The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

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The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award

Previous Winners:  Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), In the Heights (2021), Mass (2021)

Ensemble casts are vital to the movie industry. Not every film has an obvious main protagonist. Instead they depend on deep and talented casts to provide the story.

2022 has its share of top notch ensemble casts. In fact, this year, as we did last year, has a tie in The Avengers: Endgame Ensemble Cast of the Year Award.

Before we reveal the winners this year, we have to look at the runners-up.

Runners-Up: Starting off, one of my favorite movies of the year featured a great ensemble cast in The Menu. You may argue that Ralph Fiennes is the main character which keeps that out of the winner’s circle. The Woman King had a great cast, led by Viola Davis in a film where they were not the Dora Milaje. Then, Bullet Train was a lot of fun, featuring Brad Pitt and Brian Tyree Henry. The second Kenneth Branagh film with him as Hercule Poirot, Death on the Nile, is better than the other film. Everything Everywhere All the Time is a great film, but the fact that Michelle Yeoh is the main protagonist, though the remainder of the cast was amazing. German film All Quiet on the Western Front was a solid remake on Netflix this year. There was a new Scream this year too (and next year as well).

Winner#1

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

This cast is amazing. Featuring the skills of Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Dominique Thorne, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Martin Freeman, Mabel Cadena, Michaela Coel, Florence Kasumba and Lake Bell.

This was a very emotional film for the cast to make, since they were moving on without their “king” Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020. You can tell that the actors in Wakanda Forever were definitely bringing it in honor of their fallen friend.

Winner #2

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

The second winner is another sequel, but there is only one returning character. Benoit Blanc, as played by Daniel Craig, is the pne connective tissue between the original Knives Out film and Glass Onion.

However, the rest of the cast is tremendous as well including Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., and Hugh Grant.

The idea of following Benoit Blanc into different mysteries with new ensemble casts is very engaging and Glass Onion was a ton of fun.

2023 Golden Globe Nominations

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Best Motion Picture, Drama

“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios) 

“Elvis” (Warner Bros.) 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) 

“Tár” (Focus Features) 

“Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) 

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix) 

“Triangle of Sadness” (Neon) 

Best Director, Motion Picture

James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) 

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Baz Luhrmann (“Elvis”) 

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

“Tár” (Focus Features) — Todd Field 

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Martin McDonagh 

“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Sarah Polley 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Austin Butler (“Elvis”) 

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 

Hugh Jackman (“The Son”)

Bill Nighy (“Living”) 

Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) 

Olivia Colman (“Empire of Light”) 

Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) 

Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 

Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Lesley Manville (“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) 

Margot Robbie (“Babylon”) 

Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu”) 

Emma Thompson (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) 

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Diego Calva (“Babylon”) 

Daniel Craig (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)

Adam Driver (“White Noise”) 

Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Ralph Fiennes (“The Menu”) 

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brad Pitt (“Babylon”)

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Eddie Redmayne (“The Good Nurse”)

Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 

Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Carey Mulligan (“She Said”)

Best Television Series, Drama

“Better Call Saul” (AMC) 

“The Crown” (Netflix) 

“House of the Dragon” (HBO) 

“Ozark” (Netflix) 

“Severance” (Apple TV+) 

Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy

“Abbott Elementary” (ABC) 

“The Bear” (FX)

“Hacks” (HBO Max)

“Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) 

“Wednesday” (Netflix) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama

Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”) 

Kevin Costner (“Yellowstone”)

Diego Luna (“Andor”)

Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)

Adam Scott (“Severance”)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama

Emma D’Arcy (“House of the Dragon”) 

Laura Linney (“Ozark”) 

Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”)

Hilary Swank (“Alaska Daily”)

Zendaya (“Euphoria”)

Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy

Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) 

Selena Gomez (“Only Murders in the Building”) 

Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) 

Jean Smart (“Hacks”) 

Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy

Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) 

Bill Hader (“Barry”) 

Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) 

Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”) 

Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”) 

Best Supporting Actor, Television

John Lithgow (“The Old Man”) 

Jonathan Pryce (“The Crown”) 

John Turturro (“Severance”) 

Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Best Supporting Actress, Television

Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”) 

Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) 

Julia Garner (“Ozark”) 

Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

“Black Bird” (Apple TV+) 

