John’s top 10 movies of 2022
2022 movies: The horror genre enjoyed a particularly strong year, but I rallied toward the comedies as I ranked my favorites.
John’s top 10 TV shows of 2022
2022 television: The landscape of TV is being flattened – fewer episodes, but more shows. That makes narrowing this list to a mere 10 quite a challenge.
‘Black Adam’ a goofily fun but hypocritical superhero romp
Movie review: The Rock is nicely understated as a rare Middle Eastern superhero, but the setting feels more like a computer than reality.
‘Rifkin’s Festival’ (2020) sees romance as ageless
Woody Wednesday (Movie review): Allen’s writing and directing skills are still sharp in his seventh decade of filmmaking.
Craig’s Blanc joins a newly loaded cast for ‘Glass Onion’
Movie review: Rian Johnson continues with what worked on “Knives Out” in this twisty romp of a mystery that gets a little overblown by the end.
‘Violent Night’ isn’t always naughty, but it’s definitely bad
Movie review: The latest non-traditional Christmas film stuffs in as many awful characters as possible. It’s as unappealing as you’d assume.
‘A Christmas Story Christmas’ won’t be a classic like the original
Movie reviews: Watching “A Christmas Story” and the new sequel back-to-back illustrates the greatness of the first and weaknesses of the latter.
‘Await Further Instructions’ (2018) a solid ‘What’s going on?’ flick
Frightening Friday (Movie review): A young man and his girlfriend find themselves trapped with his dysfunctional family – but that’s not the scariest part.
‘Elf’ (2003) is worth taking off the shelf every Christmas
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): Pure of heart without being schmaltzy, Will Ferrell’s classic is like a spiritual palette cleanser.
‘Atlanta’ Seasons 3-4 are a surreal snapshot of 2022
TV review: Donald Glover’s brainchild is like the Black Experience meets “Black Mirror” in 20 masterful episodes that close out the series.