Happy New Year, all! We are back from the usual visit-to-family holiday adventures. It was a fun trip, and we streamed a few movies (Glass Onion and Amsterdam - see prev post, as well as a few I won't bother blogging. On our last day, my sister tested Covid+, so that was a bit of a scare. But we tested and continue to test as negative as our attitude, so yay!
We got back to rain and storms in California, which we quite enjoy as long as we can stay dry. As usual, we started the year off with some Marx Bros. and Three Stooges, and finally, at long last, a New Year's post.
In some ways, 2022 was a lot like 2021 for our Netflix watching. We are doing a bit of streaming and finding it to be a bit sub-optimal. I can't quite explain what it is about streaming hits - it seems they are both lowest denominator bland, and also too indulgent of the director. The self-indulgence should result in flawed but interesting movies, not bland ones. Amsterdam was a fine example - it managed to be quirky and oddly paced, while still being boring (except the core performances, which had a lot of charm. Is that enough?).
On the other hand, we saw some very good streamers, like Bullet Train. OK, maybe that was a little lightweight, but real fun. It might be our favorite action-comedy movie of the year, although that might be recency bias.
I (because Ms. Spenser wasn't interested) watched a fair number of woman-led action movies last year, and so many were not good, I feel like swearing off them. But I know I won't keep that promise. Worst? Maybe The 355. For best, can I say Everything Everywhere All At Once? It does star Michelle Yeoh.
We had another year where I struggled to get good horror for Ms. Spenser. For best, I nominate Werewolves Within, even though Ms. Spenser wasn't entirely sold on it. It was a fun little horror-comedy with a good message about magic pixy dreamgirls.
It wasn't a big year for superhero movies, but we did see some good ones - lots of multiverse stuff from Spidey and Dr. Strange. I loved that they got horror goofball Sam Raimi to do Dr. Strange. I also loved the idea of having Chloe Zhao do Eternals, even though the results were not what I had hoped.
It looks like we saw ~17 2022 movies in 2022, some on disc, some on streaming, none in the theater. This is the same as last year, and about the same portion of good, bad, and just acceptable. I didn't blog a lot about older movies, because I either bought the discs to own or watched them on Amazon Prime. The ones on Prime are fun - I usually start with The Kennel Murder Case and follow the "People also watched" suggestions to find something new. For a while, I was getting suggestions for all Old Dark House mystery-comedies, and every one had something racially offensive. Interesting trend? Maybe not, since I unironically love Mantan Morland, Willie Best, and the like.
OK, best movie of 2022 is still Bringing Up Baby, and we still haven't rewatched. I might just need to buy a copy.
For TV, we watched most of the first batch of Marvel shows, and especially enjoyed WandaVision and Loki. We'll watch some more soon. But we really enjoyed The Great British Baking Show - but we've watched all the eps and have to wait while they make more.
For cocktails, I will just say: Licor 43 (quarenta e tres). It's made with 43 herbs, but mostly vanilla. It goes great in coffee - called carajillo or barraquito. I drank many bottles last year, and will want to slow down in 2023.
All that remains is to wish you all a happy, healthy, and wonderful new year. May it be batter than the last one.
No comments:
Post a Comment