2022: Best and Worst of the Year Awards
As we close out 2022, let’s take one last look at some of the best (and the worst) that the year had to offer.
MOVIES
I didn’t see too many movies this year that I really loved. In fact, there wasn’t a single movie that I rated a perfect 10/10, though I can definitely be pretty picky. I rated ten movies with a score of 8/10, but only two movies received a better rating.
Best Overall Movie: Emily the Criminal
Aubrey Plaza is fantastic in this crime drama that’s the feature length directorial debut from John Patton Ford. The plot centers around a woman desperate for money who becomes wrapped up in a criminal enterprise.
Runner-Up: The Batman
Matt Reeves’ The Batman might run a little long, but it’s the best superhero movie in recent memory. It couldn’t feel more different than the movies and TV shows Marvel puts out and that’s definitely a good thing.
Best Horror Movie: Smile
I’m a huge horror movie fan so a lot of the movies I watch tend to fall into the genre. While I gave Hatching, Pearl, and Deadstream the same rating as Smile (8/10), I’ll break the tie by giving Best Horror Movie honors to what I believe was truly the scariest movie of 2022.
Worst Movie: The Gray Man
I try to avoid watching bad movies, but sometimes they slip through the cracks. The Gray Man is a $200-million dollar Netflix mess jam-packed with action movie clichés.
Most Disappointing Movie: (Tie) Top Gun: Maverick & Everything Everywhere All At Once
I thought I would really like Top Gun: Maverick, but found it to be a cheesy Hollywood flick with boring characters that wasn’t even entertaining. As for Everything Everywhere All At Once, despite the acclaim it received, I found it goofy and (worst of all) really, really boring.
TELEVISION
This past year was very mixed for me when it comes to TV – with some shows that I greatly enjoyed and a good number of shows that, though they received plenty of critical acclaim and were generally liked from the public at large, I thought were overhyped and underdelivered.
Best Overall Show: Andor
The best piece of media to ever come from the Star Wars universe with a fantastic story and excellent acting; a true 10/10.
I broke down Andor and my second two favorite shows of 2022 in this article: Jeff’s Three Best Shows of 2022.
Worst Show: Stranger Things Season 4
I typically won’t watch more than an episode of a show if it’s complete trash, but I gave this most recent season of Stranger Things more of a chance since the prior seasons were fine. I made it through four and a half episodes before having to call it quits.
Most Disappointing Show: Better Call Saul Season 6
Everyone raved about the final season of Better Call Saul as though it were a masterpiece and one of the greatest shows of all time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Though the second half of the season was an improvement off of the earlier episodes that aired a couple of months prior, Season 6 was nowhere near as good as early seasons of the show.
VIDEO GAMES
I played a good number of video games this past year, pretty much exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. (I might even add a video game review section to What Jeff Watched for 2023.)
While not all of the games I played over the past 12 months first came out in 2022, that’s when I first picked them up -- so that’s what really counts.
The top five games I played in 2022 were:
Best Overall Game: Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)
A tactical RPG featuring a great story that lends itself to multiple playthroughs since the story will vary drastically depending on which House you choose for the protagonist. I really loved the way the tactical gameplay elements worked, as well as the social/management parts of the game where you develop character relationships. Grade: 10/10
Runner-Up: Pokémon Legends: Arceus (2022)
Arceus is without a doubt the best Pokémon game to date. The open world format lends itself perfectly to the world of Pokémon. Is the story pretty basic? Sure, it is, but I play Pokémon games to catch Pokémon and explore, and that’s what this game is all about. My only gripe with Arceus is that I wish the dodge/throw balms mechanic to beat bosses was different. Otherwise though, this game is perfect. Grade: 9.5/10
Rounding Out the Top 5:
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (2019)
Dragon Quest XI doesn’t have the most original story; it’s basically if you combined all the fun aspects of RPGs into one massive game that anyone could enjoy. There are creative enemies and tons of content. It’s not too stressful and overall just lots of fun, and it took me around 80 hours to finish the three acts of this one. Grade: 9/10
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (2022)
If you ever wanted to play a game with Mario characters in a turn-based tactics format where Mario shoots enemies with a gun, then this is the game for you. Grade: 8.5/10
Pokémon: Violet (2022)
There are some really good ideas here combining some of the things that worked with Arceus with the traditional Pokémon format. I just wish the game didn’t have so many glaring bugs and frame rate issues. Grade: 8/10
MUSIC
The vast majority of the time in 2022, if I was listening to music I was also at the gym working out. As a result, according to my YouTube Music 2022 Recap, 29% of what I listened to was Electronic Dance Music and 21% was Independent Music (which was all basically just dance remixes of popular songs).
My five most listened to remixes were:
Calum Scott – Dancing On My Own (Paul Gannon Quick Bootleg)
Avicii & Men At Work – Wake Me Up in Land Down Under (Danny Jeff Bootleg)
Ben E. King – Stand By Me (Olli Willand Bootleg)
John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads (Jesse Bloch Bootleg)
Eminem – Lose Yourself (Teddy Cream & Brad O’Neill Remix)
My five most listened to songs that weren’t remixes were:
When in Rome – The Promise
Will Sparks – Ah Yeah So What
Glen Hansard, etc. – Wherever I Fall - Pt. 1 (from Cyrano movie soundtrack)
Blasterjaxx & Timmy Trumpet – Narco (Extended Mix)
BLR – Taj
GRAPHIC NOVELS
I didn’t read as many comic books in 2022 as I would’ve liked. (I’ll do better in 2023 – I promise!) But I’d still like to call out two of my favorite ongoing series, both of which had at least one graphic novel released in 2022. They were:
Best Ongoing Series: Saga
Written by Brian K. Vaughan & illustrated by Fiona Staples, Saga is a fantastic fantasy space opera which finally returned after the series had been on hiatus since 2018. It’s definitely a worthwhile read for any science fiction fan.
Runner-Up: Reckless
Written by Ed Brubaker & illustrated by Sean Phillips, Reckless is the current crime noir story written by the two frequent collaborators. Though I don’t enjoy Reckless as much as Sleeper or Criminal, two titles the pair previously created, it’s still a solid crime story.