The Best (well, not the worst) Movies of 2024

2024 was terrible for a lot of people. I won't elaborate on why--you've probably got your own ideas about what that means. I have things that I could complain about, but I would rather look for reasons not to. Many of those reasons came from the movies. And I still believe that a theater is the best way to experience motion pictures. I saw about half of them that way this year. I think I'm up there with the national average--maybe even above it. In any case, Hollywood is doing its best to deal with that new reality in the moviegoing audience. And, like every time it comes to a crossroad--from projection to sound to color to 3D to Dolby--the answer the industry came up with was, Spectacle!

Well spectacle is all well and good, but sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. The spectacle--heroic running gorillas and such--didn't really connect with me this year, which is why three of my selections are documentaries (a record), only two are made from an existing property and six are non-IP original films. If you're counting, that means I have 11 on the list. You'll see what I mean.

As always, I am trying to make this *my* list, no one elses. I have tried to avoid award season talk. I don't even know what the Golden Globe nominees are, as of this writing. I have my reasons. In the end, I want to explore what I really think and feel about today's pop culture. So here I go again. On my own. Going down the only road I've ever known.

Remember, each film has a link to where you can watch it, or find out more about it. Just click the title. It's hotlinked. Check it out. Seriously, people always seem to miss that.


So: Best Movies (American, single-shot stories) of 2024:
#PPLLCTenBest2024 #TenBest2024 #TenBest

-------------

The Fall Guy, 87 North and Universal Pictures, Directed by David Leitch

As light and forgettable as the TV show that inspired it, and just as much fun. Stocked full of cliches, like the secret recording of the bad guy confessing to everything, and fun surprises--even if we've seen those surprises before. A romantic comedy with explosions--I'm pretty sure there's a genre there somewhere. A bonus with this film was the way it reaffirmed my connection to my older brother. The two of us watched it on the same night separately in our own little worlds without realizing it until afterwards. Movies can do that.

Conclave, Indian Paintbrush, Directed by Edward Berger

At some fundamental level, every organization in the world is just like high school. Conclave is a slow-burn action movie. Seriously. The leaps of faith and mind games that Ralph Fiennes navigates are no less harrowing and complex than those that Tom Cruise takes on in his Mission Impossible movies. Every silent hallway was exploding with tension, every vote a leap from a cliffside. I'm not kidding. And like any action movie, I figured out pretty early what the big reveal would be and who the bad guys were, but getting there and watching Ralph get there too was riveting. And for good measure, there was a twist ending that came out of nowhere but connected cleanly back to the bread crumbs (and my original guess) that were left along the way.

Now....[looking it up]...how do you spell hermaphrodite?

Juror #2, Dichotomy Films, Directed by Clint Eastwood

There's nothing I enjoy more than a movie that keeps me thinking about it after the end credits have rolled. Many of the films I think about, are ones where I take apart the story. In 2009, before I even started making top 10 lists, I did an small blog post about what was wrong with the movie, "9." (And about my Grandma.)

I like doing that. Most great movies will have me gushing about them and their characters and structure, such as my 2015 review of The Revenant. But that's still me engaging with the film's writing, as a writer. The even better movies don't engage me that way. The better ones get me thinking, not about how I would handle the story, but about how I would handle *myself* if I were in fact in that story.

Clint Eastwood does moral dilemma stories better than anyone else. And in his best films, this being one of them, he poses the question without providing the answer. There were so many times I thought I understood what was going to happen next or what--if I were there--my responses would be, but I soon saw that I understood nothing at all. And Josey Wales, bless him, wasn't going to explain it to me.

Jim Henson: Idea Man, Imagine Documentaries, Directed by Ron Howard

When I first went into film, studying at BYU, I made documentaries more than I made any other genre, even though I was studying screenwriting. Fellow students, not to mention a couple of professors, thought I was mixing formats. They thought I should concentrate more on being a writer. But I instinctively knew that making a documentary was a fabulous lesson in writing: you don't just showcase a series of events when making a documentary; a series of events is simply a newsreel, but a documentary is storytelling. And you can't just point the camera to find it. You're a watcher, a waiter. Be patient, listen, and the story finds you. Often, it doesn't come until the editing room, when you reflect on everything, and see what it means. Documentary film is reflection, it's seeing the small moments where great things came to pass, after they have already passed.

