Best Films of 2021 [Poll][Closed]

[Hayden]

[AgainstMeAgainstYou]

[Hayden]

[Hayden]

I think I usually do this every year, but I'm going to be a smidge lazy this time around— here are eight films I think were underappreciated / underwatched, under, under, under etc, etc, from 2021—

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Limbo, Ben Sharrock (UK)

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Playground, Laura Wandel (Belgium)

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Ang Hupa, Lav Diaz (Philippines)

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Together Together, Nikole Beckwith (USA)

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The Crossing, Florence Miailhe (France/Czechia)

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The Cloud In Her Room, Zheng Lu Xinyuan (China)

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Nowhere Special, Uberto Pasolini (UK/Italy)

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Feathers, Omar El Zohairy (Egypt)

Hoping people seek one or two of those out before the deadline. All will be on my list.

[CA Dreamin]

This movie rocked:

The Last Duel - A sword-wielding, ass-kicking Medieval epic. It's like Rashomon in structure, however it's more didactic, which some viewers didn't like. I thought it worked fine though because it served the film's moral and MeToo allegories. It also works as a history piece, showing us The Hundred Years War and the feudal system (with historical liberties, of course). Overall, it's a fun flick, full of action and good performances. Glad I saw it in theaters but it's now streaming on HBO Max.

This movie sucked:

Black Widow - Post-Endgame pointlessness. This movie does nearly everything wrong. Her character died, but there was still one movie left on ScarJo's contract, so they decided to make a solo outing, except it came years too late. You could easily tell Scarlett just didn't care anymore. Her performance was lousy. Tonally, the movie tries and fails at the Marvel part-serious/part-humorous formula. The jokes in this movie sucked. Worst of all, the story was inconsequential due to its timing within the MCU. It wants to persuade us that somewhere in between the credits sequences of Civil War, there was another global threat that needed to be its own movie. Hardly makes sense to shoehorn this story after the dramatically higher stakes in Infinity War and Endgame. Totally lame. It seemed to me this movie only existed for its own credits sequence, and of course, your hard-earned money. Glad I skipped this in theaters and waited for it to be free on Disney+. Also glad Scarlett got her settlement, and is moving on to better things.
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on such a winter's day

[EyeKanFly]

Ok well there's many more movies I wanted to see, but it doesn't look like I'll see them anytime soon, so here's my top 20ish movies of 2021. I might come back and edit if I catch any more films before the deadline.

Top Movies:

1. Bo Burnham: Inside
   
2. Flee
   
3. Judas and the Black Messiah
   
4. Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
   
5. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
   
6. Spider-Man: No Way Home
   
7. West Side Story
   
8. Spencer
   
9. Luca
   
10. Oscar Peterson: Black + White
    
11. Dune
    
12. Passing
    
13. The Power of the Dog
    
14. Pig
    
15. Encanto
    
16. The Eternals
    
17. No Time to Die
    
18. The French Dispatch
    
19. The United States vs. Billie Holiday
    
20. tick, tick...BOOM!
    
21. Schumacher
    
22. In the Heights
    
23. Black Widow
    
24. The King's Man
    
25. Don't Look Up
    

Top Male Performances:

1. Lakeith Stanfield as Bill O'Neal / Judas and the Black Messiah
   
2. Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton / Judas and the Black Messiah
   
3. Andrew Garfield as Jonathan Larson / tick, tick...BOOM!
   
4. Kodi Smit-McPhee as Peter Gordon / The Power of the Dog
   
5. Nicolas Cage as Robin Feld / Pig
   

(I know we're only considering 5 for the poll, but FWIW I have David Alvarez as Bernardo and Mike Faist as Riff in West Side Story as very close to tied with Nic Cage)

Top Female Performances:

1. Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Spencer) / Spencer
   
2. Ruth Negga as Clare Bellow / Passing
   
3. Tessa Thompson as Irene Redfield / Passing
   
4. Andra Day as Billie Holiday / The United States vs. Billie Holiday
   
5. Ariana DeBose as Anita / West Side Story
   

(like above, Dominique Fishback as Deborah Johnson in Judas and the Black Messiah is very close behind Ariana DeBose)

Top Scores:

1. Bo Burnham: Inside by Bo Burnham
   
2. Dune by Hans Zimmer
   
3. Spencer by Jonny Greenwood
   
4. Luca by Dan Romer
   
5. Encanto by Germaine Franco & Lin-Manuel Miranda
   
6. The Power of the Dog by Jonny Greenwood
   

I was very tempted to choose the "score" for Oscar Peterson: Black + White, which is a slight re-arrangement of some of Peterson's best songs by Robi Botos et al., but that doesn't really seem to fit the bill for an original score. Likewise didn't include West Side Story, In the Heights, or tick, tick...BOOM! because none of these are original scores.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[AgainstMeAgainstYou]

[Hayden]

Thanks EyeKanFly, your list is tallied

[Hayden]

I'll most likely make 3-4 changes, but here's my list—

1. The French Dispatch
2. Luca
3. The Worst Person In The World
4. Spencer
5. The Tragedy of Macbeth
6. Licorice Pizza
7. Memoria
8. Limbo
9. CODA
10. Drive My Car

11. The Card Counter
12. Petite Maman
13. Ang Hupa (The Halt)
14. A Hero
15. Judas And The Black Messiah
16. Happening
17. Mass
18. C'mon C'mon
19. Boiling Point
20. Playground

21. Red Rocket
22. Cruella
23. Flee
24. Together Together
25. Gunda
26. Pleasure
27. Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
28. Taste
29. The Cloud in Her Room
30. The Crossing

31. Nitram
32. Lingui, The Sacred Bonds
33. Compartment No. 6
34. Passing
35. Last Night in Soho
36. Tick Tick BOOM
37. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
38. Yuni
39. Titane
40. Nowhere Special

41. The Power of The Dog
42. The Mitchells Vs The Machines
43. Help
44. Parallel Mothers
45. The Souvenir Part II
46. Feathers
47. The Hand of God
48. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
49. Annette
50. Lonely Rock

Very close to being in the list: The Truffle Hunters, Unclenching The Fist, No Time To Die, and Taipei Suicide Story.

Still need to watch Paris 13th District, After Yang, Boiling Point, and I Was A Simple Man.

[BozoTyrannus]

Aight. I've been taking the opportunity of two lazy weeks to binge on a bunch of 2021 movies I've missed, and it has been glorious. Here's my current list:

1. Belfast
2. The Tragedy of Macbeth
3. Drive My Car
4. CODA
5. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
6. Pig
7. West Side Story
8. Mass
9. The Green Knight
10. Passing
11. A Hero
12. C'mon C'mon
13. After Yang
14. Summer of Soul
15. Licorice Pizza
16. The Power of the Dog
17. Land
18. The Lost Daughter
19. The Humans (EDIT, ADDED)
20. Dune
21. The Harder They Fall
22. Malcolm and Marie
23. In the Heights
24. A Quiet Place Part II
25. Annette
26. tick, tick... BOOM!
27. Swan Song (the Mahershala Ali one)
28. Luca
29. The Eyes of Tammy Faye
30. Respect
31. No Time to Die
32. Electrical Life of Louis Wain
33. Godzilla vs. Kong

MALE PERFORMANCES
1. Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
2. Nicolas Cage, Pig
3. Troy Kotsur, CODA
4. Jude Hill, Belfast
5. Steven Yeun, The Humans

FEMALE PERFORMANCES
1. Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
2. Ann Dowd, Mass
3. Ruth Negga, Passing
4. Emilia Jones, CODA
5. Zendaya, Malcolm and Marie
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I wanna take Sean Penn
And take Sean Bean
Put 'em in a blender
And make Sean Pean