2022 Film & Television 4th Quarter Polls
Not sure what to watch on those rainy Sundays? Or those late Wednesday nights? Here are my awards for excellence in film and television for the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2022!
Circuit Artwork
If we hand out awards for sports, why not movies & television? With the fourth quarter of 2022 in the books, it’s time to look back at the best movies, shows & performances of the last three months! (Important to note that these are my favorites, not what I think are necessarily the best; that’s what my Oscars posts are for).
Remember that the number of nominees in each category is half (or rounded up with odd numbers) of the amount of projects I watched; so because I watched 19 movies, each film category has 10 nominees. And because I watched 11 shows, each TV category has 6 nominees.
Films:
Amsterdam
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Black Adam
Banshees of Inisherin
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Bones & All
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Halloween Ends
Hocus Pocus 2
Pinocchio
She Said
Spirited
Spoiler Alert
Strange World
The Fabelman’s
The Menu
Ticket to Paradise
Violent Night
Shows:
Andor season 1
Blockbuster season 1
Bob’s Burgers season 13
Fleishman is in Trouble season 1
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
I Am Groot Shorts
The Santa Clauses season 1
The White Lotus season 2
Wednesday season 1
Welcome to Chippendales season 1
Werewolf by Night Special
Now to the awards! (Each category is in alphabetical order, winners in bold)
Favorite Film
Avatar: The Way of Water
Banshees of Inisherin
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Pinocchio
She Said
Spirited
The Fabelman’s
The Menu
Violent Night
After a rough 3rd quarter, movies bounced back to close out 2022! Some really strong entries from Black Panther, Avatar & The Fabelman’s, but ultimately Benoit Blanc cracked the case and delivered the best movie of the 4th quarter! A phenomenal cast, a fun twist-within-a-twist, and some inspiring outfits carry Glass Onion to the best film of the quarter!
Favorite Performance By A Lead Actor in Film
Colin Ferrell as Padraic Suilleabhain (Banshees of Inisherin)
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc (Glass Onion)
David Harbour as Santa Claus (Violent Night)
Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy Fabelman (The Fabelman’s)
George Clooney as David Cotton (Ticket to Paradise)
Jim Parsons as Michael Ausiello (Spoiler Alert)
Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik (The Menu)
Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs (Spirited)
Timothee Chalamet as Lee (Bones and All)
Tenoch Huerta as Namor (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
This was a tough race to judge. I didn’t really love any of the lead actor performances this quarter, but I found Craig’s turn to be the most fun. Harbour probably gets the silver medal here, with Fiennes in third. (Sorry Ferrell, I didn’t think your performance was all that masterful. Insert shrug emoji here.)
Favorite Performance By A Lead Actress in Film
Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot (The Menu)
Jamie Lee-Curtis as Laurie Strode (Halloween Ends)
Janelle Monae as Helen/Andi Brand (Glass Onion)
Kerry Condon as Siobhan Suilleabhain (Banshees of Inisherin)
Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Margot Robbie as Valerie Voze (Amsterdam)
Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy (Babylon)
Michelle Williams as Mitzi Fabelman (The Fabelman’s)
Taylor Russell as Maren (Bones and All)
Zoe Saldana as Neytiri (Avatar: The Way of Water)
This was an easy call. Letitia Wright was incredible as Black Panther, and delivered the performance I was hoping she would since hearing the tragic news of the passing of Chadwick Boseman. She was funny, badass, and most importantly incredibly emotional. I would love to see her get more Oscar buzz than she’s been getting. We also have some history here! This is the first time an actor or actress has been nominated multiple times in the same category for a quarter poll! We saw Miles Teller get nominated as Supporting Actor in Film and Lead Actor in TV back in the 2nd quarter, but Margot Robbie makes Circuit history for nabbing two Favorite Lead Actress in Film nominations for her work in Amsterdam & Babylon. Two below-average movies, but two great roles for Margot.
Favorite Performance By A Supporting Actor in Film
Aldis Hodge as Hawkman (Black Adam)
Barry Keoghan as Dominic Kearney (Banshees of Inisherin)
Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad (Babylon)
Brendan Gleeson as Colm Doherty (Banshees of Inisherin)
Edward Norton as Miles Braun (Glass Onion)
Ewan McGregor as Cricket (Pinocchio)
Mark Rylance as Sully (Bones and All)
Paul Dano as Burt Fabelman (The Fabelman’s)
Stephen Lang as General Quaritch (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Will Ferrell as Ghost of Christmas Present (Spirited)
Actresses showed out this quarter, but the actors not so much. In an underwhelming field, Barry Keoghan takes the cake. I thought he was the best part of Banshees, and I am hoping he gets some Oscar love.
Favorite Performance By A Supporting Actress in Film
Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Carey Mulligan as Megan Twohey (She Said)
Danai Gurira as Okoye (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Iron Heart (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Hong Chau as Elsa (The Menu)
Janet McTeer as Lillian (The Menu)
Kaitlyn Dever as Lily Cotton (Ticket to Paradise)
Kathryn Hahn as Claire Debella (Glass Onion)
Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Sigourney Weaver as Keeri (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Some great performances here, with Mulligan & Weaver both delivering really strong bids, but ultimately the Queen wins the award. Bassett was incredible in Wakanda Forever, and I expect her to get Marvel’s long-elusive first acting Oscar nomination.
