Lists

My Favorites of the Year: 2022 Edition

On the movies, books, podcasts, and music that I loved this year.

Valerie Ettenhofer

Dec 31, 2022 — 8 min read

Keke Palmer, Nope, Universal Pictures

We’re down to the wire now, folks. It’s New Year’s Eve, and at this point, I’ve talked and written so much about the year that was that I’d like to keep this introduction short and sweet. I’ve already written twice about some of my favorite TV of the year, and have two more big TV lists to come, but I figured it would be fun to share the best of the rest.

So without further ado, here are my favorite films, albums, books, and podcasts from the year that was, plus a short list of my favorite things I wrote and worked on this year (out of, if you can believe it, nearly 1000 total bylines). Read on, let me know if you find anything you like, and feel free to share your own top tens or fives or ones in the comments.

My 10 favorite new release films that I watched in 2022:

Nope - Eye-popping ‘90s Spielberg spectacle meets Peele’s humor and social horror, the latter never sharper nor more subtle.
Women Talking - A potent, theatrical feminist text that’s at once timeless and extremely timely. Either way, it’s transcendent on every level.
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande - An endlessly sweet, charming, and intimate two-hander featuring two of the year’s best performances. Like a free sex therapy session we all didn’t know we needed.
Jackass Forever - After two decades, the creative and disgusting sadism among these old friends (and some hilarious new ones) has started to feel like a love language all its own.
Aftersun - Set during a vacation shared between daughter and father, this starts out as an intriguing arthouse exercise and ends as a devastatingly raw remembrance.
Navalny - A documentary portrait of absolute gutsiness in the face of tyranny, one that doubles as the best white-knuckle thriller of the year.
Cha Cha Real Smooth - A lovable and heartening post-college malaise story that’s interested in subtle-but-vital personal transformation; the anti-The Graduate in a lot of ways.
Prey - A taut, crowd-pleasing, cleverly small-scale action movie that makes a star out of Amber Midthunder, as she deserves.
Nanny - This slow-burn horror-drama about the spiritual toll of distance and cultural disruption is as visually striking as it is ultimately gutting.
Bodies Bodies Bodies - My love for this comedy slasher lies in the fact that I don’t actually think it’s a satire as advertised, but rather a clever whodunnit that laughs with its resourceful-but-ridiculous Gen Z cast of characters as much as at them.

David Ogden Stiers, Loretta Swit, M*A*S*H, 20th Television

My 10 favorite not-new films that I watched in 2022:

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen (1983) - One of the best (anti)war stories of all time draws to a close with an ambitious and satisfying send-off that pulls exactly zero punches — while also managing to give each character a perfect ending.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - An explosive, primal scream of a movie held together by Pacino’s fantastic, sad-eyed performance.
Nightmare Alley in black and white (2021) - Dizzying, dazzling, and tremendously designed, this is also one of the best movies about addiction I’ve ever seen.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) - A sweet, sincere, and sexy period piece about polyamorous love that breaks new ground, whether the world is ready for it or not.
Only the Brave (2017) - A compelling and tragic firefighter drama, and the rare film about blue-collar American heroes (it’s based on a true story) that feels neither pandering nor preachy.
Le Bonheur (1965) - This French New Wave classic is bittersweet and beautiful, colored and shot in a way that only the inimitable Agnès Varda could pull off.
Wonder Boys (2000) - A surprisingly gentle, deeply rewatchable college set drama-comedy that’s the antithesis of the typical pretentious male academic story.
Freaks (1932) - Daring, subversive, and humanizing in its portrayal of disability – up until its seriously twisted ending – it’s a wonder that a movie like Freaks was ever made, nonetheless nearly a century ago.
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) - A ‘90s drag queen/trans girl road trip dramedy that’s mostly aged a lot better than you might expect. Watch this if you’ve ever loved Queer Eye.
Daniel isn’t Real (2019) - Miles Robbins is a seriously talented nepo baby, and this psychological horror flick has some singularly frightening imagery that’s unfortunately stuck in my head forever now.

My 10 favorite books that I read in 2022:

