PopCult Reviews

State of the Blog 2023

Introduction

Every year around this time, you hear some people saying some form of, “I’m so glad to have X year in the rearview mirror; Y year is going to be so much better,” only for the same shit that plagued the previous year to just follow on into the next. I have noticed less of that this year. The Western world is at the start of a wake-up call, with Europe & North America being forced into situations where inflation & energy costs are driving their populations into deeper poverty than previously experienced.

November/December 2022 Digest

Features
Most Anticipated Movies of 2022 Review
Seth’s Favorite Books Read in 2022
Ariana’s Favorite Books Read in 2022
Ariana’s Favorite Comics Read in 2022
Seth’s Favorite Comics Read in 2022
Seth’s Favorite Television of 2022
Ariana’s Favorite Television of 2022
Seth’s Favorite Film Discoveries of 2022
Seth’s Favorite Films of 2022
Ariana’s Favorite Films of 2022
Patron Pick – Sweet Smell of Success [Matt]
Patron Pick – One True Thing [Bekah]
Patron Pick – Before Sunrise [Matt]
Patron Pick – Slumberland [Bekah]

Movie Review – White Noise

White Noise (2022)
Written & Directed by Noah Baumbach

Yeah, so American cinema is a corpse. To end my year on this movie is a sign that I need to slowly withdraw my time & energy from the majority of mainstream films coming out of the United States. Noah Baumbach was never one of my favorite directors, but I have enjoyed some of his recent work, especially his films on Netflix (The Meyerowitz Stories, Marriage Story). And I didn’t balk at the idea of him writing & directing an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, a book I’ve read twice and enjoy quite a bit. Baumbach seemed an excellent fit to bring a very unfilmable novel to the big screen. Then the first trailer dropped, and I started to question the tone. And then I watched the movie.

PopCult Podcast – Top 5 Favorite Films of 2022/Favorite Video Games Comics, Books, and TV of 2022

2022 is over, so let us look back at the things we loved from it.

Seth’s Favorite Films of 2022

Yes, that movie you think should be on the list is not here. I did see it. I just didn’t feel a connection to it like you did. I’m glad you liked it though. That’s the thing with these lists and why I specifically label them as my “favorites” and not “the best.” I don’t quite know how to really qualify what makes something “the best” but I can talk about why I personally love a film or a book or anything. And this is a time of year I love because I think back on what I saw and in particular what stuck with me.

This year I noticed some themes. One of them was women in difficult situations fighting their way out somehow. I also saw movies about children without guidance, having to grow up way too fast. There are a lot of films here that are angry, the creators have been thinking about something in the world that isn’t right and they are expressing that rage in their work. 2022 was not an easy year and it certainly has shown that things are likely going to get worse for the planet if they ever get better at all. You and I can do what we can in our own small ways. One of those ways is the expression of ourselves through art, like these fine filmmakers have done. It’s a powerful thing to say how you feel and allow others to know they aren’t alone in this cold, harsh world. On to the movies!

Ariana’s Favorite Films of 2022

The way I choose my top films is the ones I think about often. There are a few I failed to list that still haunt me such as Watcher and After Yang. These are the ones that linger with me and might deserve a second watch.

Seth’s Favorite Film Discoveries of 2022

These are not new films released in 2022, but older pictures that I finally watched this year and have stayed with me. There are a lot of familiar names here that I thought I understood, only to realize I did not. Now, I do and it has enriched my life as a result. I was so elated to partake in the work of such wonderful old masters and look forward to filling in more gaps in my film knowledge in 2023.

Ariana’s Favorite Television of 2022

Western, English-language television shows tend to surpass the movies in these cultures when it comes to how clever and interesting they can be. There’s been more of a focus lately on how capitalism or hyper-individualism tends to hurt us.

Enough with leftist ideology. What were Ariana’s top picks for this year? Let’s hear from a woman, not from the guy who mainly runs the site.

Seth’s Favorite Television of 2022

While we are in the midst of watching Better Call Saul, I decided to hold out on including it on a list until we finish in 2023. It would be on here if I didn’t. That said, there are some incredible shows I got to see in 2022. In a media landscape that is exploding like the universe after the Big Bang so many things get lost in the shuffle. Have you ever just browsed Netflix and found dozens of shows multiple seasons in that you have never heard of before. Warner Discovery started what could be a horrific trend this year, by shelving completed and close to finished projects for the sake of tax write-offs. I am guessing it is scary time to want to develop your own series, afraid to pursue you passion project as it might become someone’s tax loophole and your potential audience never sees it. In these instances, piracy is an ethical act, a form of curation & preservation that the major media conglomerates are blind to. There were animated series made by queer & BIPOC creators that got trash canned by Warner this year, even physical DVDs pulled off the shelves. Fuck that corporation and fuck the new owners. My hope is we can see creative people using the self-distribution models and smaller streaming platforms to get their passion projects out there. Let the big boys starve to death. They deserve it. On to my favorites.

Ariana’s Favorite Comic Books of 2022

Comic books, the poor person’s cartoons. I am kidding; if you’re purchasing comic books, there is nothing cheap about them.

This year, for me, was the year of reading more comics than books. Sometimes allowing your eyes to focus on beautifully penciled & inked art can be soothing. When the text gets to be a lot, you can look at the images to trick your brain into getting back into the story.