Here’s the third and last part of our now traditional Review of the Year, pointing out what we liked most.
Part 3: Genre TV and Film
(Part 1 looked at Fantasy & Horror Books (LINK), Part 2 looked at SF Books (LINK)
Part 3a: Film
RobB: I watched quite a few films this year, mostly of the streaming variety and many of them horror. Since subscribing to Shudder last year, I’ve found a great many films in their library from the past and many original/exclusive releases. Other streamers have been doing good things in the genre, too. Netflix had Stranger Things, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and a few Stephen King adaptations. Hulu had a couple of hyped up genre films in Prey (in the Predator franchise) and a new Hellraiser film.
Across all genres, here’s what landed in my top 5 Films:
Barbarian – First alphabetically and probably my favorite film of 2022, this is a movie that audiences collectively agreed not to spoil and that’s a good thing because the less you know about this movie going into it, the better. All you need to know is that on a rainy night, a young woman (Georgina Campbell) arrives at an Air BnB in Detroit only to find that it is occupied by Bill Skarsgård – the house is double-booked. They decide to share the place for the night, but neither of them could expect what happens in the night. A great performance by Campbell drives the story that will keep you guessing at each turn and as each door opens. A very “WTF” kind of movie in the best possible way.
Deadstream – This was a Shudder exclusive. A YouTube personality who finds himself disgraced after some of his stunts take a wrong turn decides to spend the night in a haunted house named Death Manor. Initially, I was very annoyed by the main character of Shawn but I couldn’t pull away from this movie. Then the film took a turn and of course the house was haunted. Some genuine thrills and creeps in this movie.
Prey – This is a case of a sequel/prequel nobody asked for our thought they needed but turned out to be a superb action/monster movie. Set before any of the mainline Predator films (not counting the AVP movies), a member of the alien species we’ve named Predators arrives in 1719 and contends with a young, female Comanche warrior. Breakneck action, decent character development made this a superb movie.
Top Gun: Maverick – How can a sequel thirty years in the making – that like Prey nobody asked for – be so good? I’m not even the biggest Tom Cruise fan and I loved this movie. Was it a little predictable Yes. Was Tom Cruise playing himself, again? Yes. There were some nice throwbacks to the original, with solid supporting performances from John Hamm and Jennifer Connelly. This was a movie best experienced in theaters and was so much more than I expected it to be.
MarkC: My 2022 movie watching has mostly been catching up on movies missed the past couple of years, and with most of the films watched on the various streaming platforms. However, of the 2022 films I watched, here are some thoughts…
I enjoyed The Adam Project even if it was somewhat predictable and mostly of ideas done before; The Batman was a different take and I thought one that was done well; Texas Chainsaw Massacre was exactly what you would expect from a remake; Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was okay, if a little all over the place; Prey was fantastic and a fine example of giving a fresh take on a popular series; Uncharted was a good romp and one of the better video game adaptions I’ve seen recently; Thor: Love and Thunder was a little underwhelming and seemed to try a little too hard to be funny; Jurassic World: Dominion was pants and this franchise needs to be left well alone from now on; Slumberland was a surprisingly enjoyable and heartfelt film, if a little predictable; Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was fun fun fun; Enola Holmes 2 managed to expand on the first film nicely; Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was okay for what it was, but nothing particularly special; and Black Adam was a paint-by-numbers popcorn flick.
MarkY: Not that much on the film front from me this year. As much as I love going to the cinema, there’s not been that much out there that has encouraged me to go see it at the cinema. Nevertheless, there were some I liked – and some I didn’t!
Avatar 2: The Way of Water- I will admit that this was a surprise, although perhaps it shouldn’t have been. In a matter of a fortnight, it is already the second biggest movie of the year. One of my few movies this year that had to be seen on a cinema screen*. It was also in 3D (whatever happened to that?) Despite my initial misgivings, I was won over by this one – even at over 3 hours in length. Sigourney Weaver at 73 playing a teenager was an interesting idea, and not quite as weird as it could have been. It’s not perfect, but there are moments of loveliness, not to mention awesomeness, and points where I cursed director James Cameron as he knows how to work on those emotions. I would see it again, which for me is the sign of a good film.
The Batman – And as above, this was another surprise in that I wasn’t expecting to like this one. After all, it stars Robert Pattinson, an actor who usually leaves me pretty cold. I also didn’t see the point of yet another Batman origin/early years story. And yet, especially after watching a second time, The Batman won me over. The supporting cast is brilliant – even down to another actor I don’t care for who played The Penguin, although to be fair, you couldn’t tell who it was under all that amazing makeup. It’s a bit long, and I’m still not convinced Pattinson does little more than look moody, but it was ambitious and very much of “the now”.
Doctor Strange: The Multitude of Madness – Another one seen in 3D at the cinema, though this one was less essential to do so. Nevertheless, Benedict Cumberbatch is good fun in a movie that had lots of director Sam Raimi touches. This was the most enjoyable of the Marvel movies for me this year, though I also thought that Thor: Blood and Thunder did not deserve the bad reviews it got.