“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix) 

“The Dropout” (Hulu) 

“Pam & Tommy” (Hulu) 

“The White Lotus” (HBO) 

Best Performance by an Actor, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture made for Television

Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”) 

Colin Firth (“The Staircase”) 

Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 

Evan Peters (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 

Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Best Performance by an Actress, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

Jessica Chastain (“George and Tammy”) 

Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna”) 

Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Julia Roberts (“Gaslit”) 

Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”) 

Claire Danes (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”) 

Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 

Niecy Nash-Betts (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 

Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television

F. Murray Abraham (“The White Lotus”) 

Domhnall Gleeson (“The Patient”) 

Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”) 

Richard Jenkins (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 

Seth Rogen (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

“The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Carter Burwell

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat 

“Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Hildur Guðnadóttir 

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) — Justin Hurwitz 

“The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — John Williams  

Best Picture, Non-English Language

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) 

“Close” (Belgium) 

“Decision to Leave” (South Korea) 

“RRR” (India) 

Best Original Song, Motion Picture

“Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony Pictures) — Taylor Swift 

“Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro 

“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures) — Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice

“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) — Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler 

“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” (Variance Films) — Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj 

Best Motion Picture, Animated

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) 

“Inu-Oh” (GKIDS) 

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24) 

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (DreamWorks Animation) 

“Turning Red” (Pixar) 

https://variety.com/2022/awards/awards/golden-globes-nominations-list-nominees-2-1235455667/

The Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award

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I did not have a ton of nominees for this award this year. Next year it sure looks like Harrison Ford’s young Indiana Jones has to be considered a leading candidate, but this year was slight.

In fact, I only have two nominees.

Runner-up: Luke Skywalker (The Book of Boba Fett)

The Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award

Previous Winners:  Robert DeNiro (The Irishman), Mark Hamill (The Mandalorian), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man: No Way Home)

2022 Kurt Russell EGO De-Aging Award goes to…

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven (Stranger Things Season 4)

The flashbacks of Eleven that helped tell the origin of Vecna included many scenes with a young Millie Bobby Brown. At times they used Millie and other times they had a young actress Martie Blair (from Young & the Restless) do the scenes with a de-aged Millie Bobby Brown head CGIed on her body. Amazing what they can do with technology these days.

Avatar (2009)

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Avatar: The Way of Water comes out next weekend. Before it hit theaters, I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to rewatch the original James Cameron film from 2009. The first time I watched Avatar at home on DVD, I do not think that I made it all the way through. I was never invested in the film, but with the sequel coming, I wanted to give it another shot. This time, of course, it would be on Disney +.

I found Avatar way more interesting and exhilarating today than I did back then.

Are there still flaws to it. Absolutely. Is it just the movies Ferngully and Dances with Wolves redone? Yes. Are there narrative structure issues, such as a white savior? Yes. Were there problems with some clunky dialogue? I would agree with that as well.

However, the story gripped me immediately, unlike the first time. I connected with the characters much better than I did with the first viewing and I saw the positives in the film that made it into the highest grossing film of all time.

The special effects are stunning. They do hold up, although there were some times when you could see, in comparison to today’s CGI, where there were some spots lacking. In particular, the facial features of the Na’vi had some moments where they felt like the CGI used in She-Hulk. Of course, this was 23 years ago so this was ground breaking special effects at the time. I actually expect the sequel to have flawless special effects.

Sam Worthington was solid as Jake Sully, the paraplegic ex-Marine who was sent into Pandora to collect information on the Na’vi, via the use of an avatar. Sigourney Weaver was great as she always is as Dr. Grace Augustine, the scientist involved with the avatar program. Zoë Saldaña is in full motion capture as Neytiri, who becomes Jake’s teacher, trainer and eventual love.

Stephen Lang is a total bad ass as Colonel Miles Quaritch, the head of the mining operation to gain the natural resources of Pandora, Unobtainium (a silly name, still). Lang is a fantastic villain and the third act battle between him and Jake and Neytiri was satisfying.

Speaking of that third act, I want to call out those people who complain about comic book movies having an overstuffed CGI battle-fest in the third act. Those that bitch about that making a film not cinema must not watch the third act of this movie, because there is absolutely a comic book-style third act CGI battle in Avatar. Perhaps since this is Mr. James Cameron, they look at that final part of the film in a different light, which is one of, but not the only, hypocrisies of these movie snobs.

