Best films of 2021 (at the half way stage)

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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
Vitalina Varela is a total masterpiece and Costa's best but bros, it's a 2019 film. xDDD
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Welcome to the human race...
That's the ideal scenario, sure. I'm thinking more about films that irritate me regardless of how much craftsmanship they may or may not entail. To give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I hated the first Human Centipede film but I don't expect that Tom Six improved sufficiently as a filmmaker when he went on to make a second and third Human Centipede.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



Haven't really seen any good films yet from this new year. If Burnham's Inside counts, then that'd be the best of them, although it has a few minor annoyances (I suspect that much of his angst was performative).


Since we're allowing for local release, I'll pretend I live in Boomfook, New Guinea and just watched last year's Oscar films this year (which is actually what I did anyway). I wasn't terribly impressed, generally. I think for my ballot, I filled in Judas for most of the slots, out of default. About a 6/10 film for me, but slightly better than some of the others, mostly on the circumstantial interest in the Fred Hampton story. Technically, the film felt like a TV movie, boiling all of the substance down into easily chewable trite tropes. The acting was decent anyway. The film was obviously being made as vicarious propaganda for today's social justice movements, making the similar inanity as 13th's suggestion that nothing has changed or improved in the past 50 years, and that the Civil Rights movement was a toothless distraction from the real revolution. We can excuse the Panthers' emulation of Maoism because it was impossible for outsiders to yet understand the full rot behind the Cultural Revolution, but it's inexcusable for anyone in the 21st century to claim ignorance.


I wouldn't quite put Nomadland in that same category, as it is definitely technically superior, but it falls into a similar kind of fashionable cynicism, however sympathetic it seems. It's also far superior to that other fashionably cynical social justice placebo that won McDormand an Oscar, Three Billboards Outside Podunkistan, Misery. That shouldn't be a hard bar, but here we are. I think that I need to see Zhao's earlier films to get a fair read on her style and perspective. Maybe I'm the cynical one here. Or maybe I'm prejudiced by seeing what has become overt and superficial Academy fawning and condescending back-patting. If I had seen Nomadland as a humble indie, rather than as a token Oscar front-runner, maybe it would have been more disarming.



Wrath of man was good



Okay I finally have a top ten for 2021...

10.) Werewolves Within (2020)

A flawed but enjoyable mystery about a series of murders in a remote Vermont town.

09.) Framing Britney Spears (2021)



One of the best documentaries and cultural touchstone about power, gender, and money.

08.) Wolf of Snow Hollow(2020)

A significantly better Werewolf film that takes inspiration from Coens and David Fincher.

07.) Rent-A-Pal (2020)


A 40 year old man who takes care of his invalid mother slowly unravels thanks to a video in the 1980's.

06.) Nobody (2021)


A John Wick esque story about a mild mannered man who gets caught up with Russian gangsters.

05.) In the Heights (2021)


A musical about Dominican life in New York city staring an excellent actor from Hamilton.

04.) Judas and the Black Messiah (2020)

A top notch crime thriller that tells the story of three flawed men doing what they believe to be right and institutional racism they run into.

03.) Censor (2021)

A British censor believes she has cracked the code to her missing sister in this retro psychological throwback.

02.) No Sudden Move(2021)

A crime in 1950's Detroit goes wrong as two men try and figure out just what they've gotten themselves into.

01.) Pig(2021)

Nicolas Cage is a truffle hunter who lives in the woods and his pig gets kidnapped so he goes on a journey to find it.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
This just depends where you live and release dates. What 'year' is 'Saint Maud' ?
2019.

Some films were never released in some countries or released after many years. The US release date is a faulty way to look at things.



2019.

Some films were never released in some countries or released after many years. The US release date is a faulty way to look at things.
So Saint Maud didn't have a theatrical release anywhere in the world until October 2020 but it's a 2019 film?

Not sure about that.



Let the night air cool you off
I'm too lazy to track what has or hasn't been released over here where I am at, but according to IMDb, I've seen one whole film from 2021:

1. Censor



So Saint Maud didn't have a theatrical release anywhere in the world until October 2020 but it's a 2019 film?

Not sure about that.
Usually that means it played a festival somewhere. That’s the year the movie databases use.



Usually that means it played a festival somewhere. That’s the year the movie databases use.
Yeah basically. Same with 'Minari'. Made in 2020 but not released anywhere on general release until 2021.

Then on the flip side you get a masterpiece like 'Soy Cuba', that was shown on a very limited release in Cuba and Japan and then lost for thirty years. It was then shown in the USA in 1995. But it's clearly a 1964 film.



Yeah basically. Same with 'Minari'. Made in 2020 but not released anywhere on general release until 2021.

Then on the flip side you get a masterpiece like 'Soy Cuba', that was shown on a very limited release in Cuba and Japan and then lost for thirty years. It was then shown in the USA in 1995. But it's clearly a 1964 film.
It just kind of throws a monkey wrench into making lists. I kind of have a system down, but I do get teased about it occasionally.

I think this could be the pinnacle of first world problems.



It just kind of throws a monkey wrench into making lists. I kind of have a system down, but I do get teased about it occasionally.

I think this could be the pinnacle of first world problems.
It also goes for awards too though. Was Saint Maud eligible for all the awards in 2019?

Was Minari up for awards in 2020?

But yeah probably not worth worrying about.



It also goes for awards too though. Was Saint Maud eligible for all the awards in 2019?

Was Minari up for awards in 2020?

But yeah probably not worth worrying about.
I know Minari was, but this was a even a stranger year because I think Minari was eligible because the Academy stretched eligibility into 2021. They made a problem more difficult. I counted Minari for 2020 because of it being eligible for the Oscars. That’s one of my points of reference.



The trick is not minding
I was also a fan of Werewolves Within.
Although a bit more then Siddon, and I haven’t seen Snow Hollow yet.
Regardless, it’s actually quite funny, and despite some red herrings that don’t make much sense thrown in other then to distract you, and the fact I was pretty much able to guess the werewolf about a half hour in, I found it quite amusing.



...
I wouldn't quite put Nomadland in that same category, as it is definitely technically superior, but it falls into a similar kind of fashionable cynicism, however sympathetic it seems. It's also far superior to that other fashionably cynical social justice placebo that won McDormand an Oscar, Three Billboards Outside Podunkistan, Misery. That shouldn't be a hard bar, but here we are. I think that I need to see Zhao's earlier films to get a fair read on her style and perspective. Maybe I'm the cynical one here. Or maybe I'm prejudiced by seeing what has become overt and superficial Academy fawning and condescending back-patting. If I had seen Nomadland as a humble indie, rather than as a token Oscar front-runner, maybe it would have been more disarming.
Very well put.



My current, updated top 10 of 2021 so far:

1. CODA
2. Judas and the Black Messiah
3. In the Heights
4. Annette
5. Nobody
6. Bo Burnham: Inside
7. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
8. Malcolm & Marie
9. Fatherhood
10. Luca