2021 was a year that benefited from the tidal wave of constant delays that was 2020. As a result, it was particularly full of quality releases — which made whittling down the year’s catalog to 10 films an even more difficult task than usual. For this reason, this list includes an extended “honorable mentions” section to recognize the pictures of 2021 that were enjoyable, but ultimately found themselves outside of the top 10.
The movies recognized in this list are based purely on my own personal taste and opinions, and I’m sure a much more “sophisticated” 5000-word article exists to explain why “Drive My Car” was far and away the year’s greatest film. I’ve heard it’s great, but I haven’t seen it. Of all the movies I was lucky enough to see in 2021, here are the ones I enjoyed the most.
Honorable Mentions
The Power of the Dog
Army of the Dead
Free Guy
Judas and the Black Messiah
Pig
House of Gucci
King Richard
Don’t Look Up
Old
The Harder They Fall
10. No Time to Die
Daniel Craig’s swan song as 007 is full of backbreaking action, ambitious stunts, plenty of references to Craig’s time as the super spy and the best 10 minutes of Ana de Armas’ career. “No Time to Die” is a heartfelt ode to Craig and the character that’s defined his career. Despite a somewhat lacking villain in Rami Malek’s Lyutsifer Safin, director Cary Joji Fukunaga made sure to send the modern version of Bond out on a high note by putting a bow on the past 15 years of Bond films. The future of the franchise remains uncertain, but its latest installment is a worthy conclusion to its best and most recent era.
9. Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” is a loving and sentimental portrait of romance and life in California’s San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. It stars two unknowns in the world of feature films, Alana Haim — of Haim band fame — and Cooper Hoffman, son of the legendary character actor and frequent Anderson collaborator Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Haim and Hoffman play two young people finding themselves and their place in the world through their experiences in the Valley, while surrounded by a star-studded cast including Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn and Tom Waits. Loosely based on his and friends’ own childhood experiences, Anderson’s ninth feature is full of heart, great performances and an indefinable sense of coolness.
8. The Suicide Squad
In the time between being fired and rehired by Marvel, “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn was brought on by Warner Bros. to bring his unique sensibilities to their new version of the Suicide Squad. After David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad” in 2016 left all those involved with a sour taste in their mouths, Gunn’s soft reboot/sequel brought a much more fitting tone and rating to the super-team composed of career villains. His irreverently vulgar and violent take on the Squad and embrace of DC Comics’ most ridiculous characters was a breath of fresh air for a franchise that seemed dead in the water.
7. Last Night in Soho
“Last Night in Soho” is acclaimed director Edgar Wright’s most personally restrained film, yet also his most far-out conceptually. This film centers on 60s-obsessed fashion student Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) and her ghostly, dream state counterpart Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) as Ellie jumps between modern London to 60s Soho in her sleep each night. Wright’s latest creation is teeming with the kind of life and underlying, perpetual energy that make his films such a treat. It’s a frightening, neon-drenched cautionary tale about the pitfalls of nostalgia, backed with expert filmmaking and a pitch-perfect soundtrack.
6. Nightmare Alley
Scare-master Guillermo del Toro’s new film is a stone-cold examination of the black underbelly of human nature, told through the eyes of a 1940s carny-turned “psychic.” It’s a chilling and expertly crafted portrait of cinematic expression. Del Toro has again reminded us of the absolute mastery he wields over his craft — and with the help of one of the year’s best ensemble casts (Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, ect.) — has once again produced one of the very best films in a given year. “Nightmare Alley” isn’t a straight-up, jump-out-of-your-seat horror picture, but its incessant spookiness is enough to make anyone geek.
5. A Quiet Place Part II
The most “horror” of any film on this list, the sequel to 2018’s “A Quiet Place” is just as thoughtful and panic-inducing as its predecessor. Starring the same cast — with John Krasinski swapped for Cillian Murphy — “Part II” opens with day one of the dead-silent, post-apocalyptic world that audiences were thrown into back in 2018, before jumping forward to pick up right where the first film left off. It’s a rare sequel that adds context to and bolsters the original instead of using it as a crutch. Deaf actress Millicent Simmonds is the true star this time around, as her character discovers that her disability might actually be the key to defeating the sound-hunting alien monsters that have taken over Earth and destroyed her family's lives in the process. With Krasinski returning to write and direct, “A Quiet Place Part II” is a tense and terrifying sequel with an underlying sense of purpose.