Watching this movie has helped create more of a buzz for the upcoming sequel for me than I had before. I found it much more compelling than I did when I first saw it and enjoyed the film despite the flaws that are here.

The 2022 “I See Kid Actors” Award

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I actually had a difficult time with this award because I had several choices to become the 2022 I See Kid Actors Award but there was not any that really jumped out at me. I mean, there were several decent performances and several solid work by the youngster of the movie world, but I did not think there was that real standout.

In fact, I found a lot of serious contenders who just did not made the age cut. For our purposes, a “kid actor” is a performer who was under the age of 18 during the calendar year. I had considered Sadie Sink from Stranger Things 4, but she was 20 years old. Her work on “Dear Billy” was brilliant (and you’ll see her name later in the Year in Review, I am sure). Then I thought a shoo-in would be Jenna Ortega for her work in the new Netflix series, Wednesday, but, she too, was 20 years old.

Then I found the winner.

I See Kid Actor Award 

Previous Winners:  Emjay Anthony (Chef), Jacob Trembley (Room), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Dafne Keen (Logan), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Noah Jupe (Honey Boy), McKenna Grace (Troop Zero), Jeremy T. Thomas (Antlers)

Runners-Up: Marlow Barkley did a solid job in the under appreciated Slumberland on Netflix. She carried much of that film with Jason Momoa. Real life twin brothers Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti played twins in the horror remake of Goodnight Mommy. They were the best part of that movie. Walker Scobell appeared in two films this year, the biggest being The Adam Project with Ryan Reynolds. He looks to be a star of the future. Then there was Banks Repeta who starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in Armageddon Time and looked like he belonged. How many adult actors could say that? Mason Thomas and Madeleine McGraw were so epic in Black Phone that one or both nearly took this award. In fact, they were probably the frontrunners until just recently. Then, Rueby Wood was fun in the surprisingly entertaining Disney + show Better Nate Than Ever.

However, I saw a film today that, 15 minutes into the film, I knew this would be my “I See Kid Actors” Award winner for 2022.

The I See Kid Actors Award for 2022 goes to…

Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical)

She was so spectacular in this movie that I knew that she was going to take home this award. She sang beautifully and provided so much emotion and energy that she could hold her own with Emma Thompson and make a character that was beloved by many from a 1996 movie and make it her own.

WWE 2022 Match of the Year

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It has been a great year in the WWE. Even when a lot of the storylines were repetitive or not as interesting, the matches were still delivering, especially with Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes and Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins.

#15. Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Asuka, Mia Yim and Alexa Bliss defeated Damage Control, Rhea Ripley and Nikki Cross, War Games, SummerSlam

#14. Roman Reigns defeated Logan Paul, Crown Jewel

#13. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin defeated Kevin Owens, Wrestlemania

#12. The Bloodline defeated The Brawling Brutes, Drew McIntyre and Kevin Owens, War Games, SummerSlam.

#11. Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns by DQ; Royal Rumble

#10. Matt Riddle defeated Seth Rollins, Fight Pit. Extreme Rules

#9. R.K. Bro defeated Alpha Academy and Seth Rollins/Kevin Owens. RAW

#8. Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre. Clash at the Castle

#7. Roman Reigns defeated Matt Riddle. Smackdown.

#6. Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins. Wrestlemania Backlash

#5. Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch. SummerSlam

#4. Roman Reign defeated Brock Lesnar Last Man Standing. SummerSlam.

#3. Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins. Wrestlemania 38

#2. Gunther defeated Sheamus. Clash at the Castle.

