The movies and shows to catch up with as we start 2022

Polygon is back from their long, restful winter vacation. We enjoyed the holiday season with family and friends and are eagerly awaiting the new TV series, games, movies and comics that will be released in 2022. However, the break was used to watch old favourites and catch up on the 2021 entertainment.

Joaquin Phoenix’s heartwarming drama in black and white C’mon C’mon; HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant; a first-time watch of 1999’s The Matrix (!) — here’s everything we watched at home over the holidays.


C’mon C’mon

Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman in C’mon C’mon

Image: A24

It’s almost too easy to say that one of the best movies I saw over the holidays is one about the simple truth of living in someone else’s shoes, but that’s the magic of cinema, baby. We are reminded that old things can be made new and that they have a fundamental meaning.

C’mon C’monThis is Mike Mills’ latest movie. It tells the story of Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix), who works as a radio reporter and talks with children. He visits different parts of the country to ask children what their future plans are. Johnny himself, however, seems mired in a past he doesn’t ever want to talk about — and thanks to his solitary existence, no one’s really around to make him.

After a visit from his sister, he offers his assistance and watches his niece Jesse (9 years old) for a while. Jesse then goes on the road to interview children. In his time with Jesse, Johnny begins to better appreciate his sister and her struggles as a single parent, looking beyond the strained relationship they had as siblings and learning, through Jesse, that there’s maybe more growing to do.

It is very simple on paper. However, it does not work in practice. C’mon C’monIt hits like an empathic freight train. Mike Mills has a tender humanity to his work that’s become his trademark, and paired with the tremendous talent of Joaquin Phoenix, child actor Woody Norman, and black-and-white cinematography by Robbie Ryan, C’mon C’monThe movie transcends is not cloying nor saccharine. Instead, it is honest, first inviting you to feel its characters’ frustrations and fears, before finally, in the end, asking you to smile along with them. —Joshua Rivera

C’mon C’monThis apartment is available to be rented for $19.99 Amazon, AppleAnd Vudu.

The Flight Attendant

Kaley Cuoco in The Flight Attendant.

Photo by Colin Hutton/HBO Max

Have you ever lived through viral television without knowing much about the phenomenon? That’s me and HBO’s mystery-thriller series The Flight AttendantIt seemed that this was the only show anyone watched when season 1 aired in November 2020. I didn’t know why, until my sister pressured it on me during Christmas break. We ended up watching all eight episodes together for two days.

It’s a pretty knotty, compelling mystery, as a flight attendant named Cassie (Kaley Cuoco) “with an alcoholism problem,” per HBO’s description, makes a whole lot of bad choices and also ends up with an international murder problem, a “being pursued by the FBI” problem, a serious PTSD problem, and some hallucination problems. It’s a solid mystery, but it is an even more compelling story. Cassie finds herself in a dreamworld where she is able to navigate the murder as well as her own troubled mental state alongside the non-helpful victim. It’s creative, compelling, and very fast-paced, but you’ll need a strong tolerance for people making absolutely self-destructive decisions at every turn. —Tasha Robinson

The Flight AttendantIs streaming on HBO Max.

The Great

Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning as Emperor Peter III and Catherine the Great in The Great

Photo: Ollie Upton/Hulu

Season one of The GreatThis was something that I have never experienced before. It gave me the opportunity to watch a series my entire family is passionate about. We had to wait until we all got together for the holidays before we could watch the second series.

The Hulu original series very loosely adapts Catherine the Great’s rise to power, with some delightful anachronisms like wooden roller coasters invented for science fairs and crocodiles roaming through the court. It’s hard to pick favorites among the colorful cast of politically savvy (and horny) religious authorities, sad old generals, scheming courtiers, and an absolutely awful yet lovable former emperor. It’s violent and horny and yet incredibly charming and humorous. Catherine (Elle Fanning), has probably eaten more than she can chew. But we all know history is her friend, even though the show makes a lot of creative choices in describing her journey. This is not spoilery, however. The Great has one of the most delicious and fulfilling enemies-to-lovers arcs I’ve ever seen. Together, Elle Fanning & Nicholas Hoult make a powerful couple.

