22 Things I Liked In 2022, etc.

Truly 2022 was a good year of Things to Watch. Pretty shitty in many other respects, and I say good riddance to it. But at least we had that to hold onto.

To those who give a crap (hi Mom), my favorite stuff is in alphabetical order below – 22 New Things, a bunch of Old Things, and a whole butt-load of TV Shows (do we call them that anymore?).

In looking back over the list, one thing that stands out is how strong a year for horror and thrillers this was. So many movies made my best of and almost-best of lists. Fresh, X, the Scream reboot, Barbarian, Watcher, Satan's Slaves 2, Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Menu, A Wounded Fawn, Nope, Mad God, on and on and on…

And I'll even throw in a recipe for my Turkish Olive Oil Orange Cake at the end. Enjoy.

And now, the lists!

NEW RELEASES

AMBULANCE

"WE'RE SHARKS. WE DON'T STOP" Jake Gyllenhaal ropes his step-brother Yahya Abdul-Mateen into a cockamamie bank heist that goes all wrong, and they attempt to flee LA in -- you guessed it -- a stolen ambulance. This movie basically asks you, the audience, what if one Michael Bay movie was somehow ALL THE MICHAEL BAY MOVIES laid on top of each other? Would you enjoy that? Plus an enormous farting dog that steals every scene it's in? We certainly enjoyed it.

ATHENA

When a young child from the French Athena projects is killed by the cops, the boy's surviving brothers -- one a revolutionary, one a drug dealer, one a French soldier -- are drawn into the chaotic aftermath, which starts as a street protest and escalates to utter civil war. From the first moment, this movie is shot out of a cannon, with great performances across the board. Along with HELLBENDER absolutely my surprise find of the year. The final coda is great and devastating. Highest recommendation.

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

A darkly hilarious fable set on a nothing speck of an Irish island on the outskirts of the Irish Civil War in 1923, where Brendan Gleeson up and decides one day that he no longer wants to have anything to do with his sweet, befuddled best friend Colin Farrell, and if he doesn't leave him alone, he will start cutting off his own fingers to show how serious he is. The "absurdity of civil war" metaphors are obvious, but this movie is so fucking weird and funny, it shot right up to my tops of the year. Two (severed) thumbs way up.

CATCH THE FAIR ONE

A Native American MMA fighter and recovering junkie (Kali Reiss) will do absolutely anything to infiltrate a human trafficking ring and track down her little sister, who is one of the scores of Native American girls gone missing every year. This is a tough, violent revenge flick that feels like one long scream of pain. And oh man what an ending. Fucking great.

CONFESS, FLETCH

Fletch is back! And Jon Hamm proves to be his platonically perfect embodiment. In this tale of retired investigative reporter Fletch getting mixed up in art heists, kidnapping and murder, there is charm to burn, and hilarious work from Kyle MacLachlan, Roy Wood Jr, and old Mad Men bud John Slattery in a couple profanity-laced scenes. Annie Muolo also kills (not literally) as a zaftig neighbor with a penchant for sharp knives, weed, and setting fires. I hope they make like 30 more of these.

DOWNFALL: THE CASE AGAINST BOEING

I have never been angrier after watching a doc then after this one. In telling the story of how corrupt, shoddy practices from Boeing led to not one but two plane crashes in the space of a few months that killed nearly 400 people, it is somehow about everything all at once -- failing capitalism, collapsing government, racism, corruption, greed -- and the real human costs of it all.

EMILY THE CRIMINAL

In this crime drama, Aubrey Plaza starts as the archetypal millennial -- stuck in a shitty gig economy rigged to screw her over, saddled with debt, unable to move forward. But when she gets recruited into a minor-league scam ring, she finds out that her talents lie in a whole other direction, and she is smarter and more powerful than she ever thought. I used to think Aubrey Plaza was kinda one-note, but between this slowly escalating thriller and WHITE LOTUS, not anymore!

