2021 didn't deliver the immediate bounce back everybody wished, prayed, and hoped for, especially after the events of January 6. We all had to suffer through a deluge of misinformation, people spewing anger and utter nonsense, and the unending waves of COVID infections and variants. And yet despite all of the head-shaking drama and complete hogwash, we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. We may have to keep pulling on all of the buffoons' hands, even when they stomp their feet endlessly or break off and suffer the eventual consequences, but we're starting to see some better results.
As for the film industry, well, the results weren't as kind. One of their earliest galas of self-congratulations, the Golden Globe Awards, spawned an awful edition laden with technical difficulties and led to little to none viewership thanks to the near non-factor of movies in 2020 and bizarre rule changes. The Hollywood Foreign Press suffered an even greater blow when a news report revealed the lack of diversity in their ranks, eventually leading to studios to boycott the Globes and NBC to cancel further broadcasts. The Oscars tried to shake up their stagnant presentation in order to entice the public, only to have less than 10 million viewers watch an edition with no exciting stakes and a much criticized anticlimactic finale. The studios aggressively urged people to return to the cinema despite the ongoing pandemic with several theaters-only flicks only for the great majority of them, aka non-superhero pics, flopping or achieving less than stellar results. Despite great critical reviews and the monumental efforts put forth in them, save for one featuring a very old looking actor playing a teenager, every single movie musical bombed at the box office. Disney shut down Blue Sky Studios to no fanfare and continued their lambasted premium access plan to major movies via Disney+, which would come back to haunt them when Scarlet Johansson sued the company over their treatment of Black Widow. Netflix continued capturing the pop culture zeitgeist with their slew of original series, which greatly impacted their original film lineup when it wasn't also being overshadowed by the company's P.R. shit show. And finally, there's the still ongoing investigation and controversy over the Rust shooting tragedy, where a prop gun Alec Baldwin was handling discharged real rounds, injuring the director and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
But not everything was a total wash for the world of cinema. We got to see more representation and respect for female filmmakers, with Julia Ducournau becoming the first solo female winner of the Palme d'Or, Maggie Gyllenhaal break through as a new voice, and the celebrated return of Jane Campion. Lin-Manuel Miranda was everywhere, whether you wanted him or not, and scored a lot of notices both for his usual composing expertise and his film directorial debut. An anime juggernaut finally saw its box office shattering feature released in the States where it shockingly became one of the biggest films of the year, even earning the ultra-rare distinction of being the #1 film in the entire nation. HBO Max largely succeeded last year thanks to Warner Bros' experiment of releasing their major slate of films online and in theaters simultaneously. Several Netflix original films were strong enough to break out and deliver huge streaming numbers. And though I mocked it in the previous paragraph, the human experience of going to the movie theaters is slowly starting to rebuild itself.
As for me personally, 2021 was a better year than 2020 but the highs and lows were very wide. I got to reunite with friends and family and enjoyed their company again. I also was able to cross off something on my bucket list: I finally attended Madison Square Garden where I was lucky enough to witness the historic moment of Stephen Curry's becoming the new NBA 3-point scoring leader. However, something that I always feared would happen unfortunately came true: I lost a very beloved family member due to COVID. It was one of the most distressing moments I have had to experience in my life but luckily there was a lot of love and support to get me through it. That plus plenty of work and video games to help distract me. As per usual, my movie watching experience, even at home, continued to suffer throughout the year but I have lately been more active in breaking that curse. Having your yearly movie plan with Regal Unlimited being forcibly changed to a monthly one certainly helped spurn it.
My final total of 2021 films that I watched is 15. Hooray, a rare increase in my viewing habits! The downside, however, is that not all of the films I watched can be labeled as good and/or be placed in a Best Films list. Therefore, similar to last year, I have arranged them in the order of my opinion.
First up are four films that I can easily say are some of the Best of 2021 and would have been on my list.
1. Dune
I always love to applaud a filmmaker when they somehow are able to do the so called impossible and adapt a work largely deemed unfilmable. But Denis Villeneuve goes well above and beyond with this new take on the Frank Herbert novel, able to pour his own love of the source material and blend it with exceptional production design, a fantastic cast, an unconventional score, and CGI special effects that are far more believable and awe-inspiring than distracting. My sole issue is that I wished the film festival/opening weekend version of the film was the only cut, as the film was later changed in theaters to include the "Part One" opening credit and the bad ADR final line.
2. West Side Story
I was skeptical and annoyed at its announcement. Then the trailer dropped and shook up my expectations. It would then become both the most exciting and my most watched film in theaters for 2021. Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner did a great job carefully updating the material to a degree that helps make this reimagining of the Broadway musical stand on its own from the 1961 Hollywood classic. The sole slight that prevents this from being my number one film is the less than stellar singing of Ansel Elgort as Tony.
3. The Suicide Squad
This movie can be wisely labeled as being too much of a copy of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies but James Gunn does deliver another highly satisfying comic book romp albeit one where the executive limiters are turned way the hell off. Save for the weird abundance of bird killings, the violence is pitch perfect in its various executions, literally and figuratively. This is the kind of Suicide Squad/Secret Six story I wanted to be shared with the world.
4. The Power of the Dog
I would not mind in the slightest this being the big winner at the upcoming Oscars. Beautifully directed, shot, acted, and scored, it's the kind of movie that if released during a theaters-only era would have had everyone in the nation talking and debating thoroughly for weeks if not months. It also seemingly shares a tenuous but close connection to a Hitchcock movie that I quite admire. And just like that movie, my sole gripe against Jane Campion's latest is how the ending has to overexplain itself for the dummies in the audience before concluding with a devilish smirk.
