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With the end of 2021 finally here, it is time to rank the best movies of the year. A few quick notes before launching in. To be considered a movie had to be released in the calendar year 2021 and I had to have seen it. For a sample size, I have seen 50 movies this year so having to cut almost 80 percent of the list was a rough decision, not that it is necessarily a bad thing to have so many good movies come out in a calendar year that it is hard to decide what is and is not going to make a top ten list. That said, there were still quite a few big-name movies that I did not have the time to see this year. Without further ado, here is the list:
10. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: Unlike Marvel Studios’s other releases this year, both on Disney+ and theatrically, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings does not feel like a prelude to the rest of what they have going forward. Like any franchise movie it does set up a sequel, but unlike The Eternals or Black Widow or WandaVision or Loki (almost to a fault), this does not feel like required viewing to understand the next movie that’s coming. It is a self-contained family drama that is utterly rewatchable, even if it does fall into the trappings of the usual Marvel Studios third act.
Where to Stream: Disney+
9. The Mitchells Vs The Machines: Sony Animation has really been doing an excellent job with movies produced by Phillip Lord and Christopher Miller. Their latest is a family road trip movie that goes awry when a technology company introduces a new personal assistant AI to their mobile phones. This personal assistant becomes self-aware and uses the dependance of humans on technology to attempt to enslave the planet. The movie delivers all the standard comedy one would expect from Lord and Miller while also delivering the heart that made their past movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse into instant classics.
Where to Stream: Netflix
8. Free Guy: Science fiction in its purest form is designed to use extravagant technology to highlight a societal issue or concern about some technology coming in the near future. Free Guy is the story about what happens when AI becomes self-aware and is, to an extent, alive. It is wrapped neatly in a fun-filled romp through a virtual video game world but does not shy away from the harder science fiction topics. It is unique that a movie tells a story about self-aware AI without falling into the “and it is going to kill us all” trap of The Terminator, Tron, 2001: A Space Odyssey or WarGames among others. If a viewer likes this movie, Ted Chiang’s “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” out of his anthology Exhalation is another great look at what happens when AI begins to become self-aware.
Where to Stream: Disney+ on February 23rd, HBOMax Release Date TBD
7. Swan Song: This year may be the strongest year for science fiction in a long time. Swan Song tells the story of Cameron who is diagnosed with a terminal illness and is given the option to create a perfect clone himself, memories and all, and spare his family the grief of his death. What ensues is an exploration of the stages of grief as Cameron grieves the death of his life as this version of himself steps into his life, leaving him behind. Mahershala Ali carries the movie, adding another great performance to his resume.
Where to Stream: Apple TV+
6. CODA: CODA made headlines out of Sundance Film Festival early this year as it set the record for the most expensive sale in the festival’s history with a whopping $25 million. It is easy to see how this happened as it is the heartfelt story about a family where the mother, father, and older brother are all deaf, but the youngest daughter has her hearing. It flips the script on the traditional story about disability in an intriguing way as the youngest daughter wants to go away to school and pursue her dream of singing, leaving her family behind to struggle financially as they try to make do in a world that is not equipped for a family of fishers who don’t have their hearing. It is a beautiful, heartfelt story about this family that everyone should see.
Where to Stream: Apple TV+
5. The Suicide Squad: Following the, to put it diplomatically, misfire of 2016’s Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. decided to not abandon the franchise but inject fresh blood into it. Things that worked stayed (Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller) while things that didn’t work were jettisoned in favor of new characters, new actors, and a new director. The result is an ultraviolent and highly stylized indictment of United States foreign policy in Central and South America during the Cold War. The newcomers to the cast are fun additions and the mainstays are doing what worked for them the first time to better effect.
Where to Stream: HBOMax
4. Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): This documentary tells the story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in the format of a typical concert film. It uses beautifully restored footage and audio to tell the story of this long-forgotten event that helped to shape the next two decades of music. This movie is a fantastic microcosm of why pop culture is so important and how music and entertainment are now, and always have been, a reflection into broad societal issues.