Knives Out: Glass Onion Not quite genre, but starring a raft of genre talent (Daniel Craig, Dave Bautista, Madeline Hahn, Edward Norton) I’ve sneaked it in. Better than the first one, which I thoroughly enjoyed last year, Glass Onion was helped by a great cast that knew how to ham up a murder mystery setting. Daniel Craig was excellent, and much of my enjoyment from the first part of the film was watching him spoof Bond with its exotic settings, sweeping camera angles, dialogue and gadgets.
Prey: Not sure whether I should put this in Film or TV, as it is a film that I watched on my TV through Disney+ here in the UK. Whatever the choice though, it was a great movie that showed what potential the Predator franchise could have if dealt with properly. It also showed that it didn’t have to be high budget or hyped to high heaven to be a good movie.
Violent Night – A surprising last minute entry from me, one that seemed like it should be on Rob’s Shudder streaming channel (and feels like it possibly will in the future.) David Harbour really makes the most of this very violent take of a hostage family saved from a group of mercenaries by the real Santa Claus (played by David Harbour.) Sort of like Die Hard meets Home Alone, you pretty much got what you expected with this one. It’s not to be taken too seriously and definitely made with a knowing nod to movies such as Black Christmas (1974) and the other action movies already mentioned. I expect this, like Die Hard is already, to be a regular adult rewatch in future Christmases to come.
*Like Rob, I also enjoyed Top Gun: Maverick on a big screen, even if the plot was pure Star Wars revisited by Tom Cruise. And it is the biggest movie of the year, after all. But then I didn’t think Jurassic World: Dominion was totally bad, even though I hated the two movies before it.
Part 3b: Television
RobB: The two genre shows that couldn’t be avoided and made the biggest splashes were Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and A Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon. I enjoyed both series but they weren’t without their flaws. There are plenty of articles about both of those shows out on the intarwebs, so I’m going to allot space here to other shows. I didn’t get into any of the Star Wars shows, there’s been a little bit of overload on that front.
The Midnight Club – At this point, if Mike Flanagan makes an episodic program, it will fall on my favorites list. In this series adapted from Christopher Pike’s work, a group of dying kids are living at Brightcliffe Home, which amounts to a hospice for the young. They pass the nights by sharing ghost/spooky stories, some of which are adapted from other works by Christopher Pike. The performances of the kids are great and Heather Langenkamp of Nightmare on Elm Street fame is the doctor who runs the facility. The hospice may be haunted, too.
Stranger Things – The much-anticipated fourth season hit Netflix in 2022 and was bigger and longer than any of the previous seasons, the last of which aired in 2019. At the end of the previous season, our group of friends split up as a result of Hopper’s “death.” Eleven, Will, and Jonathan have moved to California with Joyce, while the remaining kids are still in Hawkins, IN. The Hawkins kids are split even further with Lucas having joined the basketball team and Dustin and Mike joining the Hellfire Club of Dungeons & Dragons players, led by Eddie Munson. When Eddie is suspected of killing a young girl under strange circumstances, we know the Upside Down hasn’t been closed off. There’s a third plotline where Hopper turns out to be a prisoner in Russia.
I mostly liked the season, the stuff with Eddie Munson was great, the Eleven storyline wherein she reunites with Dr. Brenner to regain her lost power was interesting, but the Russia storyline was a complete drag. It added nothing to the endgame of the story, every episode that featured Hopper in Russia was a complete momentum killer for everything else.
Then there’s Vecna, the big bad of the season and perhaps the entire series itself. A demonic entity from the Upside Down, Vecna has been reaching into Hawkins and the “real” world for years. He has a great look, the story of Vecna was fascinating, and I liked how he tied into everything going on in the story.
In the end, I enjoyed it, I liked where we arrived at the end, but the journey to get there hit some unnecessary roadblocks.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities – This horror anthology from produce del Toro was 8 episodes of creepy delights. Two stories based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft, two stories from del Toro, plus a few others, including one written by Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) and one of del Toro’s stories directed by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) made for a very even, well-produced, and well-acted set of stories. Actors appearing include Ben Barnes (Shadow & Bone), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future), Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), Pete Weller (RoboCop), F. Murray Abraham, Martin Star, just to name a handful. This is a much watch-show for fans of darkly delightful stories.
The Dragon Prince: Mystery of Aaravos – This was the fourth season of the fantasy series from the people behind Avatar: The Last Airbender. In my opinion, this might be the perfect animated fantasy series – it balances wonderful characters with deep, well-thought out worldbuilding, and fantastic storytelling. There’s a lot of this story I felt resonated with Tad Williams’s Shadowmarch saga. You’d have to dive into the first three seasons to get a grasp of what’s going on in season four, but 9 episodes for each season and each episode being only about a half hour makes that an easy task.
The Boys – The third season continued its bloody, irreverent take on superheroes. If you enjoyed the first two seasons, you’ll enjoy the third. More “Supes” are introduced, including a Captain America analogue named “Soldier Boy” whose story drove much of the season. We got a glimpse of the Supes who came before Homelander and the current crop of super-powered maniacs.