Jim Henson took green cloth and a ping pong ball and did great things.

-

Spaceman, Netflix, Directed by Johan Renck

I don't usually like "serious" Adam Sandler movies, or any Adam Sandler movies. But this isn't an Adam Sandler movie. This is a piece of existential art by the director of "Chernobyl," Johan Renck. Apparently he's Swedish, very Swedish. Somehow he convinced Isabella Rossellini to play the head of a Czechoslovakian Space Agency.

This is, I kid you not, a movie about an extraterrestrial trying to get a man to understand his feelings about the breakdown of his relationship with his wife during a mission to Jupiter. To tell you any more than that, particularly the nature of the alien, is to ruin it. It shouldn't work, not as entertainment. It should be as incomprehensible as the student project of my Norwegian classmate at film school. Instead, it is beautiful and haunting--despite sharing a very specific trait with said student film project. BUT DARN IT IF I SAY WHAT IT IS I'll RUIN IT.

This film tells the story of a man who doesn’t truly see the woman he married, he’s focused on himself--very shallow for being lonely in space and stuff--his journey to enlightenment is not only beautiful to watch but eye opening as well. AND DARN IT I WANT TO SAY MORE.

How about this: Frodo would not be surprised by what this Spaceman saw inside his claustrophobic spaceship.

Carry On, Dylan Clark Productions and DreamWorks Pictures Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

A new and fun entry in that ever so specific film genre of the Christmas Movie Action Film. I watched it uninterrupted the day it came out, and I can't tell you anything more about it than that, because I don't remember. That's okay. Movies should be fun, and don't have to leave you with anything more than a smile.

-

Nosferatu, Universal Pictures and Focus Features, Directed by Robert Eggers

Every so often I will include a film in my list that I must admit I haven't seen yet. This is the one for this year. Because of the fact that I know I will not find a chance to see this one until after the new year, I also broke my usual "no spoilers" approach and read/watched reviews from people and publications I respect. It apparently is as simple and fantastic as a 1-1 retelling of the original film....with added bonus of the heroine doing what she does out of choice, not just out of desperation. And Count Orlok is pure evil, just so. No backstory or sympathetic childhood. Sometimes that's all you want.

And it looks amazing.

-

Civil War, A24, Directed by Alex Garland

As far as I'm concerned this isn't a war movie. It's a disaster film. And it's a rare disaster movie that can make it personal. That is, feel like there are any stakes. Watching a film, when I speak to the screen then I know it has affected me. When Sammy died, and his colleague said he didn't die for anything. I immediately shouted out, "He died for you! He died for the girl!" In all the chaos, that was personal. That's not nothing, buddy.

Some people in critical circles questioned Alex Garland as to why he would make his main characters journalists. And why there wasn't some clear understanding of which side was right or wrong, good or bad. Seems pretty simple to me: the press is supposed to see both sides. And both sides did terrible things in this movie. A Civil War was not the way to fix it.

-

Heretic, A24, Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

I'm a Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). This movie caused quite a stir among my people when it was announced. I wanted to be offended (admit it, it's fun); I was worried about the portrayal of something very dear to me. But then I told myself to get over it, because they've been making horror using nuns from here to eternity. Geese and Ganders and all that.

To the filmmaker's credit, I was happy to see that the heroines in this film endure their confrontation through their faith. Even as they stood in that basement surrounded by a hopeless situation, Sister Paxton looked around and said that she was there to help. And her courage was bolstered and echoed by her missionary companion, Sister Barnes, who helped her think of ways through the situation, and also encouraged her to act rather than to be acted upon. Sister Barnes, the obvious skeptic, seemed to find her faith in her response to the challenge, thinking through what she believed. Whereas Sister Paxton was a confident minister, but had always allowed herself to be led; this time she had to stand up and say for herself who she was and what she believed. Her testimony.

Oh, and Kudos to the producers for hiring an unknown to play the lead. I have no idea who that guy was, but he was brilliant. Sidenotes: I hope the magic underwear bit makes people stop using that phrase, and the classic shot of glasses caked in blood is always an effective one.

