Over the past few years, a lot of major TV networks and film companies have greatly improved their streaming options/platforms due to people staying home during the early part of the pandemic. Although I am not a movie buff, I did watch a lot of TV series and movies over the past few years. That is huge because there was a period of my life where I hardly watched any TV or movies, mainly in the early 2000's.
With the Oscars (Academy Award) coming up in March, and the Emmy's and Critic's Choice already held in the past several weeks, I thought I would blog something about it and offer my thoughts and opinions on my top shows and movies I've watched in 2022. Please note that I am not going to give away any plots or summarize the story, just giving my first impressions and opinions about the show or movie. So here we go...
Stranger Things (season 4, Netflix). The wait was over. The last time Stranger Things season 3 came out was 2019. Then the pandemic started, and postponed production. Even after filming, the Stranger Things team of producers, directors, editors, and all the behind-the-scenes movie magic people had to spend a lot of time editing. And finally, season 4 came out in the summer and it did not disappoint. The only thing is that Netflix released episode 1 through 7 over Memorial Day weekend, followed by Episode 8 & 9 a few days before July 4th. It just made the sequencing a bit awkward for me. Had they rolled it out all at the same time either in May or July, it would have made more sense. My mind doesn't retain as much anymore, so to watched the last two episodes, I had to think back what happened on the first 7.
Lost in Space (season 1 through 3, Netflix). In a gap of finding new things to watch, I thought I would watch this series on Netflix. Quite frankly, I was very surprised on how much I love this science fiction drama! I never watched the TV shows from the 60's, but in my browsing of options on Netflix, I thought this looks exciting. It is definitely a tremendous and very modern upgrade from the campy version from the 60's. I was very enamored by the special effects and how the creators portray the out-of-this-world planets and space travel. It really gives you pause on how we as humans can achieve space travel, much less living on a distant planet.
The Orville: New Horizon (aka season 3, Hulu). If you like Star Trek but with a funny twist, this show might be for you. Season 1 and 2 was original shown on Fox, which is where I started watching before they made the announcement of moving it to Hulu in 2019. Now, I wasn't thrilled at the time because I didn't have Hulu then, but pandemic came, I got Hulu, and to my utter thrill, New Horizon (aka season 3) finally shone on Hulu. (And if you don't know, Disney owns, ABC, EPSN, Fox, and Hulu). The first 2 season was definitely a parody of Star Trek. You may be surprised that Seth MacFarlane is the creator of the show but with all things Seth MacFarlane, you can expect some comedy. Season 3 is different. Instead of 12 to 14 episodes at around 40 minutes each, they produced 10 episodes with each at about an hour. It does make watching it longer, but the tone of season 3 is much more serious. I almost want to say that they copied Star Trek at this point, but it is unique enough that maybe it won't infringe on copyright laws. You could tell that Seth, et la, and all at Fox really put their best foot forward and gave it their 110% in producing a very high-quality sci-fi show in hopes that Disney will renew a 4th season but as with all things Disney lately, things are a fiasco right now and we just have to wait. But I also read, Seth MacFarlane owns the rights to the show and can also decide to take it to another network (like Universal/NBC, where they just wrapped up the new TV series Ted), so we'll just have to wait.
The Adam Project (Netflix). In another gap where I was searching for something to watch, I watched this film, not really expecting much. But I was pleasantly surprised. Ryan Reynolds did a fabulous job at being serious (for once, but well, he did have some funny moments). Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Gardner (although I never thought to pair these two as movie parents), was a pleasant surprise as well. And quite honestly, I don't think I really ever watched one Jennifer Gardner movie or show before. This is your typical "don't meddle with time travel" movie, so it has some typical themes that you will find in all time-travel movies, like don't mess up history, don't interact with your younger self, don't try to go into the future to see what happens, to go into the past to try to fix things. But I think the direction of the movie is different enough that it was fun to watch.
The Mysterious Benedict Society (season 2, Disney+). During the first year of the pandemic, I saw an ad for this TV series on Facebook posted by Disney. And for some reason, I was attracted to the whimsical color scheme. It kind of reminded me of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and also with a bunch of kids. After watching a trailer for the show, I thought this should be interesting. I did a little bit of research and found it was based on a book series by the same name. The premise is that a group of kids were recruited through false advertisement to help this professor find out what was causing the "emergency". It started off with a large group of kids, where through process of elimination, four was chosen to be a part of this society. Some of you may know Tony Hale (Arrested Development), who is probably the only "famous" person that most people recognize from another show. Honestly, I never watched Arrested Development (like I said early, I didn't watch much TV back in the early 2000's), but the little bit I did watch of Arrested Development was quite hilarious. I don't know why I missed that show. Anyways, I've thoroughly enjoyed the first season of the Mysterious Benedict Society at the end of 2020, so was looking forward to watch the second season in 2022. The second season was the same premise, just a different problem to solve.
America's Got Talent (season forever, NBC). I have no idea what season they are on, but this long time NBC reality talent show has been on as long as I have been out of college. At first, it was just this secondary talent show next to American Idol (formerly on Fox but now on ABC), but I think since then, it's become at least my favorite reality talent show of all times. There's been some years it can get kind of campy, like your high school talent show, or just plain crazy. Even Simon Cowell, over the years, have soften on his judgement style, and has become a bit more predictable. Or maybe it's just me watching this for so long, I just know what he's going to do or say.
Kim's Convenience (season 1 through ?, Netflix). I've heard so much about this TV show that again, during a gap period, I thought I would start watching it to see what it's all about. I never thought I could relate so well to a fictitious Asian family experiencing Canadian-American cultural challenges in the most hilarious way. It's the few Asian-American show that I can say, "I get it! I've been there!" I started watching this partly because of Simu Liu (star of Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings, Marvel film that came out in 2021, which was a great movie) but a friend of mine had watched it a few years ago. This was actually a Canadian sitcom that aired on their networks from 2016 to 2021 over 5 seasons. Simu was already a name in Canada before his debut in the Marvel film. I have yet to finish season 4 and start on season 5.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime Videos, season 1). I came into this Amazon Prime Video series with much anticipation and excitement. I was honestly looking forward to this because of my fondness of The Lord of the Rings original 3 movies, and The Hobbit. Although not originally written by JRR Tolkien (I think I saw that it was written or came up by his grandson), I give this a "meh". It is pretty slow going in developing the storyline and characters and at times, I almost forgot what they were talking about. But having read the books (yes, read) and watched the original movies, I knew this was the set-up to how the rings came about. The very last episode of the series was probably the most exciting of them all, so I do look forward to watching the second season hoping it will build up in the story and also in action.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (rent from Redbox). This movie was fun to watch, kind of trippy but it has so many messages rolled into one movie. I am glad American Hollywood is getting away from the stereotypical views of Asians and that we're not all about kung fu and karate all the time (even though there is some of that in this movie). There is a lot of themes in this movie but one particular theme is how Asian parents relate a the to their American-born child. And it is not so different than any other American family.
Honorable mentions
Obi Won Kenobi. Nice origin story of Princess Leia.
Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Fun to watch but also kind of boring.
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. I understand that the folks at Marvel are adding this to bridge the gap but this could easily roll into another full length film.