Quite the year for Roman Reigns, who was in six of the top 15 matches, Seth Rollins who was in five, and Kevin Owens and Matt Riddle (who found his first name!) were in three each. Two matches that appeared live and free on TV made this list, one from RAW and one from Smackdown. This is the first year in quite awhile that NXT did not make the list. Gunther and Sheamus had the banger of all bangers at Clash at the Castle and it solidified Sheamus as a fan favorite and a tough, tough man. Some runners-up outside the top 15 included Bianca Belair vs. Bayley, Ladder Match, Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch, Wrestlemania 38, The Bloodline vs. R.K.Bro nd Drew McIntyre, Wrestlemania Backlash, The Usos defeated The Street Profits, Money in the Bank, AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor, Survivor Series, Ricochet vs. Carmelo Hayes, NXT World’s Collide, Wes Lee wins North American Championship in Ladder Match, Bron Breakker vs. Ilja Draugnov vs. JD McDonagh, Halloween Havoc

…and the #1 WWE Match of the

Year…

#1. Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins, Hell in the Cell

There may have been better technical matches this year (including from these two), but the fat that Cody Rhodes went into this match with a severe injury, having torn his pec off the bone, and still was able to deliver a match full of drama and intensity, lacking nothing, speaks highly of both Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. The legit injury looked horrible and created such a stir in the audience. I remember when I first saw the injury that I couldn’t believe it was real and that the WWE would allow Cody to compete. The success of the match really sent Cody into the next stratosphere and set him up to be a huge babyface upon his return.

Matilda the Musical

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I have always enjoyed me some Roald Dahl. It had been many years since I saw the film adaptation of Dahl’s novel Matilda starring Danny DeVito. It had been so long now that I hardly remembered much about it. However, I was intrigued to see a new version of the film, in fact a musical, coming to the cinema before arriving on Netflix.

In truth, the new film, Matilda the Musical, is an adaptation of a multiple Tony and Olivier award-winning stage musical, which adapted Dahl’s novel and the last film. I was unaware of the stage version of this story, but it made sense with the level of music this movie displayed.

The basic story is the same. Matilda (Alisha Weir) in an exceptionally intelligent and talented child who was born into a family that did not ever want her. Her parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough) were selfish and self-absorbed and were desperately neglectful toward Matilda, including forgetting to send her to school. Matilda had taken it upon herself to learn on her own through reading and a positive relationship with librarian Mrs. Phelps (Sindhu Vee).

When Matilda was finally able to go to school, she was enrolled at a school where the headmistress was a vile, cruel and vicious woman named Agatha Trunchbull (Emma Thompson), who hated children and called them maggots, searching for every opportunity she had to punish them. Meanwhile, Matilda’s new classroom teacher, Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch) realized what a special girl Matilda was and looked to provide enrichment to the young genius.

I loved this musical. The music itself was just fantastic. The lyrics of these songs were brilliantly constructed and about as clever as they were going to be. I actually had some thoughts comparing these lyrics to the lyrics in Hamilton as I was listening to the wonderful word play. The music was catchy and engaging and never felt like it overshadowed the story. The choreography of the dance numbers to these songs were off the chart as well. The amazing cast of children performed these dance routines flawlessly and totally entertainingly.

Alisha Weir was astounding as the titular character. Not only did she nail her musical moments, Weir was engaging and filled with a remarkable energy every moment on the screen. As she was telling her story to Mrs. Phelps, she delivered it with so much emotion and energy that she absolutely sold the performance. She was able to hold her own with several talented actors who were her senior and had years more experience. Taking this film on her shoulders, Weir absolutely dominated the role.

Another performance of the utmost brilliance was Emma Thompson as Agatha Trunchbull. To be honest, I had no idea this was Thompson until the credits after the film ended. I had seen Emma Thompson’s name at the beginning, but it slipped my mind until the close. She delivered one of the best villainous roles of the year and the make up was unbelievable. She had been transformed into this hammer throwing, pigtail hating administrator. You could tell how much fun she was having with this role.

The other children were sensational too, whether they had a named role or were just background dancers for the music sections. Some of the excellent performers included Charlie Hodson-Prior, Rei Yamauchi Fulker, Meesha Garbett, Winter Jarrett-Glasspool and Ashton Robertson.

This was not a beat-by-beat remake of the Matilda movie from 1996 nor was it just the same film with musical numbers added to it. The story added some wonderful pieces to it to make Matilda the Musical its own thing. Some times it is difficult to adapt a stage play to the big screen, however, director Matthew Warchus hit every note beautifully. He had a history in musical theater and it showed with his translation here.

I had just the most exceptional time with Matilda the Musical and I cannot wait for this film to become available on Netflix so I can watch it again. I believe it is coming to Netflix this Christmas season so it give me one more thing to look forward to this holiday season.

