Best Films Of 2021

IT HAS BEGUN!

SEE THIS IN IMAX

I can't stress it enough, IMAX!!!

I just finished watching an interview with actor Jason Momoa about Dune. The interviewer said she was blown away by the film. Momoa said "And that's how you feel after seeing it once. I've seen the film 3 times now and I enjoyed it even more the 3rd time, and I loved it the 1st time." he said. He also went on to say that he couldn't believe when Villeneuve called him up and was actually pitching for him to be in this film as he says, "to me Denis is my favorite director in the whole world.".

For me personally, this is the best film I've seen so far from the last 5 years. It's easily the best I've seen since Villeneuve's Arrival in 2016. Honestly I wish I went and saw this for the first time in IMAX. I recall reading or seeing an interview with Denis, can't remember exactly but I know he said that he made this film specifically with IMAX in mind, the film was literally made for IMAX. Now that I've seen it, I really understand now that it would've been the best way to see it for sure. There is no IMAX where I live or I would've gone, that's the price you pay living on an island. Now I'm thinking I may head to the big city to see it again as it truly is meant to be seen. The film is multilayered, extremely elaborate and vast, and it's probably as fully immersive as any film in history. The immersive aspect of the Classic Sci-Fi Novel has often been applauded, and here Villeneuve has definitely translated this to the screen with near perfection. Technically the film is mesmerizing, story wise, even more so. I actually found the theatre's sound system or sound level especially was insufficient for this film. There are a few parts where Rebecca Ferguson's character whispers and there are other things going on. I didn't catch a single word she said. Chalamet whispers a few times too, but I was able to hear him without problem. Again, if I can give you one great piece of advice it is definitely, SEE THIS IN IMAX! I'm feeling pretty darn confident that even though box office returns are not what they once were, I do think it's a no brainer that WB will give Denis the go-ahead for the second and final part of this grand sci-fi epic. This is far too great to end it now.

This film is not going to appeal to most people who really love superhero films. It's much more likely to appeal to Shakespeare lovers or those who love the films of Bergman and Kubrick. One of the great things about Villeneuve being the guy to bring this film to life now, is that personally I absolutely love David Lynch, but I also love Denis' work. It's very easy I think and feel to love both filmmakers a whole lot.

Because I can swim in the immense Because I can swim in all forms

Many Villeneuve films, in fact most of his films have a deep spiritual aspect to them; And so far, none more so than Dune. The complexity and the mysteriousness of the Dune world are part of what makes it feel so real, and part of what draws you in so fully. Even though it is clearly a work of fiction, it comes across as a world very much like our own where not all is known or fully understood, and the amount of things that likely could be understood are without limit. It feels like a real universe. A lot of Sci-Fi films don't leave enough mystery in their scripts I'd say; And here Villeneuve with Herbert's work really proves this. The unknown actually creates more reality, it creates a greater feel of reality. That sounds fairly Zen in fact, and why not since a lot of Herbert's Dune Novel was in fact influenced by Zen teachings and many other branches of mystical thought including the sacred mushroom cults of Mexico. I saw one review on here where the reviewer clown's title says the film has "No Soul". This person must be completely out of touch, because we've honestly seen very few films with more soul in all of history. This Dune world is so rich, it seems to have it's own heartbeat. 9/10

Rich, gritty, brilliant. This really is for those kinds of people who enjoy finding beauty in things that are often seen as dark or even disturbing by most people. 5.9/10 so far? Ridiculous! The only other Hugh Jackman film this good or better is Prisoners. This film while not finding it's audience as of yet, is absolutely destined to become an enduring cult classic.

8.5/10

Not a standard horror by any stretch. This really is an exceptionally good artistic film. I honestly can't recall the last time I watched a horror film that was this good. It's certainly been a number of years. 8.5/10

It's all about weight. Tipping the scales! Is that a spoiler? Yes...and no.

If you haven't seen this film yet, I wouldn't recommend reading this past the 'spoiler alert below' note near the bottom. However the majority of this review before that note should not negatively affect or spoil your viewing of the film.

I'm a person who has played in many, many poker tournaments and let me just start by saying that really, this is not at all a poker film. In few ways is this a true reflection of the modern Texas hold 'em tournament game, nor is this of any real importance to the story. So, it really doesn't matter. However for those who are interested in this because it may seem like it is actually a 'poker film'; Don't bother, it really isn't. I imagine that most, if not all of the Blackjack aspect is legitimately true numbers wise. Though I'm not even entirely sure about that. Nor does that really matter either, and Schrader may have even messed with that just because these things ultimately have little to no meaning in the film in full scope.

