Here we go, folks, my top 10 movies for 2021! No true masterpieces, though a few came *very* close. But let’s not delay, let’s jump right in!
Previous Rankings
#191-209
#171-190
#151-170
#131-150
#111-130
#91-110
#71-90
#51-70
#31-50
#11-30
What can I say about BELFAST (full review here)? I’m in love with pretty much everything about it. The story, the acting, the set pieces, even the black and white. It has some of the best performances, making up one of the best ensemble casts this year. A handful of my favorite scenes are here too, including my single favorite (not the full scene unfortunately).
As a coming-of-age romantic dramedy, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD tackles a tricky combination of genres. All of those have their own tropes and pitfalls, things that make them easy entertainment, if not always in an original way. But the incredibly smart script knows when to lean into those tropes and when to pull away. And Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie prove themselves more than up to the task.
MASS is a very difficult watch, but so worth it. It follows two sets of parents who meet to have a discussion. One set are the parents of a victim of a school shooter from a few years prior; the others are the parents of the shooter. It’s arguably the best acted movie of the year, and writer-director Fran Kranz toes the line perfectly with saying what needs to be said without it coming across as preachy.
NINE DAYS forces you to reckon with the meaning of life, and a whole bunch of other existential questions, led by a knockout performance from Winston Duke. I don’t want to say much more; go into this one as blind as possible.
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH was a multiple nominee at last year’s Oscars, including Best Picture and won one with Daniel Kaluuya for Supporting Actor. It’s a tour de force of storytelling and acting, and an important story at that.
Kristen Stewart in SPENCER as Princess Diana is the year’s best performance. A great mix of traditional drama and psychological drama, it dives deep into Diana’s mind during a pivotal Christmas holiday in 1991.
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (full review here) features Disney’s trademark A+ animation, along with a compelling story – about an underrepresented region of the world, no less – awesome action, and fun characters. In news that will shock no one, yeah, Disney’s still got it.
I know LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (full review here) ultimately proved divisive, but I love this movie. The visuals, the sound, production design, acting. Nailed it all. Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie are two of the best young actors working today, and they both get to flex their acting muscles in this one. And when you have the creativity of Edgar Wright giving moments like that incredible dancing scene – check out the behind the scenes as well – you’ve got a wild ride and a certified hit.
DUNE is maybe the most visually impressive movie from all of 2021, and is definitely one of the most visually impressive movie of the last several years. Some of the shots here are simply ridiculous. If you haven’t seen it yet, see it on the biggest, loudest screen you can find. But not only that, it also has a great sci-fi drama story populated with interesting characters. The biggest drawback is that is part one of a two-part story, and it feels like it. But it still mostly works, so I can’t knock it too much for that.
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (full review here) feels kind of similar to Infinity War and Endgame. There are so many characters, so many intersecting storylines, there’s no way it should work. But it does. It was so much fun seeing those older characters reappear in a new Spidey story (still won’t spoil whether or not Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield show up), and they fit in seamlessly. There was a great balance of mixing in the new-old characters, while still giving adequate time to the characters we’ve fallen in love with from the first two Holland movies.
And there we have it, my 2021 movie rankings are officially done. Big thanks to everyone who kept up, either reading each and every post, or just popping in for one or two. If you liked what you read, I’ll have more 2022 reviews coming throughout the year, which you can keep up with here.
