Every Movie I Enjoyed in 2021

 Written by Shiggins

Hey, watch it buddy!

2021 is finally over, and I doubt most of us are sad to see it go. I know I had a rough time of it, which you can tell from the lack of articles and reviews published this year (please forgive me, senpais and kouhais!), especially in the movie department, so I wanted to take this chance to just list a bunch of movies I enjoyed that year, why I enjoyed them, and why I hope you can enjoy them too. This is a fully positive article done for us all to have fun, so no terrible movies will even be mentioned here!

Mitchells vs the Machines

I've certainly gained a new appreciation for animation over the past few years, and I've never been more thankful for that than when Mitchells vs the Machines released on Netflix in April. In fact, without exaggeration, this might be my favourite movie of the year. Yes, even above the MCU movies that you all know I slobber over every single time! (Although damn, Spider-Man was so good...) It's an addiction and I am not trying to get help for it.

Directed by Mike Rianda, one of the creative directors and writers for Gravity Falls, another cartoon I adore, in his film debut, Mitchells vs the Machines is all about a family of four plus one dog as they take a drive across the country to drop off the teenage daughter Katie (Abbi Jacobson) to her new film school. Her dad, Rick, voiced by Danny Mcbride, is desperate to reconnect with her like the good old days, but their plans are put into hilarious chaos when the robot uprising begins, led by an AI known as PAL (Olivia Colman), and the family find themselves on the run. 

Not only is the film gorgeous to look at, lovingly crafted in a way very distinct from other big budget animated movies, but it's also absolutely hilarious. Maya Rudolph plays the mother, Linda, and Mike Rianda appears as the youngest dinosaur-obsessed child Aaron, and their contribution to the story is as important as it is heartfelt. Every character, including the lovable Monchi voiced by Doug the Pug who actually has his own Wikipedia page, feel necessary to the story, and if you've seen any animated family movies, you know how rare that can be. The heart is in spades, the relationships all feel natural and never too mean-spirited or cruel, and again, it's so damn funny! Also, there's some LGBT+ representation that... wait for it... actually doesn't suck?! 

Dune

You'll notice a lack of "artistic" films in this article, and while some of you might write me off as a lost cause in that regard purely because I love Marvel and animated movies, it is true that I avoided darker and heavier films this year due to feeling overwhelmed and pressured by life. I wanted fun movies. I'm not going to apologise for that. However, that didn't mean I wasn't going to check out Dune! Of course I went and saw Dune! It's Dune!

Brought to us by Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), Dune is an adaptation of the 1965 classic novel by Frank Herbert, and is by far the best version you will most likely ever see in your lifetime. It follows the heir of House Atreides, Paul (Timothee Chalamet) in the year 10191 as they go to an alien planet to mine for the resource known as Spice, but find themselves involved in a conspiracy to wipe out the entire family and take over the universe.

We don't get enough movies like Dune. Every detail is flawlessly brought to life, every actor like Oscar Isaacs and Rebecca Ferguson are giving it their 110%, the world of Dune looks utterly fantastic, and the film takes it's time to let us drink in the atmosphere. Admittedly I found some of the characters a bit too dry, but the film is so dense and full of life and intrigue elsewhere that I found it difficult to complain. This is a slow-paced but meaty film, and I really can't wait for the sequel.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

To probably nobody's surprise, I've enjoyed every MCU movie this year. Yes, even Eternals, which I thought was packed with great ideas and stories but had too many characters to properly explore them all, and Black Widow which came out far too late to get the treatment it deserved, but was still a solid action movie. However, I don't want to make this list all about the superheroes so I decided to just focus on two of the MCU movies that will no doubt be remembered for a damn long time.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, best known for 2019's biopic Just Mercy, the film stars the titular hero Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) as he ends up having to battle his father Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) and confront his past. Along for the ride are his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), his sister Xu Xialing (Meng'er Zhang) and a few surprising faces, one of which doesn't actually have a face!

Unsurprisingly, I love the characters and the dynamics they share. Shang-Chi and Katy make a great pair of besties, and their father Wenwu is one of the MCU's best villains, with Tony Leung managing to bring out the character's darkness and mix it with his extremely human motivation. The choreography is wonderful too, with fewer cuts than we're used to from some superhero movies, and it all has me excited for the MCU's future.

