brendon Gleeson and Colin Farrell’s characters at the pub in Martin McDonagh’s latest hit THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN — PHOTO: Searchlight Pictures.
Directed by Martin McDonagh — Screenplay by Martin McDonagh.
By now, Martin McDonagh, a long-time celebrated British-Irish playwright, has established himself as a brilliant writer-director with a home in the dark comedy genre. His Oscar-winning short Six Shooter, as well as his equally excellent first two features In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, set up his name as one to keep an eye on as a filmmaker. With Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, McDonagh had a genuine awards frontrunner, and that extra spotlight, or magnifying glass, revealed a far more divisive and controversial film than the 7 Oscar nominations (and excellent Rotten Tomatoes score) may have made general audiences suspect. I’ve enjoyed all of McDonagh’s films, including Six Shooter, but Three Billboards didn’t land as well for me as In Bruges or Seven Psychopaths had. Therefore it makes me happy to say that The Banshees of Inisherin, his latest film, is a return to form and arguably as good as, if not better than, In Bruges.
Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe in BLONDE — PHOTO: NETFLIX.
Directed by Andrew Dominik — Screenplay by Andrew Dominik.
One of the most controversial films of 2022, Andrew Dominik’s Blonde is based on the Joyce Carol Oates’ biographical fiction novel of the same name about the life of American actress and icon Norma Jeane, better known as Marilyn Monroe (played by Ana de Armas). Dominik’s film follows her from a troubled childhood to her suicide after years of stardom, mood disorders, and public relationships.
It’s that time of the year again, folks. 2022 came to an end almost a full month ago, but there are still a couple of things that have to happen before we can all fully switch focus to 2023 in the world of cinema. One of these things is the upcoming 95th Academy Awards. The ceremony is on the 12th of March, but, first, we have the nominations to go through. In just a couple of days, on the 24th of January, AMPAS will announce its list of nominees, and so now is the time for me to reveal my list of predictions. There are many like them, but these are mine. Just like every year, the film that I’ve placed at the top of each category is the one that I feel the most confident about getting a nomination, and the film at the bottom of each category is the one that I am the most uncertain about. Finally, in most categories, I’ll also note a film that is ‘next in line,’ which means that these films are the ones that I think could sneak in on nomination morning instead of the ones that I’ve predicted. Without further ado, let’s get to it.
N. T. Rama Rao, Jr. and Ram Charan showing off their dancing skills in RRR — PHOTO: DVV Entertainment /
Directed by S. S. Rajamouli — Screenplay by S. S. Rajamouli — Story by V. Vijayendra Prasad.
Excuse me as I begin my review with a bit of a story. For months, I’ve wanted to watch the widely successful RRR, the Indian epic that has taken Hollywood and the world by storm, but I have also been deeply frustrated by the fact that it isn’t really in theaters and it isn’t on streaming services. Or was it? You see, for a while now I’ve noted that Netflix allowed me to put the film on my watchlist but not actually watch it. JustWatch, the primary online streaming guide I use to track the arrival of new releases, even insisted that it was on Netflix in Denmark. I didn’t know what to believe. Well, this frustration went on for quite some time. That is, until last week, when I read a Danish review of the film, which specified that to watch the film in Denmark, you simply needed to change your language to English on Netflix. Et voilà. It actually was on the Danish Netflix this whole time, but for some reason, it was locked away behind simple language settings. Anyway, I digress. Let’s talk about the hottest movie of 2022, which I’m so glad that I finally saw, S. S. Rajamouli’s RRR.
Jesper Christensen and Bodil Jørgensen in DE FORBANDEDE ÅR 2 — PHOTO: Scanbox Entertainment Danmark.
Directed by Anders Refn — Screenplay by Anders Refn and Flemming Quist Møller.
When I wrote up and released my brief thoughts on part one of Anders Refn’s De Forbandede År (int. title: Into the Darkness), a film about a family of Danes during the German occupation of Denmark, I was rather underwhelmed. World War II films tend to find an audience over here, and, as a bit of a history buff, I wanted this hugely ambitious project to land with more than just a thud. “Hopefully, its sequel will be better,” I wrote, though I must admit that I wasn’t optimistic.
The first film was powerful in moments because of how it highlighted a family in conflict because of the occupation. Some decided to become resistance fighters and rebel, while others decided to cooperate with the occupiers in an attempt to keep food on the table and keep some sense of normalcy, I suppose. I noted that the historical drama about the first half of the German occupation of Denmark held my interest and was interesting and ambitious, but, ultimately, it was a disappointment, and it felt both incomplete and rushed. Anders Refn is still at the helm for the second part of the Skov story, and, frankly, the end result is mostly the same. Jesper Christensen is the highlight, but the film is messy and overlong.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 