January 28, 2021 -- Here is my list of the best films, best actors, and the most disappointing films from the year 2021.

Below this list of top films, are honorable mentions, followed by lists of my picks for top director, top actor, top foreign film, etc. Those lists are followed by lists of the worst films, overrated films, funniest, saddest, most romantic, etc. I've included a Dubious Distinction award for a film of “bad faith”. My top 10 lists include more comedy and films starring black actors, two varieties of movies absent from most top 10 lists. Drama is easy, but comedy is difficult.

Page navigation: Commercial Links,  Honorable mention,  Best of by category,  Funniest movies,   Best Love Stories  Saddest movies,  Scariest villain ,  Overrated movies,   Best movies you haven't heard of,   Most disappointing movies,   Dubious Distinction.

1. CODA
Romantic comedies are hard to perfect. It requires a skillful balance of elements, excellent writing and a cast that is up to the challenge. I enjoyed watching this movie more than any other 2021 film. I laughed and I cried. Writer-director Siân Heder pushes all the right emotional buttons in her smart and witty screenplay, and the cast is perfect.
2. Pig
A movie starring Nicholas Cage about a hermit living in the woods who goes to town looking for his stolen pig — that's my idea of a top 10 movie? You bet it is, and I was surprised as anyone by it's strange, unpredictable story, and Cage's tremendous performance.
3. The Rescue
This brilliant National Geographic documentary uses some re-enactments and computer graphics, along with wonderful interviews with some remarkable people to give us a compelling account of a tremendously difficult underwater cave rescue. It gave me a much needed boost to see the cooperation of thousands of people from different countries pull off what seemed to be an impossible rescue.
4. Belfast
This heartfelt movie about the “troubles” in Northern Ireland is a labor of love and humor from writer and director Kenneth Branagh. Inspired by Branagh's childhood memories and powered by great performances, it depicts his old Belfast neighborhood with heart, wit and wisdom.
5. Escape from Mogadishu
Officials from the South Korean embassy and from the North Korean embassy in Somalia overcome their mutual mistrust in order to work together to escape from Mogadishu when the country suddenly descends into civil war. In these dark times, this is a welcome story about political enemies discovering their common humanity.
6. Being the Ricardos
Another blast from the past by writer-director Aaron Sorkin is powered by great performances from a talented cast. Although Sorkin rearranges history, as he did last year in The Trial of the Chicago 7, almost every dramatic incident in this film is factual, for a change, and he's mining more entertaining humorous and dramatic source material this time around.
7. West Side Story (2021)
Steven Spielberg's reimagining of the Stephen Sondheim/ Leonard Bernstein classic musical has a more adult, gritty and realistic feel to it than the 1961 film version. The cast is great, and so is the direction and cinematography (Janusz Kaminski). When Sondheim himself saw this film, he said Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner nailed it. Nuff said.
8. Licorice Pizza
The dreaded coming-of-age story gets a refreshing twist in this romantic comedy set in the San Fernando Valley in 1973. A very mismatched couple's on-again, off-again relationship is set against the backdrop of Hollywood types, business startups and politicians with dark secrets. Bradley Cooper playing the over-the-top Hollywood power player Jon Peters is worth the price of admission alone.
9. Don't Look Up
Hilarious, and sad, this apocalyptic satire about modern politicians faced with a calamity that requires science instead of scapegoats, provides plenty of laughs and groans. The satire extends to the risk averse news media and the silliness of popular culture. Once again, we are reminded that Leonardo DiCaprio, who leads a talented cast, is one of the best comic actors working today.
10. Pray Away
This emotional documentary about leaders of the anti-gay Exodus International organization and its role in passing California's Proposition Eight, is mainly about people having a change of heart. It also raises questions about how the story of this failed organization might have relevance to religious-based anti-abortion laws.

