Happy New Year!
Life is about faith, hope, love, and all the things that spring from that, like relationships and purpose and peace and joy. However, my blog tends to be more about things that I just think are fun or quirky or interesting. So with that in mind here are some things I’m looking forward to, especially movies & TV shows and the like, in 2022…
And just to be clever like that, here are twenty-two things that we are anticipating seeing in 2022, ranked roughly in ascending order of my interest.
22. Black Adam
A bizarre morbid curiousity draws me to this. I don’t really like Dwayne Johnson all that much, I’m not a big fan of Black Adam the character, I’m not really into Egyptology…but somehow, I know that I have to see what this is all about. Apparently it opens in July.
21. Morbius
I also don’t like vampires, so I don’t know if I’ll actually watch this. I know Morbius the character isn’t a legitimate vampire, but still the thing is a bit off-putting, with a trailer that is stylish but still formulaic. The biggest draw for me is that Matt Smith is in it–he looks a lot like the Doctor in a grumpy mood in his one appearance in the trailer. I don’t imagine he has a lot to do here but am sort of curious. It comes out in January.
20. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Is there another Aquaman movie coming out? Yes there is, in December. Out of all the major DCEU characters that I’ve seen, this is the character I’m probably least interested in a follow-up for. The first Aquaman movie was a bit of harmless fun. If this movie is the same still rates a few spaces off the bottom.
19. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
The first Black Panther film is beloved by many but actually not very good–it’s set in a world riddled with nonsense and tells a banal story completely devoid of surprises. Only Chadwick Boseman’s earnestness and Michael B. Jordan’s depth made it interesting. Jordan’s character died in the film and Boseman died in real life, so it’s hard to imagine what will be left for the sequel. But even if it’s just a bunch of cool running around and fighting, Marvel usually does that well so hopefully it’ll at least be diverting to watch (in November).
18. Lightyear
The idea that this film is about the “real life” astronaut who inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy in the Toy Story universe is a bit silly. It’d make a lot more sense if it this movie was the movie in the Toy Story universe that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy. But whatever, it looks pretty cool, and I’m looking forward to seeing it in June.
17. Only Murders in the Building
I really enjoyed the first season of the mystery comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. It ended on a huge cliffhanger, so a season 2 is a bit of a must. There’s no confirmed release date, but mid-2022 seems likely.
16. Ms. Marvel
The Disney+ series is slated to kick off in the (northern hemisphere) Summer of 2022, and features Imam Vellani as the stretchy Kamala Khan. Ms. Marvel is a pretty fun character in the comics so hopefully the series hits the mark.
15. Moon Knight
Sometime in 2022, Oscar Isaac breaks into the MCU with a series based on a character I don’t know much about. But I know that Oscar Isaac is a good actor that I’ll be happy to watch headline a show. Of course, he did play Apocalypse in that awful X-Men movie, so maybe I should tread a bit more cautiously.
Edit: I just realized that when I posted this a couple of weeks ago I included some sort of fan-made teaser for Moon Knight, rather than the actual trailer! Hilarious!
14. Jurassic World: Dominion
The last Jurassic World movie was sort of stupid beyond belief, but yet if Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, B.D. Wong and dinosaurs are all back…I just have to watch it.
13. Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
The first Guardians of the Galaxy was great. The second one was not. Its been a long time, but soon James Gunn will be back with the third. Before then, we have this Disney+ show to bridge the gap. Apparently, it’s inspired in some way by the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Does any of this bode well for a show? Hard to say, but I’d like to see it.
12. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
In May, Doctor Strange is back in the film that was advertised at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. I think we are all going to sick of the multiverse pretty soon, but if this movie gets in quick it may still feel fresh.
11. The Mysterious Benedict Society
It wasn’t perfect, but the Disney+ show is a fun adaptation of the Trenton Lee Stewart book, and so a second season will be very welcome. There’s no firm release date but sometime in 2022 is the going bet.
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi
The six episode Star Wars show is expected to be released on Disney+ sometime this year, and is one of the only shows set in the Star Wars universe that actually sounds interesting to me. My friend Rod thinks it’ll be a bit of a drag because all the interesting ground has already been covered in the animated series…but I haven’t seen much of that so I’m still curious to see Ewan McGregor return to role. And Hayden Christensen as well! I’m not really interested in seeing Christensen play Darth Vader (that would definitely besmirch the character) but I’m curious to hear he’s back in the franchise somehow.
9. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
My enthusiasm for new Star Trek has been diminished by arrival of Paramount+ and the daunting prospect of having to seek out yet another streaming service to watch it. But Anson Mount’s Captain Pike is possibly the best addition to the franchise this decade, so a show about the guy–especially a more episodic show–it’s a very attractive prospect. Sometime in 2022 the online info says.
8. Mystery Science Theatre 3000
In the not too distant future, the movie-riffing show is back, but this time debuting on their own intern et platform–the Gizmoplex. I joined in for the crowdfunding campaign and I plan to be around when the show restarts sometime this year.
7. The Flash
The long-awaited Flash solo film hits in November, and sigh…it’s a multiverse film. Oh well. I don’t really have much expectation that this will be especially good, but I like the Flash (even though Ezra Miller has got nothing in common with my mental picture of Barry Allen), and so just like with a lot of the DCEU efforts, I’m certainly curious and interested. Based on where this is landing in my countdown, it seems I’m very curious and interested.
6. Mission Impossible 7
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Mission Impossible, even when it was bad. And Mission Impossible 6 (aka Fallout) wasn’t bad, it was the second bests film after part 3. And now Christopher McQuarrie is back to make another one in September, and I’m hoping he rocks it!
5. Doctor Who
It used to be we could count on Doctor Who being on TV every year for some substantial amount of time. Now we’re lucky if we get more than a holiday special. Well, this year we don’t have to wait long for a New Year’s special, and then there will be two more episodes after that. One of them will be part of the BBC’s 100 year celebration, might feature some returning Doctors, and will certainly have Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration out of the role. With the recent Flux being more enjoyable than we had any reason to hope for, we’re heading into 2022 riding on a high.
4. Thor: Love and Thunder
I’m not excited to see Natalie Portman in an enlarged role in a Thor movie, but I am excited to see another film by Taika Waititi. I know some people didn’t like Ragnarok because of all of its forced humor, but I am not one of those people–its probably in my Top 3 Marvel movies, and maybe the only one not directed by the Russo Brothers. The movie includes references to Thor’s links with the Guardians of the Galaxy, with both Chris Pratt and Karen Gillan appearing. So I’m definitely down for this in July.
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (part one)
In spite of few bumps, Into the Spider-Verse was a great superhero movie–just so much crazy fun. No Way Home rode its wave into the whole multi-verse concept, but here’s hoping the actual sequel will succeed at being bigger and better than the original. We’ll see in October!
2. The Batman
Some cool trailers have been building excitement for this project. In spite of tiresome comments from some of the talent behind it about how Batman isn’t a superhero (which just goes to show what I think is a misunderstanding of what that term means), I’m hoping that come this March, I’ll be able to say that this is the first Batman movie that I really love since The Dark Knight in 2008.
1. Lord of the Rings
I did not expect to see this at the number 1 spot on my list, but for no particular reason I’m growing in my hopes that this show will be really good. I think it’s just the prospect of seeing something big and epic in a universe that I have enjoyed in the past, but that is different from DC, Marvel or Star Wars. Also, I’ve been enjoying The Man in the High Castle which is not what I think Lord of the Rings will be like, but it’s got me geared up for more serious television offerings. I’ve no idea what it’s actually about but apparently there is hope that it will debut in September on Amazon Prime.
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