Back to the Theaters in 2021!
It’s that time again, for the ageless question:
“Bob, what were the best films of 2021? What should I go see?”
The six pictures above are from my top six films of 2021, all five star reviews. The Tragedy of Macbeth was the top of the heap for me, and three others are mentioned below, so I’ll note the other two here. The Last Duel was brutal, and “trigger warning” is far too trite a warning if sexual violence rattles you. And The Beatles: Get Back is eight hours for the fanatic only. You know who you are.
This year, I’d like to go through the list I find most useful for determining my personal watchlist priorities. The Metacritic list of films that appear on the most Top Ten critics lists. It doesn’t let me down, year after year.
Metacritic starts compiling these lists in early December, and is still adding to it. It grows to thirty films, and as of this writing, I’ve seen 23 of them (picking up a couple more this weekend). I’ll go through the list top to bottom, and indicate my rating, with an excerpt from my Letterboxd review. All ratings are out of a possible total of five stars.
If you’re wondering where to watch these, I’d recommend Justwatch.com. Search for the film title, and it will show you all the legit places you can see a movie, from the common sites like Amazon or Netflix, to the less well known but vital Kanopy and Kino Now.
The Power of the Dog (4 stars)
“[Benedict Cumberbatch] brought something more subtle and sinister to the screen. Someone who attended an Ivy League college knows how to humiliate without bloodshed, and belittle without leaving physical scars.”
Drive My Car (5 stars)
“This movie is three hours long, and I was totally absorbed the whole time….I haven’t seen anything recently with this many layers and symbolism.”
Licorice Pizza (5 stars)
“1973 was a strange time in the middle of cultural and economic change, and Anderson remembers it exactly the same way I do….Sean Penn and Tom Waits gave perfect portrayals of characters who had outlived their era, and were dealing with it via martini therapy. For me, they were my uncles, to a T.”
Dune (4 stars)
“Dune is very big. The production values, the scale of the story, it’s all very daunting. There’s a revisionist view of David Lynch’s film being pretty good, despite his disownership. It’s not. Denis Villeneuve avoids Lynch’s stumbles by only filming half the book, for 2.5 hours.”
West Side Story (5 stars)
“This movie is Romeo and Juliet, remember?” I warned my son, “This doesn’t end well. You know that, right?” This movie has more to say than its predecessor. There’s a Puerto Rican independence anthem sung by the Sharks, and a lot about gentrifying changes in New York City that won’t benefit anyone on the screen. The neighborhood will be replaced by the Lincoln Center, and boring people who will attend events at the Lincoln Center. It’s like a battle of the bands on the Titanic. “The gringos kill everything, eventually” is a sharp retort, but I couldn’t fault it. None of this interferes with the underlying love story. It just enhances it.”
The Green Knight (4 stars)
“My overwhelming impression of The Green Knight was about the substance of everything you see on the screen, and hear. There’s something about Lowery’s camera work that makes you notice everything in the frame, and particularly each item’s texture.”
Summer of Soul (4 and a half stars)
“The film is very generous with the musical clips, which is perfect. We get long, uninterrupted segments from several acts, and the production values for each was superb, for such a hastily assembled project….Also, how amazing does Marilyn McCoo still look?”
The Worst Person in the World (4 stars)
“I think the best thing this film pulled off was making such an aimless young woman so interesting regardless. She’s ditched a handful of career possibilities before this movie has barely broken ground….Still, she’s the core of a 2 hour film that rarely lagged for me….I really need to watch more films or TV set in Oslo. It seems like a wonderful place. Or, you know, actually go to Oslo.”
Pig (4 stars)
“The pretentiousness of absurd new dishes, including one served with local smoke, and the literal subterranean after hours violence that passes for entertainment, are a damning indictment by the writers, who are clearly contemptuous of the upper crust of this entire industry.”
Petite Maman (4 stars)
“I remember when my kids started asking really probing questions, and it’s a weird ride. It’s cool that someone is expressing interest in you, but how much is appropriate to honestly reveal to a child?”
Titane (3 stars)
“I am truly baffled by the absurdly high praise this movie has received. The word “fun” appears in several reviews I read. WTF? I’ll be generous, and give Julia Ducournau props for originality.”
