Best Films of 2021

It's been a year when everyone got familiar with the Greek alphabet and learnt how to play Red Light, Green Light. The quantity of films improved in comparison to 2020, but in terms of quality, it was still slim pickings. Only nine titles made the grade.

Took into account the respective release dates of each film according to my region and not some obscure film festival premiere that hardly anyone attended. That's especially important considering the world still hasn’t recovered from the effects of the pandemic. 

I provided some Honourable Mentions further down below. Liked them, but not enough to make my personal list. Close but no cigar, lads.

"Hey, gotta, gotta payback! (the big payback)
Revenge!
I'm mad (the big payback)"

 

Best 2021 I Watched:

Dinner In America (Adam Rehmeier)

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)

Last Night In Soho (Edgar Wright)

Apples (Christos Nikou)

Oxygen (Alexandre Aja)

Boss Level (Joe Carnahan)

Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond)

 The Last Duel (Ridley Scott)

 The Suicide Squad (James Gunn)

Never would have expected a punk-themed romcom to draw me in a way like Dinner In America did. Easiy the biggest surprise and my number one film pick of 2021. Insane to think this was made by the same director who gave us The Bunny Game.

 Dinner In America (Watermelon Song scene)

(Adam Rehmeier, 2021)

 

 

 

Honourable Mentions: Enjoyed Denis Villeneuve's Dune (or Dunc according to the poster art) and it's certainly his best film since Sicario, but found it a real slog to sit through at times; experienced similar pacing issues with David Lowery's utterly gorgeous The Green Knight; Rodney Ascher continues to be an exciting documentary film-maker with his utterly bonkers A Glitch In The Matrix; Bob Odenkirk became the most unlikeliest action hero in Nobody; Morgan King's The Spine Of Night made me crave for the return of Ralph Bakshi; Antlers got it right and went back-to-basics with a straight no chaser horror film; it's a good thing James Herriot isn't around today to watch Lamb; and, it might be a new cut of a classic eighties film, but Rocky  IV: Rocky vs. Drago was a noticeable improvement. 

Could have just picked out any one of the above and rounded it out to a nice even ten entries, but it wouldn't have a sat comfy with me. Knowingly having one movie listed there that I wasn't totally happy with would have made me flip out like Raymond Babbitt, or something. Nine companions. So be it.