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Sméagol

Best Films of 2021

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For me (and probably most of you) this was a terrible year, but I still have seen some films that I love. I'll try to make a list of all our favourites. I'm keeping it simple, no need to rank them, just list them. I won't count honorable mentions, but feel free to mention those and other noteworthy (for whatever reason) films or film moments.

N-E's Favourite Films of 2021

  • Dune (2)
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
  • The French Dispatch
  • Alien on Stage - The Documentary
  • Pompo the Cinephile
  • Promising Young Woman
  • Spider-man: No Way Home
  • Moxie
  • Junkhead
Edited by Sméagol
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Dune
The French Dispatch
Moxie

Ghostbusters: Afterlife was good but less good the more I think about it.
Free Guy was a decent laugh.
Jungle Cruise was fine.
In The Heights delivered the expected cheesefest.
Black Widow was all right?
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard was a decent laugh too.
Luca was good stuff.

I've been to the cinema plenty but it is hard to think back on what exactly was this year. Feel like I'm forgetting some things because surely the year wasn't all spent waiting for Dune and The French Dispatch? Hmm. 

Still plan to see Matrix 4 and the latest Spidey in the cinema. And Encanto, West Side Story and King Richard when I can. Plus Belfast. And anything else. Probably see what gets nominated for the Oscars and prioritise what to catch up with based on that.

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Unfortunately this list will be short compared to other years.. It's getting shorter and shorter.

My favourite films of 2021

Junk Head

Ok this one's cheating as it was my favourite film a few years ago, but that was a longer cut. The film now has had an official release.

Alien on Stage - the documentary

Feelgood documentary about an amateur drama group performing a stage version of Alien. Very funny

Pompo the Cinephile

Filmmaking feelgood comedy anime

Dune

Close call, but made it on the list despite being a part 1.

Promising Young woman

Revenge drama, carey Mulligan excellent as always.

And my favourite film of 2021.. 

Spider-man: No Way Home

That was a very close call. Promising Young Woman is the better film, but the humour and fan service and crowd reactions made Spider-man the cinema experience I really needed this year..

Horourable Mentions

Red Screening

Fun slasher

Vicious Fun

A really fun slasher

Nobody

Comedy John Wick

Last Night in Soho

Story could be better, but highly entertaining thriller

It's a Summer Film!

Fun Japanese highschool filmmaking coming of age

Pig

Drama with Nicholas Cage. Went in pretty much blind, pleasantly surprised.

Most WTF moment

Titane

 

car sex scene or the ending..

Worst Film of 2021

Eternals

Runner's up:

The World to Come (this at least had lesbians)
A Quiet Place part 2 (pretty shit but at least had a better atmosphere)

Favourite Soundtrack

Amine Bouhafa & Lena Chamamyan - Ya Tara

The one that got away (wish I had seen this)

 

Also, James Bond, The French Dispatch, and 50 other films.

Edited by Sméagol

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14 hours ago, Sméagol said:

Unfortunately this list will be short compared to other years.. It's getting shorter and shorter.

At least it's not as short as the entire list of 2021 films that I've seen:

-

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4 hours ago, Cube said:

At least it's not as short as the entire list of 2021 films that I've seen:

-

Yeah that's pretty short.

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I was supposed to go see Spider-Man a few weeks back, but it was uncharacteristically sold out for two straight days. So I ended up seeing West Side Story (2021) instead. I liked it, definitely the most palatable, easy-to-digest adaptation of Romeo&Juliet I've seen.

I've also seen Encanto (Latin American Dub) during Christmas, which was an absolute delight. Doesn't quite surpass Coco, but it's definitely up there at the top for Disney Animated Films. There's magic arepas and a "miércoles" in that film, it's the best.

As for films not of this year, but that I saw this year in theatres anyway...  Demon Slayer: Infinity Train (excellent experience, seeing it in the big screen), Nomadland (on the other hand, I think this one would've been better in a smaller screen), and Charlie Chaplin's The Kid (first time I saw a silent film on a theatre. Definitely worthwhile).

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There are tonnes of films that I still need to watch from the last 12 months so my choices are a bit more limited than I'd have liked so I'll only mention a few. 

