By Movie Geeks | January 4, 2022

In what could be described as an interesting year, movie geeks and film fans over the past 12 months found the movie going experience a bit of a challenge but one that provided rich rewards and dazzling spectacles.

We witnessed the epic battle of titans Kong vs Godzilla, journeyed once again to the planet Dune, cheered on real-life heroes as well as superheroes Spider-Man, Black Widow, Shang-Chi, and The Justice League, rooted for supervillains The Suicide Squad, said hello once again to Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss “Trinity and Neo” and bid a sad goodbye to Daniel Craig’s 007 “James Bond.”

Whether the films of 2021 debuted in theaters or went straight to streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime, cinemas offered everyone an escapism from the trials and tribulations of everyday life with the continuation of franchise favorites SAW, A QUIET PLACE 2, MORTAL KOMBAT, FAST & FURIOUS 9, CANDYMAN and THE CONJURING.

We feasted on directors Steven Spielberg, Chloé Zhao, M. Night Shyamalan, Nia DeCosta, Edgar Wright, Jane Campion, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ridley Scott, Lana Wachowski and Guillermo del Toro visions of musicals, horror, comedy, cinema noir and DC/Marvel superheroes.

But in the end, it was your friendly neighborhood webslinger that saved 2021 with a huge box office return, the reemergence of villains (as well as Daredevils) and an emotional return with not only one but two Spider-men that had audiences sobbing, smiling, cheering and giving us hope for the coming year.

Even if Tinseltown is recovering from the long-term effects of the pandemic, 2022 is shaping up to be a pretty great year on the big and small screens with the upcoming THE BATMAN, BLACK ADAM, DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, TOP GUN: MAVERICK, THE FLASH, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION, Jordan Peele’s NOPE, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 and THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, just to name a few.

Before we kick off our list, check out this video montage of the best of what the big screen had to offer moviegoers.

Honorable Mention: THE SUMMER OF SOUL

“Open your heart to what I mean, we must begin to tell our young, there’s a world waiting for you, yours is the quest that’s just begun.”-Nina Simone, “To Be Young Gifted and Black”

In his review, Jim Batts says, “the superb SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) is also cause for rejoicing and adoration. What a time. What wonderful timeless entertainment.” In his directorial debut, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson sought to recover the meaningful spirit of the past – when the biggest names in African-American music, culture, and politics came together for six consecutive weeks for a landmark, transformational Black cultural event. His little-seen footage had remained in storage for the past 50 years, keeping this singular event in American history hidden – until now. The filmmaker presented fans with never-before-seen footage of concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King and The 5th Dimension. The winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival, SUMMER OF SOUL is one of the best documentaries of 2021 and an amazing must-see for music fans.

10. WEST SIDE STORY

So, was a remake of the beloved, multi-Oscar-winning film from 60 years ago needed? While some still debate this, the “new spin” from Steven Spielberg was a surprisingly moving “re-interpretation” thanks in part to the script enhancements from Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner brought to vivid life by a young cast headed by the fiery Ariana DeBose as Anita and this year’s major movie discovery Rachel Zegler as Maria. Plus, there’s plenty of bright “star power” emanating from the “force of nature” Rita Moreno from the original (and now a co-producer). Lots of kudos to the army of artisans and craftspeople that meticulously recreated 1957 NYC. Best of all this is another chance to savor (and for youngsters to discover) the spectacular songs from Leonard Bernstein and the recently departed, much-missed Stephen Sondheim. It all gives support to the adage “Everything old is new again”.

9. ENCANTO

As the multiplex is bombarded with animation offerings from the major studios to the “indies”, the artists at Walt Disney Animation continue to impress (along with “sibling” Pixar who offered the lovely LUCA this year). Peppered with catchy, bouncy tunes from the very busy (whew) Lin-Manuel Miranda, this story of an enchanted village and its founding family is indeed magical, alive with color and comedy. Plus, it features a heroine that strives to save the day despite having no “gifts’ other than her bravery and intelligence. Oh, and she wears glasses (a first for Disney). And despite the incredible character design and superb action and slapstick, the dynamics of family and love are first and foremost in this fabulous fable.

8. NO TIME TO DIE

After his 15-year adventure as James Bond, Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 had a bittersweet ending in director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s NO TIME TO DIE.  Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain (Rami Malek) armed with dangerous new technology.

Bond 25 has one of the franchise’s best action scenes in the opening chase scene through the Southern Italian city of Matera.

Academy Award-winning director of photography Linus Sandgren’s thrilling cinematography is rich, colorful and exciting. The choreography is old-school filmmaking at it’s finest.

Fun facts about the film: At the age of 18, Billie Eilish is the youngest artist to record a Bond theme song, the first in the series to have sequences shot with 65mm IMAX film cameras and was co-written by “Fleabag” creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Like all 007 missions, the ending credits once again made a promise: “James Bond will return.”

7. CRUELLA

A mischievous Emma Stone gave us the performance of the year (and 47 costume changes) as CRUELLA, which was a suitably wicked backstory for one of Walt Disney’s greatest villains. This ‘mean girl’ fairytale’s stylish direction by Craig Gillespie, intricate dedication to period detail, eye-popping costume design, and crazed 70’s soundtrack, not to mention a truly game supporting cast, made CRUELLA the biggest surprise of 2021.

6. TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Joel Coen’s first solo production is an gripping adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish play, starring Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as the ambitious Lady Macbeth. The film grabs you straight out of the gate with a weirdly wild meeting of the three witches, actually played by one woman with wicked contortionist skills, as a kind of unholy trinity. Shot entirely in a gorgeous black and white, with surrealist sets and a stark, wide-spaces cinematography where people might dissolve into an explosion of crows, but with a pared-down narrative tightness, it is Shakespeare as noirish thriller, or a “ticking-clock thriller” as Coen himself put it.

5. CRY MACHO

If 91-year Clint Eastwood had directed his 91-year-old self in a movie where he rides a horse, shoots a gun, punches someone in the face with his old-man fist, and dances with a woman, that alone would have been enough to put CRY MACHO on this list. But Clint gave this movie so much more. It was a gentle, even sweet, film about the wisdom of growing old. CRY MACHO felt like a parting gift from our greatest living director and star. 

4. THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Wes Anderson’s charming, creative, color-drenched literate comedy tale is an homage to the early New Yorker magazine, here re-imagined as a French-based Sunday weekly of a Kansas newspaper. Told through an anthology of short tales representing various stories by different contributors, this film packed with all the quirk and charm you expect from Wes Anderson, and it also sports an unbeatable all-star ensemble cast, including Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Tmothee Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand and more.

3. LICORICE PIZZA

Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s charming ode to the sparkly 70s is the perfect “middle section” between Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD and PTA’s own BOOGIE NIGHTS. It gets all the pop culture’s excesses of the period just right, though it’s more than merely a nostalgia “checklist. This is an endearing look at a couple, a wandering woman in her mid-20’s and an ambitious, always-hustling teenager, who can’t stop circling each other, both played superbly by two relative screen unknowns, Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. But its secret weapon might be the hysterical scene-stealing performance by Bradley Cooper as a real-life Hollywood “power broker”. What a gem.

2. SPIDER MAN: NO WAY HOME

As we near the 20th anniversary of this character’s film franchise, our biggest movie holiday present is this entertaining blockbuster, proving that there’s lots of life in the old superhero movie genre. While many “tent-poles” try to ignore their history, this zippy “thrill-ride” fully embraces its past in a story of courage, sacrifice, and redemption, as Spidey not only rescues the innocent bystanders but seeks to save, rather than punish or execute, the “villains”. Oh, and it’s really funny just as it tugs at your heart. It’s a sweet “look back”, while marking a new chapter in the “webbed wonder’s” life. Bravo to Sony for agreeing to team with Marvel Studios for another trilogy. And with Tom Holland on board, fantasy film fans have great cause to rejoice.

1. BELFAST

Kenneth Branagh’s semi-biographical tale of childhood in 1969 Belfast is a complete charmer, with a surprising amount of humor despite taking place during the Irish troubles. Sprinkled with terrific performances by Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench as wise-cracking grandparents, young Jude Hill as lively 8-year-old Buddy and Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe as his fiery, loving parents. A terrific film on all levels with fabulous, creative black-and-white cinematography, this one is a sure front-runner for Oscars.

STAFF PICKS

Jim’s Top Ten for 2021:

1.  LICORICE PIZZA
2.  SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
3.  ENCANTO
4.  WEST SIDE STORY
5. THE SUMMER OF SOUL
6.  LUCA
7.  THE LAST DUEL
8.  LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
9.  RITA MORENO; JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT
10. DREAM HORSE

Honorable mentions:  CODA, STILLWATER, POWER OF THE DOG

Cate’s Top Ten for 2021:

1. BELFAST
2. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
3. FRENCH DISPATCH
4. THE HAND OF GOD
5. LICORICE PIZZA
6. DON’T LOOK UP
7. THE POWER OF THE DOG
8. PASSING
9. A HERO
10. THE GREEN KNIGHT

Honorable Mentions: DRIVE MY CAR, STILLWATER, JOCKEY, WEST SIDE STORY, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, PARALLEL MOTHERS, SPENCER, CODA, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, TITANE, BEING THE RICARDOS

Michelle’s Top Ten for 2021:

1. BELFAST
2. SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
3. Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE
4. GODZILLA VS KONG
5. THE GREEN KNIGHT
6. NO TIME TO DIE
7. A QUIET PLACE PART II
8. DUNE
9. THE POWER OF THE DOG
10. THE LAST DUEL

Honorable mentions: OLD, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, THE SUICIDE SQUAD, THE HARDER THEY FALL, THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES, MALIGNANT and MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

Tom’s List Top Ten for 2021:

1. CRY MACHO
2. CRUELLA
3. NIGHTMARE ALLEY
4. TITANE
5. ARMY OF THE DEAD
6. THE CARD COUNTER
7. THE FRENCH DISPATCH
8. NO TIME TO DIE
9. THE LAST DUEL
10. HOUSE OF GUCCI

Honorable mentions:   NOBODY, PIG, WRATH OF MAN