You won’t learn a lot of actual Russian history from watching The Great, but there were enough “occasionally true” (as the show’s subtitle emphasizes) moments to pique my curiosity and send me down Wikipedia rabbit holes. You can’t ask for more from a television show. —Petrana Radulovic

The GreatIs streaming on Hulu.

Lost in Space

(L to R) Taylor Russell as Judy Robinson, Brian Steele as Robot in episode 301 of Lost In Space

Image by Netflix

Being a space geek, I was thrilled to see the Lost in Space remake on Netflix in 2018. After watching the first episodes of Lost in Space, I started to doubt the marketing decision for the show to be family-friendly. The material was particularly problematic for my younger sons as a parent.

Warning: The premiere episode places fragile young explorers in serious danger. Making matters worse, in my opinion, was Parker Posey’s Dr. Zoe Smith, a menacing antagonist that goes far beyond mustache twirling into legit homicides pretty much right off the bat. My (at that time) 6-year-old daughter and 9-year old son were not up to the task.

Now, it’s 2022 and I find my tiny friends are quite a bit older. They also have things like a global pandemic and the transition to junior high school under their belt now, so the perils of space travel aren’t quite as scary. We are sailing through season 1 as a family, and I’m skipping ahead to make sure that the conclusion to this new, final third season is worthy of the time commitment. —Charlie Hall

Lost in SpaceIs streaming on Netflix.

The Most Inconvenient

A scene from “The Most Unknown,” a documentary by Ian Cheney.

Abramorama

Every crafting project that has a deadline ends in an entire evening of chaotic stitching. As I didggedly stitched the tiny felt cape that a friend had recommended, background viewing was possible. The Most InconvenientIt is not difficult to describe. It was a bit.

The Most Inconvenient is a science documentary, I am just now learning via Google, from director Ian Cheney and producer Werner Herzog, but it’s really about science communication. We are first introduced to a biologist, who studies cave slimes. The biologist then visits a scientist to discuss dark matter. To explore the secrets of cognition, the physicist visits a psychologist. Next, the psychologist takes off halfway around the globe to meet with a biologist researching extremophile bacteria. The circle continues, with scientists from all corners of the world visiting scientists, including remote telescopes high up in the mountains and strange fish down at sea level.

The topic of conversation is the “most unknown” answer in each specialist’s field of study, and from that prompt spring uncanny connections between the sciences and a deep sense of the joyfully undertaken Sisyphean task of laying another rung on the ladder to the universe’s mysteries, knowing that it may not get where it’s going until after you’re a footnote in a textbook. —Susana Polo

The Most InconvenientIs streaming on Netflix.

The Matrix

Neo stops bullets in The Matrix

Warner Bros. Pictures

It was fascinating. The MatrixIn 2021, it will be the first time that I have seen it. A bunch of folks here at Polygon were talking about the franchise in Slack when I admitted that I’d never seen the movie before. It was clear that memes and cultural references had helped me to get the essence of the movie.

These are the three things that I believed I knew. The Matrix: 1. Cool sunglasses are a must-have for everyone. 2. If you die in the Matrix, you die in real life. 3. You can find red and blue drugs that look just like Mike or Ikes.

In preparation, I went to the movie theater closest to me, bought popcorn and M&Ms, and settled down to watch The MatrixThat night. It was a night like any other. What the hell?? Nobody ever told me that. The MatrixLike That. (I mean it in a positive way. As it turns out, I was wrong about quite a few things. The MatrixIt is true, however there are so many more things that I couldn’t have imagined.

It was a mind-blowing experience that blew me out of my head in a way it did when I had 11. I’m also shocked that I was able to keep myself free from spoilers for so long; I was legitimately surprised by The Matrix. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up watching any more of the Matrix movies during the holiday break, but my husband did watch the second one with headphones while I was reaching. I looked up a few times and saw some people with what appeared to be baby powder on their faces and hair, and I’m eager to eventually see what’s up with that. —Nicole Carpenter

The MatrixIs streaming on HBO Max.