FRESH

Which one of you assholes recommended this one? Seriously, speak up. It starts as a romantic comedy between Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones, and I don't even want to tell you much more about where it goes because by the time you reach even just the opening credits, it's something else. Really, really clever filmmaking, and real nightmare-fuel. This is one of those trust-me-watch-it flicks that I can't tell you much more about.

HUNT

This ludicrously twisty, ultra-violent spy thriller is set in North and South Korea in 1983, starring and directed by SQUID GAMES star Lee Jung-jae. I read a review that said, “There are so many double crossings and murky loyalties that pretty much everyone is shooting at everyone,” as if that was meant to be a negative! Made no sense by the end but didn’t matter - just an action-packed blast. Surrender to its mix of John Le Carre and over the top violence.

HELLBENDER

Holy shit this movie rocked, right from the fiery cold open involving a very hard-to-kill witch. Made by a family of low budget filmmakers up in the Catskills, it’s the story of a teenage girl kept hidden from society by her mother, who claims she has a contagious sickness that cannot be shared, but is clearly hiding supernatural secrets of her own. Surreal, bloody, funny, full of punk rock flair, a banger all the way through.

JACKASS FOREVER

I never ever want to watch the opening of this movie again, but it is amazing, and should be studied in Intro to Film classes next to the Odessa Steps sequence. The heights this reaches are very, very high. The lows are gross. You know what you're in for here. As my 14-year old asked at one point while watching Steve-O get a beard of bees attached to his dick, "Are there any parts of this movie where they aren't naked?"

KIMI

In an updated version of THE CONVERSATION by way of Alexa, agoraphobe Zoe Kravitz thinks she uncovers a murder, and everyone wants her to forget about it. But she won't let it go, and by the end, many bodies will hit the floor. Steven Soderbergh just casually doing god-level shit here, and finally a thriller that figures out how to incorporate our Covid reality and not pretend it doesn't exist!

THE NORTHMAN

Authentic and mystical take on the original Norse myth that inspired HAMLET, as Alex Skarsgard spends his youth turning into a ripped killing machine, then returns to his home in disguise to kill the asshole uncle who killed his father (Ethan Hawke, playing the John Smith part from CONAN) and married his mother (a miscast but game Nicole Kidman). Epic and violent, with a final, screaming showdown sword fight set on an erupting volcano. There's something missing from it that holds it back from complete greatness that I can't put my finger on, but still worthy.

OLD HENRY

In this western, a taciturn farmer (Tim Blake Nelson) in the middle of nowhere takes in an injured man with a pile of money, a posse shows up, and moral choices must be made. And it's all complicated by secrets reaching out from Nelson's past to grab the present in their bloody mitts, leading to a cathartic finale. Not sure who thought the world needed Tim Blake Nelson playing the Clint Eastwood role in UNFORGIVEN, but they were right!

PREY

What if the Predator that Arnold Schwarzenegger encountered wasn't the first to visit Earth? What if, instead, a Predator hunted a Lakota tribe in the 1700s? And what if a badass female wannabe warrior (Amber Midthunder) tries to warn her tribe and no one will listen until it's too late? This one kicked ass, was structured perfectly, and Midthunder was great. On par with the original I'd say.

THE ROUNDUP

South Korean action star Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee) takes his rule-breaking, skull-cracking Dirty Harry act on the road to Vietnam to foil a kidnapping by Korean gangsters. Lee, who you might recognize from the classic zombie flick TRAIN TO BUSAN, is a force of nature, the action is creative, and the movie keeps twisting around and around in more and more inventive ways. Super fun.

RRR

What a blast, and maybe the movie of the year? Director S.S. Rajamouli ignores history in telling his version of the friendship between 1920s Indian revolutionaries Rama Raju and Komaram Bheem, as they fight their own private battles against the hated British. Problematic red flags around Hindu nationalism abound in this movie, but come on, the action is insane. Every 15 minutes seems to have an iconic image in it, there is a showstopping kickass dance number and an amazing number of gruesome animal attacks. 3 hours of fantastic fun.

