It’s that time of the year again! As we enter 2022, I wanted to look back on the year in movies once again. I have broken my rankings into groups. Also, the title listing links to a page telling you where the film is available to be watched right now! It was a good year for movies!
If you’re interested in other suggestions or more movies I’ve watched throughout the year, check out my Letterboxd. I post reviews regularly and log every film I watch. This year I logged 300 films (some shorts and a couple of limited tv series included), 59 of which were released in 2021 and will appear below! Some of these will have a short review, and others will only have a picture. A few will have deep-dive reviews because I feel they warrant the attention (most of these deep dives will correspond to controversial movies or films I felt were genuinely excellent). This list isn’t as intensive as last year. I don’t have the time that I did during the pandemic, though I did somehow watch more new releases this year!
These movies are rated out of 5 stars. With all that being said, let’s dive into the list!
Practically unwatchable
59.Red notice
My expectations were low but wow. This is atrocious. Lifeless. Pointless. Hollywood needs some actual movie stars.
Rating: 1 star
58.The Woman in the Window
Rating: 1 star
56.Cherry
Rating: 1 star
54.Coming 2 America
Rating: 1 star
53.Space Jam: A New Legacy
I laughed more than I should’ve. This is actively bad and just a Warner Brothers IP commercial and I hate that, but I had some fun. The nostalgia was nice and I think the first one is legitimately good and funny (though maybe not the 5 star picture that it is in my heart). If anything, this needs Bill Murray.
Rating: 1 star
52.Reminiscence
I still love you Rebecca Ferguson but please choose better movies. This was a real snooze fest.
Rating: 1 star
51.The Suicide Squad
I love Clint. It’s a perfectly fine movie, I just couldn’t get into it. It’s competently made but he’s probably just a little too old at this point.
Rating: 1 star
I’m Not Mad Just Disappointed
49.Eternals
I never fall asleep in movie theaters. It’s something I really try not to do. I saw this at a packed screening in Appleton, WI. I fell asleep 3 separate times. It was so boring, tried to push way too many ideas, and ultimately should’ve been a mini series or television show. The two characters pictured above were genuinely great and I wish they highlighted their relationship more.
Rating: 1 star
48.Cruella
I have been laughing at this scene for months:
Rating: 2 stars
47.Being The Ricardos
Rating: 2 stars
46.Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
I too would choose to name myself after the events leading up to my father’s death.
11 year old me would’ve loved this.
Rating: 2 stars
45.The Tomorrow War
Fantastic creature design but I thought everything else was a little lacking.
Rating: 2 stars
44.Without Remorse
Rating: 2 stars
43.Those Who Wish me Dead
Rating: 2 stars
42.Black Widow
Perfectly fine movie. Florence Pugh is definitely the highlight. The Nirvana cover was the worst thing I’ve heard in years. Very bad CGI near the end and the villains continue to be a problem for Marvel. This would’ve been better if it was made about 8 years ago.
Rating: 2 stars
Meh
41.Luca
Rating: 2 stars
40.Godzilla vs Kong
A less gruesome, less grimy spiritual successor to Se7en. Objectively not good at all, but very much for me. Hits every trope in the book. Almost everything about this movie does not work, but I love it.
Imagine sitting in a bar with your friends on a random weeknight when Denzel and Rami sit down next to you to discuss some brutal murders. Pretty much a night ruiner imo.
Rating: 2 stars
38.Titane
Titane is pretty overhyped, in my opinion. It’s excruciating to watch at times, but what for? It felt like I was made to squirm just because? And I mean, I grimaced and squirmed for the whole runtime, but it was just because it was genuinely gnarly. I don’t feel like there was any real meaning or payoff to most of the graphic depictions on screen.
It was weirder than it had to be. I sometimes think simpler is better. I think the idea of Vincent Lindon’s character being so blinded by grief and the loss of his son that he takes in a female serial killer who kind of looks how his son might look is fascinating. Focusing on the grief there and her desperation could’ve been more engaging. I feel like some of the beginning was unnecessary and more uncomfortable than it has to be to get similar points across.
It is very well made, but that wasn’t enough. It’s almost impossible to put a star rating on this. I may not be smart enough to understand everything that’s going on, and A LOT is going on, but I guess it’s just not for me.
Also, this is probably the most graphic and explicit movie I’ve seen in a while and very distressing, bizarre ways, so if you choose to watch this, be warned.
