My 10 (well, 11) Favorite Films of 2021

We made it, folks!

2021 was a big year. 

I got vaccinated (which we all should have done), I started graduate school, and I even got engaged to my favorite person on the planet. And in-between all of it, I watched a whole lot of movies.

So many great films this year that I almost broke the rules yet again and tried making a list of 15 or 20. However, since I already bucked my own trend in 2020 (like a goddamn REBEL) with a list of 13 films, I decided to keep this list limited to the traditional top ten model. I will not be breaking any rules this year.

Let’s begin.

(P.S. I have not seen Power of the Dog as of writing this and I know it’s supposed to be great. I will get on that.)

10. Dune/The Matrix Resurrections [TIE]

Okay, so I broke the rules.

Two films in which the ambition and sheer audacity of the filmmakers made me fall in love with the movies, perhaps more than the narrative they were telling. Denis Villeneuve brings the sense of awe back to science fiction filmmaking in a way I haven’t been witness to since 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road, whereas Lana Wachowski takes aim at the modern reboot/sequel culture that has taken the film industry by storm and embeds it in the package of a very entertaining Matrix sequel.

There is something so exciting about seeing Warner Brothers allow directors of this caliber to make such strange and personal films with the budgets usually reserved for over bloated superhero outings. Dune is a 165 million dollar adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic and sometimes impenetrable novel that does not ignore the inherent dorkiness of that text and instead dives in headfirst with an incredibly strong visual gravitas that makes it one of the best looking films of the year. The Matrix Resurrections leans into its dorkiness as well–building off of a lot of the lore and characters from not only the first Matrix, but its original two sequels–and yet it is a wonderfully subversive and talky movie. For a film that is rebooting a series so known for its game-changing action, I just loved how much of it really took place in coffee shops and focused on two people chatting.

My kind of blockbusters.

9. The Suicide Squad

A celebration of the unity of misfits. Writer and director James Gunn does what he does best by introducing us to a motley crew of colorful characters who, at first, seem too ridiculous to take seriously in any capacity. However, over the course of a ridiculously violent and often hilarious two hours, it becomes apparent that each of these characters are emotionally broken, looking for love, and finding it in this ridiculous group they’ve been forced to be a part of.

In the end, however, it really is the heart that shines through. The film’s final image is one of our lead character–Idris Elba’s Bloodshot–sitting in an airplane with a rat that just wants to cuddle up next to him. Throughout the film, Bloodshot expresses his fear of rats, afraid to engage with the creature. Yet, as the film reaches its conclusion, the rat begins to represent all of the fear that Bloodshot has in expressing love to his estranged daughter. It is a moment of triumph when Bloodshot lets the rat up on his leg and begins to pet it.

Just as the band Cultural Abuse says in the song playing over this final scene, life is indeed so busted, but all we want is to be loved.

8. Malignant

No movie had me saying “what the fuck?!” this year like James Wan’s Malignant.

Sold as an homage to the Italian Giallo films of the 1970s and ‘80s, Malignant slowly reveals itself to be more in line with the absurd, campy heights of ‘80s horror films from directors like Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case) and Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator). Gleefully absurd and populated with a cast that understands exactly the type of B-movie film they are in, Malignant has no qualms about being as utterly insane as it is. It is a horror film that leans into territory I have long been searching for in this generation of what many have dubbed “elevated horror”. And while I not only love, but adore some of the horror movies coming from arthouse studios like A24 or IFC Films, it is so refreshing to see a filmmaker with all the tools of the trade at his disposal, making a horror movie that just goes for the throat, even at the expense of narrative logic.

Also, I’m trying to avoid talking about the big twist of the film. But if you have seen it…holy shit, right?!

7. Nightmare Alley

Around halfway through the film, we all know where this is going. 

Like myself, you don’t have to have read the original William Gresham novel or have seen the previous 1947 film adaption of Nightmare Alley to realize that the lead character, Stanton Carlisle (played incredibly by Bradley Cooper), is doomed to a cyclical fate caused by his own greed, sins, and deception that will leave him with nothing. Yet, it is the dark journey, full of rich characters (also played by an extraordinary supporting cast), that Guillermo Del Toro and co-writer Kim Morgan have adapted for the screen that makes Nightmare Alley such a compelling noir for its 150 minute runtime. 