SALOUM

A trio of outlaws steal a suitcase full of gold and kidnap a Mexican drug dealer who they plan on trading for a million dollar ransom, right under the noses of the army during a civil war in Guinea-Bissau. But their plane is damaged and they need to make an emergency landing in the small town of Saloum, where...not all is as it seems. Buried childhood secrets, necromancy, and some of the coolest demon designs I've seen in quite awhile await them as they try to escape with their lives. Really unique, strange, and moves like it's on fire.

SR.

Robert Downey, Jr. juuuuust managed to finish this documentary/family memoir about his iconoclast director father Robert Downey, Sr., creator of the amazing PUTNEY SWOPE, before his death this year. There is some performative Hollywood nonsense here and there, but it is so sincere, Sr. is still so dry and funny, and it ends up being a surprisingly beautiful meditation on how to say goodbye to your life. Yes, the ducks are a metaphor, guys.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

Do you really need a plot synopsis on this? A redux of the first movie, but cryogenically preserved Tom Cruise is now the elder statesmen, and all the stunts are cranked up to 11. The argument for this movie is the argument for all modern Tom Cruise movies -- yes, he is a weirdo who is a member of a sick cult, but he is also so committed to making these stunt-filled deathtrap movies, he is literally going to kill himself someday, just to entertain us. And therefore I will see everything he makes.

As a bonus, this short doc on the making of one stunt from next year’s MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING is a candidate for Top 10 film of this year just on its own:

WATCHER

Atmospheric slow burn thriller about American ex-pat Maika Monroe living in Bucharest as a serial killer stalks the city, sure the killer is after her and no one will believe her. There are a lot of similarities here to some other faves of the year that focus in on paranoia and gaslighting, like KIMI and BARBARIAN. Must be something in the creative waters. On this one, the creepiness grows and grows, and once shit hits the fan, it really works.

X

In 1970s Texas, a group of dumb, hot wannabe-porn stars trick an elderly couple into letting them film their dirty movie on their farm, but when the old man and his wife see what's happening, it turns into a fight for their lives. Gruesome and sexy, with the sleazy vibes of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE in all the best ways. Mia Goth playing the roles of both killer and potential victim is no joke an Oscar-worthy feat. Director Ti West just kinda kicks ass all the way to the very last shot.

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES

BARBARIAN (second half and Justin Long rocked) ● THE WOMAN KING (not enough violence!) ● DEADSTREAM (stupid and hilarious) ● DECISION TO LEAVE (precise, super-clever, but not perverted enough) ● EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (overhyped by the time I got to it) ● THE GOOD NURSE (Jessica Chastain does "quietly desperate" like no other) ● HONK FOR JESUS SAVE YOUR SOUL (holy shit Regina Hall) ● NOPE (didn't come together for me) ● TAR (hands down funniest ending of the year) ● THIRTEEN LIVES (sneaks up on you) ● VIOLENT NIGHT (possibly a new perennial holiday classic)

OLDER MOVIE DISCOVERIES

CAROL FOR ANOTHER CHRISTMAS (1964)

Rod Serling’s anti-nuke agit-prop take on A CHRISTMAS CAROL was literally (no joke) bankrolled by the UN. Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed, and it stars Sterling Hayden as Scrooge-like right wing isolationist industrialist Daniel Grudge, being visited by 3 ghosts – Past (Steve Lawrence), Present (Pat Hingle) and Future (Robert fucking Shaw). And if that isn’t enough for you, the supporting cast includes Peter Fonda, Ben Gazzara, Eve Marie Saint, and a wild turn by Peter Sellars. Oh, and a score by Henry Mancini. It’s a real doozy.