Rating: 2 stars
A Fun Time At The Movies
37.Old
Rating: 2 stars
36.Raya and The Last Dragon
Rating: 3 stars
35.Shang-Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings
Pretty disappointed they didn’t incorporate the title “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” into the dialogue.
I’d watch a Diane Lane/Jeremy Irons farm to table cooking show as their characters Martha Kent/Alfred.
If you buy into the spectacle you will have a good time. If not, you’ll probably absolutely hate this. I’m glad Snyder got his shot. He deserved to see this through. There are some really head scratching moments (a slo-mo shot of a sesame seed flying off of a bun to name one). I hope that DC can take better advantage of these characters moving forward, but I will take this. I enjoyed it for what it is. It’s a really big swing and though it misses on quite a few levels, it held my attention despite the runtime. Even still, it should’ve ended about 20 minutes earlier.
This is definitely miles better than the original.
Rating: 3 stars
33.F9
Rating: 3 stars
32.The Mitchells vs the Machines
Rating: 3 stars
31.In the Heights
Rating: 3 stars
30.A Quiet Place Part II
Rating: 3 stars
28.No Sudden Move
A vibe. Great visuals and performances, pretty much made for me in terms of all the confusing heist movie mechanics. I had a great time.
Rating: 3 stars
27.The Dig
Rating: 3 stars
26.Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Objectively, this movie is not good at all. Everything with Tom Hardy and Venom works for me, but I could watch Hardy act in literally anything. Everything else about the movie pretty much sucks, but I had an awesome time. I laughed and enjoyed myself. I’m rating this based on the fact that it actually felt like a comic book to me. Also, more movies should just be dumb and stop trying so hard. I enjoyed that change of pace.
It also happens to be one of the best Rom-Coms of 2021.
Rating: 3 stars
Strong But Flawed
25.Last Night in Soho
Rating: 3 stars
24.House of Gucci
A little disappointed by this one. It was fine? House of Gucci is very weird and definitely way too long. It drags in the middle and puts the pedal to the metal to get you to its destination in the last 15-20 minutes. The highlights were easily whatever Jared Leto and Al Pacino were doing. I’d love to see the movie they thought they were in.
Rating: 3 stars
23.Azor
Rating: 3 stars
22.Spider-man: No Way Home
Struggling to rate this. It could be a 4 but I think the first half is honestly not that great (outside of the battle with Doc Ock). Emotionally, there’s plenty to grab onto and when *redacted* happens I believe it really kicks up a notch. Overall, this represents some of my frustration with the MCU, particularly with the ground level heroes. The cosmic stuff takes away from what makes Spider-Man the hero that he is.
This is why Hawkeye has been a great TV show as well. However, there are too many villains here and it’s all just fan service. It’s hard to let these movies wash over you when it’s always about the next thing. It’s still a very fun time. Spider-Man is tied with Daredevil as my favorite Marvel character so I’m never going to say I hate seeing him on screen. It’s the best superhero movie of the year and having some old villains was nice, especially with Marvel’s villain problem. It’s a fun time at the movies, but I’m getting tired of the sameness that the MCU relies on. The formula is getting a little old for me.
As far as the villain problem, I’m getting tired of everything leading to an “end of the universe” level threat. It makes the stakes so big that nothing really matters. This is why Thanos worked well in some ways, because he actually executed his plan. Otherwise, the villains become completely disposable for only 1 movie and I’m running out of room to buy-in. They kill them so quickly. This movie was slightly better, but reliant on old villains from stronger movies. Green Goblin and Doc Ock aren’t going for universal domination necessarily and that fits Spider-Man. I hope they can bring in new villains with similar stakes. It would greatly help the more grounded superheroes.
Rating: 3 stars
21.Nightmare Alley
An interesting, overlong update to the original. Cate Blanchett is definitely the highlight. She’s always good. It spends too much time early on trying to explain itself and make sure you understand absolutely everything that’s going on. If you haven’t seen the original, you’ll probably like this a lot more.
I liked Bradley Cooper but he doesn’t even come close to Tyrone Power’s performance, which is one of the best I’ve seen recently. He’s much more charismatic than Cooper in this role. However, I’m glad Del Toro chose the more cynical view of the ending rather than offering the glimmer of hope like the original.
