The Surlaw Reviews - 1/2/23 - 2022 Year in Review

[The Wobbler]

Thanks for reading it! And now, games:

[The Wobbler]

First half of the year's up, here's my favorite things of the year so far! Expect a more in-depth write up on each of these at the end of the year.

Games:

Persona 5 Strikers - Excellent sequel and a very fun brawler, a nice relaxing summer vacation mystery.

Later Alligator (Switch Version) - Cute, funny, nice minigames, great writing.

Nier Replicant - A remake of one of my all-time favorites, now with better fightin' and a great new ending.

Resident Evil Village - What genre of horror is this one? All of them. It rules. Funny, spooky, great atmosphere.

Movies:

Promising Young Woman - An incredibly grounded horror/revenge movie driven by a remarkable performance by Carrie Mulligan

Come True - An incredibly effective mood piece about dreams with outstanding art design in its nightmare realm.

The Paper Tigers - I love stories that walk the line between genuine drama and abrupt silliness and this one balances that perfectly. It's sweet, moving, funny, and has really solid fight scenes.

Lapsis - A look at automation and the exploitative nature of the Gig Economy told through the eyes of a grumpy, ordinary dude just trying to pay his brother's medical bills.

Zack Snyder Justice League - A really fun movie on its own plus a damning look at studio meddling.

Music:

Marina - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land - A refinement of and iteration on everything that came before, Marina's 5th album is her best work to date and probably my favorite new album of the last decade.

[The Wobbler]

This year I'm doing things a little differently, focusing on my top ten movies and games (plus honorable mentions) rather than summarizing everything I watched and played. I don't feel like writing about stuff I didn't like.

[The Wobbler]

I haven't been writing full length movie reviews lately but I'm posting on Letterboxd all the time if anyone wants to exchange accounts https://letterboxd.com/surlaw/

I've got a couple lists if you want to check them out -

100 Really Cool Movies I Think People Should Watch https://boxd.it/fDUxu

Modern Horror Good Movies List https://boxd.it/duGly

[The Wobbler]

I didn't think I was going to do it but I wrote a game of the year list for 2022, here it is:
Games of 2022

Movies of 2022

[TMC]

Donut Dodo was a surprise! I hadn't heard of it.