Mirandtory Viewing for 2022: Film Edition
Kicking off the wrap-up with some of my favorite movies from 2022. A small series where I discuss some of my favorite films, albums, and TV shows from this year.
It has been awhile since I have posted here, and I wanted to mark my return by putting together a list of some of the things I really enjoyed this year. I feel like for me this year that a lot of film, television, and music has impacted me. Instead of having one massive post I thought I would break it up, the first post being films, the second music, and the last one television.
I watched and listend to a lot of things this year both old and new. I thought to keep in the spirit of the upcoming year and this one ending, I would keep it to things that were released in the year of 2022 that I really enjoyed.
If you’re here welcome! I hope you enjoy the wrap up let’s get started with my five favorite movies of the year.
Films
I watched more movies this year than I did in the previous year, granted. The impulsive deletion of my Letterboxd account didn’t do me any good when I realized I forgot to save the list I made of movies I wanted to watch. However, we managed to still watch a lot of great films without it.
These movies are not ranked in any particular order they are just listed for list’s sake. So let’s kick off the list of movies this year that I really enjoyed.
1. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (Dir. Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, 2022)
From the moment I saw the trailer for this film I knew it was one I had to see. The movie released in March, and if you have not had heard of it, or know what it is about. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once follows Evelyn Wang portrayed by Michelle Yeoh and her family through their journey through alternate dimensions caused by a rupture in space-time where Evelyn suddenly acquires superpowers and the ability to leap across different realities to tackle a villian looking to end the universe as we know it. We watch as Evelyn quikly adjusts to her new powers to fight outrageous and unlikely villains across multiple dimensions, and through the dimensions you as the viewer are taken on a journey of stunning effects, explosive action scenes, and even some tears.
The movie is zany, heartfelt, and as the title suggests about anything you could think of happening simultaneously. Even with some of the outlandish humor and scenes, the message of the movie to me was as clear as ever. The film lends itself to the viwer to ask the questions we often ponder. It’s existentialism, the “what-if’s”, the relationships we nurture or let fall apart, the regrets and choices we make. Much like the complicated ones that Evelyn her husband the affable Raymond Wang, played by Ke Huy Quan and her daughter Joy played by the incredible Stephanie Hsu, make that shape the outcome of their lives.
All three actors deliver incredibly emotional, poignant performances of their characters as they come face-to-face with Evelyn as different versions of themselves across different dimensions. It leaves Evelyn to question the meaning of her life. In the current reality where she is unhappy with how things turned out, running a laundromat with her husband, and having to meet with the IRS about an audit of her store. She wonders, would she have been happier in an alternate world where her dreams come true? One without her daughter, or the man she took as a husband. Who says to her in one of her realities where she becomes a famous singer. “In another life I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
You explore the complexities of her relationships like the one she has with Joy, and Raymond. There are glimpses of the other lives she gets to live but, is it really worth living without the people who brought you joy? The movie does an excellent job of bringing you up with it but also disorienting you. It is one that I often think about whenever I speak with my friends or family or work on projects or think of the paths I myself decided not to embark on. It is one that lingers and if you haven’t seen it I cannot recommend it enough.
The film is streaming on Showtime and Paramount+, and Hulu premium services.
2. Nope (Dir. Jordan Peele, 2022)
Jordan Peele’s third theatrical film release. Nope follows siblings played by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer. The Haywood siblings are descendants of Hollywood animal trainers, particularly horses and the majority of the movie takes place on their ranch in California. OJ and Emerald (Em) discover their horses are going missing and when they try to investigate the dispperance of horses they come to find out an otherworldy occurence is behind all of this and seek to capture it on film and rake in the cash. However, the discovery leads them on a chase to save their lives.
I will begin that I am not really a horror movie fan. I respect the genre but know it is not one I watch often, mostly because I do not like getting scared. This movie does an excellent job in building the dread through sound, and the unseen. I still find myself hearing the sound of Gordy the chimp mauling the fictional sitcom family in the movie. It was sickening, disturbing, and all done without every showing the viewer the carnage. A feat in sound-editing that really made me as a viewer uncomfortable.
Peele does an excellent job in subverting your expectation of horror in this film. While it is common for many terrifying scenes to take place in the shadows. Peele does not choose to hide in the shadows, instead he brings his monster Jean Jacket right to the viewer in broad daylight. The movie is equal parts, chilling and hilarious. I believe a balance that Peele strikes incredibly well. The acting in this film is excellent, the chemistry between Kaluuya, and Palmer is so geninue and enigmatic you’re rooting for them right from the start. Peele’s delibrate choices in design of a monster that resembles a camera and how the spectacle of exploting others for monteary gain ends up consuming you in the end, makes this one of my favorite films by Peele and one that you could watch over and over again to find new meaning and messaging you could have missed from previous viewings.
I look forward to whatever cinematic release Peele plans next, his vision on screen is inspring and continues to showcase the variety of the horror genre and including actors and voices that are often left unseen on the big screen.
The film is now streaming exculsively on Peacock.
3.Fire Island (Dir. Andrew Ahn, 2022)
If you know me, you know I love rom-com’s. I even wrote a series here on my newsletter about them. I am always on the hunt for something that makes me feel good and to root for the power of love. Fire Island is a modern queer retelling of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. The Hulu film features a cast lead by Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang and the group of friends and their annual summer trip to Fire Island where the gang experiences love, adventure, and a lot of drama. They may find though that this year this might be their last trip to the island, when they discover their lesbian den mother Erin portrayed by Margaret Cho has had to sell her home due to financial issues.
