Mike's Musings: The Top 10 of 2021

This was the hardest list I've ever had to write in my ten years of reviewing.  For the last couple of weeks I have been desperately, obsessively trying to catch all the Oscar bait movies (or anything that looked good) to try and fill out my Top 10 list at the very least.  Preferably with a 4/4 movie.  I'd call this year an aberration because of the pandemic, but I have a sinking feeling that this is the new normal.  Being a "good movie" doesn't matter.  As long as there is enough action and pizzazz, and more importantly, in-jokes and nostalgia, audiences will watch anything.  Me, personally, I find that a gimmick that has long overstayed its welcome.  I missed "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," but do I really care if there is an on-screen appearance by the ghostly librarian?  Hell no.  I don't even care if there is a reference of any kind to the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.  All I want is a good story that moves the characters forward.  Nostalgia is cool, but it must be kept in the background.  Nostalgia and easter-egg hunts are details and must be kept as such.

But I'm a film critic, so I guess that makes me a snooty elite philistine.

Anyway, here is the list of my Top 10 list of 2021.  In this case, they're the only movies that were actually good.

10.  The Unholy.  I did not expect to put this on my Top 10 list.  For what it is, it's a spooky ride with some smarts and shades of grey.  But a Top 10 list contender?  No.  It's only on here because there was nothing else to replace it.  Still, for a demon possession movie, it's a lot more entertaining and creepy than anyone gave it credit for.

9.  The Courier.  Spy movies are not action movies, or at least they shouldn't be.  I'm a fan of James Bond, but the 007 has carved out its own unique identity and thus should be held to those standards.  Save for the first one, the "Mission: Impossible" movies are not spy flicks; they're action flicks with the brand name of the old TV show.  "The Courier" is a spy flick.  The tension doesn't come from insane stunts and explosions but from character interaction and the escalating risk to the people involved.  They're more difficult to pull off than a brainless action flick, so when one is made well, it's worth seeking out.

8.  Belfast.  "Belfast" is less a conventional movie than a collage of loosely-connected memories.  A better focused storyline that carried the characters from beginning to the end would have been better, but the film has its own unique pleasures.  The late great Roger Ebert said that one of the gifts we get from the movies is the ability to empathize with people who are different from us.  That's absolutely true, and "Belfast" exemplifies this.  The characters and their situations are seen with such specificity and honesty that it is impossible not to relate to them.

7.  Free Guy.  Summer movies don't have to be dumb.  Or even original.  But if a filmmaker is going to do so, they have to present the material in a way that involves the audience.  "Free Guy" pilfers from other movies like "Ready Player One" and "Deadpool," but it takes those elements and uses them in a way that feels fresh.  Sure, the story is formula, but the film is told well enough that I got caught up in it nonetheless.  And like every movie these days, it's loaded with in-jokes and references to video games and gaming culture.  The difference here are that they're are actually funny, they're kept as details, and they aren't the whole point of the film.  Take them out and you'd just lose a few chuckles.

6.  West Side Story.  There are few filmmakers working whose track record is strong enough to know that their name in the director's chair is reason enough to see the movie.  Martin Scorcese, Hayao Miyazaki, Christopher Nolan.  Steven Spielberg is another.  It isn't Steven Spielberg's best film, but it's still really really good.  One thing I appreciated is that the musical numbers look and feel like they're straight from the golden age of musicals.  There isn't any flash cutting or overly sexualized dancing.  This isn't a music video, and that makes them seem all the more impressive.  The movie received some criticism as using material that is inherently racist, but I don't buy that argument.  Both sides display equal good and equal evil.  Spielberg took great pains to create an authentic tapestry of immigrant life.  And the movie is all the better for it (certainly better than the original).

5.  Halloween Kills.  Like a number of movies that have made my Top 10 list in years past, "Halloween Kills" doesn't make the grade because it is "groundbreaking," "artistic" or anything like that.  It won't be released by the Criterion Collection.  It makes this list because it excels at being a slasher movie.  It's scary and filled wall to wall with corpses and gore.  It's also smart, which in the slasher genre, makes it an almost mythic beast.  The social satire is scathing and germane to the plot.  I don't find it fair to dismiss an entire genre simply because it isn't "respectable" in some circles.  Especially when it's done so, so well.

4.  I'm Your Man.  I honestly didn't know what to expect from this movie.  I certainly didn't expect it to be this good.  When it comes to romantic leading men, Dan Stevens is pretty far down the list.  He's too creepy looking; it would be like asking Cillian Murphy to star in a rom-com opposite Kate Hudson directed by Gary Marshall (if he were still alive).  What I neglected to remember is that Stevens is a damn good actor.  No one could have played such a particular and chilling villain as "David" in "The Guest" if he wasn't.  Creepy as his eyes are, Stevens makes it work for the character, and provides the heart and soul of this movie.

3.  Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.  If there was more evidence needed that I don't hate MCU movies on principle, here it is.  An MCU movie made my top three of the year.  Why did I like it so much?  A few reasons.  One, while it had amusing moments, it didn't push them so hard that it was impossible to care about the plot or the people.  Two, the action scenes were expertly filmed for maximum adrenaline and "awe" factor.  And three, it actually had a story to tell.  It wasn't just wall-to-wall in-jokes and fan service.  I got involved in it.  I cared about Shaun, Katy and Wenwu.  And that's what separates a good MCU movie from a bad one.

2.  Joe Bell.  I didn't really know anything about this movie until I sat in my seat with my popcorn.  In other hands, the subject matter would have raised both my guard and my gag reflex.  But the film approaches the material not as a guilt trip but with sensitivity and empathy.  It doesn't paint Joe Bell as a bigot who gets redeemed.  Rather, he's a a guy who has to do something to help his son, even if he is completely inept to do it.  It's his personal drive that causes his transformation.  He wants to do right, he just doesn't know how.  That makes the film more interesting and moving.  And it also contains a career best performance from Mark Wahlberg, who deserves the Oscar nomination that he certainly will not get.

1.  Voyagers.  This is a movie that I upped the rating to a 4/4.  I did it for two reasons.  One, I wasn't ready to concede defeat and leave this year without a 4/4 movie and two, it's been 9 months since I've seen it and it's stuck with me.  It's violent and tense, but it's also smart.  I don't mind that it borrows liberally from the classic novel "Lord of the Flies" because, like other movies on this list, it puts its own spin on them.  By taking the barebones plot of the book and putting it into a new genre, writer/director Neil Burger is able to create his own rules and ask his own questions within the context of the story of human nature that make William Golding's novel so unforgettable.  He gives it new life, and if that isn't worth praising, I don't know what is.