The Not-Definitive 2021 Movie Rankings
no better time to rank 2021 movies than 1/24th of our way into 2022
First, A Treatise on Ranking and List Making as the Greatest Art Form….
Rankings and lists are my favorite forms of online writing. You want me to read something? Don’t give me untitled paragraphs, please. I’d much prefer an ordered list. Lists or rankings are compelling for a number of reasons (which I will order in a list…)
The format itself is easy to digest. When I open an essay and a ranking is presented, I know that what follows will be the author’s preferences in order from least best to best. To put it simply, when I see a ranking, with bolded numbers and titles and a small paragraph below, I know what I’m in for.
Rankings are aesthetically pleasing. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, it’s really fun to look at a big word in bold, a picture and then a paragraph of explanatory text. That way, if I just want to scour the list rather than fully read the justifications, I can do so easily.
Lists and rankings are outwardly subjective. When someone writes a ranking, there is no need to preface one’s own subjectivity. Even though I emphasized my own lack of definitiveness, rankings don’t necessitate an explicit warning that would go something like… “These rankings express my own opinions and are in no way representative of the entire movie-going or critical community.” This makes it easy to pair rankings with each other, in order to compare different perspectives. For instance, I enjoyed reading my favorite critics’ 2021 movie rankings because I could compare, contrast and synthesize in order to parse out what might be worth while and what might not be.
Rankings and lists usually signal the end of the year. The most fun time to have any culture related subscription is December when every publication puts out five lists that go “Best [insert thing] of [insert year].” Rankings usually signal a time of reflection and it’s fun to be a part of that on a personal level.
Even though we are well into January 2022, I thought the most truthful way to start off my substack would be a “Best of” movies edition for 2021. Personally, 2021 was the year I rediscovered movies. While I considered myself a TV buff in 2020, my appetite for long and in depth television series’ waned this past year. What replaced it was a reignited love and appreciation for the art of telling a contained story on screen in less than three hours (hopefully…and even better if it’s less than two).
Movies really appealed to me in 2021 for a number of reasons. To start, I spent the beginning of the year writing about movies and thinking about their relationship to culture and politics for my undergrad thesis. Then summer rolled around and COVID ended for a hot second and we could all go back into movie theatres and watch movies again! This was glorious and I spent many days in June and July watching awesome movies on big screens with loud sound. This renewed exuberance for movie theaters was paired with studios releasing actual good movies into them. 2020 was a movie desert, where the best movies would be considered fine to good in any other year. But after months (and years at this point) of pandemic related delays, we finally got to see some really good movies that were backlogged for some time. And we got to see them on the big screen.
With these forces coalescing, I finished 2021 with a much more complete awareness of the movie landscape and a deeper appreciation for the art of filmmaking. And after watching, ranking and re-ranking, I present…
…My Top 10 Movies of 2021
10. Inside
In thirty or forty years, our children and our children’s children will ask us, “what was it like living in a pandemic.” As an amateur historian and the writer of a cultural history thesis (as previously mentioned), I’m really interested in how people understand the overall vibe of the past through the art created during it. You can ask me in thirty years but if I had to bet right now, I think I would chose Bo Burnham’s comedy special/one-man-show/movie Inside as the most accurate reflection of the overall mood of living in a 2020 pandemic. It’s funny, clever and also profoundly sad. Inside captures the encroaching anxiety of experiencing life online- a process only amplified and hastened by a disease that traps us all inside our homes. When “anything and everything” are available “all of the time” at arm’s length, it’s hard not to feel the weight of the world resting in your palms. And the weight or the world is super fucking heavy, especially when “the whole worlds at your fingertips, the oceans at your door.” Whether the songs are about the vast expanse of the internet, Jeff Bezos, sexting, or panic attacks, there is a layer of existential dread that weaves itself throughout the movie. Because, as Bo Burnham so aptly points out, even when we one day get to leave our homes, we won’t be any less trapped inside.
Where to Watch: Netflix
9. Red Rocket
What is Red Rocket about? A financially bankrupt porn star who returns to his economically depressed hometown and stays with his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law while he gets back on his feet. But the plot barely matters. It’s the frame of a beautiful painting. It’s important because it sets the parameters and directs us where to look. But the frame itself is not what stuns and excites. It’s what the frame contains that is powerful and energizing. The plot is the frame and it is our window into a world that is far more fascinating than what brings us there. Simon Baker allows his audience to explore the sights and sounds of Texas City. The people who live so differently than the A24 obsessed urbanites that will go to theatres to watch this movie. We get to see people that work and live on the fringes of the cultural mainstream. Who sit and watch Fox News all day. We get to look at landscapes different from our own. Flashing lights that illuminate the night sky, not from skyscrapers but from towering oil refineries. It’s one of those movies where you leave wanting more. Not necessarily from Simon Rex’s exploitative and narcissistic Mikey Sabre character, but from the people and situations that fill this Gulf Coast community. While the plot gives this film purpose and humor, it’s everything that happens on the edges that kept me locked in and wanting more.
