I don’t watch a lot of movies. I see new ones with the same interval most people make dental appointments. Watching movies is an investment; you give up two hours of your life and if the movie is good, it may enhance your life. Chances are, too, that the movie is bad and you will never get those two hours back. In late 2022 and early 2023 I saw an unusual amount of movies, some of them even in the theater oddly enough. What’s even more odd, the ratio of time wasted to world-changing thoughts provoked was surprisingly positive. I’m not saying 2022 was an overwhelmingly great year where every movie that came out was a Scorcese-level character piece, but I had fun watching some of them.

Technically I saw this movie in early 2023, but I went in with little expectations to see Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish. I had heard some people on the internet praise the story and the animation style, but then again, Puss in Boots is a franchise that was originally a spinoff of a sequel to an erect middle finger to Disney disguised as a movie. Furthermore, I remember going to see the first Puss in Boots in a theater, but I remember virtually nothing about the actual movie. I do remember a goose and Humpty Dumpty being the central villain, but nothing more. So remembering how unforgettable the first movie was and the franchise’s position in the grand scheme of Dreamwork’s things, you could understand that I was not expecting much, even though I definitely should have been knowing the result.

Puss in Boots 2 is an amazing movie. Not only is the animation a mix of traditional Dreamworks style and a hint of anime, which is inherently interesting, but it has speed and energy that matches the tempo of the scenes, which makes it fun to watch. The two main antagonists, the John Mulaney one and the other one, are very distinct from each other but equally entertaining. For a long time watching one family-friendly Pixar flick after another, I have begun to dread the way Disney et al have abandoned the idea of a traditional fairytale villain. These days Pixar films are all about life lessons and moral ambiguity, which was fine the first twelve times, but now it’s getting old. The Wolf in Puss in Boots 2 is my favorite type of villain; very funny but at the same time extremely intimidating (see The Joker in The Dark Knight or Gaunter O’Dimm in Witcher 3:Wild Hunt). I might actually go see a second sequel if they ever make one.

The other movie I have fond memories of watching was Everything Everywhere All at Once. Not only is the movie gut-punchingly funny and tears-in-eyes heartfelt, but it managed to do something no movie has done since The Dark Knight; it managed to topple the competition within ease and make its way to my favorite movie of all time.

Everything Everywhere All at Once, or EEAO for short, is a multi-dimensional tale about a Chinese laundromat owner and her relationship with her husband and daughter. I don’t want to talk too much about this movie because I don’t want to spoil anything, but it hits just the right spots for me. It starts out slightly absurdist and doesn’t let up. In fact, there is a fight scene early on between the laundromat lady and the IRS agent that was rather silly, and watching it I though the movie had reached maximum silliness. Oh, how wrong I was. What I love most about the movie that every time you think you have seen the craziest thing yet, the movie whacks you over the head with something even crazier and just keeps on going.

Again, I don’t want to spoil anything, but the moment a character played by Randy Newman, of all people, appeared, I was already in tears marveling at what this movie was doing to me. Movies rarely make me laugh, most of the time they manage get a light chuckle out of me or, at most, a sudden burst of air from my nostrils. This movie exceeded all expectations and made me laugh in tears. Not to say that the movie lacks drama; again, I don’t want to spoil anything, but the scene with the rocks, especially when the other one turns around, is at the same time one of the funniest and definitely the most touching scene in the movie. I did not know if my eyes were wet from laughter or this movie managing to strike sparks out of my flinty heart.

I have never had much respect for the Academy, I admit. The reason that I dislike the Oscars is that, in my opinion, most of the time the Best Picture Award goes to a movie that was specifically built for that award, hence the term Oscar bait. The Academy feeds into the loop that keeps churning out these soulless character/period dramas like Forrest Gump or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. You know, serious movies about characters suffering from circumstances manufactured to be as touching and thought-provoking as possible, even though it usually ends up being either a war or incurable illness.

EEAO winning a truckload of awards including the Best Picture changed my mind. I was a hundred percent sure that for the reasons I just listed, the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front was going to take the cake, since it’s a movie about the horrors of war, in addition to the war being the First World War which in turn has spawned more period dramas than widows. I was sure that the Academy would go for it since then we could all sit down and have a ponder about the point of sending young men to their deaths for no actual gain, and pat ourselves on the back for realizing that. EEAO winning the awards gave me hope that the Academy does actually care about the movies’ technical achievements and, most importantly, the feelings they make us experience while watching them.

There were many other movies that I saw last year and enjoyed, but these were the two I think about even now. I should probably watch more current and upcoming movies in case the same thing happens again and a movie exceeds all my expectations. Or maybe I’ll go back and watch Ratatouille while listening to the Toy Story soundtrack, for no particular reason.