My Top Five Shows/Movies of 2022 · 8:05pm Dec 31st, 2022

So this year has provided a lot of media for viewing; whether it's new shows on channels, or whatever gets put onto streaming services, or released in theaters. And there was a lot released in 2022, and I decided to continue the tradition of listing my top picks for this year. Whether it's a cartoon, movie, show, it's gonna count. I'll also list honorable mentions cause I do have some, and I do wanna list one dishonorable mention.

So let me get my one dishonorable mention out of the way before moving onto the actual good stuff

Chip 'N Dale, Rescue Rangers

I wanted to like this movie. I never grew up with Chip 'N Dale, but the concept for all of these various forms of animation coming in live action could have worked. It was like a chance to see a new version of Roger Rabbit... except the makers of this movie do not understand what made Roger Rabbit actually good. This is a movie that fits the bill for nostalgia baiting as many have pointed out, and it's also the prime example of how not to do a referential movie, just like Space Jam 2. Good referential movies keep whatever copyrighted characters they have consistent with their characters, and keep it focused on new original ones. Just look at Wreck-It Ralph, Lego Movie, and the aforementioned Roger Rabbit.

This movie... I do not understand why it is so cynical, it's kinda not fun to watch at times, and it also feels like the writers thought they were clever with some stuff, but they just aren't. And I really, reaaaallly wanna hope and believe that the shit regarding the film's antagonist wasn't intentional, cause knowing Disney's history with child stars... I'm not gonna laugh. I'm going to think you're very callous about the skeletons in your closet, and you have no self-awareness. Also, it is a sin against the animation industry for not bothering to try and do hand-drawn animation. That's CG cel shading to look 2D, if you can't even bother to do it, then don't even try. I know it's hard work, but that's just it; they couldn't be bothered to do it. If Cuphead can do it... then you should be able to do it too Disney. Oy. If you like this movie, good for you, it is a harmless movie... but man the amount of things in this movie that rubbed me the wrong way...

Now we got all that out, let's look at the good stuff!

Number 5

Violent Night

David Harbour as a Santa Claus kicking the asses of a bunch of armed criminals holding a family hostage. This is so stupid, and I love it. I think what makes this movie work is not just cause of the insane humor, but also the story with Santa himself was really good, and I loved his interactions with the main little girl. I like seeing this Santa slowly finding purpose again with a holiday that gets bogged down with too much greed and misery; and David Harbour is just a lot of fun as Santa. I'd say he's one of my favorites. This isn't another 'bad Santa going to kill', besides that's Krampus's job, but this is a pretty fun one. Give it a watch.

Number 4

Turning Red

This movie got a lot of shit and frankly it doesn't deserve it. It's a good movie, just chill the hell out. It's not about sex, it's just about a group of pre-teens who want to break from their parents control and go see a concert; and one of them can turn into a bigass fluffy red panda. This movie received unnecessary flack, and I wanna address one of the points right now; the mention of periods. ... Why was everyone clutching their pearls? Shouldn't pre-teen girls kinda, you know, know this stuff ahead of time? Or would you rather they not know what it is so when it happens they freak out? Better they know what it is so they can be prepared for it, rather than not be ready and freak out. Seriously some people are too wound up...

But aside from that unnecessary controversial point; I do think this movie's pretty good. I like the characters (Priya's deadpan demeanor, love it ), it got a couple of laughs out of me, animation's solid, it's a pretty good movie. I won't say it's perfect, but it does not deserve the hate it got when it first came out.

Number 3

Nope

AWW HELL NAW, I AM OUT, I AM OUT!!

I will not give away the major twist with this monster, cause I want any of you who love horror to check this out. This is a pretty good one. I was on edge for most of the scenes, and I still think Jordan Peele's still got it when it comes to horror. I love the subversions on this movie, it is so well done, and it is freaky as hell. Loved the creativity when it came to the main threat here.

Number 2

Peacemaker

I loved Suicide Squad from 2021, and I loved the hell out of Peacemaker. If you like James Gunn's work, you'll love this. I love the dive into this character's personal life, and seeing him try to grow to be a semi-more decent person with the people around him. Everything that made this character nuts, is shown, and it makes soooo much more sense why he's the way he is. This is funny as hell, and it's not afraid to get freaky at times too. The characters are fun (major props to Vigilante and Leota), story was engaging, I just had a lot of fun with this. Give it a watch.

