2021. I wasn't even going to do a list this year. Seriously. I haven't been to a theater since February of 2020. In the past I tried to include on my list as many theater experience movies as possible. Some years they were exclusively ones I saw in the theater. And there is SO. MUCH. CONTENT. Where would my list possibly fit? But, call it ego or whatever, I've decided that I still want to put my opinions out there. The rules of accomplishment and professional recognition have been turned on their heads the last couple of years. The question people in entertainment ask is no longer "What have they done that I've seen?" Now it is enough to ask, "Where can I see what they've done?" So, here is my list for you to read. At the very least, maybe something you haven't heard of will catch your eye. The world is so weird, the idea of something being released in the theaters and existing in that moment in time does not apply anymore. But, as every year, entries on the list are limited exclusively to American, English-speaking fare. And self-contained movies. So no Squid Game.
Now then, with the same disclaimers and rules that come every year, here is the Panther Pictures, LLC, list of the Ten Best Films of 2021. #PPLLCTenBest2021 #TenBest2021 #TenBest
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Nobody, Perfect World Pictures, Directed by Ilya Naishuller
We all secretly wish there was an assassin inside us, right? And that the bad guy will just BEG to be put down, by stealing our daughter's favorite bracelet. Nobody was written by Derek Kolstad, the same man who wrote John Wick (which I was never into). Both movies also share David Leitch in the producer role. So yeah, violent. But the thing about John Wick is, it has Keanu Reeves. As soon as that dog dies, you're like: "Yeah, they screwed up. This is gonna get messy." With Nobody, even if you know what's coming (and with today's modern trailer techniques, how could you not?) it's still unexpected. Because before every encounter the natural thought is, "Dang. This guy's in trouble." No he's nooooot. It's them. They screwed up.
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The Beatles Get Back, Apple Films, Directed by Peter Jackson
You could argue it was a series, but I argue it's a trilogy. When a single episode goes over 3 hours, you don't have a TV show anymore.
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Ice Road, Netflix Studios, Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh
Liam Neeson's career as an action star is kind of going the way of Bela Lugosi's as a monster movie actor. And it's pretty lovely to watch, because unlike Lugosi fighting against it, Liam seems to be embracing it. Despite being, "Adapted From The Wages of Fear," this movie is written like a Greenlight project--with a real waste of a villain (telegraphed from 4 miles away) and some stunt casting of the female lead. But good ol' Liam is there to carry the whole thing on his grizzled face. Also, if you want your 2021 Lawrence Fishburne fix, he's here red-pilling himself to every awful line of dialogue. He plays a man so desperate to organize a rescue mission that he gives finding the perfect mechanic, and the threat of falling through the ice, the same slightly-offensive-slightly-quaint level of profanity.
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Cruella, Walt Disney Studios, Directed by Craig Gillespie
It was completely superfluous, and rebooted the mythology of Cruella DeVil unnecessarily--considering that there really wasn't a mythology for her to begin with. It was campy where it shouldn't have been campy, and serious where it didn't need to be serious. It's essentially The Devil Wears Prada with Dalmatians. It wanted to be creepy, but really the only creepy thing about it was where they implied that Pongo and Purdie were from the same litter. I loved it. It was much better than Cats. I'm going to watch it again and again.
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Belfast, Universal Studios, Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Caitriona Balfe sure knows how to pick 'em. And I'll watch anything with Judy Dench directed by Kenneth Branagh. And it's in Black and White. And it's Irish. Great stuff.
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Don't Look Up, Netflix Studios, Directed by Adam McKay
Of course I'm going to list this one. A similar theme to Political Fallout, the sweet ending of Moment of Anger, and the best call back to Network I've ever seen. Leo's speech, in contrast to Peter Finch's, shows how much harder it is to get that kind of fire out of an audience in a modern world. And the film was a scathing social commentary on just about everything--I mean more than the obvious Presidential stuff, which I note with satisfaction doesn't identify political parties. (I've been saying that was the best way to do it ever since I first saw Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, in 1994...ish.) From the newspaper people who relished in their scoop until it wasn't trending enough, to the way the Social Networking Guru treated the End of The World like a beta test (that often failed), nothing was off limits. Speaking of social media, I caught something else--Adam McKay's attitude that all those algorithms are only as accurate as we let them be. When Leo's death is predicted by Mark Rylance as happening alone, it is so wrong because he'd never been on any apps until this crisis. In contrast, the bit about the Brontorac was spot on, but that was because everyone involved was a social media junkie. The deepest, and most subtle, dig was just as the survivors left the spaceship. You'll notice that the group of almost exclusively Old Guard Elites (which one of them are fertile? Answer-none) had brought with them one single young and fit black man, obviously only there for his physical abilities and labor. The film hits deep nerves for just about everyone, and works as a metaphor for just about everything. I saw a review that claimed it was an allegory on climate change, and another that called it "the strongest blow to Progressive Liberalism since The Great Dictator." And why not? There's a 100% chance that we're all going to die anyway.
