The Best Films of 2021 (by Cameron Geiser)
Written by Cameron Geiser
2021 was the year we all returned to the movie theaters after a long hiatus. Personally, this was the longest gap in my entire theater-going experience. There were 486 days from the time I saw Sonic The Hedgehog with friends until I went to see Into The Heights in June of this year. Which is where I’ll start with my list of my favorite films of 2021!
In The Heights
This is the story of a neighborhood first and foremost. It’s the story of Washington Heights NYC, and the people that live in it, work in it, those who dream in it, and of it. Our focus is mainly pulled between two couples, your typical A and B stories, with a huge ensemble filling out the edges. Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) and Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) get the most attention, but the most dedicated side story of the film belongs to Nina Rosario (Leslie Grace) and Benny (Corey Hawkins). Both couples juggle a “will they, won’t they?” dynamic with the elements of economic strife, the pursuit of happiness, and the obligations that each of them have to those they care about within their slice of life. The music is unique, powerful, and energetic! Which is only matched by the ferocity of the excellent dance choreography, oh and keep an eye out for Abuela Claudia’s song near the third act- it’s a showstopper! In The Heights is a celebration of community, family, identity, our hopes, our dreams, our collective struggles and shared losses.
The Green Knight
Mythic, mysterious, and atmospheric, The Green Knight is one of only two films that I gave a perfect score to this year, and while no film is perfect, this one was uniquely cinematic. The film can be challenging at times, it’s a slow burn story meant to showcase what not to do when attempting to become a Knight. With a confident hand behind the camera, David Lowrey’s adaptation of this ages old poem leans on imagery over dialogue to tell it’s tale. Mixing practical effects with balanced CGI, the film walks the line perfectly with regard to it’s immersion. Though it is indeed a slow film, one that requires your patience and your attention, I found The Green Knight to be a mystifying, magical, experience at the theater. Give it a shot, it’s a weird art-house film with the occasional flares of unexpected sex and violence.
The Suicide Squad
The only reason I went to the movies to see this one, with cautious optimism at best, was due to the involvement of writer-director James Gunn. The first film was a gigantic disaster due to studio meddling with director David Ayer’s attempts at adapting this comic-book property. This time around, however, the studio seems to have thrown up their hands in dismay and completely ignored the production of the James Gunn sequel. The result is a uniquely bonkers supervillain movie. One with knockout humor, excellently staged action sequences, and a surprising amount of heart!
There’s one beat where a fight scene is shown only in the reflection of Peacemaker’s (John Cena) chrome helmet as it lay discarded on the ground while the camera swivels around it. It's my favorite shot of the film, and perhaps of the year. The cast has a great chemistry too, with my personal favorite being Polka-Dot Man played by David Dastmalchian. The Suicide Squad was insane, hilarious, bloody violent, and irreverent as hell. James Gunn knows how to poke fun at the Superhero genre, and this is just another superb entry in his oddball oeuvre.
No Time to Die
All good things must come to an end, right? No Time to Die had a bit of a juggling act to perform with it’s story. There was some serious work to do in wrapping up and acknowledging all of Craig’s past films as they had connective story threads that ran throughout each one, a new evolution for the character. While I’m confident in claiming this Bond as my personal favorite, this series of Bond films has had its share of low points as well (Here’s looking at you Quantum of Solace). Thankfully, it ends on a high note with No Time to Die. Surrounded by an excellent cast, with nail-biting action sequences, slick spy cars, and gadgets galore- this one has it all. No Time to Die is a fitting farewell to Daniel Craig’s James Bond, he’ll be sorely missed, but I’m glad we had him for as long as we did!