The French Dispatch (4 and a half stars)
“This is pure whimsy, in the service of a brilliant tribute to The New Yorker…This was actually shot in a real French town, and look as hard as you can at the edges and corners, but you’ll only ever see precisely what Wes wants you to see.”
The Lost Daughter (4 stars)
“Think about everyone you know with kids, and ask yourself if Leda’s choices were truly out of the ordinary, except for in the movies. I can’t condemn her, just because she hasn’t been tagged by whatever good fairy is supposed to strike new mothers and imbue them with a nurturing glow.”
Red Rocket (4 stars)
“Sean Baker specializes in showing how the other half lives. Not really the other half, more like a small sliver thereof, but probably a bigger slice than we’d like to believe…Smart people in tough places and few prospects will find a way to survive, and all the characters in this movie are hanging in there.”
CODA (4 stars)
“CODA has something unusual — unapologetically crass horndog parents. Ruby’s parents were so genuine and unguarded. They yelled at each other with their hands like Ralph and Alice Kramden. Money issues threaten to derail their lifestyle, but not their marriage. They are a team for life”
Belfast (4 stars)
“Kenneth Branagh put together the only feel-good movie ever made about The Troubles (likely). That’s not to say there’s no strife or violence. Just that the audience ends up enjoying themselves probably too much, and for a black and white film, there’s an awful lot of rose-colored remembrances.”
The Card Counter (4 stars)
“Tell is a lousy name for a poker player, and he has a few tells from his past that aren’t hard to spot. He shows a quick twitch at least once, and when he wants to impress you with his argument, he leans in and burns holes through you with his dead eyes, in counterpoint to his quiet vocal delivery.”
Spencer (4 and a half stars)
“Twelve year old me watched the most beautiful woman I had ever seen get married to a clownish dude with big ears, utterly convinced that it only happened because she hadn’t met me yet….I was completely absorbed by Kristen Stewart in this movie. It was no trouble to believe she was Diana. At one point her son asks why she is so sad. An important question, since her sadness is the heart of this movie. If we don’t get a sense of the miserable parts of her life, then the reaction to this movie can only be “boo hoo poor little rich girl!” We only see three days of her life, ten years into her marriage. Those three days are so absurd, so mentally taxing, that we have no problem believing how she’s descended into an emotional wreck.”
C’mon C’mon (3 stars)
“In the end, Jesse, Johnny and Viv have learned a lot about each other, which is great and somewhat interesting to watch, but as a movie it didn’t have much impact for me.”
The Mitchells vs The Machines (3 and a half stars)
“Just because some machine forces led by a malevolent Olivia Colman-voiced cell phone are on the verge of firing the entire human race into space doesn’t mean you can’t reevaluate how well dad understands his daughter’s tastes in film production”
Annette (4 stars)
“The brilliant opening act tells you what the rest of the movie will be like — unpredictable, musically whimsical, but tedious after a while. The scene lasts too long, just as many others, meaning the whole film lingered beyond my patience.”
Passing (4 and a half stars)
“I didn’t expect all the additional layers of “passing” that apply to Irene. Nor did I expect the inner discussion of how many ways people are “passing” all the time. The difference is that some types of passing can be fatal if discovered.”
The Tragedy of Macbeth (5 stars)
“I want my MacB to be spooky and atmospheric, and this couldn’t fit the bill better. It’s filmed in black and white, with major influences from Bergman and M.C. Escher…Denzel is easily the most charismatic MacB I’ve ever seen. He never diminishes, even as his world is collapsing.”
Other Films to Note
My memory sucks. There are films that I saw and reviewed in 2021 that I can barely remember. But there are a few that still resonate, mostly because of some striking visuals.
The Sparks Brothers was the second best music documentary of the year. Do you know who they are? I didn’t, and I wasn’t sure I was interested, but there wasn’t much else in the theaters. I’m so glad I took a chance on this. You might smack your head like I did when they play the 80s music video — “Oh yeah, I remember those guys!”
In the Heights was the second best musical of the year, and completely failed to bring audiences back to the theaters, as predicted. It was so fun, Bollywood in the Bronx.
