2022 Retrospective

2022 Retrospective

I have a list problem. I keep making them. In this case it’s films I must watch. For instance every Marx Brothers film, which I finished off in July. I got it into my head to watch every available Hitchcock directed film, which quickly became a slog. I saw four in 2022. I expect to see the rest, but I’m in no hurry. I managed to polish off the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films in May. I must be more selective with arbitrary lists going forward.

I wanted to see more foreign language films this year and I did. Bob le flambeur (1956) was my clear favorite. Godard’s Alphaville (1965) rubbed me the wrong way. I had high hopes. Silent films were also a priority. Three of the four I watched were by Hitchcock, so my clear favorite was Buster Keaton’s The Navigator (1924). Keaton did twelve silent comedies, of which I’ve covered seven. As they are all considered excellent, this is an arbitrary list I can get behind.

I watched one musical this past year, the forgettable Royal Wedding (1951), and two westerns, Hud (1963) and Johnny Guitar (1954), both oddballs in the genre. Twelve films are labeled Horror. I mostly enjoyed them, even the stinkers. I’m looking at you, Trog (1970)!

I didn’t manage any Christmas films, and the reason is twofold. After three years, covid finally caught up with me in December. Focusing on anything, even a Christmas movie, was a chore. Also, nearing the day itself, my DVR went into stupid mode. Tech support issued a reset over the wire to fix it, zeroing out everything I had recorded. I had replaced my DVR in October making this the second time I lost everything. This unit died in January and I lost it all yet again. I need a plan in place for when this one fails.

Nightmare Alley (1947) got my highest rating of 4.5, but didn’t stick with me like some others. Nine others were rated 4, and truth be told, I don’t which was the best of the bunch. Perhaps Stalag 17 (1953) or Johnny Guitar.

Without a doubt the film I enjoyed least was Godard’s Alphaville (1965). It is neither sci-fi nor film-noir, but a deconstruction and critique of both genres. I understand how Noir’s values became completely out of step with the times, but I wasn’t expecting a mostly unwatchable, pretentious criticism of it.

I am satisfied with the quantity and quality of the year’s films in retrospect. I wanted to check a few more best pictures, and had a few recorded, but you can guess what happened. Still haven’t seen an Elvis movie, and I expect that streak to continue. Reviewing last year’s predictions for 2022, I nailed them all except getting over fifty film mark. No regrets, though. I saw the movies I wanted to see.

More of the same, looking forward. Two or three Keaton silent comedies, for sure. A couple best pictures. I want to watch more films from 1990 onward. I won’t post about them but may keep track for recap purposes. For the record, Glass Onion was pretty good, not quite as enjoyable as Knives Out, and The Menu was quite unexpected. Still disappointed that I haven’t seen Everything Everywhere, All at Once yet.