5 stars

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

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The year of 2022 found two new versions of the iconic story of Pinocchio. One a live action versions from Disney and another a stop motion animated version from the mind of Guillermo del Toro. One of the films will wind up on the best films of the year list and the other will end up on the worst films of the year list. The version debuting on Netflix today is one of the best films of the year.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a beautiful masterpiece.

The story was familiar yet different in ways. This film took a little more time developing the relationship between Geppetto (David Bradley) and his child, Carlo (Alfie Tempest). I was unaware of the existence of Geppetto’s human son until I saw the Tom Hanks version of Pinocchio this year. However, this film spent more time on the relationship and so I had more of an emotional connection when Carlo met his fate.

The film was considerably darker than any other version of Pinocchio I have seen and that is saying something because the original Disney Pinocchio had some frightening moments in it. I found Geppetto’s reaction to Carlo’s death and the eventual arrival of Pinocchio very realistic. You can definitely see some of the fingerprints of director Guillermo del Toro all over this film.

The stop motion animation was unbelievably excellent. There was feel of puppetry in the film about a wooden boy puppet. I gasped when the Blue Fairy (She was actually called a Wood Sprite) showed up, she was so gorgeous that you could not take your minds off of her. The character designs were excellent. Whereas the other Pinocchio kept the iconic Disney look of Pinocchio, del Toro’s redesign of the puppet was stunning. The growth of the nose when Pinocchio would lie was a fabulous new look and made a lot of sense. I enjoyed the new appearance of Monstro too. It had a classic look with some new concepts within.

The film was dealing with some real themes that you might not have expected, including Fascism and immortality. Some of the scenes of the afterlife with Pinocchio were clever and creative.

The voice cast was exceptional. Ewan McGregor was a perfect choice for the narrator and the voice of Sebastian J. Cricket. Other voices in the film included Finn Wolfhard, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Tim Blake Nelson, Cate Blanchett, Ron Perlman, Burn Gorman and John Turturro.

The film built wonderfully through the film, as Pinocchio interacted with the other characters that were in his orbit. One of my favorite storylines in the film was the relationship between Pinocchio and Candlewick (Finn Wolfhard).

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio might be a touch too long, but that is a minor gripe and this animated film is just wonderful. It is more serious than your typical family movie, but it can introduce some vital topics all families need to know. This Pinocchio film is funny, dramatic and magical. It is one of the best films of the year.

5 stars

World of WWE

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The world of WWE is always interesting and it went through a major shift backstage this year as Chairman Vince McMahon stepped down from the creative and the control of the WWE. As all wrestling fans believed that hell had frozen over, Triple H, aka Paul Levesque, took over the WWE and immediately began making changes and re-signing wrestlers who had been let go. There was a lot of excitement in the world of wrestling and the WWE was on a roll.

Here are our World of WWE Awards.

Male Wrestler of the Year: Roman Reigns (runners-up: Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley). Roman Reigns has been the WWE and Universal Champion for the whole year and he has been involved in the hottest storylines of the year.

Female Wrestler of the Year: Bianca Belair (runners-up: Liv Morgan, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch). Bianca Belair has been dominating the RAW Women’s Division since regaining her championship at Wrestlemania. She seems to be the female John Cena.

Tag Team of the Year: The Usos (runners-up: Street Profits, RKBro, New Day, The Brawling Brutes). Jey and Jimmy Uso have set the all-time record for the longest Tag Team Championship reign of all time and defeated every one of the runners-up this year. The Usos never fail to deliver an awesome match.

Manager of the Year: Paul Heyman (runners-up: MVP, Scarlett). Technically, he is a “Wise Man.” But that is the general idea of the position and nobody plays his role better than Paul Heyman.

On the Mike: Kevin Owens (runners-up: Bray Wyatt, Paul Heyman, Edge). Kevin Owens has been killing it on the microphone this year. His confrontation with Austin Theory, Roman Reigns and the continuing storyline with Sami Zayn has elevated both Owens and his opponents. KO has been outstanding.