Where to Watch: go to a movie theater. I promise it’s fine
8. Annette
2021 was the year of the movie musical. We got on-screen versions of Broadway hits like In The Heights and Dear Evan Hansen. We were given a remake of one of the best movies and musicals of all time with Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Lin Manuel Miranda entered the conversation with his directorial debut tick tick…Boom. Some of these were terrible and some were great but none were original stories. Except Annette. Anchored by a Sparks Brothers score with direction by Leos Carax, Annette is anything but typical. It is refreshingly weird. And it’s not a musical made to be marketed by Disney. Movie musicals like West Side Story or In The Heights go for the spectacle of a big dance sequence or a powerful ensemble performance. Anette uses music as dialogue and a storytelling device. That in and of itself would be enough to be notable. But Adam Driver’s performance elevates Annette to another level. It is one of the best of the year. He explores success, fame and hubris in an absurdly outlandish yet somehow deeply rooted character study. It’s a stylish movie with big ideas. And it also features baby Annette. One of the many weird, half-human-half-not-babies in this year of weird movie babies (another essay for another time). There are plenty of reasons to see and to like this movie. Whether its because you like wooden babies, Adam Driver, musicals, or intense performance art is irrelevant. What matters is you give Annette a chance. Because whether you like it or not, you can’t argue with the guts of the filmmakers and the confidence of everyone involved to choose the provocative.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
7. The Last Duel
The Last Duel is a return to the past and a reach towards the future. Ridley Scott’s first of two 2021 features is not revolutionary in its cinematic style. It is a story that centers around a knight, his wife, and a squire. The film climaxes with a duel that the knight arranges to seek ultimate justice for his wife. However, this isn’t just your bread and butter, standard Ridley Scott movie. Structurally, it challenges the idea of truth itself and begs the audience to ask questions about the pursuit of honor and justice. It is the better of the two Ridley Scotts 2021 movies (albeit, maybe not the more entertaining one) and it is a return to the type of “movie made for adults” that Americans flocked to a decade ago. Unfortunately, even though these types of movies used to be the brick and mortar that Hollywood was built on, they don’t do good business anymore. In fact, the conversation about The Last Duel as a box office bomb made me want to crawl in a hole and never return. But lets not conflate artistic worth with box office success. The Last Duel may not have made anything but Ridley Scott made something. Hopefully more and more people discover its greatness on HBO Max so directors, producers and studios feel compelled to make more movies like it.
Where to Watch: HBOMax
6. The Power of the Dog
Power of the Dog is a movie with big ideas and big performances. It’s 2021’s premier masterwork- a film that is overflowing with complicated themes displayed through nuanced undertones. It feels of a piece with another treatise on the American DNA, There Will Be Blood. Maybe it’s the Johnny Greenwood score or maybe it’s the narcissistic and lanky leading males that anchor the films. Regardless, Campion seeks to place us in a similar world and ask us to reckon with the shattering of what we thought we knew. To do so, Campion doesn’t let your mind wander. While I spent the first hour wondering what this movie was about, I was never uninterested or bored. In fact, the contrary. I was locked in and searching. And for that focus, the ending pays off. I suspect this movie will only grow in the American consciousness as it’s watched, rewatched and aged. It’s endless layers only add to the experience. Like a good book, The Power of the Dog is ready to be picked up, dusted off, and poured over.
Where to Watch: Netflix
5. West Side Story
I hate remakes. I also hate movies based on intellectual property and most sequels. So you can imagine my apprehension when walking in the theatre to see West Side Story. This is a remake. This is not an original story. I know every single song. And in the lead up to the movie, I couldn’t help but ask myself “why do we need this.” Now the casting and representational issues that plague the original film warrant a reimagining, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I personally would be satisfied sitting in a theatre and watching a piece of art that was trying to do West Side Story as good as and if not better than a version that raked in 10 Oscars and is consistently noted as one of the best movies and musicals of all time. Thankfully I was wrong!