-

DOUBLE FEATURE: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Music By John Williams, HBO Documentary Films and Amblin Television, Directed by Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, and Laurent Bouzereau

These two films remain intertwined in my head, and so I present them as a double feature entry.

The story of Christopher Reeve always seemed simpler than it was. He was Superman, he made an heroic show of it after his accident, and so on. Something I gleaned from watching this story of his tragedy, was that he wasn't so super in his personal life--until his wife Dana showed him what real love was. While playing Superman, Christopher basically abandoned his first relationship and his two kids for his career. I didn't see it when I was a kid, but there's a lot of cynicism in the way he expresses himself in those early press tours for the Salkind films. Then, after his body was broken, the relationship with his wife and his family changed for the better; blessed with a new perspective, he had ten years with his loved ones until his body just wouldn't let him stay any longer.

As for John Williams, composer of so many iconic films including "Superman: The Movie," it's hard to believe how much of American life, my life, is tied into the sounds that came from his head. The best part of the whole Williams documentary, was seeing a dad with kids stick with the daily slog of supporting his family, until he found his calling composing movies.

Yep. There's always more to every story than what you see with your eyes or hear with your ears.

-

-

-

-

Okay, as Delmar says in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" That's all I got.

But if you'd really like something extra, how about one of mine?

Stay With Me, Panther Pictures, Directed by Graeme Finlayson

Stay With Me is a story of love, loss, and love lost. We all think we've gone too far; we all think there's no going back. But it's never too late to let love be your legacy.

--------------------------------

-

-

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 Super8 camera fan. A graduate of BYU and 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 Roku. He has written and produced film and video content for over thirty 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 2023 short film, Stay With Me was an Official Selection of the Boston Film Festival. He currently has two shorts in post-production, a feature in pre-production, and a half dozen feature scripts just waiting for him to finish them already. Eric Player on Imdb.

The Best Films of 2023

2023. Proof that the 2020's aren't done with messing with us. There were some definite high points, career-wise, to be celebrated this year. Yet, there has been so much chaos in America and the world at large, that one wonders what the value of any of it is in the eternal scale. Well I'll tell you: Sanity. The ability to shut out the rest of the world and experience a story that is not our own. To share in another's experience, plain and simple, is a gift. A gift that lifts our spirits, for the simple fact that being outside of our own cares, and inside someone else's, puts into focus exactly what we love, and love is universal. Life and struggle are universal, and so are the sounds of laughter, the sounds of sobbing, the sounds of alarm, the sounds of whimsey. We all need to be reminded that what we all love goes so much deeper than what we each hate. Hate is selfish, love shares. Why am I going on like this? Because I still believe that we can come together to share popcorn and stories. These are the stories I loved this year. They were someone elses; they're mine now. Maybe they can be yours, too.

As usual, each film has a link to where you can watch it, or find out more about it. Just click the title.
#PPLLCTenBest2023 #TenBest2023 #TenBest

-------------

Asteroid City, Indian Paintbrush Films, Directed by Wes Anderson

Wow, just about everyone is in this. It makes for a nice low budget setting having the whole thing happen in one town. (An American town conceived, built, and filmed in Spain.) But maybe Wes Anderson is getting a little too Wes Anderson even for Wes Anderson. Anyway, I loved it.

Dream Scenario, A24 Films, Directed by Kristoffer Borgli

Personal subconcious as viral video. Finding out that one's essence is not one's own. It has been shared beyond what we thought were our limits, and certainly what we know are beyond our desires. We'll get there one day. It's closer than you think.

The Holdovers, Focus Features, Directed by Alexander Payne

I don't usually rank my top ten films, but if I did, this would be #1. Not just a throwback, a time capsule of filmmaking from a moment when movies took as long as they needed to discover their characters and their stories, without being rushed, or contrarywise, overstaying their welcome. And I'd like to think that book on Camera Obscura is out there somewhere. Look in his right eye, people.

The Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, Astrobase Go!, Directed by Jackson Publick

I discovered the Venture Brothers when I was newly divorced in 2005, and feeling just a bit rebellious. I am a very buttoned down married man, but I tend to be a bit of a cad when I'm single. But then, I don't like being single. My stuffy "I'm an adult and I don't do that sort of thing" standards tend to slide. Still, the Venture Bros never lost their place in my heart. That they have returned this year to scratch my eyes out while simultaneously blowing me a kiss, has a melancholy attached to it that buoys my soul, in it's way. Plus, the Monarch is a clone; who knew, right?

-

How To Blow Up a Pipeline, Wolfpack Pictures, Directed by Daniel Goldhaber

Not because it's particularly good, but because it's particularly brave. I don't agree with any of the politics here. In fact I'm the son of oil pioneers, so I'm pretty offended by the whole thing. But this is the story of people in my son's generation actually doing something about what they think is right. And actually doing something is rare in any generation.

Here at the end of the year, after all we've seen, it's what I would consider an extremely ironic and naive story. There are no easy answers in our world. And just within *their* world, there is plenty irony to go around. These kids drive a van for their exploits. They use electricity to build their bombs, which are composed of a lot of fossil fuels. So they're experiencing how necessary it is to use oil and gasoline to get done what you need to in life. They also sound like every other modern terrorist organization when listing their justifications on the radio. From Al-Qaeda to Ireland to Hamas. They don't deal with that quandary in the movie. But then, it's propaganda.

But it's also probably the biggest risk-taking movie of 2023.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Concordia Studios with Apple Original Films

The story of Michael J. Fox slowly learning to deal with the fact that his body will not yield to the authority of his mind, affected me on many levels. In the end, Mr. Fox's mind refuses to give in to his body.

I know something of that struggle. Movies of this nature have always held a special place with me. Long ago in film school, in fact in order to apply for film school, I was required to give my thoughts on the movie The Best Years of Our Lives; that film ultimately undercuts its own story by giving in to the cliche of a handsome man having his life healed by a beautiful woman. Nevertheless, it was Harold Russell, a real life veteran who lost his hands to a bomb (playing a fictional character who lost his hands to a bomb), who resonated the most completely with me. I recall commenting back then, that the scene where he attempts to light a match held my attention better than any horror film. Specifically because the one thing I didn't want to see happen was for someone to offer to help him.

It needed to be his little victory, and thankfully this was something director William Wyler did not undercut. In that space of time between striking the match and lighting it I felt my own lifetime's worth of moments just like his. It's hard to describe to someone who doesn't have that same feeling inside them. The inner thoughts, "I've done this before with nobody watching, please let me just get through this, please just let me get through this please don't let them offer to help me," are real prayers that millions of us the world over say to ourselves a thousand times a day.

Michael J. Fox had many of those moments written on his face, and the love of his wife which has carried him through to this point felt ever the stronger because we saw that she was the kind who would be there for him but, in those small moments, *not* help him, until and unless he asked.

-

Oppenheimer, Universal Pictures, Directed by Christopher Nolan

I'm nominating the entire film, except for Cillian Murphy's butt. When your movie is accessible to Nolan Nerds *and* Barbie Girls, it's a good movie. I've always been a sucker for real history, well told. I think the conceit of nuclear holocaust as metaphor for walking into the future with calamity, terror, and a whole lotta hope, speaks to how Christopher Nolan is able to find the humanity in fantasy--which is what fantasy does best, really. And the thing about Oppenheimer's fantasy, is that it came true. Now, if Mr. Christopher could just learn how to edit sound, he might make a name for himself.

-

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, Marvel, Directed by James Gunn

Our traumas don't have to define us. There are people out there, just as broken as we are, who will love us no matter what. The racoon made me cry. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the best acting Bradley Cooper did this year.

-

Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, LionsGate Films, Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig

A Judy Blume classic. For my daughter, from the dad who doesn't understand her but loves her anyway.

-

Godzilla Minus 1, Toho Studios, Directed by Takashi Yamazaki

Japan still makes the best Godzilla movies. America has never trusted that. The first Godzilla was chopped into an actor's reel for Raymond Burr. The new Monsterverse movies are similarly Americanized and bombastic. "Minus 1" takes place at around the same time as the original--and has practically the same budget--but it sticks to the roots of Godzilla's Japanese angst and is all the better for it.

