My Top 10 Films of 2021

I’m writing this a bit late but still wanted it for posterity. Despite already seeing a contender for best of 2022 with The Batman, 2021 had a lot of great films after the almost dead year for film in 2020. This was definitely one of the harder years to narrow down a top 10. Some of the runners up include Army of the Dead, The Last Duel, Gunpowder Milkshake, and Dune. There’s also several movies I still might try to see such as most of the Best Picture nominees. As for my actual list, a couple might be a surprise, but if you know me then you know the number one pick a mile away.

10. The Mitchells Vs. The Machines

The only animated film on this list is not a Disney or Pixar flick. This fun and heartfelt animated film by the creatives who worked on The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a real treat and is a great movie to watch as a family. All the main characters are written in a really relatable way with only a little cartoonish exaggeration. The plot is like Terminator but way more family friendly and it really works. Definitely one of many great Netflix movies in 2021.

9. Army of Thieves

A prequel to Zack Snyder’s zombie heist film Army of the Dead, which also released in 2021 but didn’t quite make my list, Army of Thieves really surprised me with how well made and unique this heist movie was. Director and star Matthias Schweighofer worked really well with the ensemble cast carrying out multiple unique heists all while he plays this total weirdo who you really feel for by the end. It was both an awesome heist movie and a parody of heist movies all while theres zombies elsewhere. This prequel would definitely work watching before or after Army of the Dead and I’d recommend both movies so you can decide for yourself which you like better. I’m definitely down for any more spin-offs or sequels or prequels that Snyder has cooking for this franchise.

8. The Suicide Squad

A movie that I went in thinking I’d hate, The Suicide Squad really shocked me how much I enjoyed it. It is hard to compare with the fist Suicide Squad (yes, this is a sequel despite the title) as that movie was intended to be a darker character driven movie until the studio had David Ayer reshoot a lot of it to make it like Deadpool. The Suicide Squad is what the studio clearly wanted the first one to be like but since it was made with that intention it really works. The cast is great, the action is fun, the characterizations are all on point, and the the visuals are very good. Definitely James Gunn’s best comic book movie.

7. The Green Knight

A very deep and slow-burn medieval epic about the price of honor. The visuals are outstanding and the different short storylines all add up to a very weird and confusing masterpiece that definitely isn’t for everyone. Dev Patel really carries the movie on his shoulders and should’ve gotten more award nods for it. Ah, the costumes were perfection, the cinematography was gorgeous and unnerving, and the score fit it well. I don’t think this is a movie I would revisit for a long time as it’s best as one of those movies that sits with you when you think about it, but you probably won’t think about it much. The Green Knight was a great but slow and strange film all to show one lesson in the last minute.

6. The Matrix: Resurrections

I feel like this is my most controversial choice as I don’t think many people liked this movie. Resurrections definitely did not fit what I’m sure many people was hoping for in a fourth Matrix film, but since I went in without exceptions and also as someone with issues with Warner Bros as a studio for other reasons, I really connected with this movie. At its core, this film is both a love story and an absolute sequel to the previous three movies. There were several aspects and characters that were mentioned or appeared that I had no context for as I barely remember the other two sequels. I really liked the direct fourth wall breaks talking about The Matrix and its sequels and people’s expectations for the franchise. The cinematography, effects, and look of the film were all so on point and really impressed me as a modern Matrix film. The clever use of bullet time was really good, and the action was really really cool even if it doesn’t redefine the genre like the original did or like this movie makes fun of people for expecting this one to do. Keanu killed it, Carrie-Anne Moss was great for her limited screen time, and Neil Patrick Harris was a solid villain. Another movie not for everyone, but I really liked it.

5. Spider-Man No Way Home

It’s definitely debatable if this is the best Spider-Man movie for good reason. No Way Home, like Into The Spider-Verse, is an absolute celebration of the character of Spider-Man and more so than that movie, Peter Parker. I think we’re well past the spoiler ban so here we go. Seeing the three cinematic Spider-Man actors on screen together could’ve easily felt cheap but worked really well. Similarly, the use of Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro were excellent continuations of their characterizations from previous movies, though Sandman and Lizard were just kind of there to have more people to fight. Tom Holland really shined in this film and really came into his own as Spider-Man and not just Iron Man’s sidekick/successor. I hope to see his story continue from here as there’s many very interesting places to go.

