My 2022 Favorites
Out of 55 movies, 44 shows, 34 books, and a ton of songs these were my top finds of 2022! ⭐ by my favorite in each category, followed by alphabetical.
Movies
⭐ CODA
Made me cry. More than once! Example above. Equal parts funny and touching with stakes that feel real. I also love that it really brought home to me the expressiveness of ASL in a way that hasn’t really hit me before.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The wildest ride of the year and I love the complicated and moving mother-daughter relationship at the core of it.
Glass Onion
Very different feel from Knives Out but that’s a good thing. Not quite on the same level for me but still loved it.
Hustle
I’m still a sucker for a well-done sports movie.
Last Night in Soho
Beautifully shot and cut and good n' twisty, I just love Edgar Wright’s style.
The Menu
Cast crushes it, Nicholas Hoult can do no wrong and I love everything about the dynamic between him, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Ralph Fiennes. Love the service worker/consumer dichotomy. And I think about that burger like weekly.
Pinocchio
The Pinocchio story doesn’t usually do much for me but this one’s the best, and the artistry of this one is incredible.
Prey
The first one will always be iconic but even so this is the best Predator movie with one of the great action movie heroines.
The Sea Beast
I gotta admit the ending doesn’t really work for me but still definitely a good one.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Really fun, highlights include a great bit of physical comedy from Nicholas Cage and the Paddington 2 discussion.
Shows
⭐ The Bear
My favorite thing I watched in 2022! Fantastic ensemble cast, centered around a world class chef who inherits the local Chicago family sandwich shop and tries to get a recalcitrant staff to adopt new practices and transform the place. Food, found family, tension, has it all! Lots of team-building carryover, reminiscent of sports shows or movies. The penultimate episode of season one captures the experience of a stress dream better than anything I’ve ever seen.
Amphibia
Delightful show about three friends who find themselves transported into a Planet of the Apes type situation, but with amphibians. Feels kinda young and episodic at times but the overarching story arcs, character arcs, and relationships are very satisfying.
Attack on Titan
Perhaps the twistedest and twistist thing on the list? A post-apocalpytic world where the remnants of humanity live inside a walled city to keep the cannibal giants at bay. Lots of action and gore, very imaginative, fun world-building. Most everyone will probably be able to find some badass or another to relate to, but don’t get attached.
Chernobyl
Omg I put off watching this for so long because when am I ever in the mood for what I thought was going to be a bit of a slog of a docudrama but this was RIVETING. I’m glad I had no idea at the time how razor-close this disaster came to tipping over into mega-disaster. Also an incredible portrayal of how responsibility and accountability can go so wildly wrong when you’re under a regime that makes covering your ass paramount.
Dead to Me
Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate bring to life one of the great TV friendships amidst a backdrop of murder and suburban strife. Three seasons and done, done perfectly. And James Marsden should be a much bigger star.
Derry Girls
I was definitely worried about this one because the first two seasons were such delights and season two ends in such a satisfying and emotional way, and season three might not capture quite those same heights but it’s still really good and a worthy final chapter.
Final Space
One of the worst TV cancellations, on a huge cliffhanger, so you should know that going in. But also some of the most fun science fiction I’ve ever seen, while it lasted. Also Olan Rogers, creator and lead voice, just seems like such a wonderful human being.
Justified
Okay this is a cop show with all that entails and definitely hasn’t aged well in that regard and a few others but between Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins I’m not sure it’s legal to have this much charisma in one show.
Mob Psycho 100
More than any other show on this list I think this might have the biggest “I’m not used to anime” hurdle to get over, but along with Kipo and Ted Lasso and Knives Out this show deserves a spot in the kindness pantheon. Also has anyone ever had more fun animating action and psychic powers? I don’t think so.
Our Flag Means Death
A romantic comedy alternate history where gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard cross paths. Took me a minute to get into the mood, but it really hits its stride when Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) shows up.
Primal
Never would have guessed a show about the friendship between a caveman and a dinosaur and almost no dialog could be so captivating and often moving? Gorgeously animated. Heads up, violent.
Reacher
A great guilty-pleasure adaptation of some great guilty-pleasure books. I think I binged this in two nights. Embarrassingly macho stuff but Alan Ritchson as Reacher seems beloved by both men and women I know so what the hell, I’m putting it in.
Severence
Take an intriguing concept–what if you could undergo a procedure such that your work life and personal life were completely isolated from each other in your head–and execute it flawlessly and you’ve got this show. The season finale was incredible, I can’t wait for more.
Songs
Triaged a few thousand songs and found 252 keepers, here are 10 favorites, DM me if you want the full firehose:
Books
Non-Fiction
- ⭐ Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman Burkeman also wrote The Antidote so has now written my two favorite self-help books that are really more anti-self-help books. Or more philosophical? This one’s “an exploration of time management in the face of human finitude”, here’s a fun tribute if you don’t want to read the whole thing, and here’s a very brief piece by him to give you a taste of his writing: What If You Never Sort Your Life Out?.
- The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson Good read on CRISPR and ramifications.
- How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur Really engaging book on moral philosophy from the creator of The Good Place.
- Free Will by Sam Harris I tend to think free will is a useful fiction so of course this grabbed me.
Fiction
- ⭐ Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Weir also wrote The Martian, deservedly wildly popular and movie-fied, but I really liked this one a lot too. More out-there, literally and figuratively, but still feels sciency while still being a page-turner.
- Anxious People by Fredrik Backman I just love most of his books, no exception here.
- If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio A murder mystery at a conservatory that only does Shakespeare, great interleaving between the plays and the plot, characters.
- Vicious (Villains #1) and Vengeful (Villains #2) by V. E. Schwab Fun dark take on superheroes.