Spider-Man No Way Home

Wow, big shock. The guy who never shuts the hell up about Spider-Man or Marvel in general loved the new Spider-Man film. If this film was pure fanservice, as many have no doubt told you it is, I'd admittedly probably still enjoy it at least a little and I can admit that, but the personal conflicts and ideas brought forth are what make this film as great as it is.

Tom Holland's Peter Parker returns once more to deal with the ramifications of Far from Home, in which he was framed and outed in front of the whole world. His friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are finding their lives ruined by being associated with him, so Peter begs Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help. A spell goes wrong, and now foes from all across the multiverse are here to wreck havoc, including Alfred Molina's brilliant Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx's Electro, and more!

Besides the action and the Saturday morning cartoon feel of how outrageously geeky everything gets, I love how much Peter and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) try to combat the mental and physical trauma of these foes. Most, if not all, of these enemies are victims in their own way and the fact we're getting such a positive portrayal of therapy, admittedly the superhero version where we use technology instead of conversation, is pretty fantastic. Oh and Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn is even greater than before, bringing a new depth to the character and a new intimidating aura to the Green Goblin. If only they had one more villain to create a Sinister Six...

Jungle Cruise

Yeah shut up, I liked this movie. It was one of the biggest laughs I had this year, and this list isn't about "the films that were amazing and great and deserve Oscars". It's the films I sat down, and watched, and had a great time with. I know there's someone reading this list and getting annoyed at my choices, but what else can I say? Jungle Cruise made me laugh. A lot.

Emily Blunt plays an explorer who wants to get a mystical flower so she can use it to heal the victims of World War 1 (this is set in 1916 by the way) so she travels to Brazil and enlists the help of Dwayne Johnson, as does her brother Jack Whitehall, while the evil Jesse Plemons is trying to get it first for evil purposes.

There's fantasy, bad CGI, good jokes, some harmless action scenes and so many puns! The Rock brings his usual charm, Emily Blunt makes a good argument for why she should play a live-action Jane Porter if Disney ever grab back the rights to Tarzan, and Jake Whitehall isn't doing an American accent like in that Clifford movie. And again, did I mention the puns? Because they're amazing and plentiful. I loved them, but to some of you, it will no doubt feel like a pun-ishment.

Godzilla vs Kong

Big lizard fights big monkey.

Big lizard and big monkey fight big goofy robot.

And that is why I enjoyed Godzilla vs Kong.

Raya and the Last Dragon

I know the reviews were mostly positive, but I don't think this film won audiences over as well as a certain other Disney film has (we'll get to that one soon, don't worry). Well, I enjoyed it and I don't want you to forget about it just yet so here we go with one of the many films that skipped cinemas and went right to a streaming service. As far as I'm aware though, this is the only one with Kelly Marie Tran, so that instantly makes it a cut above the rest.

After a dark storm starts to take over the world, princess Raya ventures out to locate the mystical dragon Sisu (Awkwafina's second appearance on this list! Didn't predict that!) and find a way to free her father. As she gathers allies, including a baby who is one of the worst Disney characters ever made, her rival Namaari (Gemma Chan) keeps up her pursuit.

I'm not a huge fan of most of the supporting cast, especially that baby, but I love Raya herself. She's motivated and strong and resourceful, and there's a nice message about unity and trust going on that is very maturely handled. Oh and Raya and Namaari make a classic duo for the ages. Disney would be idiots to ignore them and not have them reappear in some way again.

The Suicide Squad

Hey look, it's the best DC movie since The Dark Knight, although for amazingly different reasons. I said it before in my DCEU Ranking, but the Suicide Squad feels like the film that best understands what the hell is going on and what it should be doing. I don't want to see Superman miserable and fighting a weird Jesse Eisenberg. I want to see my heroes bright and happy and as insane as the DC universe is capable of!

Rebooting (or being a sequel to?) the original Suicide Squad movie from 2016, Amanda Waller sends off her new Suicide Squad team to take down a secret operation known as Project Starfish. Bloodshot, King Shark, Ratcatcher 2, Peacemaker, Harley Quinn, Rick Flag and even, somehow, motherfudging Polka-Dot Man all manage to be engaging as a team and fight together to save the day.