CERRO TORRE: A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL (2013)

In this doc, the world's youngest champion climber David Lama attempts to conquer an unclimbable peak in Patagonia, where the only previous ascents involved men hauling up pneumatic drills to pound ladders into the rock face. On one level, this is an extremely cool doc with great music and cinematography. On another level, it is a pitch-black comedy about a couple of dangerously unprepared climbers and their film crew doing incredibly stupid things. It's a wild ride, and one of the best climbing/mountaineering docs I've seen. No shocker that Lama died a few years ago on some other insane mission.

A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (1967)

Luminously shot in black and white and tight as fuck in its plotting, this Japanese Yakuza noir starts with a hit man meticulously murdering a rival clan boss, and then finding himself unable to escape when the rest of the gangs unite to hunt him down. A classic, classic noir, with an amazing ending that I bet inspired Takashi Miike’s DEAD OR ALIVE.

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971)

Sleazy, campy Hammer Horror take on Jekyll and Hyde with a gender-bending twist, excellent performances by Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick, and ingenious, haunting makeup effects. I heard Edgar Wright on the Pure Cinema podcast mentioning this as one of his underrated gems, and damn if he isn't right. This and a few others on this list also popped up on my Frightfest Watch-a-thon list. Did I mention it was such a strong year for horror?

HIT! (1973)

Federal agent Billy Dee Williams vows revenge after the heroin overdose of his daughter, and assembles a crack squad to help him bring down an international drug ring. This blaxploitation gem features Williams at his fucking coolest, and an angry-hilarious part from Richard Pryor. I'm not sure why it is almost 2 and a half hours freaking long, and I'm also not sure why the version I watched didn't translate any of the French scenes, but I still dug it. It features a rare performance from Gwen Welles, who died young and only made a handful of movies (including my all-time fave CALIFORNIA SPLIT).

THE FORGOTTEN BATTLE (2020)

A Dutch traitor fighting for the Nazis, a reluctant underground spy, and a British glider pilot all cross paths during the battle of Antwerp in 1944. Lame title aside, trust me when I tell you this is an all-timer of a WW2 movie that spends the first 2/3rds putting you through an emotional ringer with its characters, then unleashes hell at the end and clicks all the pieces into place. Bizarrely enough, a recommendation from my 9th grader’s English teacher. Thanks Mrs. G!

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (ROADSHOW DIRECTOR'S CUT) (2005)

"What is Jerusalem worth? Nothing. Everything." Extremely loosely based on a real French knight who overcame personal tragedy and religious extremism to fought Saladin to a draw during the Crusades of the 12th Century, this 3 hour-plus Ridley Scott director's cut is a complete revelation, maybe a masterpiece. And that's saying something, because the theatrical version was a muddled piece of shit. Eva Green is next level, and Edward Norton gives an excellent voice acting performance hidden behind a silver mask as the doomed leper king of Jerusalem. Anyone who hears of this playing on a big screen anywhere, let me know please.

THE NIGHT HOUSE (2020)

Classic haunted house setup, with rawly angry, new widow Rebecca Hall grieving in the lake house her architect husband built for them, before he suddenly killed himself. A house that is now possessed by...something terrible. Hall is amazing, this is just meticulously constructed with ingenious in-camera ghost effects, and genuinely disturbing.

QUAI DES ORFEVRES (1947)

On its face this is another thriller from master of the form Henri-Georges Clouzot, a police procedural about a nightclub singer accused of murder, and the slowly tightening web of the the investigation around her. But in reality this plays like a strangely warm, humanistic post-war French episode of COLUMBO, with Louis Jouvet in the Peter Falk role. And that’s a compliment! Unexpected one for the genre and for this director. A real treat.

REPEAT PERFORMANCE (1947)

A great New Year's Day watch, like a dark mirror noir version of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. A woman kills her husband at midnight on New Years Eve, then gets a chance to relive the previous year to see if she can change the outcome. Compromised by some odd casting choices, and the studio chickening out and not keeping one of the major characters as a crossdresser the way the source novel did, but a great old find nonetheless.

TOO FUNNY TO FAIL (2017)

I became briefly obsessed with this documentary on the ill-fated, short-lived DANA CARVEY SHOW. Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert talking about their development of sketches like "Waiters Nauseated By Food" and "Germans Yell Nice Things" are a treat. Robert Smigel and Dana Carvey recounting the slow-motion disaster that was their relationship with ABC is hilarious. When the filmmakers manage to track down the (now grown) kids who sent a profane, angry letter to the LA Times critic who slammed the show, the doc enters classic territory. I mean, just watch this clip of them all finally realizing why their time slot next to HOME IMPROVEMENT was cursed, and try not to lol.

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)

Not sure how I've never seen this classic. The dream team from LAURA (director Otto Preminger, leads Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney) come together again to tell the story of a crooked, violent cop trying to keep his life from falling apart, bring down a local gangster, solve a few murders, and also hide some terrible secrets of his own. About 20 minutes in, when the first shocking twist hits, you realize how many times the Coen Brothers must have seen this movie.

TELEVISION

ALONE

Beaver fever, baby! There was an entire episode of this iconic reality survivalist show set in the Canadian Arctic that was all about different competitors having stomach ailments and parasites. And it was fantastic. If that sounds good to you, watch this show.

ANDOR

It's hard to think of a better or more surprising show this year. I keep coming back to how amazing it was that Tony Gilroy somehow managed to insert a revolutionary manifesto into the Star Wars universe, with Diego Luna doing a riff on Michael Clayton, a small-time crook accidentally pushed into doing the right thing. Between this and AVATAR: WAY OF WATER, it was a big year for corporate franchises sneaking anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist tracts to mass audiences. I mean, just fucking watch any of the speeches in the last few episodes of the season and try not to get psyched up. ONE WAY OUT! ONE WAY OUT!

ARCANE

For a French-produced animated prequel to a League of Legends videogame I don't even play, lord knows how this ended up being so good. The animation is unique and beautiful, the characters and plots were constantly surprising, and it's just a great, exceedingly well-written adventure show that leaves off on an great cliffhanger for next season.

BARRY

I came to this show late, after the epic "Ronny/Lily" episode from S2, but S3 topped everything that has come before. The slow motorcycle chase, the unseen panther attack, the hilarious moment when Barry tries to dictate an apology text while shopping for jackets, and towering moments from Henry Winkler. If you haven't already, binge this bad boy now.

THE BEAR

Every episode is just 30 minutes of pure stress, great soundtrack tunes with smack-you-in-the-face Chicago references, and delicious-looking beef sandwiches. Also extremely funny, and surprisingly touching in the end, in its way.

BETTER CALL SAUL

How did this show somehow grow beyond its legendary predecessor? How did Rhea Seehorn give a masterclass in acting and somehow elude the Emmy voters' sclerotic brainpans? And who'd a thunk that some of the most dramatic scenes of the year would come from Bob Odenkirk, Michael McKean and Carol Burnett?

DOPESICK

Michael Keaton and the rest of this sprawling cast managed to tell a story about business, and politics, and corporate greed, but also keep it personal and dramatic. I guess technically this was last year, but this is when I watched it, so there.

THE DROPOUT

There were many "ripped from the headlines" miniseries this year, but they all sucked. Except this one. So deeply strange and so well acted, and so damn funny.

THE ENGLISH

A big, beautiful stab at a spaghetti Western, led by majestic and awesome Emily Blunt, kicking ass, giving amazing speeches and hiding terrible secrets. Like another show on this list, THE OLD MAN, it doesn't quite nail it, but really memorable.

GANGS OF LONDON (again)

Not quite as good as S1 as original producer Gareth Evans stepped away and the plotting suffered, but the action is as fantastic as ever, and the ruthlessness with which it treats its characters is still shocking. Nothing quite like it on TV.