Booster, is the film’s Elizabeth and is even heard in the beginning of the film quoting the infamous novel before dismissing the author’s words. He is not one for monogamy or marriage and every year looks forward to being able to hook-up with other men on the island during his annual summer retreat. Booster also served as the film’s screenwriter and he does an excellent job bringing to the screen fun, fresh, characters that hold true to the adaptations of the character from the original novel, while shining a light on the class and race differences among the LGBT community.
Another standout performance in the film alongside Booster, was the Mr. Darcy of the film, Will played by Conrad Ricamora. Ricamora is so well-cast as a stoic and stern lawyer to Booster’s boisterous on-screen performance that each scene between them is electric to watch, that lead to delicious chemistry between the two leads. The movie has something in it for everyone. It is romantic, witty, charming, and easily one of the best rom-com’s I have seen this year. If you’re looking for something light-hearted to watch I would say look no further.
The film is streaming exculusive on Hulu and Disney+ for non US countries if it is availble in your country.
4. Pinnochio (Dir. Guillermo Del Toro, 2022)
This film managed to sneak it’s way into my list right at the end of the year. I had no idea that Guillermo Del Toro had adapted Pinnochio, and found out through a friend of mine. I will admit to never having been fond of the movie. We owned the VHS from Disney and I still remember the scene of the little boys turning into donkeys scaring me so much that I never watched it again. I was curious to see what new twist Del Torro would bring to the wooden little boy who longed to be a real boy.
In classic Del Toro fashion, a film you’d think you’d watch with your children is full of it’s own little haunts like many of his films tend to be. The film doesn’t shy away from making Pinnochio’s debut in the film anything less than unsettling. The movie takes place during the World War in Italy, with the increasing presence of facisim in the country. Geppetto is the village’s carptner who lives with his son Carlo and while wokring on the crucifix for his village’s church an accidental bomb strike to the town’s church instantly kills his son who had run back inside to retrive a pine comb he intended to plant into a pine tree, so he too could fufill his vision of following in his fathers footsteps.
Stricken by grief, you watch as Geppeto mourns the loss of his young son each day after planting the pine comb that remained from the tragic accident. As the tree grows over the years Geppetto becomes reclusive and eventually a cricket, Sebastian voiced by Ewan McGregor moves into the tree. During a storm, Sebastian overhears Geppeto weeping for his son and eventually driven to anger he cuts down the tree desperate to bring his son back Geppeto builds the wooden puppet in a drunken haze and is knocked unconcious before vowing to finish it. Unbenkowest to the builder that a forest spirit has overheard his plea for his son and grants the puppet life to which Sebastian now serves as the heart of the wooden boy.
Pinnochio crawls in the scene of Geppeto’s basement like a morbid wooden spider and accompanied by the melodic vocals of the child voice actor Gregory Mann who plays him lends to his eerieness The movie is equal parts heartbreaking, scary, and lovely.
What sets apart Del Toro’s adaptation of the film from others is the meaning. The story shows the impact of the choices that Pinnochio makes. You follow him as he learns about grief, immortality, and our purpose in life. Pinnochio discovers after he is hit by a car and dies, that he cannot die like humans can. The movie uses stunning animation taking us all across Italy and between the spirit realm and our own reality. The story makes a viewer reflect on the importance of life and the meaning we create and leave behind.
The movie is streaming exculsively on Netflix.
5.Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ( Dir. Ryan Coogler, 2022 )
The second installment of the series, begins in Wakanda in the wake of the passing of T’Challa. Queen Ramonda played by the incredible Angela Bassett is left to run the country and the ever increasing threat of world powers looking to inflitrate Wakanda and harness the nations vibranium supplies. The movie begins on a somber note where you watch the funeral procession led by Queen Ramonda and Shuri played by Letitia Wright. It is here you can feel the grief pouring from the screen. Director Ryan Coogler and the late Chadwick Boseman were close friends and this film was very much a honor and tribute to the the increidble performance Boseman brought to the superhero who changed the world both on and off screen.
The movie shows how Shuri and Ramonda deal with their grief following the loss of T’Challa. Shuri burying herself into her work, while Ramonda is left to run the nation without a king and fight the looming threats to the country. One of them being Namor played by Tencoh Huerta who gives a commanding performance as the leader of the underwater world of Talocan. The two countries have a goal in common and it is to keep the outsiders out of their countries from harvesting their resources.
Shuri and Namor come to learn if each other’s countries and cultures and find that the grief they both experienced lends to them to have more in common than they think. When Namor tells Wakanda to bring the scientist who invented a tool to detect vibranium for him to execute the two countries of land and water go to war nearly killing each other in the process. The film does not shy away from showing the guresome tolls of war, grief, and the threat of imprealism on non-white nations.
The movie makes it a point to show that the real enemy here is neither Wakanda or Talocan, but the CIA and the United Nations that look to harvest both of these nations for their resources and even go as far as to attempt to invade one of them for it.
I don’t watch many Marvel movies, in fact I believe this is the 6th movie I have ever seen in the entire MCU. The acting in this movie is incredible from the cast and the love and honor that is shown for Boseman is a beautiful tribute to the spirt, and what he brought to this movie and to MCU as a whole.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is out in theaters but I believe will be availble to stream on demand soon on Disney+.
Thank you so much for tuning into part one of my media wrap up. Let me know if you end up watching any of these films, or if you’ve already seen them what did you like? What didn’t you like? You can catch me on Twitter @mirandatorys or feel free to leave a comment here and I’ll respond, and if you like what you read go ahead and subscribe.
Thanks again for reading!