Del Toro’s previous film, the admittedly superior but also quite sappy love story, The Shape of Water, ended with a beautiful coda that made the heart soar. Nightmare Alley concludes with a bitter, dark punchline that will not make it a hit for Oscar voters this year in the way The Shape of Water was, but will linger with audiences just the same.

6. Licorice Pizza

Licorice and pizza. A combination that should not work.

For my money, the title represents the two leads in auteur filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film. Gary (Cooper Hoffman) is a 15-year-old going on 30. A child actor turned hustler who wants to stop being seen as a kid and instead as a sophisticated and romantic entrepreneur. On the flip side is Alana (Alana Haim), a 25-year-old who can’t seem to grow up. Living with her parents, unable to secure a healthy relationship, and with no idea of where her life is going, she meets Gary and the bond the two share is the heart of the film.

Set against the backdrop of 1973 Hollywood, Licorice Pizza–while still narratively disciplined–is more PTA by way of Boogie Nights than There Will Be Blood. Meaning it essentially works as an assortment of snapshots or vignettes over the course of that year with these two characters at the center. A love story that also operates as a great hangout movie, Licorice Pizza is messy, hilarious, odd (mostly due to an unhinged Bradley Cooper performance), “problematic” to some of the Film Twitter crowd, and frankly challenging at times. But to be in the mind of a truly awesome filmmaker like Anderson is an absolute delight. 

For some viewers the final interaction between the two leads will have them cheering, while others might contemplate if it is truly a happy ending. The diversity of feeling that a single moment can ignite is the sign of a great film.

5. The French Dispatch

I am frankly a little sick and tired of The French Dispatch being talked about as a mid-tier Wes Anderson film. Perhaps it doesn’t reach the heights of The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Royal Tenenbaums, or–my personal favorite–The Fantastic Mr. Fox. However, it is the cinematic equivalent of a warm and cozy blanket for fans of Anderson, like myself. In terms of craft, it might even be his most successful film.

Utilizing black and white photography, 2D animation, a little stop motion here, and some aspect ratio changes there, it is a filmmaker using all of the tools in his toolkit to bring to life not only four wonderful short stories, but a prologue and epilogue that ties everything together. Each of the stories are lovely on their own, but it was the final story focusing on Jeffrey Wright’s character as a culinary writer that really blew me away and surprisingly moved me to tears.

Be prepared for me to get angry when the Academy doesn’t recognize how great Wright’s performance is in this thing.

4. Pig

Nicolas Cage is a tremendous actor. This should not be news.

And yet, whenever praise gets thrown onto the film Pig, there seems to be this sort of collective shock over how good Cage is in the film. There’s no doubt that the often memed actor has fallen on hard times, meaning he has to act in some pretty crappy direct-to-video B-movie fare in order to pay the bills. However, Pig shows him at his most nuanced with a capable director and a tremendous script that makes for one of the year’s best films.

A meditation on grief, giving up, and the phoniness that the elite exude in an attempt to receive validation. Pig–with its premise of a former successful chef coming back into society after his beloved truffle pig is stolen– seems like it might operate under the same rules as a film like John Wick, but it is by no means an action picture. Where Cage might normally scream at his adversaries in an over-the-top display of ill-advised machismo, here his sad eyes do so much work in showing his rage but also his sympathy in the midst of a search for a beloved truffle pig…the only thing he has left. 

One of the unsung heroes of the film is Alex Wolff. A wannabe restaurant owner who will stop at nothing to receive his father’s validation, Wolff’s character acts as the perfect opposite to Cage on this existential odyssey. It all culminates in a climactic dinner scene wherein Cage and Wolff sit down with the father (also played incredibly by Adam Arkin) in what is some of the most vulnerable acting of any film this year.

3. Titane

It’s a simple story really; girl survives car accident, girl grows up to be a stripper for car shows, girl also becomes a serial killer, girl has sex with car and becomes pregnant with a car/human-hybrid baby, girl goes on the run, breaks her nose on a sink and takes the identity of a missing boy, the missing boy’s father finds the girl believing it’s his son.