Free Guy was the most fun I had at any film in 2021. Sophie saw it with me, and again, it was a last resort film that we attended on reputation only. I have zero interest in gaming. It didn’t matter. It had me at comically nefarious Taika Waititi.
Parts of Last Night in Soho were the most stunning visual treat I saw in 2021. The great Thomasin McKenzie travels back in time to 1965 swinging London, and becomes Anya Taylor-Joy waltzing through nightclubs. Brilliant direction and breathless camera work.
There were several other four star films and up for me in 2021. I didn’t see as many films overall; only 122 films seen in 2021, and only 61 with release dates in 2021. That’s down considerably from 2020, but allowed me to be more selective.
Mr Anderson(s), we meet again, and again, and again.
Wes and Paul Thomas Anderson both released movies this year, the first time that celestial conjunction has occurred since 2014 with Grand Budapest Hotel and Inherent Vice, respectively. Both are “event” directors for me and many others, with high anticipation before each release. Wes has left me cold with recent films, but The French Dispatch brought me back, with his best visual wit since Moonrise Kingdom. And of course, there was another Matrix movie released in 2021, unseen by me. San Francisco was hot with Keanu sightings for a few weeks, and they premiered the film at the Castro Theater, an old SF movie palace I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t visited yet. Even with Neil Patrick Harris, it couldn’t entice me, sorry.
Black and White and Beautiful All Over
Notable B&W films were released in 2021. A few (Belfast, Passing, The French Dispatch which was a hybrid) were intended to convey an older era, while the others like MacB and C’mon C’mon were showcases for stunning photography. I don’t know why one director makes a choice to show 1960s Ireland in monochrome, while another shows 1970s Los Angeles in glorious color (albeit with dominant earth tones). It doesn’t always work for me. MacB’s settings were so alien that it didn’t matter, but I’d like to see what the Troubles were like in color.
No Emperor’s List?
That’s right, I didn’t really hate anything this year that others highly praised. I tried to hate Titane, but I couldn’t help admire it’s originality. The two worst films I saw in 2021 were Spaceballs and Armageddon, because people kept telling me I had to see them. I don’t listen to people who tell me I have to devour a six-pack of Taco Bell Chipotle Cheddar Chalupas, so why do I bother with these bad films? Like, how can you consider yourself a movie fan if you haven’t seen these, people argue with me. But I did like how Armageddon reviewed itself repeatedly: “It’s gonna blow!!”
Utterly Gross
Can you imagine being the guy who decides what projects to greenlight for a studio, after a year like this? The Matrix, Spielberg, and Lin-Manuel Miranda films (In the Heights, not Encanto) all flop, while Spidey sets records. Should you only back Marvel movies now? The below chart of top grossing 2021 films from boxofficemojo is ridiculous.
In 2021, the 100th best grossing film was “Lamb” from Iceland (and shortlisted for the Oscar foreign language category). It made $2.67 million. We’ll ignore 2020. In 2019, the 100th best grossing film was “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” whatever the hell that was. Never heard of it, and it made over eight times as much as Lamb, $22.2 million.
At the end of this writing, I’m heading out to see a double-feature of Belle and Parallel Mothers, because it’s what I do. I’m tired of the empty non-Spidey theaters though. I hope you’ll join me sometime.
Yet to come…
These are the 2021 films on my wishlist I haven’t seen yet. Please let me know if you loved any of them!
Brighton 4th
Sundown
The Conductor
Compartment №6
Sin
The Strong Ones
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
Hive
High Ground
The Killing of Two Lovers
The Duke
Space Sweepers
The Velvet Queen
The Hand of God
President
Margrete Queen of the North
The Novice
France
Benedetta
Encanto
I Was A Simple Man
Night Raiders
7 Prisoners
The Beta Test
The Souvenir Part 2
The Harder They Fall
Labyrinth of Cinema
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
Lamb
The Guilty
Language Lessons
Azor
Who You Think I Am
Escape from Mogadishu
John and the Hole
Sabaya
First Date
Till Death
No Sudden Move
Plan B
The Perfect Candidate
Oxygen
Together Together
We Broke Up
Gunda
Rose Plays Julie
Wojnarowicz
Stray
Mafia Inc
Test Pattern
I Care a Lot
Flora & Ulysses
Baby, Done
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
My Little Sister
MLK/FBI