Movie Studio of the 4th Quarter
Disney/Fox! After a thoroughly disappointing first 3 quarters of 2022 for Disney/Fox, they finally capture gold in the 4th. They delivered the two biggest hits of the quarter with Wakanda Forever & The Way of Water, and also had Strange World, Banshees & The Menu to boot. Universal made a push with Violent Night & She Said, but the Mouse wins out.
Film Scoreboard: Nominations (Wins)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever- 7 (2)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery- 5 (2)
Banshees of Inisherin- 5 (1)
The Menu- 5
Avatar: The Way of Water- 4
The Fabelman’s- 4
Bones & All- 3
Spirited- 3
Babylon- 2
Pinocchio- 2
She Said- 2
Ticket to Paradise- 2
Violent Night- 2
Amsterdam- 1
Black Adam- 1
Halloween Ends- 1
Spoiler Alert- 1
Favorite Show
Andor season 1
Bob’s Burgers season 13
Fleishman is in Trouble season 1
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
The White Lotus season 2
Wednesday season 1
A hotly contested race between White Lotus & Wednesday, but ultimately the drama in Italy outweighed the mystery at Nevermore. I loved both, but I think the binge model bites Netflix again here. I got to experience 7 weeks of White Lotus, as opposed to one weekend with Wednesday. That matters.
Favorite Individual Episode
Comet-y of Errors (Bob’s Burgers season 13 episode 4)
If You Don’t Woe Me by Now (Wednesday season 1 episode 7)
One Way Out (Andor season 1 episode 10)
That’s Amore (The White Lotus season 2 episode 5)
The Plight Before Christmas (Bob’s Burgers season 13 episode 10)
Woe What a Night (Wednesday season 1 episode 4)
Wednesday Addams may have not won the ultimate prize of the quarter, but she does walk away with the first ever Favorite Episode win with “Woe What a Night”. An iconic episode highlighted by her ever-iconic dance sequence.
Favorite Performance By A Lead Actor in Television
Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Starlord (GotG Holiday Special)
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor (Andor)
H. Jon Benjamin as Bob Belcher (Bob’s Burgers)
Jesse Eisenberg as Toby Fleishman (Fleishman is in Trouble)
Kumail Nanjiani as Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Welcome to Chippendales)
Tim Allen as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus (The Santa Clauses)
Jesse Eisenberg is one of my favorite actors of all-time, so it was great to have him back in my life for 2 months. The show was pretty good, but Eisenberg was exceptional.
Favorite Performance By A Lead Actress in Television
Annaleigh Ashford as Irene (Welcome to Chippendales)
Elizabeth Mitchell as Carol Calvin/Mrs. Claus (The Santa Clauses)
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams (Wednesday)
Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone (Werewolf by Night Special)
Lizzy Caplan as Libby Epstein (Fleishman is in Trouble)
Pom Klementieff as Mantis (GotG Holiday Special)
One of the easiest decisions of the entire year. Jenna Ortega was electric as Wednesday Addams, and blew away this weaker field.
Favorite Performance By A Supporting Actor in Television
Andy Serkis as Kino Loy (Andor)
Michael Imperioli as Dominic Di Grasso (The White Lotus)
Murray Bartlett as Nick De Noia (Welcome to Chippendales)
Theo James as Cameron Babcock (The White Lotus)
Tom Hollander as Quentin (The White Lotus)
Victor Dorobantu as Thing (Wednesday)
These supporting actor/actress categories might as well just be renamed “Favorite White Lotus Character”. Hollander and James were the only two in contention here, but Hollander was just delicious in this role, wasn’t he? Devilishly charming, and he took the show from good to great when he arrived. He wins.
Favorite Performance By A Supporting Actress in Television
Aubrey Plaza as Harper Spiller (The White Lotus)
Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair (Wednesday)
Fiona Shaw as Maarva Andor (Andor)
Haley Lu Richardson as Portia (The White Lotus)
Kristen Schaal as Louise Belcher (Bob’s Burgers)
Meghann Fahy as Daphne Babcock (The White Lotus)
I am not a Parks & Rec fan, so this was really my first experience with Plaza. Wow. She was fantastic in this show, easily the best part of this season of White Lotus. (Notice Coolidge is not nominated; no, that isn’t a mistake. My favorite part of the show was her falling off the boat.)
Streamer of the 4th Quarter
Disney+! Much like the film side, Disney+ has been disappointing in 2022. But a strong finish with the GotG Holiday Special, Andor & The Santa Clauses (I liked it, I don’t care that no one else did), earned it the win. Had HBOMax put out one more quality program, they probably would have won. But they didn’t, so they don’t.
Television Scoreboard: Nominations (Wins)
The White Lotus- 8 (3)
Wednesday- 6 (2)
Andor- 5
Bob’s Burgers- 5
Fleishman is in Trouble- 3 (1)
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special- 3
Welcome to Chippendales- 3
The Santa Clauses- 2
Werewolf by Night Special- 1
There you have it! The Film & Television Awards for the 4th Quarter of 2022! Make sure to check back in at the beginning of January to see who will take home the ultimate hardware in the 2022 Film & Television Awards!