The Best Movies Of 2021

It’s been a tumultuous, busy year, but there was plenty of premium entertainment to keep us busy

CITYnews halifax \ Jordan Parker

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It’s been a tumultuous, busy year. Many of us were kept inside due to the pandemic, or our lives were thrown off-kilter. Fortunately, there was plenty of premium entertainment to keep us busy. Here are some of the films that caught my eye in 2021.

The Power Of The Dog

One of the most transfixing, transformative films I’ve seen in over a decade, The Power Of The Dog is an unforgettable film through-and-through.

The story of rancher Phil – cruel to his core – and the terror he reigns down on his brother, the man’s new wife and her son, is a difficult watch.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee are all gaining Oscar buzz for their turns.

Our characters grow, shift and change before our eyes, and if this is what happens when director Jane Campion waits years to create new films, I’ll wait 20 years for another.

5/5 Stars

In The Heights

No film made me smile more in 2021 than this incredible musical.

Released mid-summer – a victim of the pandemic and HBO Max releasing it at home also – it’s an underseen gem from this year that deserves a wider audience.

Crafter by Lin -Manuel Miranda, the man behind Hamilton, it’s also directed with style by Jon M. Chu, and is an absolutely rollicking good time.

The Broadway play adaptation follows Usnavi, a New York bodega owner who saves and scrounges for a better life and a move to greener pastures.

Anthony Ramos gained a Golden Globe nomination for his role here, and with fantastic turns from Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz and Jimmy Smits, this is a sing-song delight.

4.5/5 Stars

Belfast

This is one of the most multi-faceted films of the year, and one that made me feel a plethora of different emotions.

A meditation on the experience of a working-class family struggling through the turmoil in the 1960s in Belfast, it’s a dramatic story told in black-and-white.

The difficulties of the family are experienced through the eyes of young boy Buddy as he watched his mother and father fight between leaving for a safer, better life or protecting the home they’ve always known.

Writer-director Kenneth Branagh bases the film on his own experiences as a boy, and with a beautiful soundtrack filled of Van Morrison, it’s a perfectly composed experience.

Young Jude Hill is joined by Golden Globe nominees Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Ciaran Hinds. Also on board is Judi Dench, who makes the absolute most of her limited screen-time.

It’s a story of love and despair, war and hope, role models and coming-of-age. I loved every single second.

4.5/5 Stars

Nightmare Alley

This intense, gothic film may well be director and auteur Guillermo Del Toro’s most commercial effort.

That doesn’t make it any more grotesquely captivating. It’s a weird, spine-tingling little macabre delight I couldn’t look away from.

It follows a carny with a flair for magic and an optimism about his purpose. As he tries to reach the height of his craft, he’s willing to use manipulation and treachery to achieve his goals.

I thought A Star Is Born was the best Bradley Cooper would ever be, but he truly wowed me here. His character moves full-circle in a charming, dashing, dangerous manner that’s unlike anything Cooper has achieved before.

Along with a characteristically brilliant performance from Cate Blanchett and supporting turns from Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara and the best work from David Strathairn in a decade, it’s a stacked cast.

Nightmare Alley is a gorgeous masterpiece of cinematography and editing, only rivalled by the next film on this list.

4.5/5 Stars

Dune

I’ve never been so spectacularly dazzled and confused at the same time as I was during the Dune remake.

The adaptation of Frank Herbert’s famous science fiction novel does a wonderful job of convalescing a vast world and characters together, but it still took me a few watches to figure out what exactly went on.

However, the upside of that is director Denis Villeneuve’s film is so intricate and bold beginning to end that it lends itself perfectly to repeat viewings. It’s a film of spectacle and grace, and one that’s doubles as popcorn entertainment and sci-fi glory.

It combines the Shakespearian themes of coming of age and finding your purpose and juxtaposes them with the plot of a young man in a noble family trying to protect those he holds dear and assets in a vast galaxy.

Though not Oscar-worthy, there are a myriad of great genre performances here – Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skarsgard, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem are all fantastic.

Perhaps what excites me most is there’s a sequel in development that can only expand this incredible universe.

4.5/5 Stars

Tick, Tick… BOOM!

The story of real-life theatre composer Jonathan Larson is one that spoke to me and shook me to my very core.

Our wonderful Lin-Manuel Miranda makes it on the list again, this time as the director of this musical about writing of, well, a musical.