4. Dune
If you saw just one movie in a theater in 2021, I truly hope it was “Dune.” In a time where fewer people are choosing to patron cinemas across the world, Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi spectacle was meticulously crafted with the theatrical experience in mind. Ironically, “Dune” was one of the many Warner Bros. properties to see a same-day release on HBO Max in conjunction with its theatrical opening. The film spectacularly adapts the first half of Frank Herbert’s iconically-influential 1965 novel into an ethereal, cinematic pleasure center with a truly epic scope. Villeneuve’s talents as a filmmaker have spoken for themselves throughout his career, and they continue to do so in his latest work. The French Canadian director has an unrivaled sense of scale which — paired with a haunting score from Hans Zimmer and another great ensemble cast — is a perfect marriage with the source material that Villeneuve himself reveres so much.
3. Zack Snyder’s Justice League
After leaving the production of 2017’s “Justice League” due to a family tragedy, many — including Zack Snyder himself — were convinced that Snyder’s version of the DC superhero team-up had been lost to time and creative differences. Yet, following fill-in director Joss Wheadon’s abysmal final product and massive fan outcry to “#ReleasetheSnyderCut,” the director was given the green light and funds to finish work on his version of the film as an HBO Max exclusive. The result was a four-hour epic which gave some of history’s most iconic heroes the shine they were denied four years prior. Snyder not only made one of the best films of the year, he also validated his original vision for the DC Universe and its future. His film is methodical, thoughtful and unworried about what it should be. Is it too long? Many will say so. But the “Lord of the Rings” movies also boasted significantly extended runtimes, and you couldn’t pause them at your leisure when they hit theaters. That’s not saying that “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is comparable to Peter Jackson’s historical cinematic achievement, but it's treading on strikingly similar territory.
2. The Green Knight
A subversive take on an Arthurian legend, “The Green Knight” is one the best medieval folk tales in recent memory. Dripping with breathtaking cinematography and backed by a layered lead performance from Dev Patel, David Lowery’s atmospheric take on the tale on Sir Gawain elevates its legendary source material, creating a sword-and-shield epic that redefines its subgenre and will likely leave a trail of imitators in its wake. It’s dazzling visuals, a resounding score and a cryptic narrative are enough to warrant multiple repeat viewings and will keep those mental wheels spinning long after the credits roll.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
The biggest movie of 2021, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was an unprecedented cinematic event that — for a brief moment — united the worldwide consciousness around a high school senior in red spandex. Previously half-full theaters were jam-packed for weeks with fans clad in full Spider-Man costumes, screaming their heads off at the screen. In a time where the cinematic experience is waning in general popularity, all it took were the three cinematic versions of Spidey to pull movie-goers right back into the theater. For anyone paying attention, the cat was out of the bag on Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s return for almost a year, but it made their cinematic reappearance no less impactful. Both Maguire and Garfield got plenty of shining moments, and it was clear that Garfield in particular was working out some unfinished business with the character in real time on screen.
It seems like Marvel Studios puts out an “unprecedented cinematic event” film every few years at this point, but this wasn’t an Avengers film starring a dozen of Hollywood’s most popular characters. Instead, “No Way Home” starred three versions of the same hero, along with a host of previous franchise villains from across the multiverse. Not all villains were created equal, but another great turn as Doctor Octopus by Alfred Molina and an all-time great Marvel villain in Willem Dafoe’s iconic Green Goblin were more than enough to make up for the neglect their contemporary rouges faced.
Spidey’s latest story is full of heart and reverence for a character that has defined the Marvel brand since his creation. Director Jon Watts has put a massive stamp on the most even and well-received of the three Spider-Man film franchises, and done so with a surprising amount of heartfelt emotion at his film’s core. I could go on and on about the rush of serotonin that washed over me during this movie, but the point has been made. “No Way Home” was a true cinematic event that many other studios will likely try to replicate in the coming years, and it’s the best movie of 2021.
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