2021 in Review -- Movies

Time for my annual recap of the year in movies. The year before, 2020, was (to no one's surprise) an unusual year for my movie viewing, well below my usual viewing pace. While 2021 may have been far from "back to normal" in other aspects, my movie viewing habits were fairly typical. I watched 74 movies during 2021 -- 30 more than in 2020, and more in fact than I've seen in one year since 2016.

To my modest surprise, I actually went to a movie theater 11 times in this Age of COVID. My "first movie back" was Godzilla vs. Kong, in a theater my friend rented out just for a handful of distanced friends. I had a similarly exclusive experience with Dune, getting to see a sparsely attended sneak preview thanks to a work connection from Dire Wolf 's Dune: Imperium board game. But I did mingle with the unwashed (but mostly vaccinated?) masses on 9 other occasions.

Of all the movies I saw last year, 30 were officially 2021 releases, meaning I'm back to being able to put together a semi-credible Top 10 list for the year (which I still haven't really managed for 2020). A couple of these have some "asterisks" on them, as you'll see. And the entire list is, at this point, provisional as I continue to catch up with movies appearing on critical "Best of" lists.

But for now, at least, here are my Top 10 Movies of 2021 (with links to my earlier reviews):

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
2. In the Heights
3. Luca
4. West Side Story
5. Encanto
   
6. Dune
7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
8. The Beatles: Get Back *
9. Bo Burnham: Inside **
10. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar 
    

* With its run time of around 8 hours, there's no situation in which I'd watch The Beatles: Get Back in one sitting. But I think it doesn't quite fit the "made for TV" box either, perhaps in part because its subject, director, production values, and scope all seem too big for the label.

** Bo Burnham's comedy special Inside has probably even less claim to being a "movie." But it may be that nothing else captures the feeling of 2020 and 2021 as thoroughly and accurately as Inside. So I'm counting it.

I'll link back here with any updates as I catch more 2021 movies. But for now, I'm setting my sights on the class of 2022.

 

Updated February 8, 2022:

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
2. CODA
   
3. In the Heights
4. Luca
5. West Side Story
6. Encanto
   
7. Dune
8. Nobody
   
9. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
10. The Beatles: Get Back