The Long Walk by Stephen King - Another list topped by an anti-war story, although this one’s couched in a fully-realized dystopia that imagines young men who sign up to walk for as long as they can, or die trying.
Lore Olympus Vol. 1 by Rachel Smythe - A comic book retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth that’ll give you butterflies in your stomach – when its velvety pink-and-blue artwork isn’t busy taking your breath away.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy - A lot of the talk around this quick, immersive read is about the important story it tells about child stardom, but McCurdy also deserves credit for her strong, sharp authorial voice.
The Devil Finds Work by James Baldwin - The incomparable thinker and wordsmith turns his focus to the movies, with a keen critical eye and a heart on display.
Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni - This comic strip-style compilation is a must-read for anyone who’s spent a lot of time in roommate situations with queer, progressive twentysomethings or been one yourself. So basically, Bay Area friends, this one’s for you.
Seinfeldia by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong - Armstrong has a knack for weaving cohesive and interesting behind-the-scenes narratives together, elevating a series of fantastic anecdotes from Seinfeld’s run into a sitcom mythology in its own right.
Without Apology by Jenny Brown - A short, practical, extremely informative guide to reproductive rights.
The Shining by Stephen King - Maybe the true horror was the bad parenting and alcoholism we found along the way!
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon - The co-host of Maintenance Phase (see below) writes frankly and factually about society’s deep-seated and systemic inability to recognize the humanity of fat people.
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones - A trippy, alienating, meta-horror nightmare from one of the most interesting authors working in the genre today.

My 10 favorite podcasts that I listened to in 2022:

Maintenance Phase - A transgressive, fact-based overhaul of nearly every single thing you’ve ever internalized about health and bodies, one that confidently calls into question everything from the BMI to the food pyramid to diet culture and beyond. This show is genuinely life-changing.
You Must Remember This: Erotic ‘80s - Karina Longworth’s deep dive into sex on screen in the 1980s, from American Gigolo to Sex, Lies, and Videotape, is one of the most well-researched pieces of pop culture history I’ve ever come across. A delectable can’t-miss for movie aficionados everywhere.
The Line - A shocking, revelatory, tough-to-hear investigation into a massive scandal that recently rocked the Navy SEALs. It’s hard to walk away from this docuseries looking at this country the same way.
Bone Valley - True crime at its most important: a mind-boggling and humanely-told story of an utterly blatant wrongful conviction that’s yet to be overturned.
If Books Could Kill - Research-loving Maintenance Phase co-host Michael Hobbes teams up with dryly hilarious 5-4 co-host Peter Shamshiri to unpack the bullshit pop psychology and bad ideologies of bestsellers that once captured the nation.
This Ends at Prom - My friends BJ and Harmony Colangelo co-host this fun, thoughtful, and always-honest show about the teen movies that shaped us, recontextualizing classics and hidden gems alike from their modern trans and queer perspectives while still appreciating the cultural circumstances the films came from.
Flightless Bird - In this curiosity-driven audio mind map, Kiwi documentarian David Farrier goes long on a different piece of American culture that baffles him each week, from Disneyland adults to poorly designed public bathrooms.
CBC Uncover: Boys Like Me - CBC’s prolific investigative series is a standard-setter for ethical true crime, and this wide-ranging look at the 2018 Toronto van attack – told in part through the eyes of the culprit’s former classmate – is no exception.
Chameleon: Wild Boys - A weird and hypnotic deep dive into a baffling true story about two boys who emerged from the Canadian wilderness one day in 2003, claiming to have never had contact with the outside world.
Y’all Gay? – This talk show hosted by “two Southern queers” is definitely unpolished and uneven, but some of its comedian co-hosts’ wild tangents have made me scream-laugh more than anything else this year.

My 10 favorite albums that I listened to in 2022:

Get Back by The Beatles – After falling in obsessive love with Peter Jackson’s three-part Beatles documentary last November, this sonically precise yet surprisingly raw album became the perfect, addictive epitome of rock-and-roll for me.
Cheap Queen by King Princess – The best way I’ve been able to describe this year is that I’m “in my King Princess era,” and no, I will not elaborate.
Renaissance by Beyonce – Beyonce’s ballroom, disco, and house-inspired musical return is an audacious, envelope-pushing work of art that gets better with every listen.
The Licorice Pizza soundtrack – I had my issues with this film, but can’t deny that its stellar ‘70s soundtrack kept me going all year — especially “Let Me Roll It” and “Stumblin’ In.”
The Turning Red soundtrack – I listened to “Nobody Like U” at least 100 times this year, and I have no regrets.
The songs from Euphoria season 2 – From “Right Down the Line” to “Dirty Work” to “It Never Rains in Southern California,” this deeply chaotic series was consistently grounded by excellent needle drops.
Harry’s House by Harry Styles – Styles’ third album is dancier, lighter, and perhaps musically less ambitious than his previous two, but the result is a collection of infectious, effortlessly great tunes.
Wet Leg by Wet Leg – A cool, catchy debut that came out of nowhere and took over this year, and one that pretty much singlehandedly got me back into alt-rock radio.
The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen – Jepsen’s latest and most emotionally mature record is a perfectly poppy delight full of crush-driven songs, many of which feel anything but lonely.
Reputation by Taylor Swift – Of course I had heard Swift’s most rebellious album when it was new, but it didn’t really click for me until this year. I’m still not sold on many of the arrangements, but the frisky, dangerous love story lyrics rock.