For many years after college I had no TV, or if I did, I don’t remember it because I never watched it. I’ve never seen Seinfeld aside from an episode here and there. I’ve still never seen 90210, Melrose Place, Daria, My So-Called Life, or more than one or two episodes of The Office. I had deep imposter syndrome around TV and movies generally, having grown up with like ten VHS tapes, no cable, never having watched MTV until college, and not having watched a lot of apparently seminal films others watched. Once after college a friend came over to my tiny Williamsburg apartment (circa 2005) with the idea that we’d watch “a bunch of French new wave films.” I had no idea what this even was, nor had I ever watched multiple movies in a single day. To be honest, the idea of doing so struck me as extremely lazy and elitist at the same time. (Don’t you have any actual things to do? A job to go to? I had to work!) In fairness, this friend’s dad was a legendary avant-garde filmmaker so more normalized in his upbringing.
Similar to with reading—and with letting go of the idea that I needed to consume certain things—at some point at the intersection between adulthood and parenting and the pandemic, I let go of the idea of needing to be versed or completist in film / TV and just started watching whatever. I started shows I never finished. I binged many seasons of mediocre television. I watched old things, new things, legitimately cheesy things. Turns out watching kinda mindless TV and bad movies is very fun! Just like romance novels and YA! Here’s what I watched in 2022, not including the many things I watched with my kids. (*** next to titles that are most recommended.)
TV
Somebody Somewhere: Comedian Bridget Everett returns to her hometown in Kansas after the death of her sister. Enjoyed, didn’t love.
***Station Eleven: Terrible global pandemic wiping out the population doesn’t seem like an appetizing premise during a global pandemic, but this show is so, so well done and the exact venn diagram intersection between mine and Jacob’s TV tastes.
***Crashing: A 2016 Phoebe Waller Bridge Netflix show about a bunch of Brits who crash together in a disused hospital. An all-too-brief 6 episode single season gem of a show.
Only Murderers in the Building: Honestly don’t think this show is that great, but it was fun enough if you like a goofy comedic mystery and/or Steve Martin / Martin Short energy.
***Sex Education (Seasons 1, 2, 3): Love Gillian Anderson and awkward teens navigating relationships.
Get Back: The Beatles doc. Yoko is really in charge of the Beatles and we always knew it.
Run: A woman runs out on her domestic life and goes on a cross-country train trip with her evangelist of a love interest. Very on trend with motherhood voyeurism.
Ted Lasso (Seasons 1, 2): Aside from the running use of the mantra “Futbol is life” in our house, I’m less into this show than most people I know, but maybe because I watched it concurrent with Olivia Wilde / Jason Sudeikas divorce drama??
Sex Lives of College Girls (Seasons 1, 2): Fun, funny, easy-to-watch TV. Love Pauline Chalamet getting her moment, though the end of season 2 felt like they rushed to drop way too many plot points without any real build-up.
***Better Things (Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5): This show is so good. Great writing, great acting, a warm and funny and real embrace of motherhood, aging, family dynamics, friend dynamics. Pamela Adlon is a superstar. Loved it all.
Bridgerton Season 2: This show is ridiculous but I do love watching it and loved Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey energy in season 2.
***Severance: Also in the Jacob/Me venn diagram of TV interests. Futuristic workplace creepiness at its best.
This is Us (a bunch of seasons): The most overextended Mandy Moore family drama of all time. Couldn’t stop watching, hated myself for it.
Never Have I Ever season 3: More Mindy Kaling goodness. Deeply enjoy this variety of high school comedy.
The Summer I Turned Pretty: The youths are very adorable on this show.
Conversations with Friends: This was slow and don’t think they handled the translation of Frances’ inner life from print to screen well, but I like Sally Rooney so I still made it through. (No comparison to the Normal People adaptation, however).
***Bad Sisters: The horrible husband of one of a group of Irish sisters dies and its a real whodunit. The insurance agents think something is fishy and are out to prove the sisters-in-law of the deceased are at the heart. Enjoyable viewing, especially if you’re a Sharon Horgan fan.
From Scratch: This was heartwrenching and extremely cheesy.
Fleishman is in Trouble: This started out with promise but think it’s gotten progressively less interesting and the characters aren’t appealing enough to make it work. I read the book in tandem, however, which was probably a mistake.
***White Lotus season 2: Has been discussed ad nauseam. Loved it. Enjoyed this pod episode with Mike White who seems amused by it all.
Movies
Licorice Pizza: Liked the aesthetics, but the movie itself didn’t do much for me
The Lost Daughter: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel full of all kinds of psychological tension.