HOW TO WITH JOHN WILSON

Two episodes of this one-man doc series are instant classics -- ""How to Find A Spot" begins with John narrating the Byzantine rules of parking in New York, and somehow ends as a moving meditation on death, and "How to Appreciate Wine" ends on a story about an a capella camp with a surprise twist I could never spoil.

THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA

This (very) adult animated show started as a Dungeons & Dragons campaign played live by the group Critical Role, which built up a fervent fan base through web streams, podcasts and live events...none of which I ever really got into. But this hilariously filthy and violent show works all on its own, whether you are a D&D nerd or not.

THE OLD MAN

Every episode of this show has a scene that is basically, like, "Well shit, that old man is dead now...wait, wait, here comes the dogs" and then Jeff Bridges' rottweilers come save his ass. And every one of those scenes were fantastic. By the third episode I literally felt like it was the dogs' show. It loses points for really flopping in the final couple episode, unfortunately. Maybe because there were no dogs.

PEACEMAKER

Along with ANDOR, one of the most purely entertaining shows of the year, although in a completely different way. James Gunn and John Cena go aggressively and emphatically stupid, and over-the-top violent. And so when it actually gets emotionally deep by the end, you are shocked to realize how invested you got in it. I need like 30 more episodes of this.

RESERVATION DOGS (again)

As good as the first season was, I think it only got better in S2. Every move it made, from advancing the main plot of our leads on their journey to LA to quirky and surreal bottle episodes, worked on every level. The funeral episode and Big's acid trip hunt for Bigfoot were two of the best episodes of TV I saw this year.

SEVERANCE

Any show that sticks the landing the way this show did is guaranteed a spot on this highly coveted list. As good as the end of Season 1 of THE GOOD PLACE. After watching the first episode, my wife asked, correctly, "Is this show just going to be hours of people walking around fucking hallways?" By the finale, she thought it was the best show she had seen on TV. High praise.

SLOW HORSES

This show continues to pull off quite a trick in Season 2, as we follow MI5 chief Gary Oldman's merry band of inept dirtbag Le Carre castoffs failing to stay out of trouble and accidentally uncovering massive espionage schemes. It manages to be cynical and absurd, and also get you to care about these losers, all at once.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (again)

Every year I wait to see if this show will lose its footing because it's so damn good, and every year it gets better and better. The segment where Nandor and Guillermo undertake legal negotiations with a djinn to get Nandor a giant cock is just one of the many amazing moments this show has gifted us this season.

Any scene with Jason Clarke in WINNING TIME

Jason Clarke as Jerry West is just a fucking balls-out, hilarious and volcanic performance. The rest of WINNING TIME was pretty meh and highly highly overproduced, but whenever he is on screen, holy crap.

This is adapted from the fabulous Zingerman's Bakehouse cookbook, straight outta Ann Arbor, MI.

TUNISIAN ORANGE OLIVE OIL CAKE
1 large seedless orange
2 eggs
1 cup sugar (200 g)
½ cup + 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (130 g)
2 cup + 1 Tbsp AP flour (290 g)
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp kosher salt
½ cup white chocolate chips (80 g)
1 cup powdered sugar (130 g)
1 tbs orange juice
½ tsp orange zest

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a round cake pan with cooking spray.
2. Wash the orange and cut off both ends. Cut the orange into quarters and put into a food processor, peel and all. That's right. Process until it's a pulp.
3. In a bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until light and smooth, about a minute. Add the orange pulp and olive oil and whisk to combine.
4. Add in flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until all the ingredients are combined. Don't bother sifting or any of that shit. It's a waste of time.
5. Fold in the white chocolate chips
6. Spread the cake batter into the pan. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the pan.
7. Whisk orange juice, powdered sugar and orange zest until smooth. Add a little more OJ if necessary -- maybe another tablespoon. Pour over top of cake and let set for 20 minutes
8. EAT