My personal choice of Top 10 Movies of 2021 in video form here – https://youtu.be/oKmM1vhRD5c.
Includes at the start of the video my “2021 Movie Montage” of all the movies I’ve watched (and rated) during the last year.
For an index to the original reviews of the movies mentioned, see here.
(For those who like their content in written form, my list is below the video).
Written Version:
Introduction and Honourable Mentions
It’s been a really epic year for cinema, with the streaming giants of Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Sky adding to the richness of quality offerings available. It also marked the release of the log-jam of pre-pandemic movies held over from 2020: although, that being said, we are STILL waiting for “Death on the Nile” to come out!
That’s made this job very very difficult this year. I did a triage and ended up with 28 films vying for my top 10 slots! So before I dive into my well-whittled top 10, here are some honourable mentions from that long-list, all movies that I greatly enjoyed during the year. They are (in no particular order)…
- The Father;
- A Quiet Place Pt II;
- Cruella;
- Free Guy;
- Minari;
- One Night in Miami;
- tick, tick… BOOM!;
- Another Round;
- Censor;
- Greenland and;
- Sweetheart.
No. 10 – News of the World
At my number 10 is the Tom Hanks alternative western “News of the World”. Hanks portrayal of the roving Captain Kidd, bringing news as a sort of travelling internet into the backwater towns of the old west, was interesting enough. But I found his self-proclaimed mission of trying to reunite the lost stray Johanna, played wonderfully by young Helena Zengel, to be very touching indeed. Co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass, and with a terrific score by James Newton Howard, I thought it was great. I was only sorry that due to the pandemic I wasn’t able to see it on the big screen.
No. 9 – Nobody
I’ve rated many other films higher this year, but Nobody is on my list because it’s probably the most fun I’ve had in the cinema in 2021. Yes, it’s horribly violent in the style of “Die Hard” or “Taken”. But Bob Odenkirk and Christopher Lloyd are wonderfully entertaining as the kick-ass father and son team and this movie has multiple laugh-out-loud moments.
No. 8 – Dune
In terms of sci-fi spectacle, it’s not got any better this year than “Dune”. Denis Villeneuve delivered us his vision of Frank Herbert’s unfilmable novel and it looked just stunning. Greig Fraser’s cinematography must surely get a nomination for the Oscar. I’ll get this into my list before I try a rewatch on a small screen since I suspect the smaller scale and slow plot might make it a similar disappointment to Villeneuve’s “Arrival”. That made my top slot back in 2016, but on rewatch… it just didn’t hit the same high-notes.
No. 7 – Spider-Man: No Way Home
What a blast of a Marvel movie this was. I’ve always liked Tom Holland’s series of movies, and this one topped them all in terms of twists and surprises with the multi-verse. As well as being thrilling and occasionally very moving it also made me laugh a lot.
No. 6 – The Mitchells vs the Machines
Another comedy blast was this brilliant animated movie. A film that worked like the best of the Pixar ones – delivering knockabout humour for the youngsters and deep, touching and devilishly-witty humour for the adults. I watched this with my kids AND my grandkids, and we all loved it.
Dog, Pig, Dog, Pig, Loaf of Bread – Boom. It blew my mind.
No. 5 – The Green Knight
A complete change of pace for my number 5. I was only able to see The Green Knight on the small screen, but some of the imagery and mysticism in David Lowery’s film has stayed with me ever since. Dev Patel is spectacular in the lead role of Gawain, and the gorgeous Alicia Vikander brilliantly plays two roles in the movie. Highly recommended if you’ve not caught it yet.
No. 4 – Last Night in Soho
Of all the trailers in 2021, this one was my absolute favourite. And when it arrived the movie didn’t disappoint either. I loved the spooky mystical time-travel elements of the film with one of my favourite young actresses, Thomasin McKenzie, travelling back each night to occupy the body of nightclub singer Anya Taylor-Joy in a seedy 60’s nightclub. It gets into more of a horror vibe in the second half, which might not be for everyone, but overall Edgar Wright delivers yet another of my top 5 movies. It has a truly stonking soundtrack as well.
No. 3 – Sound of Metal
Is it any surprise that “Sound of Metal” won the Oscar for best sound? I don’t think so. This tale of rock drummer Riz Ahmed who loses his hearing is truly touching and managed to deliver the best ending of any film I saw in 2021. I cried.
No. 2 – No Time to Die
Daniel Craig’s last Bond film seems to have polarized audiences, thanks to a final reel plot point. But I loved it. A perfect blend of action and emotion. It was no coincidence that Hans Zimmer leant so heavily on the OHMSS tunes of John Barry in his soundtrack. It’s also notable for having an astonishingly entertaining cameo from his Knives Out co-star Ana de Armas as the kick-ass Cuban assistant Paloma. You feel the lady deserves her own spin-off movie franchise.
No. 1 – Promising Young Woman
So, my top slot this year goes to the multi-talented Emerald Fennell’s debut feature. Full of wit, humour and killer tunes, the tale has twists that you genuinely don’t see coming until they hit you straight between the eyes. Carey Mulligan is simply fabulous in this twisted tale of a woman’s revenge against man-kind. I just loved it.
Conclusion
So that’s me personal list for 2021. With the emphasis on the personal, since I’m sure there are some of these that you detest and others not on this list that you love!