Tale as old as time, really.

Despite all the provocative elements I just mentioned, what’s the most shocking about Titane is the fact that writer/director Julia Ducournau follows up the initial horror movie shocks with a beautiful love story. One about the pains of transformation and being loved for who we truly are and not who others want to see us as. Of course, Titane  is still a body horror film with images that made the entire audience I saw it with collectively squirm. But much like Ducournau’s previous films, it isn’t gore just for the sake of gore. The internal pains of our main character, Alexia, as she wrestles with keeping her true identity secret is externalized through the physical bondage she wraps her body in, while an inhuman pregnancy destroys her from within. Meanwhile the father, Vincent, is polluting his body with steroids in order to further the image of a strong, masculine figure. Throughout the film these two breakdown one another and reveal their true selves to each other, even when it ends in tragedy.

A perfect body horror film.

2. The Last Duel

At the age of 83, Ridley Scott has dropped one of his absolute best films on audiences. 

The Last Duel can undoubtedly be a tough watch. This true story, all revolving around the rape of Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer giving the best performance of the year, full stop) and the duel that resulted, The Last Duel looks at the event three separate times from three differing perspectives. First we see the story from Marguerite’s husband, the Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), then his squire and the rapist, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver). Finally, we get the true story from the perspective of the victim, Marguerite. While the film has a similar conceit to a film like Kurosowa’s Rashomon, the difference is that Scott and screenwriters Damon and Ben Affleck (who is also in the film and is surprisingly great) make no attempt in having the audience doubt which story is true. Knowing this makes subsequent rewatches even better. Seeing the subtleties in the performances of each actor during each telling of the story really makes you appreciate the level of acting. In Damon’s version, he’s a courageous, understanding man. In Driver’s, Marguerite seems more “willing” in the assault sequence, but by the time we see Comer’s story, we see the evil of not only both men but the hypocrisy of all that surround her. 

The final duel itself is a marvel. Amazingly choreographed and acted in a way that is powerful and brutal, but never fetishizing what we are witnessing. This is not a final battle between two men fighting over a damsel in distress, this is two narcissists who force an honest and strong woman in the middle of their childish and incredibly toxic battle for pride.

1. West Side Story

There is a moment in West Side Story, about 25 minutes into the film, where I rediscovered my love for Steven Spielberg.

The moment is so simple and frankly unimportant in the greater context of the film. Ansel Elgort’s Tony is singing ‘Maria’ after having just met the love of his life. He runs down an alley and jumps into a puddle. He looks to the sky, and the camera above him cranes up with him still standing in the puddle. The lights reflect off of the water and into the lens of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski’s camera. It is so beautiful and it is a stark reminder that after almost two decades of making films that range from just good to sadly mediocre, Steven Spielberg still has the capacity to make movies better than pretty much anyone out there.

As a lover of cinema who developed his love of film in large part from the work of Spielberg, West Side Story proved to be an incredibly emotional moviegoing experience for me. To see one of the most influential directors in cinema’s history try flexing a new muscle for the first time in decades was so exciting. As someone who had no interest in West Side Story beforehand, I was amazed how engaging he made this nearly 65-year old story feel fresh by not trying to modernize it, but simply expanding upon what was already there. It’s a testament to the late, great Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein that this story still endures, even if the box office returns did not reflect the enthusiasm I felt amongst the audience.

The dance numbers (especially ‘America’, led by the incredible Ariana DeBose as Anita), the performances (Oscars for Rita Moreno and Mike Faist, please!), the vocals, and the visuals are just all top level stuff. This is filmmaking when it's firing on all cylinders. And to be frank, I have no real intellectual or philosophical justification for why this is my favorite film of 2021. It is just the best made film I’ve seen all year and I was truly in awe of what I was witnessing. 

Steven Spielberg reminds us he is one of a kind and that he has earned his place as the most successful filmmaker in the history of motion pictures.

Runner-Ups

*Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar

*The Green Knight

*In the Heights

*Luca

*No Time to Die

*Spider-Man: No Way Home

*Mitchells vs the Machines

*A Quiet Place Part II

*Godzilla vs Kong