My 2021 In Film

 2021 was... quite the year alright. 

“2020 The Sequel” would be one way to put what much of the year felt like. 

It sucked. 

It just plain sucked. Nowhere near as much as the dumpster fire that was the year prior but it was still very much shitty in its own way. 2021 was very much like the second installment in a horrible franchise that only marginally improves upon the original but the underlying flawed premise just ruins the potential for any good to come out of it.

The world of cinema on the other hand was pretty good actually.

The Green Knight (A24)

From enchanting journeys courtesy of 

The Green Knight (A24) to fascinating reimaginings with tales like Spencer (NEON). 

We got a comedy special that was sometimes funny but mostly depressing and all the better for it in Inside (Netflix) and on the opposite end, an actually good feel-good drama with CODA (AppleTV+).

Some efforts however weren’t quite as successful in winning me over. 

The Dance of the 41 (Netflix) while a worthwhile attempt in showcasing an interesting part of queer history, the end product was a film that left a lot to be desired and felt terribly uninspired. 

The Power of the Dog (Netflix) is a neo-western slow burn that earned more respect than outright enjoyment out of me over its 2-hour runtime in large part due to the intentionally ambiguous story-telling, but the talents of director Jane Campion certainly made it a visually engaging 2 hours at the very least.

The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

2021 offered late-year surprises in 

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony Pictures) and The Hating Game (Vertical Entertainment) with the latter being a fun if not super original rom-com and the former being heralded as the best spider-man movie, possibly ever?

The best thing to happen all year however and a Christmas miracle if I’ve ever seen one was without a doubt Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas (Roku). Its entire existence is, well, extraordinary and was one of the best viewing experiences I've had all year. 

I guess there was F9 (Universal Pictures) but surely society has progressed past the need for Fast & Furious movies, right, right?

All in all, if nothing else, at least 2021 gave us some pretty cool films to watch as the world slowly began approaching something resembling normalcy. 

Mostly.