Month: December 2022

2022 Endy Awards

These are the 2022 Endy Awards, wherein I pretend to give out maneki-neko statues to the best movies, performances, etc of this year in film. Awards for many other years can be found in the Rankings & Awards Index. Eligibility is determined by imdb date and by whether or not I’ve seen the movie in question. Films are presented in alphabetical order, and the winners are bolded. As always, the winners and nominees are subject to change as I watch more movies. And the Endy goes to. . .

Best Picture:

1. Apollo 10 1/2
2. Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb
3. Decision to Leave
4. Detective vs. Sleuths
5. The Fabelmans
6. The Novelist’s Film
7. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
8. Shin Ultraman
9. Three Thousand Years of Longing
10. Walk Up

Best Director:

1. James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
3. Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
4. Hong Sangsoo, The Novelist’s Film
5. Mani Ratnam, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1

Best Actor:

1. Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
2. Jon Hamm, Confess, Fletch
3. Lau Ching-wan, Detective vs. Sleuths
4. Austin Butler, Elvis
5. Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans
6. Karthi, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
7. Ram Charan, RRR
8. NT Rama Rao Jr, RRR
9. Idris Elba, Three Thousand Years of Longing
10. Kamal Haasan, Vikram
11. Kwon Hae-hyo, Walk Up
12. Adam Driver, White Noise

Best Actress:

1. Tang Wei, Decision to Leave
2. Aubrey Plaza, Emily the Criminal
3. Tilda Swinton, The Eternal Daughter
4. Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
5. Bae Doona, Next Sohee
6. Keke Palmer, Nope
7. Lee Hye-young, The Novelist’s Film
8. Amber Midthunder, Prey
9. Park So-dam, Special Delivery
10. Cate Blanchett, Tár
11. Tilda Swinton, Three Thousand Years of Longing
12. Viola Davis, The Woman King

Supporting Actor:

1. Anthony Hopkins, Armageddon Time
2. Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Willem Dafoe, Dead for a Dollar
4. Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
5. Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
6. Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
7. Michael Wincott, Nope
8. Vikram, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
9. Ray Stevenson, RRR
10. Vijay Sethupathi, Vikram

Supporting Actress:

1. Sigourney Weaver, Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Kristen Stewart, Crimes of the Future
4. Chloe East, The Fabelmans
5. Jessica Henwick, Glass Onion
6. Janice Man, New Kung Fu Cult Master
7. Kim Min-hee, The Novelist’s Film
8. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
9. Trisha, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
10. Lashana Lynch, The Woman King

Original Screenplay:

1. Apollo 10 1/2, Richard Linklater
2. Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb, Jon Bois & Alex Rubenstein
3. Detective vs. Sleuths, Wai Ka-fai, Ray Chan, & Mak Tin-shu
4. The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
5. Walk Up, Hong Sangsoo

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Confess, Fletch, Zev Borow & Greg Mottola
2. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1, Mani Ratnam & Elango Kumaravel
3. Shin Ultraman, Hideaki Anno
4. Three Thousand Years of Longing, George Miller & Augusta Gore
5. White Noise, Noah Baumbach

English Language Film:

1. Apollo 10 1/2 (Richard Linklater)
2. Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron)
3. Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb (Jon Bois)
4. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
5. Three Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller)

Non-English Language Film:

1. Detective vs. Sleuths (Wai Ka-fai)
2. The Novelist’s Film (Hong Sangsoo)
3. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 (Mani Ratnam)
4. Shin Ultraman (Higuchi Shinji)
5. Walk Up (Hong Sangsoo)

Non-Fiction Feature Film:

1. Blue Island (Chan Tze-woon)
2. Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb (Jon Bois)
3. Fire of Love (Sara Dosa)
4. The King of Wuxia (Lin Jing-jie)
5. Turn Every Page (Lizzie Gottlieb)

Animated Feature Film:

1. Apollo 10 1/2 (Richard Linklater)

Short Film:

1. How to Score Ten Runs in the First Inning and Lose (Jon Bois)
2. Section 1 (Jon Bois)
3. The Great Director (Xu Lei)

Unseen Film:


1. Benediction (Terence Davies)
2. Both Sides of the Blade (Claire Denis)
3. Pacification (Albert Serra)
4. Saint Omer (Alice Diop)
5. Stars at Noon (Claire Denis)

Film Editing:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Decision to Leave
3. Detective vs. Sleuths
4. RRR
5. Tár

Cinematography:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Decision to Leave
3. Nope
4. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
5. RRR

Art Direction:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. The Munsters
3. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
4. Three Thousand Years of Longing
5. White Noise

Costume Design:

1. Elvis
2. The Munsters
3. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
4. Three Thousand Years of Longing
5. White Noise

Make-Up and Hair:

1. Elvis
2. The Munsters
3. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
4. RRR
5. White Noise

Original Score:

1. Crimes of the Future
2. Decision to Leave
3. Nope
4. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1
5. RRR

Adapted Score:

1. Confess, Fletch
2. Decision to Leave
3. Don’t Worry Darling
4. Elvis
5. Tár

Choreography:

1. Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday
2. The Killer
3. Lost Bullet 2
4. The Princess
5. Special Delivery

Sound:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Decision to Leave
3. The Fabelmans
4. Nope
5. Tár

Sound Editing:

1. Ambulance
2. Avatar: The Way of Water
3. The Battle at Lake Changjin II
4. Nope
5. Top Gun: Maverick

Visual Effects:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
4. Nope
3. RRR
5. Shin Ultraman
5. Three Thousand Years of Longing

The Best Older Movies I Saw in 2022

An annual tradition here at The End, this is a look at my favorite film discoveries of the year, any movie more than a few years old that I saw for the first time in 2022. Previous years include: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. I watched just over 260 films this year, about a third of which qualified for this list. Here are 50 of my favorites.