Faction of the Year: The Bloodline (runners-up: The Brawling Brutes, Imperium, The Judgment Day, The OC) The Bloodline group with Roman Reigns, The Usos, Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman has dominated and has been involved in the best work of the year. They win all the time and when they finally go down, it is going to be a huge thing.

Feud of the Year: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins. (runners-up: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesner, The Usos vs. Street Profits, Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch) The American Nightmare and The Architect put on three classic matches starting at Wrestlemania this year. Then, Seth took Cody out with a sledgehammer. This was so great.

Underused Performer of the Year: Shayna Basler. Shayna was a killer in NXT. She came to the main roster and immediately lost so much luster. She has just recently been linked with Ronda Rousey and hopefully that will be able to get her back on track.

Comeback of the Year: Cody Rhodes (runners-up: Brey Wyatt, Edge, The OC). Cody’s return at Wrestlemania is so great. It was so sad that he got hurt, but those months of his work was thrilling and the crowd absolutely ate it up.

Celebrity of the Year: Logan Paul. Who thought this guy was going to be good? He turned out incredibly well. His match with The Miz and Roman Reigns was excellent. He is not the typical celebrity.

Heel of the Year: Roman Reigns. Of course.

Face of the Year: Cody Rhodes. He will get one of the best face pops when he returns. Will it match his pop at Wrestlemania?

Storyline of the Year: The Bloodline/Sami Zayn. This has been so compelling and watching it every week was epic. You never knew what was going to happen next. And it is going to pay off BIG TIME.

Best Broadcaster: Pat McAfee. McAfee is so entertaining. He carries himself like a fan and he has helped Michael Cole so much.

Breakout Star: Solo Sikoa. This guy feels like a star in the making. He has been great since coming up from NXT. In fact, he has been so much better on the main roster than he was in NXT, which is not the typical.

Shock of the Year: Cody Rhodes reveals his torn pec at Hell in the Cell. The picture was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe that Cody was still going through with the match vs. Seth Rollins. It was legendary, but, sadly, we haven’t seen him since.

2022 Expendables Award for Acting Excellence

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The Expendables Awards are next up for the Year in Review…


Best Expendable Actor in a Film: Glenn Powell (Devotion). Powell is excellent in this film opposite the amazing Jonathan Majors. The film itself was okay.

Best Expendable Voice Over: Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish). I haven’t seen this yet, but the trailers look cool. Dolph Lundgren is the runner up for Minions: Rise of Gru.

The Bruce Willis Quantity Over Quality Expendables Award for Most Movies Made: Mel Gibson. Six movies this year for Mel. On the Line, Bandit, Hot Seat, Father Stu, Agent Game, Panama. I did not see any of them.

Expendable Actor Villain of the Year: Antonio Banderas (Uncharted) He played Santiago Moncade who died too quickly. When he went, the movie was definitely hurt.

The Expendable Women’s Wrestling Champion of the Year: Ronda Rousey. Ronda Rousey returned to the WWE and won the Smackdown Women’s Championship a couple of times.

EYG Star of Year

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2022 has been a good year. Things at the theater started to move back to normal and there were a ton of streaming films. However, it is always a challenge to choose the EYG Star of the Year because I’m looking for someone who dominated the year. The list was short for 2022, but I did finally make the decision.

EYG Star of the Year

Previous Winners:  Gal Gadot, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel Studios, J.J. Abrams, Josh Brolin, Damon Lindelof & Regina King, Netflix, Andrew Garfield

The runners-up were:

Florence Pugh was in several films this year and she is consistently good, no matter how good the film she is in was.

Margot Robbie was another solid performer who does well in everything that she does.

Dwayne Johnson is always a bundle of energy and the limited success of Black Adam is right on his back.

2022 EYG Star of the Year….

Tom Cruise

Top Gun: Maverick was the biggest film of 2022 and Tom Cruise’s star power drove the success of the unlikely sequel. I was not a fan of the original Top Gun but Cruise was very charming and carried this film. The truth was that Tom Cruise was a big reason why this movie was as great as it was.

Could he end up the year with an Oscar nomination for his role in Top Gun: Maverick? It is a possibility which is astounding.

One of the few remaining “Movie Stars” in the world, Tom Cruise has his first EYG Star of the Year Award.