What are we really counting here?

For the most part, Paul Schrader films are only for certain types of film lovers. Many will find this film slow and even pointless. On the other hand many will find it entirely engrossing and will find the watch a very worthy and somewhat unique experience. Many Schrader films are just that, a real experience to watch. This film fits into this mold because it's a film that challenges the viewer emotionally, philosophically, morally. It will challenge your comfort zone at least to some degree, just as many of his other films do. Schrader films are often a lot closer to real life than most American films, not in that every aspect is entirely authentic nessicarily; But in that they resemble truer to life type human experiences than most films are ever able to capture/mimic, and these are almost all internal experiences. The complexities of human characters are more real with Schrader, and because of this the dilemmas often feel more real as well. This, no matter how convenient some aspects of the story may sometimes seem.

I've seen a few people making comments in their reviews about this film not being realistic in some ways, and that this ruined the film for them. My advice, and even question is, why would you go into a film expecting anything/something? From the very beginning of this film, it's made plain as day that this is not a story that has any interest in being 100% authentic about our world; That is other than capturing realistic internal human type experiences. That's all that really matters here! Pretty much everything else is just the dressing, the convenient delivery system if you will. If you didn't see this, that's most likely because you were too busy looking for other things. You may as well watch the film with you're ears stuffed with cotton. Narrowness of mental focus will rarely find a Schrader film worth it. Watching a film is not an action in truth, other than just letting it in. Your senses are already in absorption mode without doing anything, like autopilot. It's the doing that gets in the way of clear vision, the only thing to do is to quiet your mind and take it in. In other words, focus on watching the film. If you're not letting it all in, are you even really watching it? Think about the film afterward. Trying to fit a piece of art into your own limited vision of what art should be is an endeavor rooted in self centered control. Artistic work is a kind of communication, and trying to put boundaries or rules on it is a mockery of it's very purpose; And the greatest art of all is that which is reflective of the self, simply because this can often inspire growth, internal evolution, progression, and this is definitely such a work.

In terms of acting, this film comes somewhat close to perfection. In my view Schrader has written a number of great screenplays over the years and this is definitely another one of them.

Watch those emotional calories now!

***Spoiler Alert Below***

We all know the feeling of when something is weighing heavy on us internally or when a weight has been lifted. A weight upon our conscience one might say, or one may call it spiritual weight or something similar. However you choose to define such feelings, it's in these very familiar, yet often less looked at aspects of the internal human life that Schrader's film is interested in. Tipping internal scales that produce extreme reactions in the real world is honestly such an important and relevant topic right now. This film really looks at how extreme events can take a toll on people internally, especially for those who cannot find forgiveness (Or other means of healing) within themselves. Sometimes this weight becomes too much for a person to bare, and in some way or another, the weight eventually manifests into worldly action. The danger of entertaining the thought of the extreme manifestation is even subtly and wonderfully put into the dialogue here.

This is an 8.5 out of 10 on my scale. The film has serious weight!

The film is beautiful to be honest. If you overthink it while watching it, you likely will not care too much for it. If you just sit back and take the entire film in however and let it speak to you, it actually has a lot more to say than many modern critics would have you believe. It's very much a film, in that many things happen in a very setup & unauthentic feeling way, but here it really doesn't affect the picture overall in a bad way unless you let it by overthinking these aspects. This is really not meant to be a story that you believe in every single moment, (Just like Schrader's The Card Counter. Not all of the story is ultra realistic, nor does this really matter to the story in full scope. The characters for the most part do seem quite real, which highlights their importance.). The story overall does end up saying a few grand things in quite a profound way. On the surface, it's a very pieced together fairytale. Underneath it's a very humble and down to earth film in a way we rarely ever get to see anymore out of Hollywood. This is a film about what is really important and most meaningful in life. I think for most critics, this aspect of the film has clearly gone way over their heads; Few likely even noticed the nuanced way the film speaks to the viewer in this regard. Most modern film critics are lost. Sadly, it seems many film fans are too these days just going by the ratings of this film and Reminiscence alone. I find it not only sad, but somewhat scary to be honest. Films about love, films about being genuine, films about being a good person as much as one can, films about the more meaningful things in life are far and few between...and what's worse is that when they do come around, they are often not widely seen as the beautiful stories that they really are. Somehow nearly completely mindless superhero films and such are far more respected by the masses, and even by most critics. Never in the modern world have we ever needed to look at ourselves more than now. For far too many people these days, escapist dreams have become the regular. A distraction from reality is what is most often sought. There is a time for this, sure, it can be a healthy break; However for it to become the commonality among adults is a threat to our very beings. Without values, without compassion and understanding there becomes no point or purpose for humanity anymore. The earth right now even seems to be wondering if it should just get rid of us for good. Don't you see it? I'm not really even nearly this pessimistic or uncertain of a person to be honest. However I do believe that there has never been a recent time when humans have been so divided and willfully distant. A wiseman knows however that we only divide in order to reconnect in a greater way. Choices however are real for us, and losing connection long term can happen to anyone. The consequences for this can be drastic to say the least as many can attest. Don't forget what is important in reality. Don't forget the kinds of things that will carry you, and the kinds of things that will sink you for a time. Forget the fake ass Hollywood whore show. Fake posturing will never help a person for long. Remember what grabs you're heart in a genuine way. For turning away from the heart can sometimes seem like the less painful choice, but in the long run, IT NEVER IS. 8/10