No preference on the order but my favourite new films of the year were SpencerShiva BabyShirleyMoxie and Censor

In terms of older films that I saw for the first time in 2021, my favourites were probably BabyteethSlums of Beverly HillsFirst CowAppropriate Behaviour and The Nightingale

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I didn't watch too many new films in 2021 - amidst the raffle of films making it to cinemas, region exclusive streaming platforms, and COVID scares - and honestly I think you guys have covered a lot of them, but I'd throw Tick, Tick... Boom! into the mix.

I'm not typically someone seeking out musicals, but it's Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial feature film debut and Andrew Garfield gives one heck of a performance, with his singing but especially also with his acting. I'm going to be really surprised if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for this film.

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On 01/01/2022 at 9:57 AM, Cube said:

At least it's not as short as the entire list of 2021 films that I've seen:

-

Views and reviews (yours included) of thon hyphen film didn't exactly sell it as a must-see. There was much better in 2021 if you were in the least bit interested.

2 hours ago, Julius said:

I didn't watch too many new films in 2021 - amidst the raffle of films making it to cinemas, region exclusive streaming platforms, and COVID scares - and honestly I think you guys have covered a lot of them, but I'd throw Tick, Tick... Boom! into the mix.

I'm not typically someone seeking out musicals, but it's Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial feature film debut and Andrew Garfield gives one heck of a performance, with his singing but especially also with his acting. I'm going to be really surprised if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for this film.

Also want to see this but not sure if it is in the cinema or if it needs to be hunted down on streaming. I'll be doing Matrix 4 and Spidey in the coming weekends and if Tick, Tick... Boom! is there in the latter half of January I will try to see it. Hard to go too wrong with Houses's roommate.

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@darksnowman Tick, Tick...Boom! is on Netflix.

I think the only films released in 2021 that I actually saw were Encanto and Luca which were fun but I'm sure not everyone's taste.

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Been to see Matrix 4 and the latest Spidey. Really enjoyed both for different reasons (yet there is some overlap)! Worthy of the Best Films of 2021, imo. Was cool to see so much of the Sense8 cast crop up in the Matrix. 

Still might be able to get Encanto watched before it drops off the cinema listings.

On 02/01/2022 at 6:09 PM, Ashley said:

@darksnowman Tick, Tick...Boom! is on Netflix.

I think the only films released in 2021 that I actually saw were Encanto and Luca which were fun but I'm sure not everyone's taste.

Ooh, thanks. Hadn't done any homework on the availability of Tick, Tick... Boom! yet but may well catch that next, then. 

Edited by darksnowman
Sense8!

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1 hour ago, darksnowman said:

Been to see Matrix 4 and the latest Spidey. Really enjoyed both for different reasons (yet there is some overlap)! Worthy of the Best Films of 2021, imo.

Still might be able to get Encanto watched before it drops off the cinema listings.

Ooh, thanks. Hadn't done any homework on the availability of Tick, Tick... Boom! yet but may well catch that next, then. 

Encanto is on Disney+ if you have that. 

I watched TTB last weekend and really enjoyed it. 

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14 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Encanto is on Disney+ if you have that. 

I watched TTB last weekend and really enjoyed it. 

Wasn't aware they'd lobbed it onto streaming already so that's handy.

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Yeah on Christmas Eve. Only spent a month as a cinema exclusive. 

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That was a good shout, @Ashley as I've been intending to do another month of Disney+ to catch up with some of the latest Marvel and Star Wars stuff.

I caught Encanto and while it was good/ very good, similar to Luca, I wouldn't put it up there as a classic. I appreciated the Doctor Who "bigger on the inside" line, and between this and Luca, we are really going to need to talk about Bruno.

So what were the best animated films of 2021?

 

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Since my last post here, I actually watched Luca and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

  • Luca felt like the freshest Pixar movie in a while, and I loved it. Everything about it was lovely, even the bully kid was funny. I still like Encanto more, but that's not a knock on either film at all;
  • Spider-Man was fun and nostalgic. It has some of the modern flaws of recent MCU content, but not enough to drag the film down. Missed opportunity to reference the "Sinister Six", though.

I also, since then, remembered that I did watch another film during the summer: Suicide Squad (2021). Definitely a surprise, way more fun than I expected it to be. The cast gelled pretty well, the Portuguese character was pretty cool (with my own city appearing in flashbacks!), and it was some really good schlock on the whole.

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