Free Guy
Personally, I found this one to be the surprise hit of the summer, Free Guy was an unexpected delight! Ryan Reynolds stars as Guy, a bank teller that lives in an open-world style video game that’s clearly based on the insanely popular video game franchise Grand Theft Auto. Every day he’s robbed at gunpoint by people playing the game. He works with his best friend, Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), the security guard at the bank. They both seemingly love their lives and live in a near-constant loop of cycling through player characters that choose to play the bank heist mission. One day things change for Guy and Buddy when Guy meets Millie (Jodie Comer), someone playing the game, with a mission of her own besides actually playing the game. Guy falls head over heels for Millie immediately, and thus, breaks his loop. So, there’s a lot going on in this one, it’s a far smarter film than it needed to be, which is always a nice surprise. The fact that it was highly entertaining as well is just the cherry on top, a solid entry in any “rainy day” movie marathon.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is Marvel Studio’s first foray into the world of Martial Arts, Wuxia, and all the Kung Fu you can handle. After the conclusion of “Avengers: Endgame” Marvel needed to wow us with their latest new Superhero- and Shang-Chi more than accomplishes that. By leaning into every possible Chinese and Asian-American inspirational genre and medium of culture the filmmakers could conjure up, it really sets this film apart from the rest of the Cinematic Universe. Though while there were several tie-ins to the broader world, it never felt too encroaching or out of place in this film. Throughout the runtime I had moments during which I thought to myself, “Wow, this is like a live-action side-scroller beat ’em up video game” or “Wow, they really went for the gold with the Wuxia stuff” or “Oh My god, what is that? A Pokemon?!” and finally “Am I just straight up watching a live-action Studio Ghibli movie right now?”
Now, granted, I’m not saying that this film transcends any of those inspirations mentioned, but it does do an excellent job of making itself unique enough, while visually referencing those well known touchstones. The most exciting aspect of this film is that while you can still see the formulaic structure of the MCU at times- it’s the moments, beats, and scenes that break away from the mold that feel fresh and electric. The best thing I can say about a movie where the lead character is a Master of Martial Arts, is that the fight scenes and star Simu Liu himself are outstanding! By now you probably know whether or not the superhero genre is for you, this one was a bit different, and a whole lotta fun, which is something that I can’t say for the previous Marvel Studios flick of the summer, Black Widow.
Candyman
This horror reboot soulfully revived Candyman for modern audiences with an eye for intelligent mythmaking with this slasher. This supernatural slasher sequel, and also reboot of sorts to the first film from 1992, stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy, a local Chicago artist living with his girlfriend, and art gallery director, Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris). Together they live in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood, a former housing projects community that’s been gentrified over the last couple of decades. With artistic inspiration lacking, Anthony latches onto the urban legend of Candyman once he hears it. Intrigue turns to obsession as Anthony goes down the rabbit hole seeking more information about the story of the man at the myth’s legend, that of Sherman Fields (Michael Hargrove). Sherman was a resident of the Cabrini-Green neighborhood in the late 1970’s. He had a hook for an arm and often handed out candy to the local children and one of those children was a young Billy Burke (Colman Domingo).
Burke accidentally mistook Sherman’s kindness for malice, and the local Chicago PD beat Sherman to death for it. Even though he was posthumously exonerated, the legend of the Candyman implies that if somebody says “Candyman” five times to a mirror, Sherman’s spirit will appear and brutally murder the summoner. So, naturally, Anthony takes the urban mythology and turns it into a piece of interactive artwork for a gallery piece through Brianna’s summer show. The film really delves into the ideas of the myths that we tell ourselves, and why we do it. I found this one to be thoroughly entertaining, and a great use of mirrors and reflections! It’s hands down the best horror film that I saw this year. Halloween Kills was fun, but this one is a far more intelligent film.
Dune
This second attempt at adapting Frank Herbert’s monolithic science fiction epic was in the right hands with director Denis Villeneuve at the helm. There’s a lot to digest in the story of Dune and, wisely, this film is half of the first book. Set in the far future, the film delves into the politics of the Imperium, a set of planets governed by an Emperor who makes powerful choices from afar. Rather than diving headlong into the minutiae of the inner workings of the powerful houses of this story, the film sticks us close to the power players of House Atreides. Early on in the film the Emperor decrees that House Harkonnen, the longtime rulers of Arrakis, a resource rich desert planet, bequeath their Imperial Rule to the rising House Atreides. This is the premise that the remainder of the film flows from.
Denis Villeneuve is my favorite working film director today and this one only further cemented the notion. This film has an outstanding cast, with names like Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, and David Dastmalchian- what’s not to love? That’s not even including the youngest actors involved with Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya! I must also take a moment to mention the superb cinematography by Greig Fraser whose past filmwork includes Rogue One, Vice, a few episodes of The Mandalorian, and the upcoming The Batman, it’s visually crisp and kinetic when it has to be. Overall this one was a giant success, it’s Villeneuve’s highest earning film to date, and it’s one of the rare perfect equilibriums between heady artistic endeavor and blockbuster sensibilities with regard to sheer scale and spectacle. The sequel can’t come soon enough!