Definitely interesting and informative. While not perfect, it certainly is something that any adult who gives a crap should see. To say the least, it's eye opening in certain ways for sure. Perhaps the pandemic era is the wrong time to watch a film about how irresponsible BigPharma can be, or is it the right time? The answer to that question is obviously very personal to each individual, and the answer will relate for the most part to your most fundamental beliefs.

The most important fundamental psychological question that every person determines early on in their lives is this; Am I part of a friendly universe, or an unfriendly universe? I stole this insight/perspective from Einstein by the way, but I only stole it because there's a megaton of truth in it.

Perception is so much more important and powerful than most people give it credit for.

7.5/10

I thought the preview looked like it could be pretty funny. It was more than just that! Funny and somewhat thought provoking as well. This film is basically as if Philip K. Dick met romantic comedy. I'm calling it, a very good surprise!

7.5/10

In my view this was definitely a little better than the Wonder Woman film from a few years earlier, (Which was generally a little overrated I felt.). This film is far from great, but it's also far from bad. It's actually a fairly solid female superhero film that for the most part I enjoyed. Perhaps I am a little biased myself on this, idk, but I am a long long time Scarlett fan. I've loved her ever since Ghost World & Eight Legged Freaks. Both of which are harshly under appreciated films in my view. Also people who've read much of my reviews or lists on here, they'd also know that I do enjoy a lot of Woody Allen films as well. I also admit they simply had me going to see this film no matter what, anything with both Scarlett and Rachel Weisz is an absolute theatre must see for me. 7/10

A crazy film. Only for a certain audience.

While I could easily say that this Bond wasn't bad, it's also just as easy to say that these newer Bond films certainly aren't nearly as fun as the best films in the series are. 6.5/10

Not entirely effective, but reasonably effective.

Obviously, a popcorn film, minus the few visually gross parts, or John Cena talking about how he'd eat a lot of dicks. 6.5/10

It has a few strong points, but a lot of weak areas as well. Overall it was worth a watch I felt. The best part of the film for me was most definitely the very end where the daughter says that their area of the U.S. looks as though it hasn't changed. The Father (Damon) replies something like, "I hardly recognize it anymore.". And the film ends. That was definitely by far the most compelling moment and aspect of the film. It got an extra half rating from me just for that. 6.5/10

While I didn't mind the film overall, I definitely felt and feel that it is likely Guy Ritchie's worst film yet as a whole. Nonetheless I am a Guy Ritchie film fan. So I say that with some disappointment, but at the same time I'm not too worried about it, or him as an overall filmmaker. I do feel that he likely has a lot more at least good films in him. I also feel that 2019's The Gentlemen was among the best films he's made. With the pandemic and all happening, perhaps Guy decided just to do something a little more simple or straightforward for a change. I liked this movie, but as I said, it's likely his worst film. 6.5/10

Not bad, but not exactly fully realized it seems. Much like this same directors last entirely original film, A Ghost Story, it has some great aspects and moments; But overall it's a little dry and the story is just not fully flushed out well enough to be a great film. I believe this filmmaker has real potential, but perhaps a co-writer may help them find the right recipe for greatness. So far I think his best film was definitely the adapted true story, The Old Man & the Gun. 6.5/10

Honestly I feel like Maggie Q should have been given this kind of lead action role well over 10 years ago in a big budget Hollywood film. Finally she gets the chance and the film is sadly very standard and mostly forgettable. It's a reasonable popcorn action flick, but definitely nothing special. 6/10