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Spiderman: No Way Home, Marvel Studios, Directed by Jon Watts
I still haven't had a chance to see it. It's (gasp!) only playing in theaters. But as we all know the trailers are amazing, and history is going to look back on it as the precise moment that the movie industry got over the pandemic.
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The Power of The Dog, Netflix Studios, Directed by Jane Campion
My list has a lot of Netflix titles again. But hey, gotta give props to a film that reunites my favorite power couple from Fargo Season 2. The Power of the Dog had a solid Film Festival pedigree in New York, Toronto, and Venice behind it, before it bowed on Netflix. The narrative takes a bit to find its footing, and the payoffs are dramatic, but the best thing this Western has going for it is the best thing all Westerns have going for them: The landscape. The land is always what grounds a Western--little dramas unfolding before a massive backdrop. As such, it sports the best cinematography of 2021; and if Kirsten Dunst doesn't finally get the awards recognition she deserves, she and the other MJ's of the Spiderverse should get together for their own Metaverse meltdown. It is also the best performance Benedryl Cuddledragon has ever given. Well, that's a moving target. It's his best performance...so far.
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Free Guy, Berlanti Productions, Directed by Shawn Levy
Turn it on and have some fun!
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Summer of Soul, Searchlight Pictures, Directed by Questlove
Well, I used to avoid documentaries in my lists. Glad I got over that. There have been so many quality ones being made in the last couple of decades, and it very much says something about me that the ones that grab my interest are historical, generally American, and often deal with the complicated racial and class history woven into a country built upon the truth that all men are created equal. Documentaries are meant to do two things really well--give a window into something we would not have an awareness of otherwise, and emphasize our common humanity while doing so. Yes, this is that movie. Racial reckoning--and you can dance to it!
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Only one Razzie this year. It may not be yours, but it's mine:
I Care A Lot, Netflix Studios, Directed by Jonathan Blakeson. Not gonna link to it. Go find it yourself.
I watched it all the way through, and about halfway through I realized that I wouldn't like how it was going to turn out. But I did see the whole thing. It had such a strong premise, a great wish fulfillment scenario that could have been on the level of Nobody. A woman who makes her living scamming the elderly into becoming their legal guardian and milking their finances dry, stumbles across and scams a woman who turns out to be the mother of a Russian mafia crime Boss. What could have been a fun movie about Keanu Reeve's mom unleashing Keanu Reeves (no, he's not in it), instead becomes just another writer/director fawning over their own cliches. Any director lucky enough to have Peter Dinklage in his arsenal, only to reduce him to clenching his teeth and shaking his head--and THEN to hide even those iconic expressions behind too much beard--doesn't deserve Peter Dinklage in his arsenal. And any writer lazy enough to use the very old 'car in the water' routine to establish an 'I cheated death' subplot, better make it unique. I can't imagine anyone watching the movie not wanting Rosamund Pike dead within the first 8 minutes, and yet the movie turns away from that gold mine and instead tries to make us think she's the one to root for, when she's the one committing all the elder abuse. (Learn this: there's a reason why in the movies the dog always lives, and the serial killer good guy never goes after the old lady.) The moment she finally did die, was supposed to be, I guess, tragic? Instead, I really wanted that gunman to run off to Mexico and hang out with Morgan Freeman, while Bob Odenkirk mobilized the rest of the residents in the nursing home to suck what's left of her company completely dry.
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So those are my pics for the best (American) movies of 2021. My list is better than your list.
Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC, in Fargo, North Dakota. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Corvair driver and a graduate of BYU & Chapman University film schools. His films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix, Amazon, and Vimeo. He has written and produced film and video content for over twenty-five years, and has been writing Chapter-Fiction since the sixth grade. His 2007 production, Nothing But The Best, was an Official Selection of the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival in Santa Monica, California. his 2019 short The Fruit was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Cinefest. Eric C. Player on Imdb.
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