West Side Story (2021) is well worth anyone's time and is a true display of many of the best artists and craftspeople (at the top of their game) collaborating to create something great. Steven Spielberg directed and Tony Kushner penned the script- two recognizable names and some of the best in their field. But we also had Jeanine Tesori (prolific Broadway musical composer) helming the vocal production and Gustavo Dudamel of the L.A. Philharmonic conducting the orchestra. It’s the all-star involvement on all sides of the camera that communicates this project’s intent to be more than a money grab. Spielberg and company created both an homage to and a reimagining of this all-time great movie musical. And it succeeds gloriously. It not only rights the wrongs of the original movie but triumphs on its own terms. It’s masterfully paced and meticulously shot. And the visual language of the film, communicated through stunning cinematography, is intentionally rooted in its titular place- the West Side of New York City. It is a masterclass in technical filmmaking on almost every level. My only complaint is that it’s not the first time I’ve seen this story, so there is a limit to how excited I can be about it. But the fact that I’m this excited about something I knew about all along is a testament to the newest iteration of an all-time great.
Where to Watch: go to a movie theatre and treat yourself to a mixed coke and blue raspberry ICEE and drink half of it so you don’t have to pee in the middle of the movie and miss a single second
4. Dune Part 1
Dune rules. With a sci-fi franchise deemed impossible to imagine on screen, Denis Villeneuve again proves that nothing is too big for him to film. In Dune Part 1, the director not only transports his audience to the sands of Arrakis, but constructs a whole world for us to be fascinated by. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a sci-fi or action movie and left wanting to know more. Throughout the last decade, we’ve been suffocated by exposition excess- every plot point that isn’t explicitly illustrated on screen is explained by another movie coming out in December 2023. And while Part 2 will arrive, Dune lets us wonder without promising immediate answers. Denis treats his audience like adults and does not take the time to explain everything because we simply don’t need to know everything. Beyond the carefully crafted story, the technicality of the film itself is next to none. This movie belongs in theatres forever. The sound design rattles your inside and the spice on screen seems to jump off of it and straight into the theatre, hypnotizing everyone who locks eyes with the striking visual scope. Ultimately though, this movie will be immortalized in the halls of iconic sci-fi only if Dune Part 2 succeeds. If it does, we’re in for a treat.
Where to Watch: Theaters or HBOMax for a minute but now Amazon Prime for $19.99
3. Licorice Pizza
In this radical relaxation from an otherwise tightly wound and meticulous master, Paul Thomas Anderson tackles love, nostalgia, Hollywood and what it meant to grow up in the 1970s San Fernando Valley. Licorice Pizza is a painting of this very specific moment (and vibe) in American history. While the film still takes its audience on a journey, Licorice Pizza cares little about a clear destination. This, however, does not mean Paul Thomas Anderson has lost any of the focus, complexity, and beauty that he is so well regarded for. Mastery manifests differently in this work. It’s the electric performances of previously amateur actors Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. It’s the memory of the 1970s San Fernando Valley he so perfectly captures in beguiling nuggets of story and ineffable characters. It’s the experience he creates of going to a movie where people can laugh and remember and feel good and feel excited. Its a hang, but it’s a really good hang. Sometimes Paul Thomas Anderson makes you think. Licorice Pizza makes you feel.
Where to Watch: on a big movie screen where G-d and Paul Thomas Anderson intended it to be watched
2. Pig
A movie about a truffle hunter and his pig is one of the best movies of the year. Actually, it’s about a truffle hunter whose pig is kidnapped but that’s about all you should know before turning this one on. Nicholas Cage’s surprising performance paired with the propulsive storyline is a revelation. In a movie landscape filled to the brim with commercialized IP or predictable auteurist works, Pig does something different. Freshman director, Michael Sarnoski, delivers a thriller and a drama and a transformation all in just 90 minutes. While the logline may be simple, the ideas and emotions that ground the movie are complex. At its core, Pig is about the search for authenticity. Its about how difficult it is to sift through a world where everything feels performed. Sometimes it’s so difficult that you have to cut yourself off and live in the woods for a decade to do it. Regardless of where the journey takes you though, its the passion and the realness at the center that matters most. Go watch this one. It will defy your expectations at every turn.
Where to Watch: Hulu or Amazon Prime for $1.99
1. C’mon C’mon
If you’re looking for a 2021 movie that will make you cry, this one is it. C’mon C’mon is a masterfully composed examination of a strange but small family. It is the story of a public radio professional who takes care of his eccentric nephew while his sister cares for her husband. What sounds simple in its narrative construction is imbued with a tenderness and overflowing empathy for imperfect people. It’s use of real interviews of children working through their own relationship to their future mirrors Johnny using his nephew to better understand his own relationships. In the end, we’re all learning and growing and morphing and changing and adults need children just as much as children need adults. I don’t have a kid nor am I currently a kid and I still felt the heart and the pathos bursting through in C’mon C’mon. Frankly, it’s hard to not feel it.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime or Apple TV for $19.99 or a movie theatre if you’re in a big city
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