Episode 81: Highlights of 2022

Cinema in Context

Highs and lows of the year. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss their film and television highlights of 2022, including best film of the year (and runner-ups for best film of the year), biggest surprise of the year, worst film of the year, best time we had at the cinema and the best season of television of the year (and runner-ups for best season of television this year). Here are the films we discussed: • Runner-ups for best film of the year: Athena, Elvis, and Good Luck to you, Leo Grande (Sarah); Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, The Bad Guys, The House, Barbarian, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Turning Red, Top Gun: Maverick, Decision to Leave, and Everything Everywhere All At Once (William); Turning Red, Thirteen Lives, Trainwreck: Woodstock '99, and anticipating Avatar: The Way of Water to be a runner-up or even film of the year (Jeremy). • Best film of the year: Ennio (Sarah); Athena (William); and Everything Everywhere All At Once (Jeremy). • Biggest surprise of the year: Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (William); Ambulance (Sarah); and Top Gun: Maverick (Jeremy). • Worst film of the year: Dog (Jeremy); In Snows in Benidorm (Sarah); and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (William). • Best time at the cinema: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Sarah); RRR (William); and Scream (2022; Jeremy). • Runner-ups for best season of television of the year: The Bear - Season 1, The Rehearsal - Season 1, and Peacemaker - Season 1 (William, shared earlier in the episode when talking about runner-ups to best film); Russian Doll - Season 2, House of Dragon - Season 1, Sex Education - Season 3, The White Lotus - Season 2, and Hacks - Season 2 (Jeremy); and Succession - Season 3 and Better Call Saul - Season 6 (Sarah). • Best season of television of the year: Andor - Season 1 (William); Stranger Things - Season 4 (Jeremy); and Ozark - Season 4 (Sarah).