Where to Stream: Hulu
3. Dune: Dune makes the list purely from the visual spectacle alone. It was the first movie of the pandemic-era that felt like it needed to be seen in the theater to fully appreciate the movie. If it was a purely visual feat, that would have been enough, but Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth and Jordan Spaihts, managed to adapt the first half of one of the seminal works of science fiction of the last century to the screen in a gripping way that is utterly rewatchable.
Where to Stream: HBOMax Release Date TBD
2. Tick, Tick… Boom!: Lin-Manuel Miranda makes his directorial debut with this adaptation of the semi-autobiographical play by the late Jonathan Larson. Andrew Garfield plays the manic anxiety of the late-20s Larson going through a quarter-life crisis to great effect, relaying the story to the audience in a powerful yet relatable way. There is an added layer of dramatic irony and sadness because the audience knows that Larson does die very young so his anxiety about not accomplishing enough by his 30th birthday hits even harder.
Where to Stream: Netflix
1. Nightmare Alley: Nightmare Alley takes the number one spot on this list easily as a timely remake about what happens when greed runs awry. It is a powerful cautionary tale about people who take advantage of those who are feeling profound loss. Everything about this movie works from the production design to the casting to the direction. Bradley Cooper continues to prove himself as a tremendous talent and Guillermo del Toro shows his versatility, moving from his usual comfort zone in the horror genre to a classic Noir story.
Where to Stream: Premium Video on Demand Release Date TBD, No Streamer Announced Yet
Honorable Mentions from Other Mediums
Movies were not the only thing to come out this year, but time constraints prevented me from watching or listening to enough of these mediums to do an entire countdown. For series, to be considered the entire season of said series had to have come out in the calendar year 2021, and for Audio Drama it just had to be released in the calendar year 2021 and had to have the standard conventions of a radio drama including sound effects and a cast of performers, not just a single reader.
Best Series: Infinity Train Book 4: Infinity Train originated on Cartoon Network in 2019 and quickly developed a cult fan community. The show was unique, each season was largely self-contained and followed one person as they joined the titular train which is a vehicle to explore, process, and accept a trauma that the character had been through. While Book 1 followed a girl who was dealing with her parents’ failing marriage, Book 2 followed a boy who had guilt over treating his brother poorly to gain popularity, and Book 3 followed a girl who had been on the train for years had had to accept her worth as a person, Book 4 followed a pair of childhood friends who had grown apart as their paths began to diverge. Each train on the car is themed differently with wildly different art styles and a puzzle for the protagonists to solve making this show one of the most innovative animated shows in a long time that truly shows what the medium can do when at its best. It does appear that Book 4 will be the end of the show, but other shows have been resurrected in the past so it is always possible that Book 5 may come to pass.
Where to Stream: HBOMax
Best Audio Drama: The Sandman Act II: Originally published from 1989 to 1996, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is considered by many to be one of the best comic books to ever be released. The impact of The Sandman on comics cannot be understated since it legitimized DC Comic’s adult imprint Vertigo which would eventually go on to print such titles as Transmetropolitan, Y: The Last Man, iZombie, Hellblazer, and Preacher. It follows the adventures of the physical embodiment of dreams named Morpheus. Act II adapts Season of Mists, A Game of You, and Fables and Reflections as a full cast recorded audio drama and is an excellent jumping on point for those who are looking forward to next year’s Netflix adaptation but want context. It is fantasy produced at the highest level and features an all-star cast including James McAvoy as Dream, Kat Dennings as his sister Death, Kristen Schaal as Delirium, David Tennant as Loki, Joanna Lumley as Lady Johanna Constantine, Michael Sheen as Lucifer Morningstar (played by Tom Ellis in the Fox/Netflix series) and Jeffrey Wright (fittingly) as Destiny. There is no better way to sell this beyond the synopsis of Season of Mists which is Lucifer abandoning Hell, freeing all the souls in torment, and giving Dream the keys so all the various gods from mythology come to the Realm of the Dreaming to negotiate terms to take control of Hell for themselves.
Where to Listen: Audible