Godzilla vs. Kong
The big fight that all previous Monsterverse films promised finally came to pass with this blockbuster midnight monster movie. This one is pure escapism at its finest. It’s also the movie that saved Hollywood earlier this year when the majority of the movie-going public was still hesitant about returning to theaters. This was the second pandemic-era film to cross the $100 Million-dollar line domestically (The first was A Quiet Place 2), but the first to earn over $32 million on opening weekend, which was a gigantic moment for the industry with AMC theaters facing potential bankruptcy at the time. This monster movie helped assure investors and calm the financial woes facing the industry as a whole, so next time you’re sitting in a dark theater waiting for the feature to begin, you can thank cinema’s two most popular monsters for saving theatrical distribution as we know it. Also, the monster fights in this one slap figuratively, and literally!
Mortal Kombat
Finally, a proper adaptation of the eternal fighting game with the most violent and satisfying of outcomes. Mortal Kombat didn’t have to knock it out of the park when considering both crowd-pleasing scenes and being accurate to the video game’s storylines- but it did! If you’ve never come across the games over the years, the general premise is that the earth (called Earthrealm in the series) must be defended by a handful of skilled combatants in a tournament against the best that Outworld has to offer. This reboot centers around Cole Young (Lewis Tan) a descendent of Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), better known as the ninja Scorpion. There’s a lot of backstory I could get into, a rival ninja called Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) etc, but honestly, there’s a reason this one made it onto my best of the year list. Mortal Kombat is satisfyingly violent with excellent fight scenes, solid humor, and appropriately over-the-top characters. If you’re wondering, yes, Kano (Josh Lawson) was my favorite part too!
Nobody
Bob Odenkirk, action movie star? Who knew it was possible? This film has the shortest runtime out of my favorites of the year at a brisk hour and a half, and it effectively utilizes every one of those minutes. This is your typical revenge fantasy action flick, at least initially. The film has a few secrets to unravel, but I’ll let the film tell it’s own story. The reason you should give this one a watch, besides the whole “Bob Odenkirk, Action Star” aspect, is that the film knows it’s audience and it wants to make you wince, gasp, and gut laugh at all the visceral violence onscreen. The film is written by Derek Kolstad, the creator of the John Wick franchise, and the resemblance to the assassin film series is immediately noticeable. Odenkirk stars as Hutch Mansell, your average, run-of-the-mill middle-aged Dad- at first glance. Once his home is broken into in the middle of the night, something within him is ignited- and that something is later unleashed on a few unsuspecting associates of the Russian Mafia. Obviously, things escalate from there, and it’s pure joy watching the chaos reign from that point on. If you’re looking for the action flick of the year, this is it!
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg’s remake of the 1961 musical is a fantastic adaptation that combines respectful homage with a distinctive newness that introduces modern audiences to this most recent version of Romeo and Juliet. This isn’t just a good musical- it’s one of the best films of the year. Crafted with an eye towards classical Hollywood showmanship, Spielberg’s adaption crackles and soars with passion. The songs may be the same, but the fierce inventiveness behind the camera brings an altogether different familiarity to West Side Story, that elusive Spielberg movie magic that’s been absent for the better part of two decades is solidly reaffirmed here. Ladies and gentlemen, the king has returned.
The Last Duel
With all due respect to Lady Gaga, out of the two films that Ridley Scott directed (and released this year due to the pandemic), The Last Duel is the one to see. It’s essentially a Rashomon of medieval proportions that revels in each character’s version of the truth with regard to the sexual assault of Lady Marguerite, the wife of French Knight Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon). The accused is Sir Jacques le Gris (Adam Driver), a squire and friend of Carrouges, who denies that it was a rape. Once the debate of the truth comes to a firm standstill with each party sticking to their version of the truth- it is decided that the two men will fight in a duel to the death, thereby letting God decide who is right. It’s amazing to me that a film starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver, written by both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (and Nicole Holofcener!), and directed by Ridley Scott could be such a financial disaster.
It’s doubly upsetting as the film is of extremely high quality on top of the talent involved. It’s a sad outcome of the current film industry during a global pandemic, but you can still support the film through purchase of a physical copy- and I do urge you to do so. Films like this will not be funded in the future if they don’t make their money back. It’s the practical solution, studios only see box office numbers and home video sales. If you want to see films “made for adults” like this one with difficult subjects at their core, support the filmmakers and performers, or it will, and can, all go away.