Found
An emotional journey to China is at the center of this story about three adopted American girls searching for their roots in China. The three were given up for adoption because of China's one-child rule. Their reactions to seeing where they came from, the reactions of those who once cared for them as infants, and the reactions of parents searching for their lost children, convey volumes about heartless government policies that tear families apart.
Mass
This brilliantly-written story by writer-director Fran Kranz features compelling performances by four actors playing the parents of two high school students involved in a school shooting. Even though almost the entire movie is filmed in one small room, it reveals a world of emotions about the aftermath of tragic murders.
Drive My Car
A very clever screenplay by writer/director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi combines dialog from the play Uncle Vanya with the personal stories of two characters who suffer tragic losses. The result is an emotionally powerful film about guilt, sorrow, and the will to carry on.
King Richard
Compelling performances by a talented cast combine to illustrate what it took to make Richard Williams' dream a reality. His dream, of course, was to see his daughters, Serena and Venus Williams, overcome long odds to become the best tennis players in the world.
I'm Your Man
This movie delves much more deeply than most science fiction films do into the emotional relationships between humans and machines. It depicts a relationship which develops between a human being and a robot who is also a sentient being, aided by two excellent performances. It explores issues of free will versus intelligent design in a thoughtful way.
The First Wave
This powerful documentary follows health care providers on the front lines of the battle against Covid in the early days of the pandemic in New York. It is an unblinking stare at the awful toll of the disease on the afflicted, and upon those who care for them. There is a lot of misinformation about Covid, but this film shows us the reality of this disease.
Summer of Soul
(...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
This is a film that is important from a historical standpoint, and there are some amazing rare musical concert performances in it. It also captures the essence of important events ignored and long forgotten by most. It also shows us why the Harlem Cultural Festival should be remembered.
Luca
This is my favorite animated film of 2021. It is kind of a fish out of water story combined with a coming of age story, featuring a cast of interesting characters — nerds and outsiders versus the town bully. It is also a story about overcoming fear of the unknown. Excellent artwork by the famed Pixar division of Disney Studios provides great visuals.
Vivo
This is my second favorite animated film of 2021, a year which saw a better than usual crop of cartoons, including Encanto, The Mitchels vs. The Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca, Flee and Ron's Gone Wrong. This is a very tough category to pick a winner from, but I chose Vivo because it is a very emotionally powerful story about missed chances and love lost.

Links to reviews of all the films on this page are indexed in the following web pages:

A through B   C through D   E through G   H through L
M through Q   R through S   T through Z

All of these films have won awards or have been highly rated by some critics groups, but I don't think they are top 10 material. They are mostly good films, but not that good. The Green Knight
Memoria
The Mitchells vs the Machines
The Power of the Dog
Prayers for the Stolen
The Lost Daughter
Spencer

While I saw most of the best films 2020, I purposefully missed nearly all of the reportedly bad films, including Sweet Girl – Tom & Jerry – The Unholy – Awake – The Virtuoso – Music – He's All That – Home Sweet Home Alone – Vanquish – Cosmic Sin – Mainstream – Out of Death – Apex – Deadlock – Fortress – Thunder Force – American Siege – Demonic and A Journal for Jordan, among many others.
The Green Knight
This movie got good reviews, so I went to the theater to see it. I found it to be overlong, depressing and slow-moving. I would not have minded so much, if I had not paid good money to see it.
Eternals
Marvel Studios has an excellent track record for making entertaining movies, and writer/director Chloé Zhao, who made the best film of 2020, Nomadland, is at the helm of this one. What could go wrong? Plenty, it turns out. This movie has a lot of heavy lifting to do, introducing a dozen characters and their back stories, a whole new history of the universe and how it works. That is a lot of comic book clutter for one movie to clean up, and it is too damn serious.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
I am a big fan of LeBron James, and I was hoping, despite the bad reviews, that this film would be better than the first Space Jam movie. Unfortunately, it is not any better. It is about the same.
F9: The Fast Saga
I am a big fan of the Fast and Furious franchise, but I fear the series has finally jumped the shark. A car that swings on a cable like Tarzan? Cars in space? Really? The craziness of the action sequences in this series has been getting sillier with each film. I could put up with it until this one. This has gone too far. C'mon Mr. Diesel, it is time to do that Hannibal movie. At least the elephants really did go over the Alps.

Page navigation: Commercial Links,    Honorable mention,  Best of by category,  Funniest movie,   Best Love Stories  Saddest movie,  Scariest villain ,  Overrated movies,   Best movies you haven't heard of,   Most disappointing movies,   Dubious Distinctions.

Commercial link — Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. It doesn't cost any extra money to use these links, but it does help offset my expenses a little bit. I suggest you shop at least two places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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