2021- when 'pandemic records' were consistently broken and challanged, when long delayed event films finally got released and audiences were at long last taken to Arrakis. If 2020 was an absolute dud of a year, with the '2019' releases of 1917, Parasite and Jojo Rabbit breaking their backs to maintain the quality for the rest of the UK's calendar year. Luckily 2021, if only through the sheer amount of content made available at cinemas and streaming sites, is a far stronger year. The blockbusters are better, the awards contenders are perhaps a lot more deserving and a wealth of these will be revisited (as opposed to just Tenet). Here is a breakdown of the year featuring my own little awards system.
Top 10 of the Year:
(Honourable Mentions: Another Round, King Richard, Spider-man: No Way Home, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Nomadland)
10. A Quiet Place: Part II
Despite the significantly aged children, John Krasinski's sequel to the 2018 sleeper classic is another very polished thriller. Bolder camera movements, more assured direction and a fantastically edited final sequence are among the film's strongest traits, but it is the sense of family, led by an always classy Emily Blunt, that makes these pictures work. The main characters feel like a close family in a truly lovely way. Progressive with the deafness elements, too.
9. No Time to Die
A second viewing is perhaps necessary now that the overwhelming emotion and conflict has died down, but this was a Bond film worthy of the wait. Daniel Craig is simply excellent every second he is on-screen and whilst his chemistry with Lea Seydoux feels flat, scene stealing turns from Ana de Armas and Ben Wishaw make up for it massively. Included in the mighty 163 minute runtime are loving homages to the underrated On Her Majesty's Secret Service, some cracking locations and a series of showstopper set-pieces in Italy, Norway and a... stairwell? A Bond film of both convention and boldness.
8. Last Night in Soho
Another treat from Edgar Wright. Thomasin McKenzie continues a northward trajectory as Eloise, a university student who, at night, lives through the shoes of Anya Taylor-Joy's Sandy, a performer from the far more sinister 1960's London. Acting like a reverse Hot Fuzz, whereby the protagonist moves from the village to the troubled city, Last Night in Soho is a technical marvel with sumptuous production design, elegant camera moves and tricksy mirror shots. Diana Rigg goes out with a bang in her final role and the soundtrack will be looped on your Spotify for days.
7. The Harder They Fall
If the Western genre has one major flaw it is its inherent whitness. Considering over a quarter of cowboys and lawmen were black on the US frontier, it's a cinematic calamity that these numbers are not reflected in the films of the genre. Enter The Harder They Fall, an almost all-black ensemble-starring exercise in sheer style. Director Jeymes Samuel resurrects numerous real life African American figures and thrusts them into a gripping story about two rival gangs looking for revenge. Idris Elba, LaKeith Stanfield and Regina King are mighty, but the final shootout is the film's true weapon.
6. Sound of Metal
A worthy awards contender last year, Sound of Metal is essential viewing. Riz Ahmed is often fabulous but this is undeniably his greatest achievment as he plays Reuben, a drummer who loses his hearing and seeks to get it repaired, realising as he does that self-acceptance is more important than striving to be healed. The sound design is staggering in putting the audience into his shoes; one scene with a child on a slide is unforgettable.
5. Luca
It seems a shame that Disney has put Pixar's latest, the equally terrific Soul and Luca, onto Disney+ for free whilst Disney's own films (such as the boring Raya and the Last Dragon) get theatrical releases and premium rental options. Regardless of this, Luca is like a hot squash to treat a cold- warm, sweet and makes your nose run. Beautiful animation collides with a captivatingly simple story that ensures Luca will be a classic 'when I'm ill I always watch...' film. Silencio Bruno!
4. The Last Duel
Ridley Scott maybe deluded in blaming millenials on their phones for the box office bomb of this, but he isn't wrong about this film finding an audience in the future and being highly regarded like his Blade Runner. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite for scriptwriting and performing, crafting a handsomely structured modern Rashomon that investigates a sexual assault from a trio of perspectives: Damon's de Carrouges, his wife Marguerite's (excellent Jodie Comer) and Adam Driver's Jacques le Gris. With bursts of hard medieval ultraviolence, Ridley Scott returns to prime form with this MeToo inspired picture. The finale is unrelentingly gripping.
3. Dune
Frank Herbert's 1965 novel is to science-fiction what The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy- a dense, intricately detailed epic filled with characters and races, customes and cultures. Only a filmmaker as passionate as Denis Villenueve could have adapted the towering work so faithfully to the big screen, opting to only translate roughly the first half of the novel to film. The gonzo cast is spearheaded by the ubiquitous Timothee Chalamet but its the technical aspects that leave you speechless: Greig Fraser's mindblowing cinematography, the sense of scale, Hans Zimmer's score and some fabulously realised vehicles and costumes.
2. The Mitchells vs The Machines
Perhaps this film might not have even been watched were it not for a five star review from Empire that revealed this was a spiritual, creative sequel to Phil Lord and Chris Miller's insane Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse. Like that 2018 classic, MvM is ludicrously kinetic with its stunning, refreshing animation and genuinely hilarious comedy. This is the funniest film of the year, and it's a shame its meme potential was never realised. The Mitchell family are a joy to watch as their world is upended by Olivia Coleman's snooty AI who unleashes swarms of robots to imprison humanity. Admist all of the action and needle-drops there is a beautiful father-daughter relationship and an immortal message on family tolerance.
1. The Power of the Dog
Here is something nobody saw coming: Netflix released two brilliant Westerns this year. Considering that genre is not even listed on the streaming site, it's a serious feat. Jane Campion's critical darling, The Power of the Dog pulls you in hook, line and sinker through its delicious subtleties. Benedict Cumberbatch had had a belter of a year: The Courier, Spider-man, The Mauritanian and, hopefully, his Oscar gambit as Phil Burbank in this 1920s set stunner about two cowboy brothers who find their romantic match in a mother and her son. Kodi Smit-McPhee provides a stellar supporting role as the son, who, in the last few shots, clicks everything together in a surprising but spot-on reveal. If the slowburn is too much for most audiences, as well as the hints for violence that never comes, then its the long shadows of explored masculine fragility that will linger.
Awards 2021!
Favourite Male Performance: Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog
Honorable Mentions: Stellan Skarsgaard in Dune, Daniel Craig in No Time to Die, Mads Mikkelson in Another Round, Will Smith in King Richard, Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal, Willem Dafoe in Spider-man: No Way Home
Favourite Female Performance: Jodie Comer in The Last Duel
Honourable Mentions: Anya Taylor-Joy in The Last Night at Soho, Rebecca Ferguson in Dune, Ana de Armas in No Time to Die, Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place: Part II, Frances McDormand in Nomadland
Best Director: Denis Villeneuve, Dune
Best Cinematography: Greig Fraser, Dune
Runner Ups: The Green Knight, Zack Snyder's Justice League, The Power of the Dog
Best Score: Hans Zimmer, Dune
Best Editing: Last Night in Soho
Favourite Action Scenes:
- Misty woods- No Time to Die
- Godzilla vs Kong Round 2- Godzilla vs Kong
- The last duel- The Last Duel
- Final shootout- The Harder They Fall
- Sandworm attack- Dune
- Furbies- The Mitchells vs The Machines
- Spider-men vs the Green Goblin- Spider-man: No Way Home
- Father and son vs Whitespike queen- The Tomorrow War
- Superman vs Steppenwolf- Zack Snyder's Justice League
- Banjo vs piano- The Power of the Dog
- Farewell- Luca
- The dance- Last Night in Soho
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