Rating: 3 stars
20.Judas and The Black Messiah
Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield truly are two of our best working actors. Dominique Fishback slips into this alongside them very well too, her vulnerability was a welcome addition. Kaluuya’s Fred Hampton is pure charisma, easily one of the most magnetic performances I’ve seen. He deserved his Oscar win earlier this year.
The final payment scene really brings the title analogy home and pays off the early conversation between Stanfield and Plemons. I think this is Stanfield’s best performance alongside Atlanta.
In A.O. Scott’s review he writes, “The phrase “Black messiah” doesn’t reflect romantic revolutionary hyperbole, but rather the paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), who saw African-American militants as the gravest internal threat to national security and feared the emergence of a popular, crowd-inspiring national leader.” That tension is palpable throughout and in my opinion a testament to the writing and direction. That piece of the puzzle is still evident today. Fears fester and manifest into hate. Fears lead to violence and pain. The dread of where that fear will lead the story pushes the viewer through the story.
That knowledge forces you to cling to Fishback in some ways. She grounds everything and the moments she shares with Kaluuya break through some of that tension with their poetic conversations. I wish we could spend more time with them, see the life that they should have had, but that is just a piece of this real world tragedy, that the fruits of their love were stopped short.
Rating: 4 stars
19.The Last Duel
Jodie Comer gives what might be the best performance I saw this year.
Rating: 4 stars
Great Movies
18.Shiva Baby
This is one of the most stressful movies I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
Rating: 4 stars
17.The Eyes of Tammy Faye
We are such fragile creatures. Jessica Chastain’s performance was incredible.
Rating: 4 stars
16.The Beta Test
Rating: 4 stars
15.Passing
Rating: 4 stars
14.The French Dispatch
The more I’m thinking about it as I leave the theater, the more I liked it. There are just a few sweet intimate moments that swept me away just a bit throughout.
Wes is incredible.
Rating 4 stars
13.The Matrix Resurrections
Loved this movie. It’s very funny. It’s got decent action. It’s pretty idealistic. I had a blast.
The self awareness was refreshing and I love how unafraid it was to make fun of certain aspects of the series. I appreciate the consistency in subverting expectations. It’s a bit of an antidote to the other sequels and the constant draining of intellectual property. There are so many ideas at play and Jonathan Groff rules. Very glad this exists.
Rating: 4 stars
12.No Time To Die
I went through all of the Bond franchise during a summer about 4 years ago. It honestly got me through some tough times and a really lonely spell in my life. It’s definitely not the best franchise and there are plenty of movies that are actively terrible. However, it’s probably my favorite for that reason and many others. They aren’t afraid of the absurd and I respect that.
No Time To Die is one of the more tender movies in the franchise and definitely so for the Craig era. It’s the reverse “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and I enjoyed the nods throughout to different moments from the previous 24 films. One thing I particularly enjoyed was the humor (especially Ana De Armas) and while Malek’s villain was definitely a low point and it is way too long, I enjoyed spending time with some of my favorite characters. There’s nothing really profound to say here (other than the unfortunate timing this story is considering COVID), but I was moved by the final sequence.
Skyfall probably should’ve ended the Craig era as it grapples with similar issues and does so in near perfect fashion for me. However, I liked getting a more emotional appeal to Bond’s charisma and the paternal side that is thrust upon him. No Time To Die is a worthy send off to the Bond that is my personal favorite. We have a man desperately trying to find family, to find home. I wish he got his home in the end, but this character was never set up for that kind of success.
Rating: 4 stars
11.Little FIsh
Rating: 4 stars
10.Nine Days
This movie washed over me. I thought Winston Duke’s performance was fantastic. Emotionally, I thought just about every moment worked. I can definitely see this one feeling like a dud if the emotional punches miss the mark. However, I loved it. We’re really all longing to be known, truly known, and the power those moments have on our lives is a beautiful experience.
Rating: 4 stars
9.The Harder They Fall
The Green Knight is an exploration of the hero’s journey in all of its contradictions and confounding chivalrous tasks. In some ways it’s conventional, in others it’s a deconstruction. Gawain is a young (not) Knight striving for a story to tell. He wants to live up to the legends that surround him. His naivety, mistaken for courage, leads him down a fateful path where he must lose his head.
In some ways, this is all of us, stumbling forward on our journeys, making decisions that rarely come from a place of courage and more than likely come out of fear in relation to others or our own skin/pride. However, I’ve found that courage is often found in shuffling forward as slow as it might be.
