Top 5 favorite movies of 2021

 

 1) - Last Night In Soho : Written and directed by Edgar Wright Last Night In Soho was pure and utter originality when it came to it's script and characters. From Anya-Taylor Joy to Thomasin McKenzie to it's use of music as a way into the soul and not forgetting it's quite astounding camera and visual work, Last Night In Soho was a master class of film making in my opinion. It is gripping from beginning to end stands atop of this last as my favorite movie of 2021 for so many other reasons than those I just mentioned. Just go watch this if you haven't I highly recommend it., maybe you can even go downtown afterwards?

2) - Promising Young Woman : The directorial debut of Emerald Fennell Promising Young Woman was a strong contender for my favorite movie of 2021 only just missing out. But that's not to say this was bad by any means in fact I had a hard time choosing between this and Last Night In Soho as my favorite movie of the year. Starring Carey Mulligan in what I think is a career best performance Promising Young Woman is a dark, gritty and mysterious thriller about a woman's attempt to shun men and try to get them exposed in all manner of different ways. It is very playfully provocative and is an ingenious rape/revenge satire piece. It's not for everyone but it truly is something special. 

3) - The Suicide Squad : A DC Comics movie unlike any other The Suicide Squad was Director James Gunn's attempt at bringing the titular squad to the big screen and unlike the previous movie in 2016 this one just absolutely nailed everything that is wild and whacky about The Suicide Squad from the comics. Featuring guest cameos from original creators of the comics to the villain Starro The Conqueror's big screen debut The Suicide Squad was pure enjoyment from beginning to end. There's some genuinely brilliant performances here too from the likes of Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and even John Cena as the character Peacemaker who is getting his own spin-off show early in 2022. 

4) - In The Heights : The first movie I saw back in the theater after a lengthy lockdown period In The Heights was a musical unlike any other I've ever seen. Bold, brash and incredibly entertaining In The Heights told the story of a store clerks attempts to get back home and open up a place of his own. Set in New York City the backdrop was stunning, the streets were alive with music and overall In The Heights was a joy to watch and take in not to mention a career defining performance from actress Melissa Barrera. 

5) West Side Story (2021) - Another musical? surely not? well actually yes as honestly it was the flip of a coin which place both West Side Story and In The Heights would take. West Side Story was a remake by Steven Spielberg and re-told the story of forbidden tale of love between a man and woman of opposing gangs in the 1960's. Featuring some songs that  haven't yet been able to get out of my head to like In The Heights a career defining performance from Rachel Zegler West Side Story is cinema musical theater at it's finest. 

Honorable mentions :

Zack Snyder's Justice League : I didn't want to include this in my top 5 as this is technically just a longer version of the original Justice League that came out in 2017 but honestly this was far from just a longer version / re-release. The Snyder cut as it's been famously labelled added so much more to Justice League that it was absolutely criminal just how much was cut in the first place. More background and characters like Cyborg and The Flash was really lacking in the original cut and it more than made up for it here with simply put one of the greatest scenes ever put to film in a superhero movie that involves The Flash running back in time. It's perfectly balanced and running at just around 4 hours long there's a lot to take here but it's well worth the journey if you've been a fan of Zack Synder's Universe of DC as there is a ton of more world building here like teases for the future and even Darkseid turns up teasing a possible future showdown with the Justice League like what??!! just insane and brilliant. THE definitive edition of the Justice League that we should've gotten in the first place to begin with. 

Free Guy : Ryan Reynold's big explosive action set piece movie of the year didn't disappoint at least not for me as not only was Free Guy completely aware of itself and it's audience it also featured the best cameo of the year and overall just had a really solid message at it's core. A fun ride can most definitely be had with this one. 

Freaky : A body swap concept unlike any other with a horror/thriller twist. It had pretty much everything you could want from a comedy/horror/thriller including gory and violent deaths to great performances and Vince Vaughn giving us his best portrayal of being a woman. Just brilliant stuff all round only really let down by what felt like a tacked on ending which was a bit of a letdown but overall thumbs up for sure. 

No Time To Die : The final outing of Daniel Craig as James Bond (007) was an all out explosive and somewhat emotional experience. A  fitting end for the actor and character I felt. Featuring the classic amount of Bond action wit and satire you'd expect No Time To Die was the end of an era and the beginning of something new ahead. 

Spider-Man No Way Home : This was not only the best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2 in my opinion but one of the best Marvel movies period. Fast paced and adrenaline fueled Tom Holland's third outing as everyones favorite friendly neighbor hood Spider-Man was a joy to watch from beginning to end featuring not just plenty of callbacks to the past but also a genuinely interesting premise for the future. No Way Home was a love letter to fans of past and present and should be seen on the biggest screen possible, maybe more than once while you're at it. 

And there you have it. Some of my favorite movies of 2021. A year where me and plenty of other movie lovers got the chance to go back into the theater to enjoy movies how they're supposed to be enjoyed. Here's hoping we'll never have to go through such a drought like we did in 2020 ever again. There was a TON of amazing movies this year and not just the ones I've mentioned but for me these were my favorites above all else. Let me know what you think and what were your favorite movies of the year. Another year passes and soon a new one will begin bringing another wave of movies in 2022 that is sure to be extremely action packed with movies like The Batman, a new Scream more Marvel goodness and who knows what other surprises are in store. With all of that being said I will be here to cover as much as I can in 2022. I hope you can join me. Happy new year!

- D.C.