The John Carter Memorial Award

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The John Carter Memorial Award goes to the biggest flop of the year. A flop does not necessarily mean that the movie is poor. It just means that the film was not a financial success, whether it lost money or whether it didn’t make as much as they thought it should have.

John Carter Memorial Award

Previous winners:  John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines, Playmobil: The Movie, The Rhythm Section, Reminiscence 

In fact, this year is the first time that I am presenting the John Carter Memorial Award to a film that I gave a positive review.

Before we go into that…

Runners-Up: I thought that Morbius was going to win this award. It was a flop twice. Once at the original release and the second time when they thought that the whole meme meant people wanted to see it again. Still, we got a much worse film later. Lightyear did not do well. It was not promoted very well and people were confused. I liked Lightyear though. Fantastic Beasts: Secret of Dumbledore was yet another flop in this series. The Northman was another film that did not quite find the audience that it wanted.

The John Carter Memorial

Award for 2022 goes to…

Strange World

Strange World was a really good movie for me. However, it was not a success monetarily. It is expected to lose upward of $100 million dollars. People did not know what this movie was about. The promotion of Strange World was just terrible, hiding items that they should have been front and center in trailers. They thought that this was an animated Disney flick and that would be enough to attract the audience. It was not. How many people just decided to stay home and wait for it on Disney +?

It only made 12 million in its opening weekend during Thanksgiving and then dropped 60% in week two. There is no two ways around it, Stranger World, even though I enjoyed the film myself, it the John Carter Memorial Award winner of 2022.

The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year

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Unlike when I was compiling the list for the Gomer Award, when I was looking for the disappointing film of the year, I was having a hard time finding them. I did eventually come up with six possible choices.

The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year 

Previous Winners:  In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

Runners-Up: The film that ALMOST won this award was Morbius. The only thing about this was I kind of expected it to be bad and that is what eventually happened. The School for Good and Evil was a show on Netflix that I thought was going to be the new generation of Harry Potter. I guess not. Shudder had a film with a character of Edgar Allan Poe called Raven’s Hollow. I love Poe, but this was terrible. Disney’s remake of Pinocchio with Tom Hanks was such a wash. The final runner-up was Jurassic World’s Dominion, which took these dinosaurs, which was across the whole world, and stuck them on an island where our heroes had to try an escape…just like all of them. This could have been an epic conclusion to the series and it just fell flat.

This year’s Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is…

Halloween Ends

I had gotten excited for this by seeing the trailer. Then, the movie they provided was nothing like the trailer until the last 15 minutes or so. It felt more like a reboot of the series than a finale of the series. The ending with Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie vs. Michael seemed tacked on to another film.

Very disappointing

Bones and All

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Anybody hungry?

I found myself anything but after watching the new film, Bones and All, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell.

Maren (Taylor Russell) was a young woman whose father kept her away from others. Soon it was revealed the reason for the isolation was an “Eater,” someone who felt the need to eat other humans. When her father left her, she took off on a mission to try and find her mother. Along the way, she met another “Eater” named Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and they travel the roads of the Midwest together facing the dangers of the world.

I did not find this movie very enjoyable at all. To be fair, both Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet do a solid job acting in this, though I was not 100% accepting of their apparent relationship. Mark Rylance was amazing as another “Eater” that Maren meets on her trek named Sully, who is a little more sinister than Lee. Rylance brought everything to the role and he was the best part of the movie.

I never accepted their relationship, nor did I buy their excuses. They kept making references to “having” to eat people, as if they needed to do so to survive, but the film keeps the details very sparse, allowing them to just do whatever the plot needed them to do. There were moments that the film implied that this was passed along genetically, but it also introduced someone who was eating people by choice.

The background of these characters were not sketched out well. At first, I thought that Maren, who had been given a tape recording by her father, would be more in depth, but that turned out to be lacking much of anything. Lee was given a backstory late in the film and it really felt tacked on. It had little to do with him either and was dismissed quickly.

The plot was played straight, but I had jokes in my head at every turn.

The film looked great and was shot well. There was plenty of gore involved in the movie, but it didn’t feel that it was that important to the overall story. At times the film focused on the cannibalism and other times it felt like it was not important to the story being told.

While it was well acted, Bones and All was just not a filling course. I guess it needed some salt.

2.2 stars