Also on the superhero front was She-Hulk: Attorney at Law starring the great Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, Bruce Banner’s cousin, who accidentally gets infected with Bruce’s blood and becomes a Hulk herself. Smart writing, great character work from Maslany makes this fourth-wall breaking Marvel show one of the best of the Marvel streaming shows to air at this point. Throw in guest appearances from Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, and a slew of minor Marvel characters for a smart, entertaining episodic piece of entertainment.
The second season of Resident Alien aired this year and was an absolute delight. Alan Tudyk plays an alien in human disguise named Harry Vanderspeigle who happens to be the town doctor. “Harry” was sent to earth to wipe out humanity, but he had a change of heart by the end of the first season. The second season, involves further cover-ups between Harry and his nurse/assistant Asta (one of the few people who knows Harry is an alien), as they try to navigate Harry’s seemingly permanent residence on Earth. There’s fantastic humor from Tudyk, some great character moments between Asta and her friend D’Arcy, a former Olympic skier turned bartender. All through the series, Harry learns more about what it means to be human. Come for the comedy, stay for the insightful themes of humanity.
MarkC: I really tried to keep up with shows this year, and while I mostly caught everything I wanted, there are still some that I’ve missed. Only so much time in the day!
The Expanse (season 6) finished off the series nicely, and while it could have continued to match the books, this was a good stopping point; Reacher (season 1) was good and a managed to update some of the plot points for a good adaption; Peacemaker (season 1) was just so much fun and one of my highlights of the year; Better Call Saul (season 6) I watched the entire series this year, and it finished as well as could be hoped; Moon Knight (season 1) was a strange one and while well-acted, I’m still not convinced on it; Love, Death and Robots (season 3) gave us some more shorts which were fun, though I’d like to see them expand the pool of writers whose stories they adapt; The Umbrella Academy (season 3) finished off well enough while still leaving the door open; Ms Marvel (season 1) nailed the vibe and story; I Am Groot (season 1) may be just some shorts, but they are fun; Upload (season 2) took the show in an interesting direction, and raises some interesting questions about its topic; Obi-Wan Kenobi (season 1) was better than I expected and really gave me the old-school Star Wars feel; She-Hulk (season 1) may have been polarizing to fans, but I enjoyed it’s light-hearted take; Resident Evil (season 1) was better than I’d heard, though missing something to really elevate it; The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (season 1) was exposition and plot-heavy with too much going on, though I’ll likely still watched season 2.
MarkY:
Despite the slight sag in the middle (which seems normal in streaming series these days), Andor was quality Star Wars – and perhaps the best spin-off series so far. In my opinion much better than Boba Fett or Kenobi, it may be up there with The Mandalorean. Unlike The Mandalorean, Andor was grittier, more adult stuff, set in the time pre-Rogue One. As expected, Diego Luna as Cassian Andor was excellent, but Andy Serkis as Kino Loy most impressed me.
House of the Dragon: Must admit I really wasn’t sure how this would go, after the disappointment at the ending of the original series. But House of the Dragon won me over, particularly with the acting of Paddy Constantine as King Viserys I, Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen and Emma D’Arcy and Milly Allcock as Rhaenyra Targaryen. In fact, despite the at-times noticeably cheaper budget, I liked this more than The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, unlike others in my household, who felt that although HotD was good, it was nothing we hadn’t seen before.
Talking of which, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power looked lovely but for me was dull, dull, dull. I struggled through the season. Others in the family thought they liked LotR more than HotD, because “at least it is something that you’ve not seen before”, but for me some of those characters were very annoying and the plot seemed to be nothing more than a very expensive way of setting up the next Season. Actually not sure if I’ll go back, but I probably will.
Wednesday: a surprise. Tim Burton who directed four of the eight episodes deserves some credit, but perhaps most should go to those who were there for the whole season. Jenna Ortega as Wednesday was excellent, as was Emma Myers as her over-enthusiastic sidekick Enid Sinclair, although the attempt to turn The Addams Family into Riverdale was less successful for me.
The Sandman: Also enjoyed, although some of the slavish fanboy/girl droolings were a little too much for me. Nevertheless, I fully expect the series to garner major awards next year. Good to see Gwendolyn Christie escape the Game of Thrones world in two series this year, too.
For All Mankind: Perhaps still my favourite series currently, this alternate history continued to develop nicely under Ronald D. Moore’s direction. I suspect that the ending of the season may be where the series jumps the shark in Season Four, but I’m happy to be persuaded otherwise.
Honorable mention: Peacemaker (Season 1) which was so much better than I expected, even if a little too long. The credit sequence deserves an award on its own.
Series that disappointed: too many. Kenobi promised much but gave little, stepping neatly into creating plot holes and story issues as if it didn’t care, LotR (already mentioned), some of the Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities episodes, which were such a mixed bag. Moon-Knight had so much potential and didn’t go anywhere, as did She-Hulk. I couldn’t even face Stranger Things after the awful Season Three. But on balance more good than bad, I think.
And that’s it for another year from us! We hope that you’ve found something useful in these three posts, even if it is to only agree or disagree with!