Again, I want to emphasise this. A DC movie brought Polka-Dot Man to the big screen, and actually made him a compelling and enjoyable character. I should not be enjoying Polka-Dot Man more than Superman or Batman, but here we are. Everybody is fun, the action is wild, the comedy is hilarious and most importantly of all, the heart is strong, keeping us affected and endeared. Oh and there's a giant starfish. That's very important.

Encanto

The most recent movie I've seen, and definitely one of the most colourful of the year, good ol' Encanto! Once again, Disney basically make a movie by picking a culture and using it to influence the music and characters as much as possible, but it's a formula that works and has done so many times. It also gives Lin-Manuel Miranda another opportunity to blow us away, so no complaints here.

In the Columbian family of Madrigal, the daughter Mirabel (Stephanie freakin' Beatriz) is the only one not to have been granted a magical power by the living house that protects them all. However, things seem to be going wrong and Mirabel begins realising just how much her family are hiding from both each other and themselves about how they're doing.

I do miss some of the villains like Maleficent and Cruella de Vil, but it's great to see how many Disney films manage to have conflict and adversary without having a character laugh evilly and try to steal the house or whatever. Mental health is important, and a film like Encanto shows just how much we need a break and how much we hide from our family to be accepted by them. It speaks to a lot of people in the audience. I also love the amount of hilarious expressions and line deliveries that Mirabel has, and I can't emphasise this enough... the songs are amazing. In fact, those millions and millions of views on Youtube for the songs? At least 30% of them are me listening to We Don't Talk about Bruno and Surface Pressure over and over again.

Venom: Let there be Carnage

So I did a big poopy on the first film, and my opinion of it hasn't really changed much. The first hour is boring, the shifts in tone are awkward and poorly-written, and Tom Hardy, while giving a great performance, doesn't feel like Eddie Brock. Well honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Andy Serkis read my review and decided to direct this film with that in mind, because he seems to have just thrown his hands up in the air and given us a fun ride instead.

Eddie and Venom are back, constantly arguing about whether they should remain hidden or go out and fight crime together. Eventually, they make a mistake and evil psychopath Cletus Kassidy (Woody Harrelson) ends up getting his own symbiote Carnage, and begins a terrible rampage of murder and chaos. 

I love the MCU dearly, but it's great to see a superhero movie relax and not try to be a big universe-builder full of cameos and franchising. Tom Hardy's performance is fantastic fun, the banter is ridiculous and full of intended romance between the two characters Tom Hardy plays, and there's a bunch of good laughs throughout. I personally found Cletus miscast but all my complaints here feel nitpicky. Venom 2 isn't trying to be a "big deal" and that's okay. It's fun, and that's all it needs to be. Also there's a scene where Carnage screams "Let there be Carnage" as the thunder strikes and his name echoes. How can I not enjoy that?!

No Time to Die

I've been told by "purists" that this film breaks a lot of rules, but frankly I don't really care about that sort of stuff and never have. A new story should take risks, and even if not every idea doesn't work, I can still respect the choices made and see why they were chosen. Daniel Craig's last adventure as James Bond divided a lot of people, but I firmly enjoyed my time here.

The fifth and final Daniel Craig Bond film starts and ends with a bang, as James Bond finds himself coming out of retirement one last time for one last mission involving a secret weapon, traitors, his previous love interest Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), and a new villain played by Rami Malek. Cars, explosions, gunshots and more, all designed to make us forget how boring Spectre was.

Daniel Craig gives a performance worthy of his final run, as does everyone else involved, which is no surprise considering the cast honestly, and the action is fast, tense and much more original and exciting than we've been expecting in Bond films (besides Skyfall, which I still say is the best of the bunch). There's so much to say but I don't want to spoil it. In the end, I'm glad I saw this one and I'm glad to remember it as worthy of a finale. Also, it means that all the bad Daniel Craig films are officially the even-numbered ones, and the good ones are all odd-numbered. We got us a classic Star Trek scenario in reverse!

What movies did you love in 2021? Which are you excited for? Let me know!