Ladies and gentlemen it has been a really hectic year in film. So let's talk about the elephant in the room, first; the pandemic closed theaters for a year and prevented the release of a whole slew of films that were held back for theatrical release. The longer the pandemic stretched out, the more desperate distribution companies became and eventually developed a number of plans to cash in on their releases as soon as possible. Firstly, they started to follow a "Direct to Streaming" model that first released films directly to pay-to-steam services, charging an arm and a leg for movies and recouping some losses there. Secondly, several companies started to develop a direct to streaming option directly related to those distribution services, such as Disney+, HBOMax, and Paramount+. And then, thirdly, started to release films both theatrically and direct to streaming- resulting in massive financial returns due to the nature of content piracy. The results saw a strange mix of films benefiting from Streaming while other films were hurt. And the public zeitgeist is somewhat all over the place-
Comic book films seemed destined for burn out with several financial failures such as Black Widow, Wonder Woman '84, and The Suicide Squad getting hit pretty bad by this dual release strategy and the massive failure of The Eternals to live up to industry hype (even as fans were already rolling their eyes at yet another retcon group of heroes that would "alter" the MCU).
Now, with all that industry fan talk out of the way- let's get on to the list of my own TOP TEN films that were released in 2021-
10. Antlers: One of the many films held off on release during the Pandemic, Antlers is based on the short story "The Quiet Boy" by Nick Antosca. In a small town, a town slowly dying with the closure of it's coal mine, lives a small family- a father and his two sons. Their mother has passed away and their father is struggling- scavenging and cooking meth, the man does his best and his children are not in a good place. And then, one day, things go terribly bad for him- and he starts to change. I love me a good Wendigo story, and Antlers creature effects live up to the hype.
9. Nobody: Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is about as "average" as they come- clocks into work monday through friday, works out Thursday, takes out the garbage on tuesday, goes to sleep, rinse, repeat, one day to the next. An average man, milquetoast even, with no major personality quirks or exceptional skills to speak of. His daily life is the photo-perfect example of a man who is only going through the motions. But, after a home burglary, something eats away at him and we find out he's a former operator in some very dark dealings.
8. Army of the Dead: Style of substance here as director Zach Snyder returns to the horror genre. It takes it's cues more from "Escape from New York" and "Doomsday" rather than George Romero's zombie films,however- a group of ex-military are tasked with the opportunity to make in excess of several million dollars, tax free, if they can raid a Casino Vault the day before the government plans on dropping a nuke atop the zombie infested Las Vegas.
7. PG Psycho Goreman: This film is about the most terrifying creature in the galaxy. A horrible, loveless, sadistic creature with no pity, no remorse, and no compassion and her hopeless captive, PG Psycho Goreman; An eternal and evil warlord from the Planet Gigax. He is enslaved by Mimi, a young girl who finds a secret gem that gives her the power to control the ultimate power in the universe.
6. The Suicide Squad: As mentioned above, the film was not exactly tearing it up at the box office but I do beleive that had much more to do with its dual release to streaming and cinema. It probably could have done much better, but the film's "R" rating release probably didn't do much favors. Still, I had a blast and it was balls to the wall a good time.
5. Rurouni Kensin: The Beginning- The fifth and final film in the Rurouni Kenshin live action adaptation of the popular manga and anime series is also the FIRST in the series. A prequel to the first four films, the fourth of which was shot back to back with this feature- it is the story of a swordsman during the Meiji uprising and his work as an assassin and the things that would later lead to his future redemption.
4. DUNE: Villanueva's Dune is an epic visual feast, adapting James Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece without sacrificing much to cinematic pacing. The hot desert winds run dry and ragged across the soft flesh, and Arrakis is an unwelcome place for its newest stewards, the Royal House Atreides. Duke Leto and his family prepare to take their new seats from their bitter rivals, House Harkonen. The Native Fremen people have long been at war with their former overseers, and Leto hopes to sway the people to foster a mutually beneficial relationship.
3. Halloween Kills: The sequel to Halloween 2018, the film picks up right from the prior films' end point with Micheal having escaped Lauri's death trap. The film explores more of the horror surrounding Michael, the man himself simply a force of nature that drives the arcs of various other characters.
2. Ghostbusters: Afterlife- After the death of Egon Spengler, his long estranged daughter and her two children move into the dilapidated farmhouse he's been living in for the past few decades. Grand-daughter Phoebe takes center stage as an awkward science nerd investigating the cause of her grandfather's death (And life.).
1. The Harder They Fall: One of those rare films that hit all the right notes. The Harder They Fall features a collection of real life characters from the Old West, although artistic license had been taken when delving into this story. Nat Love (Jonatan Majors) leads his gang on a revenge-fueled quest to track down and kill recently released outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) and his own gang. And, while we're at it, let's throw in legendary lawman; Bass Reeves (Delroy Lind). The violence is ramped, there's a good bit of social satire, and the whole thing builds to one tremendous climax. AMAZING film from top to bottom.