Woodlands Dark and Days Werewitched: The History of Folk Horror

Image: Severin Films

I’m not really sure I can recommend a three-hour documentary about a horror subgenre with no reservations, but that description alone should tell you if this movie’s for you.

Woodlands Dark and Days Werewitched: The History of Folk HorrorThe film explores the origins and inspirations of folk horror films all over the world. With such a massive subject, it isn’t the deepest documentary ever made, but what it lacks in depth it makes up for with truly impressive breadth.

Over its six parts, this doc covers the deep traditions of English paganism that make up the foundation of folk horror in the popular imagination — think The Wicker Man (1973). But it also expands the genre’s definitions to include things like American horror films about slavery and “ancient Indian burial grounds,” German and Scandinavian stories that date back to the Middle Ages, and movies about ancient Japanese demons. You can find dozens to dozens more films listed. Woodlands DarkThis is a fantastic primer for folk horror, and it also contains one of the best subgenre syllabuses I have ever seen. —Austen Goslin

Woodlands Dark and Days Werewitched: The History of Folk HorrorThis property is available for rental at $1.99 AmazonAvailable at $4.99 Apple$3.99 Vudu.

The Wheel of Time

Lan and Stepin play-fighting in a still from Wheel of Time

Photo by Jan Thijs/Amazon Prime Video

After having watched every single episode available, The Expanse’s final season, I was searching for another sagalike science fiction or fantasy show to sink into. Amazon Prime kept suggesting The Wheel of TimeI was not familiar with it but I decided to try.

The show grabbed me immediately, with its interpretation of magic wielding — known as channeling — and its order of women channelers, the Aes Sedai. Rosamund Pike plays Moiraine, an Aes Sedai who is searching for the next “Dragon,” a heroic channeler who is destined to destroy the Dark One. There are, apparently, five possible candidates who might be the “Dragon Reborn,” and we’re not sure who it is.

The Wheel of TimeWith its action-heavy beginning and single strand narrative, it is easy to fall into. This helps avoid overexposure. There are many great scenes to channel, as well as tense battles against the trollocs (orc-like human-animal creatures), and plenty of teen romance. The plot is a bit predictable. You can alsoPropulsive. Characterizations feel a little haphazard sometimes. The five Dragons Reborn potential Dragons make out-of character decisions that seem more like plot progression.

But this doesn’t make it any less fun to watch. I’m always interested in the melodrama, and excited to see all of the familiar fantasy tropes that I’ve loved over the years. It’s been a while since I’ve sunk into a fantasy series — I never got into Game of ThronesThis is due to my very low tolerance for any onscreen gore. The Wheel of Time was a very welcome binge watch, and I’m excited to see what the next season looks like. —Nicole Clark

The Weel of TimeIs streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Naoki Urasawa’s Monster

Dr. Kenzo Tenma in a key art illustration for the 2004 anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster.

Madhouse

On a spur of the moment impulse, after viewing a movie. Resurrections of the MatrixAfter watching it a billion times, I finally decided to go back and rewatch my favorite anime. Monster. Based on Naoki Urasawa’s mystery thriller manga series, the 2004 anime directed by Masayuki Kojima (Made in AbyssThe animated series, which was produced by Madhouse Studios, has been called one of the most memorable of the early aughts. And for good reason: The adaptation of Urasawa’s meticulous plotting and multifaceted characters is fastidious and impressive, transforming an already riveting drama into a compulsively bingeworthy masterpiece.

This series is about Dr. Kenzo Tenma. He’s a young neurosurgeon who saves the lives of a serial killer-minded child. Implicated for a series of murders he didn’t commit, Tenma is forced to go on the run in search of proof of the killer’s existence in order to clear his name, only to be thrust into a terrifying conspiracy. However MonsterThe series was critically acclaimed and is just one of many anime made inaccessible by a lack of West-based licensing rights.

Other, but more convenient, options for watching the series include purchasing an anime box set or a regional-free DVD player. Does it really worth it? Having just completed my second watch and already tempted to start it again, I can confidently say the answer is an emphatic “yes.” Even barring that, it’s still worth it to seek out and start reading the original manga. —Toussaint Egan

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