Favorite Movies of 2021

Besides books, movies were my biggest blindspot in 2021. Even though I watched a lot of movies that came out this year, I missed some of the best. For that, you will have to excuse me. Of those I didn't see that were at the top of my list:

Pig

Passing

The Power of the Dog

No Sudden Move

Together Together

Zola

Cruella

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Riders of Justice

The Green Knight

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

However, of those I did get a chance to watch, here is my top 10:

10. The Harder They Fall

What I appreciated most about Jeymes Samuel’s directorial debut was its sheer ambition. It wants to be an epic, from the story itself to the set to the camera work to even the slick and quick editing at times. The first two-thirds of this movie moved entirely too slow though. The character introductions were fun but took entirely too long. They felt like a thoughtful hybrid of blaxploitation and western, but with the size of the ensemble, it just starts to drag. Once we got that last third though? (The planning and execution phase, so to speak.) The movie really takes off at that point. The camera starts to feel so much more dynamic, the score sets the stage wonderfully for the ensuing action. There are also some really good performances, but none better than Jonathan Majors (okay, maybe Zazie Beetz too). For its faults, I am hoping that Samuel sticks with genre movies, at least for a little while. I want to continue to see his vision play out on screen.

9. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

What an absolute delight of a movie. I have been a Kristen Wiig fan for a while now, but she really doesn’t disappoint when she has more creative control. Wiig and Annie Mumolo team up on this movie again (like they did on the hilarious Bridesmaids), this time starring the both of them as the titular Barb and Star. And they are just as dynamic playing off one another as they are absurd in these roles. This movie is a fever dream that features Jamie Dornan with a song and dance combination that you have to see to believe. So many parts of this film feel like non-sequiturs stacked on top of one another, and yet each of those moments are what gives the movie life.

8. Nobody

Bob Odenkirk is wonderful. I probably don’t have to tell you that, but his work in this particular just demonstrates how much he is capable of doing well. Nobody starts with a John Wick-esque premise as Odenkirk’s daughter’s missing bracelet. What happens next is a whole boat load of action with chaos sprinkled in every now and again. The more I sit with it, the more I realize that it does have a very similar arc to John Wick from beginning to end despite the two very different worlds the movies and its characters inhabit. Luckily, I happen to love John Wick.

7. Malignant

I mentioned on my 2021 television list that the older I get, the more interested I become in genre movies. This is another great example. Most of this movie is done with a campy tone; enjoyable but a bit overwrought. Then the film gets to its central premise (and subsequent twist) and it’s absolutely the wildest thing I saw on film this year. The scene in the police station, well, I’m not here to spoil anything. It’s a horror film on its face, and there are a number of spooky elements to it, but the movie becomes more than that. It leans into the absurdity of its twist in the best way possible.

6. Plan B

Part road trip movie, part coming-of-age movie, and all comedy, Plan B executes with a level of precision that comes from a seasoned veteran. Except this was Natalie Morales’ directorial debut (for a feature film). However, the most enjoyable aspect of this movie is the comedic duo of Kuhoo Verna and Victoria Moroles. Verna plays it straight to Moroles freewheeling comedy but typical of any good duo, it doesn’t work if it doesn’t have heart. Both Moroles and Verna bring that to their starring roles in abundance.

5. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

An animated film that takes advantage of its format. The colors, character movements, action, and backgrounds are vibrant and exploding with color. It doesn’t just help the bring the backgrounds to life but the characters too. The way each of them move comes through in their personality. Each frame of the film is bursting with life, and even though it can admittedly be a bit overwhelming at times, I never took the smile off my face.

4. Shiva Baby

The only piece of media that simultaneously made me feel this anxious and laugh hysterically at the same was Succession. It’s not just a tightly written and set comedy, it’s a tightly acted one too. Can you think of most mortifying situation you have ever been in? Amplify that by three of four and you’ll get the set-up of Shiva Baby. Yet another feature film debut (this one from Emma Seligman) for a writer, actress, and director who knocked it out of the park.

3. Old Henry

There’s such a meditative quality to this film. Perhaps that’s why I like it so much. It embraces the myths of the Old West without becoming too reliant on them. In that way, by the film’s end, it reminds me of what I love so much about Unforgiven. It simultaneously embraces all the cornerstones of the Western while working to subvert them. Not necessarily in an attempt to be clever but in an attempt to flesh out the omnipresent themes of revenge, answering for past actions, and family. It insists on the stakes feeling real and continuously escalating. At the film’s climax, there’s a twist. Not a twist that changes everything on its face, but one that feels so baked into the world of the film that you are not so much surprised as you are enthralled. Also, revealing a twist in the middle of a firefight is a really gutsy storytelling mood from an emotional perspective and Old Henry nails it. It nails it in large part to a number of a good performances in its cast. None better than Tim Blake Nelson who is quiet, sturdy, and just the right amount of mysterious as Old Henry himself. It’s not a film that seeks to be anything more than it is and perhaps that is exactly the reason it succeeds.

2. Judas and The Black Messiah

I first saw Judas and the Black Messiah in early March and ever since then, Daniel Kaluuya’s performance as Fred Hampton has been scorched in my brain. Given the film’s release so early in the year, it might be easy to cast it aside in an end of year list (yes, I admit I did look up to make sure it was released this year). Resist that urge though, and recognize that there may be no better actor working today than Kaluuya. Of course, Stanfield, Plemons, and Fishback are also such integral pieces to the film, but much of the film rides on tension. Stanfield is masterful at conveying that through his face. But nobody in the film controls the tension the way Kaluuya does. The same skills he honed in Widows and even Get Out to an extent are put to use in new ways here. (A quick aside: if you haven’t seen Widows, do me and yourself a favor and see that immediately. Aside over though as I have already gushed about this before).

1. Dune

If you’ve ever read Dune, you should know this shouldn’t work. Or if you have watched David Lynch’s attempt at adaptation, it should very clearly make you aware of how damn difficult a task it is. Hell, the only other notable attempt resulted in a movie about how the movie would be made (see: Jodoworsky’s Dune). But you also know that there are few filmmakers you would trust outright today to handle a largescale sci-fi epic than Denis Villeneuve. Luckily, the latter won out. This first part is admittedly a slow-burn. Just as the exposition started to wear me down though, something shifts. The movie opens up and doesn’t just tell us about this world, it invites us in. And I’ll be damned, it’s gorgeous. I mean, full of sand and nothingness, but gorgeous nonetheless.

Despite this not having as big a pool to pick from as the other lists, I promise all these movies are worth your time. Similar to the books though, to resolve the blind spots, I am open to recommendations!

Until next time.