Larson was the writer of Rent, a show that would gain worldwide acclaim, and this film follows him as he puts undue pressure on himself to complete what he believes will be his magnum opus before his 30^th birthday.

As a creative, to see the life of a struggling artist and the burden Larson shouldered to be successful hit home. But there was one thing in particular that made this one work.

Andrew Garfield is absolutely incredible as Larson, and after taking a few years off from the silver screen, expect an Oscar nomination for his effort here.

It’s a toe-tapping film that will make you laugh, cry and want to experience it almost immediately again after the credits roll.

4/5 Stars

The Last Duel

This will be the film this year that makes you squirm awkwardly in your seat.

What I thought would play out like a swords-and-sandals mash-up of Gladiator and Kingdom Of Heaven had much, much more important intentions.

Director Ridley Scott creates a film that yes, focuses on a world of lords, knights and their wives in an era of horses and sword-fighting.

But it’s also a three-part saga – told from the points of view of three main characters – about a tragic, brutal event and the circumstances leading up to it.

What transpires from a he-said, she-said argument is one last duel between Knight Jean de Carrouges and squire Jacques La Gris to settle the matter – with the defeated one losing their life.

Co-written by Oscar-winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, along with Nicole Holofcener, it’s a hard-hitting epic.

Starring Damon, Affleck in a scenery-chewing role, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer, the acting is stellar across the board.

Director Scott takes this overdone genre and gives us a commentary on toxic masculinity that many will react strongly to today.

4/5 Stars

Wildhood

One of the best parts of my job is seeing the best films out there, but when I get to brag about something that was made in our own backyard, that makes what I do more special.

Locally filmed and made by N.S. writer-director Bretten Hannam, Wildhood isn’t just the best Canadian film of the year, but one of the best of the year. Period.

A film that showcase LGBTQ2S+ stories, Indigenous actors and culture, it’s a diverse offering all can enjoy.

It follows a young two-spirit teen who runs away from home with his young brother in order to find his birth mother.

Along the way he meets a young, male friend and learns more and more about his Mi’kmaw heritage.

A huge hit at FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, it’s gained acclaim all over the country.

Young actors Phillip Lewitski, Avery Winters-Anthony and Joshua Odjick absolutely own this one. They’re fantastic, and they’re joined by Michael Greyeyes, Savona Spracklin, Jordan Poole, Joel Thomas Hynes, and Steve Lund.

It’s a coming-of-age story done in a way I’d never quite seen before, and makes a strong case for how important knowing your culture and background are.

4/5 Stars

Flee

This one is so well-told, and the medium is what truly makes it.

This documentary is told through animation, and it’s one of the most dazzling, profound tales I’ve seen put to screen in 2021.

Flee is a story about resilience, second chances and no longer being afraid to show who you are, and be proud of your journey.

It follows the true story of Amin Nawabi, and his fight with his family to escape Afghanistan during wartime and get to Denmark as a refugee.

While it’s a truly important story about immigration, executive producers Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau also bring a story about accepting your own sexuality to a larger audience.

Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, it also shows Amin telling these secrets for the first time as he prepares to wed his male partner, and discusses his struggles with being gay. In his culture, it was a punishable offence, and juxtaposes against how Western ideals have further embraced being LGBTQ2S+.

This is a beautiful – albeit haunting – film, and one I could see taking Best Foreign Language Film and Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

4/5 Stars

Mass

A film that came out of nowhere and hit me like a ton of bricks, Mass turned me into an emotional wreck.

It follows two sets of parents who meet in a church basement for discussion and reconciliation after a violent tragedy hits both pairs differently.

There are no explosions or masterful set-pieces, but man, does Mass ever keep you on the edge of your seat.

It features career-best from the quartet of leads, including Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd and Reed Birney. I’d say Dowd is most likely to nab an Oscar nomination, and it’d be well-deserved.

To tell you more would be to give away the surprises writer-director Franz Kranz captures in the masterful script, but there are plenty of gasp-worthy moments to behold.

4/5 Stars

Honourable Mentions:

C’mon C’mon

Candyman

CODA

Free Guy

House Of Gucci

King Richard

Our Friend

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Swan Song

The Card Counter

The Guilty

The Killing Of Two Lovers

The Lost Daughter

Wrath Of Man

Flicks I Missed:

Cyrano

Drive My Car

Licorice Pizza

Red Rocket

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Summer Of Soul

The French Dispatch

The Green Knight

The Rescue

The Tender Bar

The Tragedy Of MacBeth

Titane

West Side Story