Even with so many disruptions in film distribution, what a great year for the movies! It felt very exciting to get back into the theatres this year after having them closed for so long.

And how strange to see Wachowski, Spielberg, Scott, and Verhoeven on my list -- feels like it's 20 years ago.

BEST in no particular order:

1. The Humans - I don't follow Broadway much, but this movie adaptation, written and directed by the playwright, is a solid, funny, dark, and surprisingly visually inventive film debut.

2. Titane - the greatest multiple murder scene of the year.

3. The Card Counter - definitely Schrader in his comfort zone (discomfort), but as elegantly made as usual, and it's good to see someone with the will and the bravery to make this movie.

4. The Woman Who Ran - I saw this movie at the start of this year and I still think about its title and what it means. A slow, ambiguous, meditative, but extremely engaging movie (up there with my favourite Hong Sangsoo movies).

5. West Side Story - an extremely faithful remake with some welcome updates, and an exhilarating time at the movies. Definitely one to see in theatres.

6. The Last Duel - an ambitious and bizarre movie mixing atrocious accents and blonde Ben Affleck dropping a C-bomb with a challenging, provocative story and some genuine emotional heft. I thought this was a very well made and excitingly adult movie and I was disappointed that it did so poorly.

7. Annette - I'm a sucker for musicals, and this one delivers the goods.

8. Slow Machine - this is one of those movies that really feels like it captures "now" in a way that bigger studio movies have all but given up on. Very difficult to describe even the genre, but it's a wild ride.

9. Zola - quick, witty, surprising, funny, new in a way that matches and addresses its source material.

10. Benedetta - a delightful balance between Verhoeven's serious and un-serious sides. I don't think anyone's ever staged a romantic tandem shitting scene before. At this budget, anyway.

*11. The Matrix Resurrections - as an overall film, Matrix 4 isn't nearly as good as the others on this list. It's a bizarre movie with action sequences that are unforgivably lame compared to the earlier movies. But it's something so rare -- a massive franchise movie that's weird, unpredictable, discussion-worthy, and strangely personal.



WORST in no particular order:

1. Music - actually, there is a particular order. This movie is the reason I had to do a worst list this year. It is plotless, witless, talentless, hilariously offensive, and somehow both consistently laughable and mind-numbingly boring. It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I regularly seek out the worst of the worst.

2. Dear Evan Hansen - anyone reading the premise can likely spot the problem, which is that the protagonist is a douchebag.

3. Kate/Gunpowder Milkshake/etc. - I want movies like this to be made, just by people who actually care about the genre and who have a take other than "what if there's a bunch of neon."

4. Tom Clancy's Without Remorse - disappointingly, one of the dullest and stupidest Clancy adaptations of all time. Somehow combines the worst of both worlds -- the sleek, stripped-down Sicario-style action just feels underwhelming and plain, while the old-school Clancy patriotism feels half-hearted and cynical.

5. Infinite - this movie's such a bizarre experience -- it just never starts. There's just scene after scene after scene of exposition about their easily understood premise, along with a few embarrassing action sequences that I guess sounded cool in a pitch meeting.

Nice list, Chris, or I should say, interesting...cause I haven't been able to catch most of them with Covid and theatres closed. The last movies (in an actual cinema) I saw were A Quiet Place Part 2, and The Courier.

Really looking forward to seeing: Norwegian RomCom & Cannes winner for best actress: The Worst Person in the World.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10370710/

- which is playing locally but sadly I'll have to wait due to Omicron.

Mostly it's been streaming for us:
Squid Game,
Mare of Easttown,
Don't Look Up (doesn't deserve the bad reviews imho)
The Little Things
21 Bridges
The Night House (a decent Horror with a lacklustre ending)
The Power of the Dog (haven't finished, bit boring...)
The Guilty (US remake, not as good as the Danish original)
Nitram (grim, but powerful & definitely worth the watch)
Landscapers

Currently watching:
The Tourist 2021 (echoes of Memento & Buried)
Rewatched Upgrade, just for fun!

Looking forward to:
The Last Duel
The Deep House
The Lost Daughter
Passing

& many other Award contenders, which thanks to Don, I can at least read, or not read yet, if I don't want to spoil things when I finally can view.