--------------------------------

Extra Mentions:

ISS: International Space Station, Bleecker Street Media, Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

This doesn't release officially in the United states until January 19th, but it released at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. I'm adding it to the list based on the concept alone. Ingenuity matters in entertainment, and especially in high concept horror. The best horror taps into whatever the audience is nervous about in the real world. This looks like a great microcosm of the desire to respond to and control ultimately undefinable issues, and the futility of doing so. After all, with the world on fire below them, what are scientists in an orbiting cannister devoid of external weapons really trying to conquer besides their own fear?

The Shepherd, Esperanto Films with BK Studios and Argo Films, Directed by Iain Softly - Produced by Alfonso Cuaron and John Travolta

Somewhere between a short film and a TV Movie, but it didn't need to be any longer. If you crave something to warm your heart and renew your faith in the infinite possibilities within you and without you, this is one of those movies. For my money, better than that controversial one about what freedom sounds like. Maybe there's still hope for the Disney formula yet. The one thing we know about people, places, and things, is that we can never really know them. Not all the way. But we have people who love us, even and particularly who have passed on, who want the best for us and who are there, if we look.

-

And those are my picks for the best English (native or dubbed) movies of 2023. Even with the strikes, the entertainment world did very well by their audiences this year. Turned it up to 11.

--------------------------------

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 Super8 camera fan. A graduate of BYU and 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 twenty-six 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 2023 short film, Stay With Me was an Official Selection of the Boston Film Festival. He currently has one short in post-production and one and a half feature scripts which have worked their way from spiral notebook to screenplay software. Eric Player on Imdb.

Panther Pictures' Ten Best Films of 2022

Here we are in 2022. The world is almost back to normal. Almost. In 2019, I saw half of my list on their first run, and so many more at the theater that I never mentioned. In 2020 and 2021, I saw nothing in the theater. This year's list has only two that I saw in the theater, and those are the only two I watched away from home at all. In 2020 Panther Pictures scrapped a long-developed production, but this year we produced it. Still, self-promotion, a constant in this business, remains difficult. A retrospective of our films, shown at the famous Fargo Theater, a national landmark, was sparcely attended. This industry can be extremely subjective. As for #TenBest lists:

Please also remember that my list is not merely a reflection of [the American film] industry. It is a reflection of myself within it. What has resonated with THIS PERSON this year? Professional critics may or may not like to pretend otherwise, but everything in this business, outside of "Could you see and hear what was happening on the screen?" is subjective. Honestly, I think that is why friends (or people without a lot of time) working in the same circles end up with the same movies on their [Best of] lists. All. The. Time."
-- Eric C Player, Ten Best Introduction, 2015

And so once again I present the world with my Top Ten list. A list that I hope will be just different enough to get you curious about the films you haven't heard of--the films different from those being nominated everywhere under the sun, while the critics say they never heard of them. Like every year, entries on the list are limited exclusively to American, English-speaking fare. Self-contained movies. No TV series, despite what Netflix, Hulu, and EVERYONE keeps pushing.

P.S. - A note on my style of film review, for new readers: I don't always give a film synopsis based on plot points. More often than not the review reflects how the film feels to me. And isn't cinema supposed to make us feel?
P.P.S. - I thought it was self-evident, but apparently not: Each film has a link to where you can watch it. Just click the title.
#PPLLCTenBest2022 #TenBest2022 #TenBest

-------------

Pinocchio, Double-Dare You! Films, Directed by Guillermo del Toro

At first it's hard to feel like this movie was necessary. There are so many others, including a movie about Pinocchio going into outer space. But from the first frame of glorious stop-motion it's obvious this one's different. In the past I have lamented movies that give unnecessary back story instead of getting on with it, but now I see that context was something all other iterations of Pinocchio, even Disney's (1941) perfect one, were sorely lacking. Here we see how devastated Geppetto was by the death of a son long ago, and so can identify his motivations for wanting to create a marionette one. But in an interesting twist, it's also nearly a complete accident. The original idea he had, was for the puppet to be, at most, something for him to touch and grieve over. But the Blue Fairy took him seriously; he is just as shocked by what is happening as anyone, and (at first, like the townsfolk) wants nothing to do with the little wooden boy. That arc and so many other writerly touches in the story, make this one that you should watch, just maybe without the kids.