I found the determinism of this incredibly interesting especially as it seems to relate to the camera movement. The spinning of the camera seems to act as a winding clock moving forward and back (I feel that the puppet show illustrates this) to ensure our hero reaches his destiny, the end of his quest, with his head lopped off. Rewinding time as we see Gawain’s crumbling bones to provide him with an opportunity for escape and moving forward to show the pain and grief associated with a life of running away toward cowardice. Even when he’s in peril, he is funneled further in toward his destined doom with the Green Knight.
The cinematography is breathtaking and the desolation of the world creates a unique, mystical atmosphere. I really enjoyed Dev Patel’s performance as well. This movie was confident and still wasn’t afraid to be fun. It’s the best film I’ve seen so far this year and I love how much there is to dig into with future viewings. I may not know its true meaning, but I enjoyed the ride. I may be bumping this up to 5 stars upon rewatch.
Rating: 4 stars
7.Pig
Nic Cage delivers the best performance of the year. It was nothing like I expected and I tried to avoid as much as possible so I don’t want to spoil it here. Fantastic movie.
Rating: 4 stars
The Best of the Year (these are pretty interchangeable)
6.Belfast
I was very skeptical of Belfast. It felt that it was going to be way too cheery for my cynical core when it comes to movies. However, I was charmed by it. Mostly due to Jamie Dornan and Caitríona Balfe. Their relationship carried the movie for me. I highly recommend checking it out.
Rating: 5 stars
5.West Side Story
I don’t particularly love musicals. There was really only one (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) that stuck out in my mind before I saw this. I’m as surprised as you might be to see this so high up my list. However, Steven Spielberg has still got the juice. I found this to be absolutely delightful and heartbreaking. I have zero attachment to the original 1961 film, nor have I see any of the other adaptations, and I’m relatively thankful that is the case. I was able to let this new entrant wash right over me and take me where it wanted to go.
I have become a little numb to clichés in movies lately. I’m probably watching more than I should. The goosebump cinema is getting harder and harder to find. However, that makes the ones that pull off certain moments all the more entertaining and rewarding. There are a couple of moments in West Side Story that do just that. I will touch on one.
The moment in question occurs at the dance pictured above as Ansel Elgort’s “Tony” and Rachel Ziegler’s “Maria” catch a glimpse of one another from across the room. Obviously this happens in all kinds of movies, but Spielberg stages this one perfectly. He frames the actors so well as they find each other despite the sea of bodies in motion between them. There are shots in this movie that I will never forget. I really just had a great time and appreciated what Spielberg was doing visually throughout. There are also some real standout performances. Romeo and Juliet still works!
Rating: 5 stars
4.The Power of the Dog
I had the privilege of seeing this at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. It was such a cool experience and I’m glad my first time there was for a movie this good.
I’m relatively new to Jane Campion’s work. I’ve only seen In The Cut, and that was only during the same week that I saw The Power of the Dog. But even in these two films, I see that she’s a master of detail. Just a glance, a shot of the breeze, or the styling of a character holds so much weight.
I went into The Power of the Dog relatively blind. I didn’t know what to expect and found it to be quite different than I thought it’d be. The performances are incredible and I’m still grappling with the depth of each character. Everyone is so fully formed.
I was going to give this 4 stars for most of the movie, which is great, but the ending pushed it over the top for me. Everything fell into place. It felt like I was looking at a painting, it’s breathtaking. But there are a few intimate moments that got me:
Jesse Plemmons no longer feeling alone
The shared cigarette/rope making
The funeral revelation
These stick with me. There’s both a coldness and warmth to this film that I find incredibly rewarding and rarely done well. I’m thankful to have experienced it on the big screen.
Rating: 5 stars
3.The Card Counter
I only recently caught up to this in the last couple weeks of December and it blew me away. Oscar Isaac is one of my favorite actors and he delivers a precise, restrained performance as William Tell, a poker player who counts cards after spending 8 years in a military prison. He was sentenced to prison for his participation in the torture and abuse of prisoners held in Abu Ghraib. I am new to this incident, which is a real travesty of our education system, in my opinion. I read up on it earlier this year and though I was alive, I was not aware of what was happening in my youth. These characters were not the real people involved, but the movie draws on the incident. It takes a lot of guts to tackle an event like Abu Ghraib and Paul Schrader does so in quite an effective way.