Now I've got Superman and Lois to try and get back onto next.

And before we get to number one, here are a few honorable mentions.

Season 3; The Boys

I haven't talked about this show for a couple reasons, but I do think this season deserves some mention here. The show expands a bit more on characters, I like more of the world-building, it was just pretty done. Now the thing that keeps me from being nicer is the foundations of the show; the actual comic The Boys, SUCKS. The show is better than the comic in every way, absolutely, but I plant my foot on that hill when I hear snobbish assholes say that 'this is the truth' or this is how real life superheroes would work; always seeing the cynical and depressing way reality would function. No. This show is what happens when you give horrible people with bad environments superpowers. It's so easy to imagine what it would be if someone awful has a position of power... but it's also easy to overlook the good someone could be if they had powers. The kindness. The decency. The show's presentation on how all supers are like this (except for Starlight, she is a badass) kinda turns me off, and frankly, I think we have enough deconstruction out there that, well, it's honestly more subversive to do something straightforward most of the time. But hey, that's my wishful thinking, you can feel free to think I'm a stupid optimist, what do I know.

Book Of Boba Fett

This was... honestly just okay. I know I won't add anything new to the table but I think everyone has made it clear and understandable that this show didn't seem to have real direction; too much flashbacks, and Boba's not even the main star of his own show most of the time. Some characters were good, others were... ehh. The bikers, do not fit at all. Cad Bane could have been done soooo well, but he came in way too late, agghh... also Ahsoka. Luke. Honey. Can we talk? I thought you learned. Why are you being stupid with your rules. You are stupid right now. Ahsoka, why are you not stopping him; you know the problems from before WHY DID YOU NOT STOP HIM???

Wednesday

I'm not an avid watcher of Addams Family, but I respect the shit out of these characters. And having a show focused on the stoic daughter of the family was surprisingly real good. Wednesday is fun to follow, her deadpan humor is funny as hell, and it's fun to watch her slowly grow as the show continues. I don't have much critiques against this show, it's just a pretty good show. I say give it a watch if you're a big fan of Addams Family!

And my number one pick for 2022...

Prey

After a slog of a few okay and completely AWFUL Predator films... Hulu came out with Prey. And I friggin' loved it. This was the tense chase/fight between hunter and pray that we should have gotten in 2018, and now we've got it again. The setting is perfect, focusing it on a Comanche tribe so everyone has to rely on wits and blunt weapons with no modern guns or high tech weaponry, the setting is isolated in the mountains and woods, and we've got a creepy looking Predator that's still freaky like the others. Also, Amber Midthunder; lady, you are a maestro. Loved your performance, you did solid. And honestly, setting the Predator in different periods of time is pretty cool. Put this guy with ancient samurai, or pin him against soldiers in WW2. You have many time periods to set this monster in, and I hope they do more period Predator movies, cause this was awesome.

And so that marks my listings for shows and movies for this year. I do have others listed that I like, but I don't have time to list them all, but I am excited to finish the rest of Owl House. But as far as this year goes...

Ehhh to be honest, this felt like more of the same. More stress happening, and a lot more dread around from current events. Events I rather not talk about cause I hate getting political, frankly I side with no one, politics as a whole just seems like bullshit, more than ever since everyone is so 'if you're not with us you're against us', and you can't have reasoning for why you side with one or another without being a monster these days. I don't want to bring that here on Fimfiction, cause I come here to escape the hells of the real world and not be dragged back into it. I... haven't kept it all together for a lot of times, and even though I haven't been public about it, a lot of that stuff kinda got to me, but I don't want to drag any of you down in it.

I know this year presented way more... I don't know what's the right word to use here; hell for a lot of people. And if you're still alive and going... then that's amazing. We just need to keep going, I'm not gonna go spout cliche diatribes that don't mean anything, but I don't want to say we should just roll in cynicism and negativity, that's not the way to live, that's not the way for anyone to live. We can make things better. We will keep pushing, and we will do our damnest to make the next year better, and we're not gonna sit down anymore.

And so to the men, women, enbies and unspecified out there... I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and I will see you jump into the new year. Let's say goodbye to the hellscape of 2022, and push to make 2023 better than the others. I love you all.