Top Gun: Maverick: An extremely enjoyable large screen movie theater experience. Tom Cruise’s botox is incredible.
***Hand of God: Paolo Sorrentino’s beautiful movie set in Naples about a young boy pursuing his love of soccer and movie-making when tragedy befalls the family.
***C’mon c’mon: Last year’s b+w Mike Mills movie w/Joaquin Phoenix and Gaby Hoffman. Loved this, loved the cinematography.
***The Worst Person in the World: Loved this the first time I saw it but then loved it slightly less the second time I saw it. Nevertheless, big fan of Anders Danielsen Lie and Renata Reinsve who were cast here.
Bergman Island: Also stars Lie from The Worst Person in the World, who is the highlight.
Pink Wall: A romantic drama with Jay Duplass. I can’t actually remember a single thing about this movie, but I did write down that I watched it. LOL.
Drive my Car: About a famous Japanese theater director who is dealing with his wife’s passing while trying to direct an arduous performance in multiple languages. Based on a Murakami short story. This felt like two separate movies stitched together. The pace is uncomfortable but i’ve thought about specific scenes quite a bit.
Blue: A random Netlix Mark Duplass movie that was a quick, sweet, nostalgic watch.
Coda: Enjoyed this and very uplifting, but not sure if it was worth all the hype. That said, amazing performance by Troy Kotsur as evidenced by his Oscar for this role.
The Power of the Dog: Beautiful but wants to be watched on a big screen for the cinematography and sweeping vistas. I also thought Kirsten Dunst’s character was underdeveloped.
Everything Everywhere all at once: Everyone everywhere liked this but me! (Don’t let that stop you from seeing it). I did love this podcast episode of Song Exploder about the closing song (by Son Lux feat. Mitski and David Byrne)
***20th century women: Great older Mike Mills movie about multiple generations of women co-raising a teenage boy with Annette Benning and Greta Gerwig.
Sorry to bother you: A surrealist black comedy by Boots Riley about a black telemarketer who adopts a white accent to be more successful at his job. Absurd and thought-provoking.
***Before sunrise, Before sunset, Before midnight: so great to finally watch this Richard Linklater trilogy all together and watch time pass in its own peculiar way.
Call Me by My Name: Still so great aside from the weirdness of watching Arme Hammer these days.
Booksmart: A cute enough Olivia Wilde directing debut.
Paterson: Jim Jarmusch’s continued exploration of the artist-as-solitary-creator myth explored through Adam Driver as a bus driver.
To all the boys I’ve ever loved 1, 2, 3: Love me some YA, apparently. Anna Cathcart is the real star of this show.
Honey Boy: Shia LaBouf at his…worst?
Petit Maman: A touching French fantasy drama by Céline Sciamma about a little girl helping clear out her grandma’s house after she passes.
***Parallel Mothers: Almodovar set design is incredible as usual. Loved this.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Watched this right after Parallel Mothers on a Penelope Cruz trip but it felt very dated.
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: I wanted to love after hearing so many interviews with Jenny Slate, but spent the whole movie (theater experience) wondering if my kids were having fun.
Don’t Worry Darling: Interesting aesthetically and Florence Pugh was great but really haven’t given this movie much thought since watching it.
***Triangle of Sadness: Ruben Ostland’s damn-the-rich tome of 2022 goes full satire embracing both the cruise ship and the deserted island and does it really well.
***Aftersun: Loved loved this. Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio are incredible. This is quiet and affecting and gorgeous and heartbreaking.
***Stutz: Jonah Hill’s profile of his aging therapist. They wrestle with the patient/therapist dynamic, intimacy, illness, and more. Very affecting.
***Fire of Love: This movie is an outrageously good portrayal of Maurice and Kattia Krafft, a couple who studies live volcanoes, created out of archival material. Directed by Sara Dosa, narrated by Miranda July.
***Tar: A portrait of a composer, Lydia Tar, that wrestles with her own obsession/utilization of her power and success. Complicated, intense, and very good.
Emily the Criminal: Aubrey Plaza plays a struggling and kinda sociopathic low level criminal who gets involved in credit card fraud. Extremely mediocre, if that!
***Rothaniel: This was really incredible. Jerrod Carmichael’s comedy-but-not-really-funny special where he publicly navigates his coming out. (I watched a lot of other comedy specials but this is the only one worth mentioning!)
That’s a wrap on 2022! Thanks for reading, subscribing, and sharing this newsletter this year. Send it to a friend if you haven’t already.
Hope your holidays are healthy, full of your beverage of choice, a warm fire, fresh snow, and delightful, not-needy children. See you next year.