Last Night in Soho
Last Night in SoHo is a horror mystery film in which a young aspiring fashion designer moves to London and eventually finds herself being transported to 1960’s London every night. Edgar Wright is easily one of my favorite working film directors today and I’d go see any of his films on the silver screen, but this one was especially fun as it was the first time the director stepped into the Horror genre proper. Thomasin McKenzie stars as Eloise, a quiet artist who’s quite obsessed with the culture from the 1960’s through films, fashion, and music. After Eloise encounters a bit of a rude social awakening with her peers at the university, she moves to a small one-bedroom flat nearby. Once she rests her head in her new home at night, she’s transported to that glitzy and glamorous 1960’s London.
After a moment out on the street in dazzling wonder, Eloise makes her way into a nightclub and in the reflection of some walled mirrors she sees not herself, but the magnificent Anya Taylor-Joy reflecting back at her. She decides to follow the moment and watches Anya Taylor-Joy’s confidence whisk her into a dance and departure sequence with the charming Matt Smith as her eventual manager in entertainment. To reveal much more would be a disservice to those interested in giving this film a shot, but I must say that I do highly recommend it, the mystery of the story is a lot of fun! The film also has the best use of mirrors and reflections in years, though Candyman did have some good ideas with that as well.
The French Dispatch
The French Dispatch is Wes Anderson's tenth film, and it feels like the culmination of all his previous films rolled into one gigantic smorgasbord of cinematic delights. The whole conceit of the film is that the French Dispatch was a fictional American Newspaper, set in a fictional French city (Ennui, pronounced AHN-WEE), with the story focusing on the last edition of the Newspaper and the journalists who wrote each piece. First we get a small bit of information about the Newspaper, how it started, and the editor who ran it up until his death, Arthur Howitzer Jr. played exquisitely by Bill Murry. The three major pieces are written by J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton), Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand), and Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright). Each one focuses on different aspects of the city they lived in and the stories they thought worthy of telling. Each one is unique and fantastically fabricated. Berensen's piece focuses on an artistic savant, who also happens to be a psychotic killer living in prison in perpetuity while Ms. Krementz chose to dive into the student revolution taking place in the city in a war of ideologies between Ennui's generations. Roebuck Wright's piece delivers the goods on an infamous night in which he was invited to dine with the Police Chief's superb in-house chef, known far and wide for his culinary skills. The infamy in question began with the kidnapping of the Police Chief's son during the dinner.
This is the sort of film that I go to the movies to see. Actors in elaborate costumes, on hand-crafted sets, using practical props, with monologues and action beats with lots and lots of wordplay. However, anyone that's not much interested in Wes Anderson films to begin with, may not be as in tune with The French Dispatch as I was. For anyone uninterested in the quirks, that commonly come packaged as criticisms of this director, mainly that he's "too literary", "too invested in European culture", or "too kitschy or twee"- these potential audiences will most likely not be persuaded by this film. Indeed The French Dispatch is all of those things and more, some could call it style over substance, but I'd take issue with that criticism personally- there's heaps of substance, whole island nations of substance, if you ask me. It just may not be for you in execution. Yes, his dollhouse aesthetic is still present, as is his love of symmetrically composed shots and lateral movement tracking shots, but would it really be a Wes Anderson film if he didn't do any of those things? Probably, but perhaps not? Out of all of the films that I’ve seen that have been released this year, this one is my personal favorite.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The third film in Jon Watts and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy did not disappoint! Collecting a “best of” grab-bag of heroes and villains from the previous Spidey movies and throwing them together in the same flick proved to be a brilliant move. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is pitted against some of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s most dangerous villains after screwing up a spell performed by the Sorcerer Supreme himself in thrilling fashion! Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, and Willem Dafoe all gave excellent performances reviving their characters from past films, likewise to the two Spider-Men involved as well. Though Willem Dafoe gets the MVP villain status, he was fully committed to bringing back one of the Web-head’s most dangerous rogues with deadly precision. The film was fast-paced, thrilling, emotional, and intelligent with respect to subverting expectations within the superhero genre. It’s the best film in Tom Holland’s film series so far, and worth every penny to see it on the big screen. This was one of the most enthralling experiences I had at the movie theater this year. The crowd I was with on opening night *legitimately* cheered, gasped, and sniffled at key moments throughout the film. It was a testament to the theatrical experience, and a cinematic joy to see it with a sold out theater. I can’t wait to see where Tom Holland’s Peter Parker goes next!
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.