Next up are seven films that I would most fittingly label as the "creamy middles" of the year; movies that would have very likely missed out on my Best of 2021 list but were quite effective in their execution and entertainment.
5. No Time To Die
Both a greatest hits of the entire James Bond franchise and a proper sendoff to the Daniel Craig era, this was a real treat in theaters. As many have already proclaimed, the sequence in Cuba was absolutely one of the best moments of 2021. I would even add the pretty terrifying first prologue to that list. If the makers could have had a chat with Rami Malek about his approach to Not Dr. No aka Luytsifer Safin (ugh even for 007 standards) or given some proper lighting of Lashana Lynch, this could have been higher.
6. Belfast
I can't deny the amount of great creativity and artistry Kenneth Branagh brought to what he has dubbed his "most personal film". And the acting from the entire ensemble is near excellent. But that incessant Van Morrison soundtrack really gutted some of the joy and heart I had with the picture.
7. Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train
This was the very first movie I saw back in theaters and I'm glad that even with a ton of asterisks it was able to shine brightly last year. It suffers somewhat due to it feeling less like an actual movie and more like a series of television episodes, which actually happened after some retooling in late 2021 with the premiere of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Arc. But the movie delivers the amazing animation quality expected from Ufotable and excels at trying to ring every single emotion out of you. Also, come the fuck on MPA with that R rating.
8. Zola
Equal parts funny and harrowing, this Sundance indie finally got to see the light and bequeathed the world a stranger than fiction tale supplemented by four great performances and another interesting score by Mica Levi. Other than to help break up the anime bloc, I put this slightly lower because I quite frankly have seen this story before. I'm not talking about the initial Twitter thread that spawned the film. I mean I have watched plenty of "Florida is dirty and sucks" movies since A24 released Spring Breakers and this frankly is just another one, also courtesy of A24, to add to the pile.
9. My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission
The My Hero Academia movies continue to fall a bit in quality with this one but it's still an entertaining shonen flick. I really liked the film's original character Rody and there are several great action sequences, particularly the city chase. And I'm always a sucker for new music from Asian Kung-Fu Generation. It's just too bad that the movie gets tripped up in the plot department, what with the initial storyline of Deku being framed for murder, the highly questionable motives and actions of the villains and how the final battle sadly boils down to "keep punching till its dead".
10. Sword Art Online The Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night
For my first dive into this incredibly popular/divisive franchise, the movie was wisely welcoming to all interested viewers and did well enough in the action and drama departments. I still have to chuckle though at how this 97 minute movie re-tells a story, albeit one from a different angle, that was told in less than half that time in the actual anime series. Plus the usage of "beater" as an insult. Oh lordy lord, that's pathetic.
11. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Marvel was doing a great job letting Destin Daniel Cretton and his crew craft a fun and exciting martial arts superhero movie with several winning performances and standout fights. Then they had to get their fudgy fingers into the mix and give us another tiring CGI-fueled "save the world" plot in the back half. And though I was all for the subplot with Xu Xialing, the film's stinger was so obnoxiously handled. Remember Marvel, feather touch, not POWER DRIVE.
The next batch are three films that were in the tough spot between entertaining and disappointing; the type of movies where there are elements I really liked but are hampered by the overall product. Unless I was truly desperate, these would narrowly avoid earning a spot on my Worst of 2021 list.
12. Old
Good ole M. Night Shyamalan. Pulling the same tricks to hoodwink viewers into watching his films that fall apart faster than a house of cards laced with sneezing powder. To be fair, amid all of its laughable dialogue and dumb reveals, there are a few genuine scenes of horror and I was swept up by the main couple's evolving relationship. This fits perfectly next to The Village in terms of the quality of Shyamalan's outputs.
13. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
I saw this in a packed theater, where the audience were completely silent throughout it all and quickly got up and left once the credits hit. Though I had some laughs and fun with it, I was also very dismayed at the endless fan service and adherence to the original film. And then there was the piss-poor third act and the CGI creation of a certain someone. Once again, Ghostbusters 2 remains the gold standard of this franchise's disappointing follow-ups.
14. Gintama: The Very Final
I might draw the ire of some anime fans for placing this low but I know that's all empty noise because they certainly didn't turn out to see this in theaters. The movie is so incredibly impenetrable for any non-fan of the cult manga/anime series, even with the convoluted prologue that also acts as a Dragon Ball Z parody. I was smiling and laughing when it got to its comedy portions but all of that is in the last third of the movie. You have to sit through a lot of so-so at best action and stale anime drama in order to get there.
And finally, a film that would have definitely made it onto my Worst of 2021 list, albeit in a lower rank, but has now become my Worst Film of 2021 by default.
15. Mortal Kombat
I am so, so glad this didn't come out on my birthday. That's not as bad as when Heaven Is For Real really did but this was would have been such a disappointing gift for me. A violent martial arts tournament film where the tournament never takes place, led by an unbelievably boring original character despite coming from a franchise littered with personalities. I don't care how cool the prologue was, it can't make up for all of the eye rolls I had when Kano was treated as a good guy or all of the hearty laughs whenever Jax's itty bitty teeny weeny robot arms were shown on screen. This wasn't the equivalent of Mortal Kombat 9; this was the equivalent of Bloody Roar 4.
And there you have it, my film recap of 2021. But that's not all! Tune in tomorrow to see a selection of my movie awards.