4. No Time To Die

If you follow my posts from Vero and elsewhere, you might’ve seen that throughout 2021 I watched through all 24 (official) 007 films which varied wildly in quality. If you’re interested in my ranking of those movies, then check out my list on Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/cjYjY. Anyway, coming out of No Time To Die my first thought was “That might be the best one.” It currently still tops my list though it could switch with the others in the top 3, Casino Royale and Skyfall, which are both also Daniel Craig Bond movies. After Spectre which I found pretty disappointing even after rewatch, No Time To Die blew me away from the opening scenes to the ending which was a better end than any other Bond got as most of the other Bond actors left after the quality of their films degraded (Although Moore started on a low bar), so to see Craig get an actual send off it was done really well. It wrapped up his character as well as most other lingering characters and plot lines from his preceding films. The action was some of the best in the franchise and Hans Zimmer’s score was great despite the lack of the iconic theme outside of like one scene. The cinematography is only beaten by Skyfall since there’s few better cinematographers than Roger Deakins, but cinematographer Linus Sandgren still did an excellent job. This film was both an excellent end to Daniel Craig’s era as Bond, but also as a cap to the whole franchise up to this point. Whoever takes up the role next has a high bar.

3. Tick, Tick…Boom!

Easily the best of the several musicals I saw in 2021, Tick, Tick…Boom! starred the very talented Andrew Garfield in a role that should hopefully hand him an Oscar in a few weeks. The original music by the focus of this biopic musical, Jonathan Larson, was at all times catchy and relatable with a couple songs still popping up in my head occasionally. The cinematography in the recent West Side Story was definitely more impressive than in this, but it still looked really good throughout. I also thought the editing was really good switching at the right times between the stage show about his life and the scenes in his life that they were singing about. The themes of the movie was almost a deep dive into following your dreams and the consequences of pushing things aside for those dreams. Not my favorite film of the year, but Garfield gave my favorite performance of the year.

2. Last Night in Soho

I never expected a horror/thriller by Edgar Wright to be this good. To me, he is known for his comedy, action, and use of music so this was a real departure from his usual style but it just worked. For a thriller, the tensest scenes felt as action packed as any of his car chases in Baby Driver as well as the expertly placed needle drops of classic songs. Since I didn’t watch many trailers or clips before release, I didn’t know what to expect with this movie and so the first half was very intriguing as it didn’t feel like a horror or thriller movie at all. It starts out as a stylistic coming of age movie about the fashion industry in the present and old school show biz. Then the turn happens and boy did it have me on the edge of my seat until the credits rolled. I can’t say much more about it without spoiling it, but I’ll say that this movie was so well made with amazing costumes, perfectly fitting music and sound design, masterful editing and choreography (the first scene with Anya Taylor-Joy’s character was one of the best scenes of the year on a technical level), as well as great performances from the leads Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Matt Smith as well as the rest of the cast. Great film that would probably have been top of the list if not for the next movie.

1. Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Yeah, if you know me then you knew this was coming. I even hinted at it on my 2021 comic book movie ranking (for anyone that actually read it). If anyone brings up this movie in conversation then I’ll go on about it for far too long as I know too much about it and I love to talk about it. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was a triumph both as a comic book film and for creative integrity. The fact that it was even released after everything that happened since the theatrical cut of Justice League in 2017 and even what’s going on with Warner Bros since this movie released in March 2021 is a minor miracle. Like its predecessors Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, I’ve seen this film too many times for a movie less than a year old and I plan to watch it more in the future. Its an epic to the scale (and length) of Lord of the Rings and for a four hour film it feels like it’s half that length. I hope that someday soon the executives at WarnerMedia will get over whatever hang ups they have and back up a truck full of money to Zack Snyder so he can continue and finish his arc as this was only the halfway point. If not, I’m content with this, the best comic book movie trilogy. I’ve said more thoughts on this film in that other list, but I’ll also say the cast are all at their best here out of the rest of the DC films so far but the biggest standout is Rat Fisher as Cyborg who delivered such a great performance for his first film role that it really is a shame that this isn’t the version of the film that released in 2017 (which also would have avoided a lot of other bad stuff) as who knows what other great roles he would have by now. If you saw the 2017 version and figured this was the same but double length, the plot and most of the cast is the same, but this is seriously not the same movie. To close it off, I love this movie, its like pizza. I could watch it every day but I know I shouldn’t and it would probably kill me if I did.