Worst Person looks great! I actually haven't seen most of Joachim Trier's movies, but I thought Thelma was good.

Night House I really liked, but agree about the ending. I was into Little Things and 21 Bridges also...it does feel like we're on an uptick with relatively fun, low-stakes, adult-oriented genre movies.

I feel like the only two films I saw last year that I would think to put on a pedestal were In The Earth and Titane. Others, I casually enjoyed but would think twice about actually recommending. Don't Look Up was decent satire and held my attention despite putting it on for background watching. Also, while not perfect, I appreciated watching a full-blown, theatrically released Resident Evil adaptation actually based on the games (thank you, Zack). Had to wait literally two decades for that. Plus a ton that I missed but intend to watch (The Card Counter, The Worst Person in the World, Licorice Pizza, etc.).

Totally slacked on movies in 2021. So yeah.

1. In The Earth - best film since 2019.
2. Titane - went hard, never tried hard, won the mothafuckin' Palme d'Or (what?!)

James, I checked out the trailer for In The Earth.
For once they don't give away the whole plot which makes a nice change.
I hope it's good. Thanks for the recommend!

Big fan of Sightseers & Kill List.
Couldn't hack A Field in England, though Hubby stayed with it.

Last year felt a little disjointed with movies due to UK cinemas opening, and closing, and Studio schedules changing so much too. so like Libby, watched a lot on streaming as well as on screens...

In no particular order here are the ones that I enjoyed/made an impact... C-Cinema, N-Netflix, D-Disney, S-Shudder, A-Amazon

Bond: No Time to Die (C)
Spiderman: No Way Home (C)
A Quite Place 2 (C)
Summer of Soul (N)
The Dig (N)
In the Heights (C)
Luca (D)
Encanto (D)
Jungle Cruise (C)
Censor (A)
Dune (C)
Last Night in Soho (C)
Encounter (N)
Don't Look Up (N)
Tick, Tick, Boom (C)
Sputnik (A)
Lake Mungo (S)
Level 16 (S)
Kandisha (S)
Possessor (S)
Spiral (not the Saw one) (S)
La Llorona (not the shit one) (S)
Martyrs Lane (S)
Son (S)
Violation (A)

TV/Episodic
Elves (N)
Squid Games (N)
The Chestnut Man (N)
Brand New Cherry Flavour (N)
Love Death & Robots (N)
Midnight Diner (N)
The Terror (BBC)
Truth Seekers (A)
Cursed Films (S)

Not seen Titane yet, on my list...

Saw no mention of CODA - I thought that was a delightful little film.

My favorite film of the year was RIDERS OF JUSTICE

Quoted from eldave1 ...My favorite film of the year was RIDERS OF JUSTICE

Can't wait to see this! Not available here yet on streaming.
Mads Mikkelsen never disappoints.

His performance in The Hunt (and that movie) still stays with me.

Quoted from LC Can't wait to see this! Not available here yet on streaming. Mads Mikkelsen never disappoints. His performance in The Hunt (and that movie) still stays with me.

It was terrific.

Not a great year for movies, IMO. Didn't watch many new ones, but that's mainly because very few actually interested me.  :-/

Like James mentioned, the new Resident Evil was surprisingly fun. Not great by any means, but a guilty pleasure that I'm looking forward to watching again. :)

Here's hoping we get some better flicks in 2022!

I saw Licorice Pizza the other day. It had some great scenes, but it's definitely more focused on mood and atmosphere than plot. I found myself growing impatient as it went on. A second viewing may help to put it into better context.

One movie that stuck with me this year was Pig with Nicolas Cage. Definitely weird, but kind of insightful in certain spots.

I loved CODA too, Dave. It was so lovely and sweet.

I think "The Lost Daughter" was so strange and powerful, loved it and hadn't seen it mentioned here.

When I first watched "Nitram" I was a little underwhelmed but it's stuck with me. Really uncomfortable, in a good way.

Unfortunately, "Licorice Pizza" was nowhere as good as it's said to be. The most pressing flaw it has is that's is sooo boring, but the age gap between the protagonists was also fairly gross.