The Year-End Reflections of 2022

 

Another year has come to an end and it was a crazy year in general considering what has happened with the world with Russia trying to destroy Ukraine while there’s a lot of upheaval everywhere else including here in the U.S. My mother dealt with inflation as she fucking hates it and blames Joe Biden for it. Still, it was quite fun but also kind of boring and it was also sad considering the many who have died this year with the most recent deaths coming in the form of Pele, Barbara Walters, Don West, Vivienne Westwood, Eduard Artemyev, Ruggero Deodato, and Pope Benedict XVI. There was a lot of sad deaths this year though let’s hope that the people of Ukraine manage to give Vladimir Putin a good kick in the ass for 2023 as well as the end of this far-right bullshit here in the U.S. and the far-left to shut the fuck up.

In the year of 2022, I saw a total of 320 films in 189 first-timers and 131 re-watches with 52 of those first timers were films directed or co-directed by women as part of this pledge as I have managed to achieve that goal which is a small victory. It was a year where streaming practically took over everything that I watched with a lot of these first-timers coming from MUBI as I’m glad to be fully on board with the world of streaming while I’m also set to say good riddance to the expensive world of cable that has become outdated and financially problematic. One of the highlights of the year has been my Blind Spot Series and here is the final ranking of the 2022 Blind Spot Series:

1. Army of Shadows

2. Bringing Up Baby

3. Boat People

4. Dreams

5. Mandabi

6.Celine and Julie Go Boating

7. Westfront 1918

8. Devi

9. The Merchant of Four Seasons

10. The Bigamist

11. Flowers of Shanghai

12. Pedro Costa’s Letters from Fontainhas Trilogy (Ossos - In Vanda's Room - Colossal Youth)

Here are the top 25 pre-2015 first-timers that I saw for 2022:

1. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

2. This Happy Breed

3. A Married Woman

4. The Recorder Exam

5. I Am Love

6. La ricotta

7. Oslo, August 31st

8. Cycling the Frame

9. Code Unknown

10. Heaven Knows What

11. Fermiere a Montfaucon

12. Rejected

13. Scenes with Beans

14. Middle of Nowhere

15. Cul-de-Sac

16. Land of My Dreams

17. Le Coup du berger

18. Trofilm

19. Berenice

20. Goodnight Mommy

21. Timecrimes

22. 24 Hours in the Life of Clowns

23. The Tenant

24. Mood Indigo

25. Palo Alto

This was a good year in sports as the Atlanta Braves won another division title but faltered in the playoffs while the Atlanta United and Atlanta Hawks did alright though I really don’t care for the Falcons. I’m happy that Argentina won the World Cup this year as the World Cup is always something I need to watch despite my issues over the fact that it was set in a terrible country that used slave labor and the blood of immigrants to build these stadiums. Then there’s the world of streaming as MUBI has become my go-to service for films while I also love what Amazon Prime, Disney+, Netflix, and other places have offered as it has given me a chance to seek out more as I hope to have Hulu, HBOMax (before it becomes Warner Discovery… blech), and being away from cable for good.

Then there’s the world of professional wrestling as it’s been a fucking insane year with a lot of highs but also a lot of lows. It was the year Vince McMahon’s personal life became public as he has been forced out of WWE though he is eager to come back with Triple H being the new head of creative as he’s done some good things but also some bad things though I’m willing to give him a chance. AEW started off well but had a terrible summer due to injuries and then came the aftermath of All Out where everything crashed due to a disastrous media scrum and brawl behind the scenes. AEW is still dealing with other issues while the status of CM Punk remains a big question though personally, I hope he doesn’t come back to wrestling ever. There’s been other things in AEW that have been troubling such as Tony Khan’s purchase of Ring of Honor that has been chaotic with ROH and AEW talent making things overwhelming. Though ROH hasn’t been able to get a TV deal which Khan has been trying to do, there is still some hope for the brand while Khan is still dealing with growing pains.

Other companies have been going through some good and bad though NWA has been going through problems and what happened this past November as it is clear that Billy Corgan has fucking lost his mind. The decision he made by having Tyrus (formerly known as Brodus Clay) the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion instead of someone as hot as Matt Cardona is truly the worst. No wonder Nick Aldis left the NWA and I hope Aldis finds a new home somewhere as he is too good to be in a small company as hopefully either WWE or AEW picks him up or even New Japan.

The year has been incredible for professional wrestling as here is my top 15 matches of 2022:

1. FTR vs. the Briscoes trilogy (ROH Supercard of Honor XV/2 out of 3 falls at ROH Death Before Dishonor/Double Dog-Collar Match at ROH Final Battle)

2. Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy-AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door

3. Sheamus vs. WALTER for the WWE Intercontinental Title at Clash of the Castle

4. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW Dynamite

5. Jamie Hayter vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW Full Gear

6. Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 2

7. CM Punk vs. MJF Dog-Collar Match at AEW Revolution

8. Jamie Hayter vs. Riho at AEW Dynamite

9. Bryan Danielson vs. Hangman Adam Page for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship at AEW Dynamite

10. Chris Jericho vs. Bandido at AEW Dynamite

11. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE World/Universal Heavyweight Championship in a No-Holds Barred match at SummerSlam

12. Wheeler Yuta vs. Jon Moxley at AEW Dynamite

13. Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz, Bryan Danielson, Wheeler Yuta, and Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, 2.0., Daniel Garcia, and Jake Hager at Anarchy at the Arena at AEW Double or Nothing

14. The Acclaimed vs. Swerve in Our Glory for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at AEW All Out

15. Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi at the 2022 G1 Climax

Wrestler of the Year: Will Ospreay & Jamie Hayter (tie)

Runner-Up: Jon Moxley

Tag Team of the Year: FTR

Runner-Up: The Briscoes

Breakout Star of 2022: Daniel Garcia

Runner-Up: Dominik Mysterio

Well, that is all for 2022. Let’s hope 2023 is a better and healthier year. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off…

© thevoid99 2022