-

Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures, Directed by Joseph Kosinski

I mean, Duh. But for further elaboration, here is a word-for-word cut and paste of a four-star Google review written in September 2022 by Welek Lee:

"Like any laid back nester whose watch list plates were already full three months ago when the biggest aviator cinema phenomena was terrifically manifested by four worldwide generations of alpha action movie fans as the highest-grossing film of 2022, those young at heart now mostly in their fifties and beyond know it's better late than never to savour every adrenaline rush and thrill at their home theatre reimagined piloting inside the cockpit of a super hornet — Cher would sure want a ride with either or both Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer exclusively in the name of her boyfriendology."

Hey man, that says it all.

Emily The Criminal, Roadside Attractions with Netflix Studios, Directed by John Patton Ford

The easy thing in this story would have been to have Emily be an innocent victim of circumstance, driven by desperation and student loans to get in over her head. And that's what the plot synopsis would lead you to believe too when you flip through the streaming menu. That is not this movie. Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is not a victim, except as a victim of her own worst impulses. She is a dark person trying to pretend to be a bright one. But every bright moment of opportunity she is given, she sabotages, including the opportunity to get a side hustle. She goes way beyond what even her original Fagen/handler intended, ruining his life too. One thing that the ending makes clear, despite all the tropical paradise tropes, is that she's not going to stop. She can't.

-

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Netflix, Directed by Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson had a problem. It's always a problem trying to follow up an Academy Award nomination, not to mention all the other awards for which Knives Out was nominated and won. In 2020 he went from the pariah screenwriter who ruined The Last Jedi, To making a film that was hailed as the most fun you could have at the movies that year. Heck, it made my top 10 list. But following up from something like that is hard. And it's easy to fall back into old habits. The thing that ruined The Last Jedi, his inability to handle character shifts, has come back to bite him on the heel with this one. The first 2 hours are almost as tasty and fun as Knives Out was. Even despite the bland cinematography doing its best to ruin the Grecian countryside. But then in the last 20 minutes Rian loses sight of his characters (except of course for Benoit Blanc, whom you can't ruin because he's propped up by James Bond).
I used to work as a script doctor, and old habits die hard: I believe there are two things, two small changes Rian Johnson could have made that would tie the whole thing up quite nicely, and would be very satisfying. They had to do with a certain cocktail napkin and The character choices in relation to it. But as I say, only as they were handled in the last 20 minutes. He couldn't trust, or didn't understand (or didn't want to) the characters he'd given life. Kind of like The Last Jedi. Despite that, for over 2 hours it was better than most movies that came out this year. So it makes the list. It also makes me want to watch See How They Run.

Bullet Train, Columbia Pictures, Directed by David Leitch

Bright and colorful and a lot of fun. Brad Pitt as the classic character trying to go straight but fate being unwilling to let him. Usually the protagonist has wandered through years of life condensed into a few hours of angst and backstory. Also usually played by Al Pacino.
This is The Godfather Part 3 crammed into the timeline of Dog Day Afternoon, paced like a Hong-Kong Kung Fu film, set in Japan through a cotton-candy filter. Every director seems to be cramming cameos into their projects this year like Linus' blanket into a backpack, but the ones here feel just right. Like Linus" blanket. And the ensemble players gel like the Peanuts gang. The twins, mass murderers for hire, had me legit (legit, right? That's what the kids are saying nowadays) crying for the bonds of sibling love that transcends all, and It was nice to see the gleeful psychopaths being played by women for a change. Sisters doing it for themselves. I couldn't resist finding Master Ugway's wisdom at the center of this bloody violent opera: One often finds his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.

-

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Searchlight Pictures, Directed by Tom Gormican

I should say more about this than I'm going to. Just, if you're a fan of Nicholas Cage in his "Ahh! The Bees!" phase, or his Leaving Las Vegas phase (and they're kinda the same thing), you'll enjoy this one. I mean I knew it was the cousin all along, but wow. Paddington 2 rocks.

