On New Year’s Day, my husband and I revived our annual tradition of the movie marathon.  In the BeforeTimes, movies were released to theaters first, popping up on streaming or DVD months later.  Now they’re released on all formats simultaneously or nearly so, and theaters are ghost towns except for the ones showing the latest superhero thing.  Not that I mind semi-private screenings, but the fate of theaters worries me.  So many empty facilities, so many jobs lost, the end of an era.  

Norridge Theater, back in the day. Pic stolen from Cinema Treasures .

Our last movie on the docket, Violent Night, was showing in my old stomping grounds.  Norridge Theater is the same venue where I saw my first movie by myself (Angels in the Outfield, for $4.75), where my high school friends and I attended a free screening of The Fan with Robert DeNiro, walked out mid-way, and still felt cheated by the cost.  

Now part of the AMC chain, the east half of the building has since closed, the west half remodeled into a maze of luxury theaters.  The dingy mom-and-pop charm is gone along with the crowds.  We left the theater at 1:20am and met only fog in the parking lot, when two years ago it would have been bustling with teenagers.  The ride home was desolate, as it was the night before: many of the bars in our neighborhood, if they opened at all, closed at five.  Five!  On New Year’s Eve!  As much as I like the idea that staffers finally got to spend a holiday as they wished instead of cleaning up after mooks, I fear it’s not benevolence on the part of managers that caused the early lock-ups.

I rarely see anyone wearing a mask these days.  The booster rate is surprisingly low.  We’ve all shrugged our shoulders and plowed ahead.  At work, we’ve returned to in-person interviews and meetings.  At a time it seems we should be returning to “normal” with businesses thriving, I’m seeing more closures than I have in the last two years.  

We seem to be wandering, confused and empty.  Ghosts wondering why we haven’t leapt over to the next world yet.  Waiting for the next shoe to drop, I suppose.  What is left undone or unsaid, I wonder, as I try to connect with online friends without memes bridging the gap.

BeforeTimes traditions may have faded, and my peopling skills continue to flounder (I’m studying the humans for greater insight), but one thing steadfastly connects us all: The End-of-Year List.  

Everybody loves books and movies.  (Well, most of us, anyway.)  Both are always a great icebreaker, even if the conversation starts with “are you crazy?!”  

Some traditions I’m going to cling to, even as the world changes beneath my feet.

As usual, the disclaimers:

“Movies” has always included DVDs, but now also includes TV and streaming.

I don’t rank the work of friends and close colleagues.

These are personal favorites, not “best”, because what the hell is that, really.

The List disregards release date.

Of course I have lists of least favorites, those are the most fun to write.  But it’s a dick move to publish them, so the only people who know are my secret cadre of corporeal cronies (also a great name for an assembly of Batman villains).

If you’ve seen/read any of these, what did you think? Tell me your favorites too! I love recommendations.

MOVIES

Best

1.  Choke (2008)

2.  Blue, White, and Perfect (1942)

3.  Barry – seasons 1–3 (2018–20)

4.  See How They Run (2022)

5.  Petit Maman (2021)

6.  The Bear – season 1 (2022)

7.  Montana Story (2021)

8.  Moon (2009)

9.  Something in the Dirt (2022)

10. TIE - Michael Shayne, Private Detective; Sleepers West; Dressed to Kill; The Man Who Wouldn’t Die; Just Off Broadway; A Time to Kill (1940–1942)

11.  Hatful of Rain (1957)

12.  Cry of the City (1948)

13.  Reservation Dogs – season 1 (2021)

14.  Studio 666 (2022)

15.  Licorice Pizza (2022)

16.  Only Murders in the Building – season 2 (2022)

17.  Thief (1981)

18.  Nightbreed (1990)

19.  TIE - Final Destination 1–3 (slight edge to FD1; 2000, 2003, 2006)

Honorable Mentions

1.  Dexter: New Blood (2021)

2. Crimes of the Future (2022)

3.  Serial Killer’s Guide to Life (2019)

4.  Roadrunner: A Film Anthony Bourdain (2021)

5.  Atlanta – season 1 (2016)

6. The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

7.  Big Night (1996)

8.  No Time to Die (2021)

9.  Saloum (2021)

10. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)

11. The Patient – season…1? (2022)

BOOKS

Fiction

1.  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

2.  Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson

3.  Shoebox Train Wreck by John Mantooth

4.  Heaven’s Crooked Finger by Hank Early

5.  Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

6.  Recitatif by Toni Morrison

7.  Exhalation by Ted Chiang

8.  Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin

9.  Hard Mouth by Amanda Goldblatt

Nonfiction and Memoir
1.  World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

2.  Rock On by Dan Kennedy

3.  Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday

4.  One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Search for Silence in a Noisy World by Gordon Hempton

5.  Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses by Jackie Higgins

6.  Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman

7.  Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses

8.  Where they Purr by Paul Barbera

9.  We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans in Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff

10. Arbitrary Stupid Goal by Tamara Shopsin

11. The Body of John Oakhurst by John L. Anderson

12. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil

13. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell

Picture Books & YA

1.  Maudie and Me and the Dirty Book by Betty Miles

2.  TIE - Al Capone Does My Shirts and Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Jennifer Choldenko (slight edge to Shirts)

3.  Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora

4.  Speak!: Children's Book Illustrators Brag About Their Dogs by Michael Rosen

Poetry

1.  I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings and Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944 edited by Hana Volavkova

2.  Everything On It and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein