2021/2022 was a good movie year for me. I was finally able to return to the movie theater after taking about a year and a half off because of the pandemic. I was also able to watch a ton of movies: 74, to be exact, the most since 2014/15 when I somehow watched 93. I also am pretty sure this was the most bad movies I’ve ever seen in a year. When you watch 70 movies in a year, you start to get desperate. I don’t think that there were any movies this year that I’d consider true classics, but there were still plenty of really good ones. On to the list.
63. The French Dispatch was not the worst movie I watched this year, but it was BY FAR the most disappointing. Some context: During the pandemic I didn’t go to a movie in the theater for about 18th months. Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors - I’ve liked just about every one of his movies, and some of them (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic) are all-time favorites. So when things started opening up again, and I saw that there was a new Wes Anderson movie out, I thought it would be the perfect way to get back into the theater. Unfortunately the actual movie was terrible. It’s the story of The French Dispatch, a New Yorker style magazine in Paris, led by editor Bill Murray. It has a great cast, and all of the usual Wes Anderson visual and musical touches, but it was just incredibly boring. The movie consists of a series of short stories (that somehow each felt too long), and not a single one of the stories was entertaining. All of the quirks and flourishes that make most of Anderson’s movies seem charming to me just felt contrived here. It was so bad it made me question whether I actually even liked his earlier work. There were several points where I thought about leaving because I was so bored, but I kept watching in hopes that it would get better. It didn’t. (HBO Max)
62. Encounter I found this movie extremely hard to watch, and I’m not sure why I ended up watching all of it, other than that I was expecting some sort of twist that never came. Rhiz Ahmed, who I really like, plays a veteran that is convinced that alien parasites are taking over the world. He ends up kidnapping his children from his ex-wife and going on the run to try to go somewhere that the parasites (and the people that are controlled by them) won’t be able to reach. From the name of the movie and the trailer, I kept expecting some sort of alien or supernatural element to the movie, but I was mistaken. The version of this movie that does actually have alien parasites would’ve been much better. (Amazon Prime)
61. Beckett Quite simply one of the worst movies I watched this year. Netflix released this movie shortly after Tenet came out, when John David Washington (Denzel’s son) appeared to be a rising star. I’ll admit that’s why I watched it. It also stars the lovely Alicia Vikander as Washington’s fiance. With such beautiful people in the leads, and a beautiful setting (the couple are vacationing in the Greek countryside), it’s hard to understand how the movie ended up being so bad. It’s a thriller with no thrills. Washington’s performance made me question whether he is actually any good at acting, and the whole thing felt disjointed and pointless. (Netflix)
60. Nobody I probably shouldn’t write a review for a movie I didn’t watch all of, but being uninformed has never stopped me from having an opinion before, so why stop now? In Nobody, Bob Odenkirk plays a dad who tries to keep his mundane life together, but loses his cool after his house gets broken into and he lets the robbers go. Nobody is this year’s Liam Neeson movie - the kind where some guy’s family gets killed or kidnapped so he goes on a revenge tour, and just happens to have a certain set of skills that allows him to kill large groups of violent thugs with his bare hands. This one was so violent I had to stop watching halfway through. (HBO Max)
59. West Side Story I tried to watch this. I kept it on for a good hour, hoping I would eventually understand why it got nominated for Best Picture and got good reviews. In the end I just couldn’t do it. I have a hard time with musicals in general, so it takes something pretty incredible (Hamilton, La La Land) for me to overlook people bursting into song in the middle of scenes. I didn’t like the music or the story enough to do that here, so I didn’t finish. (Disney +)
58. Jolt I watched Jolt because I wanted to find some kind of action movie I could watch while running on the treadmill. Even on the treadmill it was barely adequate entertainment. Kate Beckinsale stars as Lindy, a woman who’s only able to control her violent anger with the help of a vest that shocks her when she’s starting to feel her rage coming on. When her new boyfriend Jai Courtney disappears, she decides to unleash the rage to find out what happened to him. Beckinsale is an impressive physical actor, but that’s about all that I can say to recommend the movie. We’ve seen just about every angle possible in the revenge thriller genre, and Jolt doesn’t add anything new. (Amazon Prime)
57. Lansky tells the story of aging gangster Meyer Lansky (Harvy Keitel) as he tells his story to a journalist (Sam Worthington) writing about his younger days in organized crime. Keitel is solid, but I’ve seen this kind of movie so many times and done so much better that it’s hard to find much enthusiasm to recommend it. In fact, as I'm trying to recall the plot I actually can’t remember exactly what happens - a low level thug rises to power within an organized crime organization, meets a girl, eventually alienates his family as he becomes more ruthless, and finally has some sort of downfall. Lansky mixes in some scenes with the writer and his family/love interest, but none of it really adds to the same story we’ve seen dozens of times. (Amazon Prime)
56. The Lighthouse I really don’t know what to think of this movie, other than that it wasn’t much fun to watch. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play lighthouse keepers on an offshore island in the 1800’s. Pattinson and Dafoe are excellent, as they gradually drive each other crazy while cut off from all other human contact. Some of the reviews I looked at when I was trying to figure out what I had just watched call this movie a masterpiece. To say that I disagree would be a massive understatement. Unique, yes - I don’t think I’ve seen any other movies with graphic mermaid sex scenes, but I would have a hard time calling a movie with incessant farting a masterpiece. (Amazon Prime)
55. A Vigilante was not a very fun movie to watch. The main thing it has going for it is Olivia Wilde, who fully goes for it as a battered woman who becomes a dark knight, working to avenge fellow abuse victims. The whole movie is pretty bleak - even when things are going well in the movie, it’s not really fun to watch, and the final act is tortuous. Last year’s Promising Young Woman is a much better version of a similarly bleak story. (Amazon Prime)
54. The Silencing In The Silencing, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays a loner living in a remote cabin as the warden of a game sanctuary. When he comes across a girl that has been murdered in the woods, he realizes he may be dealing with a serial killer, and the killer may be connected to the disappearance of his own daughter. The movie has a few twists, but overall it feels too unoriginal and a bit too disturbing to really enjoy. (Amazon Prime)
53. Fantastic Fungi I am probably the only person on Earth who was surprised/disappointed when a Netflix documentary called Fantastic Fungi ended up focusing more on psychedelic mushrooms than on the ecological role of fungi. The first part of the movie does have some great time-lapse footage of fungi and talks about the many things fungi do. But I lost interest in the second half of the movie as it focused more on the culture of mushroom collectors and how great psychedelic mushrooms are. And yes, I realize what a science nerd I am. (Netflix)
52. The Sword of Trust is a movie filled with oddball characters. Marc Maron plays the owner of a pawn shop who is approached by a pair of women who bring him a sword that one of the women inherited from her grandfather. The sword is a civil war era relic, with a document of authenticity that supposedly proves the South won the civil war. Both the women and the pawn shop owner (and his assistant) are skeptical of the sword’s value, but they post some information online and realize there is a group of white supremacists willing to pay a pretty penny for the sword and its certificate. The movie is mostly played for laughs, but all of the characters end up revealing more depth than they initially show when they end up in close quarters with the white supremacists. (Amazon Prime)
51. Tramps When Danny’s (Callum Turner) brother calls from jail and asks him to help him do a job, you know from the get-go that it probably isn’t going to go well. He’s supposed to meet a guy that will drive them to a drop where they have to exchange a briefcase in exchange for money. Only the guy turns out to be a girl (Grace Van Patten) and he ends up grabbing the wrong briefcase. The rest of the movie follows the two of them as they try to track down the briefcase and finish the job. It’s a bit slow at times, but it’s enjoyable watching as the animosity between the two leads gradually thaws and they start to like each other. Turner and Van Patten have a nice chemistry that carries an otherwise unremarkable movie. (Netflix)
50. Synchronic Synchronic is set in New Orleans, and stars Anthonie Mackie as a paramedic who encounters several gruesome deaths involving a mysterious new hallucinogenic drug. The mystery deepens when his partner’s teenage daughter disappears. The movie isn’t particularly memorable, but it has a few interesting twists, and Mackie has become one of those actors that makes anything he’s in watchable. (Netflix)
49. The Power of the Dog For a while leading up to the Oscars, The Power of the Dog seemed to be the favorite to take home Best Picture. Thankfully it did not. It’s not a bad movie, but I really couldn’t understand why so many people were falling over themselves about how great it was. In a sense it’s a Western; a pair of brothers that are wealthy ranchers are complete opposites. Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) is angry and mean, his brother George (Jessie Plemmons) mild mannered and soft spoken. When the brothers meet a young widow (Kirsten Dunst) and her teenage son, the tension between them increases even more. As the movie progresses, it becomes clear this is not a traditional Western. The focus of the movie is on the relationships between the characters, and it’s really a critique of the macho attitudes in traditional Western movies. Since I tend to like those kinds of movies, I guess I probably was not the target audience. The ending is an interesting twist that makes you rethink the last half of the movie, but not enough for me to decide I liked it. (Netflix)
48. The Vault is set in Spain in the days leading up to the 2010 World Cup final. A young engineering student (Freddie Highmore) is brought in to help a team trying to break into the “uncrackable” vault below the Bank of Spain, using the World Cup chaos as cover. It’s all fairly standard heist movie stuff; good camaraderie but a little tension between the team, some unforeseen obstacles during the heist, and some clever thinking to keep the heist on track. Despite (or perhaps because of?) the familiarity, the whole thing was pretty fun. (Netflix)
47. Reminiscence feels like a rip-off of about a half dozen different films. A little Minority Report, a dash of Memento, a bit of Inception, combined with a Rick Deckard (Blade Runner)-style narrator. The problem is it’s not nearly as good as any of those movies, and doesn’t have anything particularly interesting to say. In a future world where Miami is flooded by climate change, Hugh Jackman and Thandie Newton play private investigators who are able to dive into people’s memories to unlock secrets from the past. When the mysterious Mae (Rebecca Fergusun) shows up one day to get help finding something lost, Jackman gets drawn into her world. I kind of enjoyed watching the movie, but I think what really ruined it for me was the dialogue (and narration) was so bad that it made almost everything about it feel cliched. (HBO Max)
46. Eternals The Eternals are a group of immortal beings that live on Earth and have shaped and protected the planet over thousands of years. It’s a Marvel movie that has a bit of a different feel as it is directed by Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) who is known for much smaller, quieter films. Eternals doesn’t feel small or quiet - no Marvel movie does, but it has a more serious tone than the Avengers movies or even the more recent Shang Chi. I enjoyed it while I was watching, but nothing really stuck with me. I’m sure the plan is to make a sequel with some of these characters but there wasn’t a single one of them that I felt like I needed to see any more of. (Disney +)
45. Death on the Nile Based on an Agatha Christie book, Death on the Nile is a classic murder mysetery with an ensemble cast. Kenneth Brannagh directs and plays famous Detective Hercule Poirot. The story follows newlyweds Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Godot) and Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) as they travel with a group of friends and family on a honeymoon cruise down the Nile. When people start dying, Poirot tries to figure out what’s happening. The cast is good, and for a while it seems like the movie is going to be clever and a lot of fun, but it just sort of fizzles. It never really grabs you, and I was able to figure out the mystery from a mile away, which I’m usually pretty bad at. Death on the Nile is the kind of movie that Knives Out is both spoofing and a much better version of. (HBO Max).
44. Archive This is an interesting little sci-fi film set in a remote mountain bunker, where a single man (Theo James) spends his days working on increasingly realistic AI prototypes. It bears quite a few similarities to the excellent Ex-Machina, without being quite as strong. With streaming movies like this one I always grade on a bit of a curve because they’re so easy to watch, and this was fun if not necessarily memorable. It has beautiful scenery, some interesting plot twists, and overall I enjoyed it. (Amazon Prime)
43. Prospect There’s an interesting sub-genre of science fiction right now that you can find on almost every streaming service. They fall under the sci-fi genre because they’re set in space or on another planet, but if you just set the movie in the space ship, there isn’t really any need for a big budget or special effects. In this case, Prospect is set on an alien moon, but there are no aliens, only other prospectors, and the only way you can tell it’s another planet (that apparently looks exactly like a forest in the Pacific Northwest) is that the characters wear space suits. Low budget aside, I actually enjoyed Prospect. It’s the story of a father and daughter that have landed on the moon to harvest valuable gems. It has a bit of a western feel, with Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) as the dad and newcomer Sophie Thatcher starring as the daughter who is forced to fend for herself as they encounter other prospectors looking for the same thing. (Hulu)
42. Jungle Cruise This is exactly what you’d expect from a movie based on a Disneyland ride starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Emily Blount plays Lily Houghton, a botanist in search of the mythical Tears of the Moon, an Amazonian plant that will cure any illness. Johnson plays the riverboat captain she hires to help her, and Jessie Plemmons plays the Nazi captain searching for the same thing. It’s a perfectly average film - nothing original, but still fun. (Disney +)
41. I’m Your Woman is a crime movie set in the 70’s with an interesting twist. Bill Heck is Eddie, who is forced to leave his wife and baby behind when he betrays the organized crime group he’s a part of. Only in I’m Your Woman, the story isn’t told from Bill’s point of view, but from the point of view of his wife Jean(Rachel Brosnahan) who is forced to flee with a child that isn’t their own and start a new life in a town where she doesn’t know anyone and doesn’t know who she can trust. She’s visited occasionally by Cal (Arinze Kene), Bill’s former partner who is fiercely loyal to Bill but won’t tell her everything that’s going on. It’s a fairly standard period crime movie, elevated by telling the story from the perspective of the woman that’s normally “left behind” in this type of film. (Amazon Prime)
40. The Batman In a world saturated with comic book movies, superhero films lately seem to take one of two paths: fun or dark. I usually tend to prefer the fun approach (see #3 on this year’s list), but some of my absolute favorites were far from lighthearted. A couple years ago The Joker was a top 5 movie for me (although not exactly a superhero movie, it was part of the Batman universe, and incredibly dark), and The Dark Knight is probably my all-time favorite superhero movie. Unfortunately, this movie seemed to take the approach of “let’s see what happens if we try to make a darker version of the Dark Knight” without making us care about the characters in any way. Robert Pattinson was fine as this version of Batman, but the whole thing seemed relentlessly bleak and overly long. I went back and watched Batman Begins a couple weeks before The Batman came out, and it probably ruined me for the reboot. I spent the whole time I watched this one (which felt like a very, very long time) thinking about ways that the Christopher Nolan movies were better than this one, which is pretty much in every conceivable way. (HBO Max)
39. Red Notice In the past I’ve been critical of the Netflix action movie formula: Get an A list cast and an B list director, then throw something together with C level production values that will get people to watch but ultimately end up being completely forgettable. Even though Red Notice fits that formula to a T, I still enjoyed it, and will probably even watch the sequel (which I’m sure will eventually happen). Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that the cast (Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, Gal Godot) was perfect for this movie. Johnson plays an FBI agent that teams up reluctantly with master thief Reynolds to try to catch the world’s most wanted art thief. Predictable but fun. (Netflix)
38. Chasing Coral is a pretty straightforward nature documentary, looking at how rising sea temperatures are causing coral bleaching in reefs around the world. If you don’t know much about this problem, it’s worth taking a look at this movie. For me, coral bleaching has been one of the most dramatic examples of how our planet is already being impacted by climate change. More than 20 years ago in my Ecology classes I started talking about the rise of coral bleaching as a symptom of climate change, and now it has become a worldwide problem. Since the first time I went snorkeling I have been transfixed by coral reefs - swimming in a reef is like being transported into a different world, filled with species you don’t see anywhere else. Almost every time I snorkel now I see patches of coral that have bleached (which can lead to the coral dying). This year more than 90% of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has been affected by bleaching. The movie itself isn’t quite as dramatic as movies like Blackfish or The Cove, but it’s a much more significant issue, not just affecting one species but the hundreds of organisms that call the coral reef home. (Netflix)
37. The Harder They Fall A fairly standard Western, with a significant twist; almost every character in the movie is Black. One of the things this movie did was make me realize that in most Westerns, every character (except maybe the bad guys) is White. An interesting thing to think about, but not necessarily enough to carry a whole movie. And for the first hour or so I thought that the movie borrowed a little too much from other Westerns, and maybe even a little too violent for my tastes. But the final showdown, and the big reveal that comes with it, elevated the movie several spots in my mind. A great cast, led by Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba also make it worth checking out. (Netflix)
36. Encanto I’m grading on a curve here. I usually have a hard time sitting through animated kids movies, but I watched this movie with my daughters on the last night before we said goodbye to our foster daughter of two years, so I will probably always think fondly of it. It’s the story of a Colombian family where every member of the family, except the youngest daughter, has the gift of magical powers. Most of the story focuses on the daughter as she tries to find her role and find acceptance in her family despite her lack of gifts. It’s a sweet movie with fun music and bright colorful animation, and a fun one to watch with family. (Disney +)
35. Black Widow is a fine superhero movie. I like Scarlett Johansen. I think Florence Pugh is terrific (although I’m not sure about her accent in this one). My daughter and I enjoy watching the Marvel movies and shows together, and Black Widow is her favorite character. The action scenes are pretty good, and I liked all the characters, but at this point these Marvel movies feel pretty familiar. Familiar action, familiar fight scenes, familiar plots. At the same time that I’m complaining about the familiarity of this kind of Marvel movie, I also am not sure whether I like the fact that all the new ones seem to have something to do with the concept of a multiverse. It already feels like they might be going to that well too often too. At this point they’re going to keep making Marvel movies because they make a ton of money, and I will probably go see all of them, so all of this is just a long way of saying it’s a solid but unoriginal action movie. (Disney +)
34. Oxygen This is a 90 minute thriller with a simple premise: a woman (Melanie Laurent) wakes up in a cryogenic chamber, with no idea how she got there. She is able to communicate with the pod’s AI, which is able to look up information and even make phone calls, but unable to tell her who she is or why she’s lost her memory. The chamber is malfunctioning, and she only has 90 minutes of oxygen left. The film is almost entirely set within the chamber, so Laurent carries the entire film as she struggles to remember who she is and how she ended up in the chamber. Laurent’s acting and a tight story make it a fun watch. (Netflix)
33. The Tomorrow War There’s nothing subtle or unique about The Tomorrow War, a good-old fashioned science fiction action spectacle where Chris Pratt and a team of ordinary guys are sent into the future to fight a war against aliens that are taking over the planet. Is it a good movie? No,no it is not. But it is fun, so if you’re looking for a movie on Netflix that will entertain you, this is actually a pretty good bet. Sam Richardson (I Think You Should Leave), who I love, plays a sidekick character. Yvonne Strahovski plays the lead scientist, and most importantly, Chris Pratt plays a high school science teacher trying to save the world. Between this and Project Hail Mary, one of the more entertaining books of the past year (and one that will surely be made into a movie), it was a good year for science teachers saving the world.(Netflix)
32. Untold: Malice at the Palace This is a short documentary on Netflix that digs into the massive brawl that occurred between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers and the Pistons fans in 2004. If you’re an NBA fan it’s a must watch, and even for non NBA fans it might be worth checking out. The brawl and the reaction to the brawl were filled with racial undertones, and the aftermath had a massive impact on the league. This was probably the peak of the “NBA players are thugs” era, and after the brawl, commissioner David Stern decided the league needed to make massive changes to avoid losing more of their (mostly white) fans. I went into the documentary with some idea of who I thought the “villains” were in the story, but I came out thinking very differently about what happened. (Netflix)
31. Jim Gaffigan Comedy Monster With Gaffigan you know what you’re getting. There are usually jokes about his weight, food, his family, and some other humorous observations. In this special he takes on life during the pandemic. I’m always appreciative of something that will make me laugh, and this is comedy comfort food. (Netflix)
30. Last Night in Soho If you’ve never seen any Edgar Wright’s films, you’re missing out. All of them are a lot of fun; Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim, and my favorite, Baby Driver. His movies have great style and a sense of humor. Last Night in Soho captures the great style, but the humor is missing in this dark psychological thriller. Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) is a young aspiring designer who moves to London to study fashion. But as she goes to bed every night she finds herself transported into 1960’s London, where gets a glimpse into the world of aspiring nightclub singer Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy). I loved the first half of the movie, and thought that it might end up in my top 10 for the year, but the promising setup leads to a dark and somewhat disappointing finish. Everything that Wright makes is certainly interesting, but this was not as good as his best work (or as fun). (On Demand)
29. Against the Ice There’s something I love about wilderness survival stories, and some of the best ones are set in the Arctic and Antarctic. Endurance and The Worst Journey in the World are two of my favorite books of this genre. I was pleasantly surprised when a movie that I thought was strictly a Netflix action movie set in the Arctic, turned out to be an adventure epic based on the true story of Danish explorers Ejnar Mikkelsen and Iver Iversen. The movie is adapted from Mikkelsen’s memoir Two Against the Ice, the story of his survival after being left behind in Greenland. It’s slow at times, but still engaging as the two men battle bears, cold, and dwindling food supplies in the stark but beautiful Arctic landscape. (Netflix)
28. The Guilty Jake Gyllenhall has become one of my favorite actors. He brims with intensity in almost every role, bringing out the weirdness of what might otherwise be a bland character. From his breakout role in Donnie Darko to Mysterio in Spider Man to some of his best characters in smaller movies like Enemy and Demolition and his masterpiece Nightcrawler, he brings something unique to almost every role. The Guilty is essentially 90 minutes of watching Gyllenhall act. He plays a police dispatch officer that has recently been demoted from active duty. He’s bored and angry as he takes calls from drunks, mentally ill, and paranoid callers. But he snaps into action when he receives a call from a woman that has been abducted. It’s an intense 90 minutes, almost all of it with only Gyllenhall on the screen. As the movie unfolds we learn more about what’s happening with the kidnapping and why he’s under fire for his police work, and how the two gradually seem more connected. (Netflix)
27. Shimmer Lake is a surprisingly fun thriller set in a small town in the aftermath of a bank robbery gone wrong. The story is told in reverse as the sheriff (Zeke Sikes) tries to piece together what happened. Rainn Wilson (in a great out-of-character role) stars as a family man that gets mixed up in the robbery. A total find of a movie - one that I had never heard of but ended up really enjoying. (Netflix)
26. Heaven Adores You If you live in Portland and like music, you need to watch Heaven Adores You. It’s a documentary about the late, great Elliot Smith. Smith is a legend in the indie music world, an incredible singer-songwriter who burned bright and inspired many other musicians before addiction and mental health struggles eventually took his life. His story is tragic, but this movie does a great job of capturing his rise (including the time he spent in Portland) and why so many people cared about him and his music. (Amazon Prime)
25. Our Kind of Traitor This movie is a couple years old, but I found it when I was looking for another movie based on a John le Carre book. Before he started writing, le Carre worked in the British Foreign service, so his books are much more in tune with the actual world of espionage than the typical Hollywood spy movies like the Mission Impossible series. Some of his earlier stories that have been adapted for the big screen include The Constant Gardener, A Most Wanted Man, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. On the small screen two excellent mini-series have been made from The Little Drummer Girl and The Night Manager. So how does Our Kind of Traitor stack up? I loved the first ¾ of the movie. A British couple (Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris) vacationing in Morocco are befriended by a wealthy Russian accountant who they meet by chance at an expensive dinner. It turns out the meeting maybe isn’t as coincidental as the couple thinks when it turns out that the Russian is actually an accountant for the mob who is looking for a way out. I was a little disappointed when the final act ended up more Bond than le Carre, but overall it’s an enjoyable addition to the le Carre catalog. (On Demand)
24. The Rescue Remember the story from a couple years ago when a Thai youth soccer team was trapped when the cave they were exploring got flooded? The Rescue is a documentary that tells the incredible story of how the boys were brought out alive. Without watching it’s impossible to explain how difficult the rescue was, or how improbable the heroes of the story are. It’s also one of the stories that restores some of your faith in humanity to see how many people made sacrifices and even risked their lives to bring the boys out safely. (Disney +)
23. The Adam Project Another Netflix formula film with an A list cast (Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo) that is quite entertaining. I think I’ve realized what kind of Netflix action movies I like - the ones with Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds plays a fighter pilot sent from the future to team up with his 12 year-old self to save the future. The cast is great and the movie is really fun. Bonus points for having a song by one of my favorite singers (Matt Berringer from The National) playing in the background of one of the better scenes in the movie. (Netflix)
22. Don’t Look Up In Don’t Look Up, Jennifer Lawrence plays an astronomy grad student that discovers an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. When she and her supervising professor (Leonardo DiCaprio) try to warn people about the asteroid, they find a public and a president (Maryl Streep) that is indifferent or in denial about the threat to the planet. The movie is a thinly veiled satire of the world’s response to climate change, but still quite entertaining. It’s got a great cast and some pretty funny moments. There are plenty of easy targets for the satire: climate change deniers, people that are too consumed by their phones and social media to notice what’s happening around them, cable news, politicians, billionaires that put profit over the planet, and most significantly a significant part of our country that has decided that when they don’t like something (climate change, Covid, election results, etc) they will just act like it isn’t true, often with disastrous results. (Netflix)
21. Shang Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings is a Marvel movie that feels more like a martial arts movie, and that’s a good thing. The movie is an origin story for Shang Chi (Simu Liu), who we find at the start of the movie living as Shaun in San Francisco when he is attacked by one of his own father’s henchmen. He teams up with his sister and best friend (Awkwafina), gets taken back to their home village, and ends up fighting his father and the Ten Rings to protect the mythical birthplace of their mother. The plot is fairly standard Marvel stuff, but the fight choreography and story feel fresh compared to some of the other recent Marvel movies. (Disney +)
20. Ghostbusters Afterlife If you haven’t heard of the concept of a requel, Ghostbusters Afterlife is a perfect example. It’s not a prequel, it’s not really a sequel, it’s more of a franchise reboot that hits lots of familiar notes, has cameos from some of the original cast, and makes a strong appeal to fan service. Think The Force Awakens (which I loved). In fact, I’m probably the perfect target audience for requels - parents that are nostalgic for the films they enjoyed in childhood and willing to head to the theater to see a familiar story told in a slightly different way. The original Ghostbusters is a comedy classic, an all time top 10 movie for me, and in this one Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace are Spengler’s grandkids, a new generation of Ghostbusters. All of the original Ghostbusters show up at some point, and even the Ectomobile makes an appearance. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - familiar if unoriginal, but still satisfying - a perfect requel. (On Demand)
19. Greyhound You know who likes movies about submarines? That’s right, your dad. Well, guess what, I am a dad, and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie about submarines. I mean seriously, have there been any bad submarine movies? Good action set in tight quarters. We need more submarine movies. I actually wasn’t expecting much from this movie, and it starts slowly with a weak framing device where Tom Hanks expresses his love for Elisabeth Shue (who gets about 10 minutes of screen time in a throwaway role). But once the USS Greyhound hits the Atlantic, escorting an Allied convoy during WWII, the action picks up and never stops. Tom Hanks is perfect as the rookie captain but the real star in my opinion was the sonar operator, played by former LOHS student and JV2 basketball player Karl Glusman. I may be exaggerating just a tad, but this is a really entertaining action flick, and seriously, we need more submarine movies. (Apple +)
18. The Matrix Resurrection Another entertaining requel, Resurrections brings back Neo, Trinity, and some of the original crew (notably absent and missed: Lawrence Fishburn and Hugo Weaving). There’s quite a bit of fun and good action, and it’s considerably better than the previous sequel, although that’s not saying much. This sequel is a bit too “meta” at times, using characters in the Matrix to address criticisms of the earlier trilogy and poke fun at itself. It’s still entertaining to spend a couple hours with two of the all-time great sci-fi characters.(On Demand)
17. Count Me In As someone that loves music but has no musical talent, I always enjoy music documentaries that take you behind the curtain of playing music and being in a band. Count Me In is a terrific documentary that takes you inside the world of rock and roll drummers. It features interviews with a veritable who’s who of drummers. Some of the greatest living drummers talk about drumming and their influences. Many of the great rock bands talk about their drummers. We hear from a younger generation of drummers, as well as some of the true legends. One of the most prominent voices is Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the Foo Fighters who tragically passed away this year. The movie is a fitting tribute to him and the other great drummers that came before him. (Netflix)
16. All the Old Knives One of the most pleasant surprises of the year for me. I previously mentioned my affinity for John Le Carre novels and the films based on those movies, and while All the Old Knives is not actually a Le Carre story, it’s working from a similar playbook. Chris Pine plays Henry, a CIA agent sent by his supervisor to figure out what really happened during a hijacking nearly a decade ago that ended in tragedy. One of the people he has to track down to interview is his former romantic partner and former CIA agent Celia (Thandie Newton). The movie is a slow burn that follows the couple as they offer differing points of view of what happened on the fateful day, who was the mole in the agency, and what happened to their relationship while dining in a spectacular wine country restaurant. Movies like this don’t get made too often because they aren’t “blockbusters”, but I appreciate the ones like this that do. (Amazon Prime)
15. The Lost City I am always so thankful when a comedy gets released in the theater that I rank it several spots higher than it probably deserves, simply because comedy seems to be a dying genre and I am appreciative when a movie actually makes me laugh. Not subtle humor, or ironic humor (see The French Dispatch), but silly, laugh out loud humor. The Lost City is not a movie that anyone is going to argue is a great work of art, but it’s really funny. Sandra Bullock plays a romance novelist who gets kidnapped by a fan that thinks her novel The Lost City of D holds the clues to finding an actual lost Amazonian city. Thankfully dual rescue attempts are launched by her handsome but dim cover model (Channing Tatum) who has a not-so-secret crush on her, and her publisher, who sends a much more competent former special ops commando (Brad Pitt) to get her back. Hilarity ensues. That’s about it for the plot, but it’s the chemistry between the actors, not the plot that made this one of the funniest movies of the year. (On Demand)
14. Minari A gem of a movie. It wasn’t quite what I expected - after seeing the trailers and reading a couple reviews I thought that Minari was going to be the triumphant story of Korean immigrants making their way in the rural south. But after actually watching Minari, I wouldn’t use the word triumphant to describe it. There is great beauty and love as the Yi family (Stephen Yeun and Yeri Han) moves from California to rural Arkansas to start their own farm. But amidst the beautiful scenery, there is a lot of hard - Monica’s resistance to moving to the rural south, trouble getting enough water for the farm, and complicated when Jacob’s mother Soonja comes from Korea to join them on the farm. Yoon Yuh-jung absolutely steals the movie as Soonja, the funny, opinionated grandmother at the heart of the family. She rightfully won best supporting actress for her role (and her acceptance speech was amazing!) and the film was also a worthy best picture nominee. A sad but touching movie. (On Demand)
13. Summer of Soul is an incredible documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969. A lot was happening in the US in the late 60’s, and the movie dives into what was happening in the country, set against the backdrop of the incredible music festival throughout the summer in New York City. Director Questlove captures what was so great about the festival, from footage of the performances to interviews with attendees and performers. The performers included a who’s who of great music from the 60’s and 70’s: Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight, BB King, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, and many more. The music alone makes the movie worth watching, but the exploration of the cultural moment surrounding the festival made it worthy of the Best Documentary award it rightfully earned. (Disney +)
12. Free Guy In Free Guy, Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, a bank teller that finds out he’s essentially an extra in a video game. Guy finds a mysterious woman that clues him in to what’s really going on, and he gradually begins to figure out how to control his life. The movie is essentially a vehicle for Ryan Reynolds to have fun, and it works exceedingly well. An original and really fun movie. (Disney +)
11. Love & Monsters I haven’t talked to anyone that has seen this movie, but it was one of the most enjoyable action movies of the year. It’s set in the future after the monster apocalypse. Dylan O’Brien stars as Joel, a young man living in an underground compound, surviving for years with a small community that has figured out how to keep the monsters at bay while scratching out a simple existence. But when he finds out his high school sweetheart is still alive in another community, he decides to set out to the coast to find her. As you might guess he encounters more monsters and fellow survivors along the way. It’s a creative, sweet story, and it gets bonus points for being an original movie without any superheroes. (Amazon Prime)
10. A Quiet Place 2 I was skeptical when I saw they were making a sequel to A Quiet Place, considering the main character dies in the first one, and I knew it wouldn’t be possible to match the originality and feel of the first movie. I was wrong. The sequel might not be quite the equal of the original, but it isn’t far off. In this one the Abbott family is forced to leave their home in search of help, encountering aliens and fellow humans that are almost as scary. It’s an intense movie, as almost every scene has some sort of action or peril that the family has to deal with. We also get a glimpse in the opening scene of how the alien invasion starts, which is equally terrifying, and leaves us expecting a sequel, which I will definitely go see, hopefully this time in the theater. (Amazon Prime)
9. Judas and the Black Messiah Judas and the Black Messiah is based on the true story of activist Fred Hampton and the FBI’s efforts to infiltrate the Black Panthers and bring him down. I didn’t know enough about this story to know how historically accurate it is, but it made for a great movie. Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton, LaKeith Stanfield as an FBI informant, and Jesse Plemmons as an FBI agent are all excellent, with Stanfield and Kaluuya both receiving nominations and Kaluuya deservedly winning the Oscar for best supporting actor. It’s a tragic story that manages to have some inspirational moments and the acting elevates it to a Best Picture caliber movie. (HBO Max)
8. King Richard What makes a good biopic? Good acting, a compelling story, and perhaps most crucially, a narrowed focus. Where some biopics feel like they need to capture the entire life of their subject, the best ones seem to zero in on a few crucial years that are central to the story. And King Richard succeeds on every one of these counts. King Richard is the story of Richard, Serena, Venus, and the rest of the Williams family, and everything about it is fantastic. Will Smith deservedly won best actor for his portrayal of Williams, but the rest of the cast, including Aunjanue Ellis as Brandy Williams and Saniya Sidney and Demi Singleton as Venus and Serena is spectacular too. I don’t follow tennis closely, but I’ve always admired Venus and Serena, and this movie made me even more appreciative of how remarkable their story is. Two Black girls in a traditionally White sport, from a family with no real tennis background, in a neighborhood (Compton) that didn’t have any great places to play, go on to become two of the greatest players in the history of the sport. It’s one of the most impressive sports stories I’ve ever heard, and this movie captures all the humanity in the story. (HBO Max)
7. Our Friend What a beautiful, touching film. Our friend is the true story of Matt (Casey Affleck) and Nicole (Dakota Johnson) Teague, whose lives are upended when Nicole is diagnosed with terminal cancer. I don’t think many people watched this movie, because who wants to watch another movie about someone dying of cancer? But the movie is actually a beautiful story of friendship. Jason Segal plays Dane, the couple’s best friend, who comes to help out the family, and never leaves. Each character in the movie is portrayed, flaws and all, but the friendship between Dane and his friends is one of sacrificial generosity and true love. Segal captures Dane’s humanity and humility as he rises to the occasion for his friends. It’s a tear- jerker in the best way. (Amazon Prime)
6. Torn Alex Lowe was a world class rock climber. The kind that is sponsored by North Face, and on the cover of magazines. He and his best friend Conrad traversed the globe on sponsored expeditions, climbing some of the greatest peaks in the world. He was also a rarity in the world of extreme climbers because he was married and had three young boys. In the first half of this documentary we get to know Alex and his family through home movies and expedition videos. It’s not a spoiler to say that Alex was tragically killed on one of his expeditions, leaving behind a devastated young family and shocked climbing community. This story isn’t a tragedy, and it’s not really even a climbing movie. Torn is directed by Max Lowe, one of Alex’s son’s, as he tries to make sense of his dad’s death and how his family handled the aftermath. Most beautiful of all is the friendship between Alex and Conrad, and the way that Conrad steps into the void created when Alex passed away. Maybe my favorite movie scene of the year comes near the end of this film between Max and Conrad, a scene so full of love and emotion that it is impossible not to become emotional yourself. I also watched this movie a couple days after reading this article Does My Son Know You? - The Ringer (a beautiful, sorrowful, must read) which made the story in Torn even more powerful, but both will probably make you cry (Disney +)
5. No Time to Die After a year of no big blockbusters in the theater, watching a big action movie like James Bond feels pretty great. Daniel Craig is maybe my favorite James Bond, and even though the Bond films are somewhat formulaic, it’s usually a pretty fun formula. Craig is great, the action is loud, the cars and the gadgets are cool, and Rami Maleek makes a perfectly creepy villain. The whole DNA-specific virus that is a key plot device is a bit of a stretch, but if I can enjoy movies where people can get superpowers by getting bit by a radioactive spider, then I can turn off my science-teacher brain enough to call this one of the most fun movies of the year. (On Demand)
4. Drive My Car “Two years after his wife’s death, Yasuke, a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima…Forced to confront painful truths raised from his past, Yasuke begins - with the help of his chauffeur, to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind.” That’s the IMdB synopsis of Drive My Car, a summary that made me certain the movie was going to be a bore, and one I wasn’t interested in watching. But when it won Best International Film, got nominated for best picture, and people kept telling me how great it was, I decided I needed to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did. I wasn’t sure what to think after the first act, but as the film shifted to Hiroshima I couldn’t help but be drawn to Yasuke, his driver, and the actors that made up the cast of his production of Uncle Vanya. Everything in the movie feels thoughtful, subtle, and at times profound. It’s a moving story of people leaning on each other to come to terms with loss and grief. Beautiful in every way. (HBO Max)
3. Spider Man: No Way Home I used to be kind of lukewarm on the Marvel movies. I usually like the movies, but it always seemed like a lot to keep up with all of them, and it feels a little like original action movies have been pushed to the side if they don’t have a superhero in them. But then during the first year of the pandemic when I had some extra time, I decided to watch every single Marvel movie on Disney +, and I have learned to fully embrace the Marvel universe. It helps when they make a movie as fun as this one. Somehow I managed to avoid reading much about the movie before it came out, so I was genuinely surprised when all the old spidermen and a bunch of the old bad guys showed up from different corners of the multiverse. It’s a movie that keeps a smile plastered on your face almost the entire 3 hour running time. (Disney +)
2. Coda I feel kind of disappointed that Coda won Best Picture this year. Not because it wasn’t worthy, because it definitely was, even if a bit unexpected. I was just a little disappointed it won Best Picture because I was hoping that it would remain an under-the-radar movie that I could recommend to people and have them be surprised by how great it was. There’s something of an expectation that comes with watching a Best Picture that makes it seem like you are watching a prestige film that has a certain gravity, instead of something that you can go into without any expectations. All that aside, it’s a terrific movie, the story of a young high school student growing up as the only hearing member of a deaf family. She struggles with feeling like she doesn’t really belong in the high school world where spends her days, or the world of her family, who she helps out every morning on their fishing boat. When she joins the school choir she finds she has a real talent for singing, and connects with her choir teacher, the scene stealing Eugenio Derbez. It’s a pretty standard coming of age story, but done with such sincerity that it’s hard not to love. (Apple +)
1. Dune More than any movie I watched this year, Dune felt like a masterpiece. It’s epic in scale, with huge, spectacular scenery on the desert planet Arrakis. It’s got terrific, beautifully filmed action scenes. Director Dennis Villenueve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049) has quickly established himself as maybe the best in the business at making thoughtful science fiction movies. It’s got a wonderful ensemble cast, with Timothy Chalomet, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Fergeson, Charles Brolin, Jason Momoa, and Zendaya all shining in their roles. But it’s also incredibly interesting. Every character has a backstory that we don’t always know much about. There’s no narrator and not a lot of explanation of the backstory, so if you’re someone like me that hasn’t read the book or seen the previous version of the movie, you’re left to figure things out as you go, which I loved. It’s the closest I’ve felt in a long time to watching a Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movie; the story itself is great fun, but you also feel like you’re just scratching the surface of a completely different world. In a sense the start of the movie feels like being dropped in mid-story to an epic that has been going on for hundreds of years. Two hours into the movie we meet new characters that are crucial to the plot of the whole movie. Movies like this feel rare and special, because they cost a fortune to make, and make about a quarter of the money as a superhero story, but in terms of artistry and originality, it’s not even a comparison.This is only part one of the story, and here’s hoping the second half is as great as the first. (HBO Max)
Bonus Section: TV shows I watched (not many) and older movies I re-watched this year
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou For me, Rushmore will always be Wes Anderson’s masterpiece, but The Life Aquatic isn’t far behind. This was the movie that made me fall in love with Anderson and his style as a director. After being thoroughly disappointed by The French Dispatch earlier this year, it was good to remind myself what I love about his movies.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind I had forgotten how great this movie was. It came out in 2004, a little before I started making these lists, but it surely would’ve been at the top if I had been. Incredibly creative and passionate, and definitely worth a re-watch.
Fargo The Coen Brothers and Frances McDormand at their best. Plus Steve Buscemi in a woodchipper.
Fellowship of the Ring I’m not sure another movie has more perfectly brought to life a book and a world than Fellowship. An all-time top 10 movie for me.
The Usual Suspects I used to consider this a top 25 movie. After rewatching it this year, I wasn’t quite as head-over-heels for it as I was when it came out in the 90’s, but it’s still great watching Kevin Spacey unfold his perspective on Kaiser Soze and what happened during a shooting at a boat dock that left dozens of people dead. It ends with an all-time great movie twist.
A River Runs Through It is my favorite book, a short novel about family and fly-fishing. I re-read it every year over Labor Day weekend, a yearly tradition marking the end of summer. But I had actually only watched the movie once, when it first came out in theaters in 1992, and before I had ever read the book (or become addicted to fly fishing). The movie version remains as beautiful and poetic as I remembered it.
V for Vendetta I loved this when it came out, and expected it to feel a little dated but surprisingly it was still a great watch. Natalie Portman is excellent, but this, along with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Matrix movies was part of a great run of movies/roles by Hugo Weaving.
Terminator 2 An all-time great sequel, probably a better movie than the original. Part of what makes this such an interesting movie is that it is essentially the same story (robot sent from the future to kill Sarah/John Connor), but this time with Arnold in the good guy instead of the bad guy role. It also has one of the greatest chase scenes in movie history.
Alien So many science fiction and even horror movies today have been influenced by or flat out ripped-off Alien that it is easy to forget how unique and terrifying the original was. A sci-fi classic.
The Empire Strikes Back If you were making a list of movie “bests” (I wonder who would do something like that?), I think almost everyone would rank Empire among the best sequels ever made, Darth Vader would rank at the top of the list of best villains, and “Luke, I am your father” would rank among the greatest twist in movie history. It adds up to not just one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made but one of the great accomplishments for any kind of film.
Return of the Jedi Over the last couple of years since all the Star Wars movies came out on Disney Plus I’ve re-watched most of them for the umpteenth time. Here is my definitive ranking of all the movies:
1.A New Hope (my all-time favorite movie)
2.The Empire Strikes Back
3.Return of the Jedi
4. The Force Awakens
5. Rogue One
6. Revenge of the Sith
7. The Rise of Skywalker
8. Solo
9. The Last Jedi
10. Attack of the Clones
11. The Phantom Menace
The Book of Boba Fett Speaking of Star Wars, there were also two really fun original series released on Disney Plus this year. Boba Fett came about as a spinoff of the terrific Mandalorian series, and the last couple episodes basically were a continuation of The Mandalorian - not quite as good, but still really fun. (Disney +)
Obi Wan Kenobi As of writing this, the Obi Wan series is only halfway done, but it has been great. Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan was one of the best things about the prequel trilogy, and he’s fantastic here as the aging Ben Kenobi, looking out for Luke and Leia while hiding from Darth Vader and the Inquisitors. (Disney +)
Hawkeye This was fine. Hailey Steinfeld seems like she’ll make a decent new Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye always felt like a minor character in the Avengers anyways, and this series, which was sort of a passing of the torch, didn’t really do anything to change my mind about that. (Disney +)
Midnight Mass If you have ever wondered what it would be like to take a show about vampires and combine it with a serious examination of Catholic faith, religious belief, and guilt/forgiveness, then this is the series for you. The concept is as bonkers as it sounds, but the result is actually much better than you might think, thanks to excellent acting and an approach that takes faith seriously while interweaving elements of horror. (Netflix)
I Think You Should Leave (Season 2) The funniest show on TV right now. I Think You Should Leave is a sketch comedy show made by Tim Robinson. It is completely crazy, sophomoric, and absurd. It also made me laugh out loud harder than any other show or movie this year. It’s certainly not for everyone - watch one episode (each episode is only 15-20 minutes long) and you will pretty quickly know if it is your kind of thing. This was one of my favorite sketches from season 2 (Netflix)'Brian's Hat' Full Sketch - I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson Season 2
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