While I basically agree with the main statement the film makes, and perhaps the statement is even timely to some degree. However the film starts to feel very ho-hum nearing the midpoint. It's not all that interestingly told, nor does it come across as a meditation on it's main idea or ideas as well as it was likely intended to. To me it spent too much time in nowhere land. Perhaps if I understood Icelandic I would have gotten more out of it, I'm not entirely sure about that. Also, this is really not a horror film at all. It's somewhat dark, like an old folktale but mostly quite overt and not at all scary. I was enjoying the film for the first while, it sets up reasonably well, but it really never ends up giving you much of anything very interesting to chew on. There likely is some symbolism in the film that I didn't fully unravel; However what is here really seems too unimportant to care much for given the overall fairly aimless and stale feeling the film mostly has past the midway point. It's all very simple for the most part and in the end, a little silly really. This could've possibly made a great short film. There just isn't enough heart or guts or real substance in the film to be a feature in my view. It's not bad, but I would say skip it unless you're really into these kinds of old folktales. I love a good thinker and a good slow burn, but honestly there's not all that much here to think about. It tries to strike a fire in the viewers mind perhaps, but there's not enough fuel to light it and nothing much to burn. 5.5/10

There are some good aspects and some good ideas here. Overall just not written and researched well enough to be anything overly significant. 5/10

Been there, done that. It's not terrible, but it's pretty standard stuff. Hall's work here is convincing enough, she's good. The story and direction however could be better. 5/10

4.5/10

As a longtime fan of The Soprano's series; I was really surprised as to how much I disliked this film. It's pretty terrible to be honest. It seems like a total HBO-Chase cash grab on The Soprano's name and nothing more. There's not much here worth adding to The Soprano's series at all. The Tony character himself seems to have only slightly more screen time in the film than he has in the theatrical trailer. The trailer was definitely far more interesting than the film was. Pretty much every one of the new characters we meet are extremely flat and boring. The film is topically trendy one could even say, which is both sort of sad and pathetic. The film seems like it's trying to be a gritty Scorsese type mafia epic in a sense, but it fails quite badly in it's trying. There are a few reasonable parts, but really not much. Definitely the only thing in the film that reminded me of The Soprano's series at all were a few of the familiar characters and the general geographical area/buildings. Nothing else even felt close to the series in even the slightest sense. I wish I never even saw this rubbish. What a terrible addition to the series this is.

If you want to see a newer organized crime series that is much better than this film, watch Godfather of Harlem with Forest Whitaker. Now there's some crime drama well worth watching. Thankfully it's not written as to be trendy or nessicarily timely, and instead it has been a surprisingly very intelligently delivered series. 4/10

Like all of Edgar Wright's films, this is silly. Though some of them were meant to be silly, and are much more fun than this one overall. Who classified this film as a mystery? For most films, we don't know the ending until it comes, but we don't call them mysteries just because of this. In this, we don't even know there is a real mystery at all until quite late in the film, and there's no hints to the viewer to make this a mystery. We're given no real tangible clues, the story just eventually reveals itself through its already illusory filled scenes. This is not a mystery, hell, it's barely even a horror film in my view. A psychological thriller is most fitting I'd say, though psychological horror fits alright as well.

Anyway, this is what I call, a nonsense film. Most of it is just a delusional mess, and we're led to believe certain things that aren't true, to the point where some parts are never fully explained at all. Her hickey early in the film for instance. Everyone sees it, yet we see this entire scene from the previous night play out entirely as a dream/nightmare. When the curtains fall on the eventual mystery, the film still never explains to any degree what really happened in parts such as this. Hence, it's a nonsense film. There are parts that make no sense at all, even when you factor in the main characters mental issues, parts like this still have zero logic to them. As I said, the film is silly, or even to be more frank, it's just stupid in many ways.

I also feel like I've seen literally hundreds of films that are similar to this one in many ways. The visuals are fairly interesting, and there are some other interesting things here; But overall it amounts to nothing really, because of all the flaws and very common type movie scenes. It's not nearly compelling enough in my view. Once you've seen Repulsion a couple times, almost every other film on mental illness becomes lame and ineffective by comparison. Last Night In Soho certainly fits that common mold as well. While the film does boast some interesting scenes and moments, overall it is somewhat common, nonsensical in parts, and boring. Especially to someone like myself who's seen thousands of films.