While that provides the backdrop for the trauma of this film, it’s much more about the guilt and shame of our lead character through his participation in these horrors. Most of all though, it is about the prisons we make for ourselves and no one captures tortured men on screen better than Paul Schrader. William Tell spends his time playing cards all day everyday. He covers his motel rooms in white sheets, takes pictures off the walls, and shuts the blinds. He builds a jail cell for himself each night and spends his time in windowless facilities gambling his time away in the day. Time passes, but it isn’t experienced. The damage of its passing is still felt, but will the self-fulfilling prophecies of his actions come to fruition? Will he get out from under his guilt and shame? Can we do the same?
This is quite a follow-up to First Reformed, one of my favorite movies, for Paul Schrader and it is a very tough watch. There are some gruesome depictions of torture and some jarring images that will undoubtedly stick with you. In a year of disagreement and the integration of the past, I feel it apt to consider the impacts of our history in film. I think this does a good job of illuminating the evils America participates in, but also the trauma on real lives. Overall, the intense lonesome nature of Schrader’s filmography is incredible and as he continues to drill down into his interests, I find myself continually along for the ride.
Rating: 5 stars
2.Dune
For the last few weeks, I’ve had Dune hovering around 5th in this ranking. I turned on the first hour just a couple of days before I posted this and felt the need to move it higher. Each time I see a snippet of this movie I like it more. Rarely do we get blockbuster filmmaking with this much style. It was probably my favorite theater experience this year. It just rules so hard.
The cast is stacked and I honestly don't know how they pulled off some of the sequences in this movie. I really enjoyed the majority of the performances, especially Jason Momoa and Rebecca Ferguson. While the emotional beats didn't always click for me, I found myself blown away by the epic scale. Rarely do we get to see something so vast and encompassing as Dune.
I haven't read the books, but I am very interested in where they take this. There is a lot to unpack and a lot of it is subverting the expectations of traditional storytelling, if I understand what's going on correctly. I really appreciate the big swings that were taken to make a film like this.
I truly found myself sitting in awe of some of the shots that appeared on screen. It was probably my most anticipated movie of the year and I am eagerly awaiting the part 2. Denis Villeneuve never fails to entertain and I don't know that there is a director working right now that is on a hotter streak of movies than him. Incendies, Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and now Dune are all incredibly impressive. Following his career is truly a delight.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the movie from 2021 that I revisit the most in the future.
Rating: 5 stars
1.Licorice Pizza
I needed the fun of Licorice Pizza this year. The seriousness of the Card Counter fits the reflective nature of 2021 and the grappling with our nation’s history that many of us sought out over the last 12 months. Licorice Pizza balances that seriousness with the frenetic exploration of the energy of what it means to be 15 years old and the uncertainty of what it looks like to be 25 years old.
There’s a bit of nostalgia at play, remembering being young and having the world ahead of you. All kinds of ideas are right there to latch onto for future success and failure. However, I turned 25 only days before seeing this movie, and the uncertainty found in Alana’s character is quite relatable. She has a longing to find something bigger than herself, along with a family outside of her childhood home and a career that brings a sense of meaning. I have longed for similar things throughout the last few years, not knowing if I’d ever find them. I’m thankful to be where I am now.
There’s something beautiful about casting normal people in the lead roles. Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim, the son of the legendary Philip Seymour Hoffman and the other a pop rockstar, offer us a taste of normalcy within the Valley. Their performances follow suit as their acting experience isn’t that of the supporting characters. Still, as they get more confident, it seems that their characters become more comfortable with one another as well. Bradley Cooper and Harriet Sansom Harris also deliver hilarious performances. There are some controversial aspects to the film, a couple of racist moments from a restaurant owner, though they seem to be balanced by framing the character as an apparent fool. Still, these sections were a bit uncomfortable.
Also, the age gap between our two leads has led to some differences in opinion. I found it less weird due to the setting of the 1970s and the reality that, more than likely, we have all had a crush on someone older than us, particularly in cinematic experiences. The story swept me away enough that it didn’t bother me. I don’t think this will be the case for everyone.
The filmmaking also provided an added experience. Everyone in this movie is running. Youthful energy fills the camera movement and adds to the movie's pacing. It was a blast to have a film that wasn’t leading to anything in particular.
I smiled for the entire runtime.
Rating: 5 stars