-

Fall, Lionsgate, Directed by Scott Mann

Pretend you're not up there. Try counting sheep. Every list needs a tense low budget thriller. Here's mine; enjoy it. Two women fighting for survival over something that has nothing to do with a man, and some very nice sunsets. I'd go in to more detail but you'll know everything you need to know with the trailer. By the way, The California Supreme Court recently ruled that bad or deceptive trailers qualify as false advertising, and as such the moviemakers can be sued.

You're on notice, Wonder Woman: 1984.

-

Nope, Universal Pictures, Directed by Jordan Peele

One of the great movies about moviemaking, and of going to any length necessary to make your point and get the shot. All the tropes--vaudville, horses, horror, and aliens--packaged by the man who used to hide in trees when talking smack about his woman. Have I ever gone to the lengths these folks do, for my movies? Nope. Does that make me less of a filmmaker? I'll have to look into that. Check the clouds, and such.

-

Weird: The Al Yankovich Story, ROKU Films, Directed by Eric Appel

Gleefully does exactly what every biopic ever did: tells it the way the subject remembers it, not the way it was.

"Al, your father and I have been talking, and we just think it's best that you stop being who you are and doing what you love."

Everything Everywhere All At Once, A24 Films, Directed by Daniel Kwan

Another masterfully constructed screenplay, and one that stays masterful all the way to the end. Also, the camera work, unlike in Glass Onion, keeps up. The opening was a hairy confusion of shots and lines and yet you knew exactly what was going on in the first 10 minutes. And then of course at 14 minutes everything changes. Over and over and over again.
For the record, I too choose to see the good side of things. Strategic and necessary. This is how I fight. Laundry and taxes. Thanks, Shortround and Crouching Tiger lady. You made me cry.

-

And those are my picks for the best English (native or dubbed) movies of 2022. The only way to make your list better than mine would be to wrap it in bacon.

Gonna combine Razzies and Honorable Mentions this year. We'll call them the Also-Rans. And they are, without fanfare or photos:

1. Babylon - This one is a full-on Razzie. (And the link at the title is on purpose.) Having read the original "Hollywood Babylon" years ago, along with experiencing the immense spectacle of the 1923 Ten Commandments, I've wanted to see this time period really given a more abundant treatment (which, okay, was handled by The Great Gatsby spectacularly), but I imagined something that explored the social consequences of the hedonistic lifestyle of Hollywood, not the full frontal hedonism itself. It doesn't appeal to me in the least. (Important Side Note: There's something different about reading things than seeing them. Just ask Violet Bick.) I've never believed in the idea that you criticize a movie because it's not the one you wanted to make, but I'm sorry, if the "notices" are accurate, Fatty Arbuckle getting peed on is just not something I want to see. Would you?

2. Empire of Light. A definite Honorable Mention. I didn't add it to the list this year, for the same reason I never put Dunkirk on my list. I've had no chance to see it in a theater yet, and given the subject and cinematography it isn't a movie I want to judge except on the big screen. If anyone reading this is a local, it's currently playing at the Fargo theater, but I won't have an opportunity to see it until after the first of the year, when it will either be gone or too late for me to include an honest review here.
3. The Man From Toronto. Honorable Mention. Sure, it's been done a thousand times before, but who cares? It's stupid and fun. Like most Kevin Hart movies. It starts out good, then Woody Harrison brings his chops in to give this sociopathic comedy some depth, and it's great. Why isn't it on the main list? Why, because of Bullet Train, naturally.
4. Avatar, the Way of Water. So much Razzie I'm going to have to change my shirt.
5. Wakanda Forever. This was one of those two films I saw in the theater. That's how excited I was for it. Other people must have been too, because it's still in theaters. Another Honerable mention, though, because that's my way of memorializing Chadwick Boseman and what he brought to the Black Panther character. Plus, lets be honest, the special effects could have used another six months of tweaking. Releasing it this year was a cash grab.
6. Insert Disney+ Exclusive Content Here

--------------------------------

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 Super8 camera fan. A graduate of BYU and 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. He currently has two shorts in post-production and two feature scripts trying to work their way from spiral notebook to screenplay software. Eric Player on Imdb.

Best Films of 2021

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

-------------

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

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.

-

Free Guy, Berlanti Productions, Directed by Shawn Levy

Turn it on and have some fun!

-

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!

-

-

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.

--------------------------------

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.

.
.
.