Diana Rigg is in the film, and apparently this was her last onscreen appearance. What a way to go out! In all honesty, to me, she was by far the best thing in this film. What a great performance. In my view, in her last film here, she almost entirely steals the film, she certainly overshadows the rest of it with her ultra authentic feeling performance. I also thought Thomasin McKenzie was very good in the main role. But the film really is Rigg's for the most part, she stole it from everyone, including Edgar Wright himself. To me, he bludgeoned his own film. 3.5/10

This is worth watching for some people. Fans of Fox and/or far fetched thrillers may well enjoy it. Overall it's just way too silly and predictable for me to give it much of a rating. Fox is watchable however, and the film isn't all bad. After seeing Megan walk barefoot in the snow for more than 3 seconds, you basically know it's all fake snow. 3.5/10

This is very close to complete garbage, though not entirely terrible. Nonetheless, the film isn't very interesting at all, it's profoundly boring and rarely ever even remotely sexy. If you want to know about the porn industry, watch a documentary on it, and not this is my advice. If you want something mainstream but sexy, this is not it either. 3.5/10

While the film claims to be a 'true story', very little in the film actually comes across as feeling very authentic, especially the character interactions. It honestly feels like a big budget film made by an amateur. Most of the films Ridley Scott has made in recent years are downright terrible, and to me this was just another one of them. The guy's about to be 84 years old and all I have to say to Hollywood is, time to give these projects to someone else. The worst part of it is I was sort of interested in seeing House of Gucci, but since Ridley also directed that film, I'm not so sure I'm even going to waste my time with it now. The Last Duel rightfully should be called a medieval soap opera. This is a terrible piece of cinema. It's completely pointless unauthentic feeling drivel. Nothing seems to be well thought out here. 3/10

As for the worst films I've seen from 2021...

Who does Disney even make films for? With stuff like this I'm really not sure. I definitely wouldn't let children watch this, and it's way too stupid without being all that funny, so it doesn't really work all that well for teens or adults either. Parents, honestly, quit sending your kids to watch this kind of poisonous nonsense. 3/10

Here's another film that shows off how terrible modern film critics are generally. Metacritic consensus for this is 64/100. The film seems for a while like it may be interesting, however we come to find that every single piece of this film that is even remotely interesting is essentially taken from others films. Not one idea here even seems to be remotely its own. Many reviewers have mentioned Annihilation and The Last Of Us, but there are also other older films this South African production steals from as well. The writing here is terrible. By the end, we see that there really is no coherent story here at all. It's just a complete mess of stolen ideas all lumped together into a bunch of nonsense. The characters are dumb, the dialogue is often dumb. It's a pretty damn terrible film in nearly every single way. 2.5/10

The people behind Disney are wh*r*s that will try to sell people anything these days, commonly under different company names and many of their products today in fact border on being illegal. That's how much morality the company, just as many other big corporations of our time have lost. Today, everything in business is pretty much about image, and image alone. This is even taught today to business students in Universities across the world. As long as corporations are projecting a good and PC image of themselves to the masses, often nothing else really matters to them. What they really do is of little consequence, they can easily buy their way out of almost anything. Too big to fail, too much of a national economic burden to truly be punished for clear cut crimes. The pitfalls of capitalism have nearly fully blanketed the world at this point as far as corporations go. And your politricksters are all merely mouth puppets for them at this point. As Nikki Sixx once wrote, "Greed has been crowned the new King.".

This film is mindless for the most part and is an insult to human intelligence on many levels. It is so out of touch with real feelings or reality at all. Of course reality is not always necessary with fantasy. I'm sure this could be viewed from many perspectives as a fun film. Sure, I won't even dispute that. I'd agree with it. Overall however it truly is a pointless, meaningless, mostly boring, and such an out of touch film that to me it's really almost 100% pure garbage. Though as I said, I can certainly also understand other very different perspectives of the very same film. The fact that this film tries to give itself a "punk' edge or aspect is quite frankly an insult to itself, as clearly the people that made this film really have no clue how anti-punk this kind of film really is. True punk is about stripped down honesty more than it is about anything else. Honesty or reality is simply something that this film has no interest in at all. 2.5/10

A horrid bore, and could it possibly be overwritten any more? You'll likely have to try hard to get more than a couple laughs from this stinkbomb. 2.5/10

One of the dullest and most unauthentic feeling films I've ever seen. And, I've seen thousands. Paul Thomas Anderson has become one of the more overrated filmmakers in all of the world. He has one great film in my view, and a few other fairly strong ones. This certainly isn't one of them. 2.5/10

I rarely ever give out 10's or 1's on this site, but this is one of those very rare occasions. This fictionalized account of Ted Bundy is one of the absolute worst films I've ever seen. Not even one thing about this film is even decent, never mind good. 1/10