1. House (Obayashi Nobuhiko, 1977)
2. A Confucian Confusion (Edward Yang, 1994)
3. The Seventh Curse (Lam Nai-choi, 1986)
4. Miami Blues (George Armitage, 1990)
5. Naked Killer (Clarence Fok, 1992)
6. The Daytrippers (Greg Mottola, 1997)
7. So Close (Corey Yuen, 2002)
8. The 7 Grandmasters (Joseph Kuo, 1977)
9. The Keep (Michael Mann, 1983)
10. Burning Ambition (Frankie Chan, 1989)
11. The Web of Death (Chor Yuen, 1976)
12. Dreaming the Reality (Tony Lou Chun-ku, 1991)
13. It’s a Drink! It’s a Bomb! (David Chung, 1985)
14. 18 Bronzemen (Joseph Kuo, 1976)
15. Tiger Cage II (Yuen Woo-ping, 1990)
16. Outlaw Brothers (Frankie Chan, 1990)
17. The 36 Deadly Styles (Joseph Kuo, 1979)
18. Gorgeous (Vincent Kok, 1999)
19. Angel Terminators 2 (Tony Lou Chun-ku & Chan Lau, 1993)
20. Nemesis (Albert Pyun, 1992)
21. Muppet Treasure Island (Brian Henson, 1996)
22. The Outlaws (Kang Yoon-Sung, 2017)
23. The Shaolin Kids (Joseph Kuo, 1975)
24. The Sandlot (David Mickey Evans, 1993)
25. Den of Thieves (Christian Gudegast, 2018)


26. Return of the 18 Bronzemen (Joseph Kuo, 1976)
27. Lethal Panther 2 (Cindy Chow, 1993)
28. Mercenaries from Hong Kong (Wong Jing, 1982)
29. A Girl at My Door (July Jung, 2014)
30. Prom Night (Paul Lynch, 1980)
31. Lethal Panther (Godfrey Ho, 1990)
32. Devil Hunters (Tony Lou Chun-ku, 1989)
33. In the Line of Duty VII: Sea Wolves (Cheng Siu-keung, 1991)
34. The Cat’s Meow (Peter Bogdanovich, 2001)
35. Hero (Corey Yuen, 1997)
36. The Admiral: Roaring Currents (Kim Han-min, 2014)
37. The Inspector Wears Skirts (Wellson Chin, 1988)
38. Butterfly & Sword (Michael Mak, 1993)
39. Tiger Cage 3 (Yuen Woo-ping, 1991)
40. The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (Miike Takashi, 2013)
41. Monkey Kung Fu (John Law Ma, 1979)
42. Project S (Supercop 2) (Stanley Tong, 1993)
43. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Peter Jackson, 2013)
44. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Peter Jackson, 2014)
45. The Shaolin Plot (Huang Feng, 1977)
46. The Eight Hundred (Guan Hu, 2020)
47. This is Korea! (John Ford, 1951)
48. Shaolin Kung Fu (Joseph Kuo, 1974)
49. Angel Terminators (Wai Lit, 1992)
50. Last Christmas (Paul Feig, 2019)

Books of 2022

This is a ranked list of the books I finished reading in 2022.

1. Compass, Mathias Énard
2. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
3. The Seagull, Anton Chekhov
4. The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan
5. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
6. Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie
7. Norwood, Charles Portis
8. A Hero Born (Condor Heroes #1), Louis Cha
9. A Bond Undone (Condor Heroes #2), Louis Cha
10. These Fists Break Bricks, Grady Hendrix & Chris Poggiali
11. The Flintstones: Deluxe Edition, Mark Russell & Steve Pugh
12. Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie
13. Memento Mori, Muriel Spark
14. The Essence of Entertainment: Cinema City’s Glory Days, HKFA
15. Cards on the Table, Agatha Christie
16. A Different Brilliance, The D & B Story, HKFA
17. Bruce, Peter Carlin Ames
18. Masters of Atlantis, Charles Portis
19.. The Good Asian Vol 1, Pornsak Pichetshote
20. Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs, Brian Hiatt
21. Ask for the Moon, Meredith Lewis
22. Poirot Loses a Client, Agatha Christie
23. Red Carpet, Erich Schwartzel

These are my favorites of the books I spent significant time reading in 2022 but did not (yet) finish:


1. The Annotated Arabian Nights, trans. Yasmine Seale
2. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
3. The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien
4. The Arabian Nights: A Companion, Robert Irwin
5. Hawaii (first two sections only), James Michener
6. Typee, Herman Melville
7. Killing Floor, Lee Child
8. The King James Bible
9. The Method, Isaac Butler
10. The Dawn of Everything, David Wengrow and David Graeber
11. Always in the Dark: A Study of Hong Kong Gangster Films, HK Film Archive
12. Dictionary of the Khazars, Milorad Pavić
13. Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber
14. The World of Jia Zhang-ke, Jean-Michel Frodon
15. God Only Knows: The Story of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the California Myth, David Leaf