Jonathan Shu’s Top 10 Films of 2021

I’m still trying to get past the bad habit of writing off a film before I even watch it, so I don’t know if I can say if 2021 was a good or bad year for film. But what I do know is that it was a year filled with anticipation, many of which paid off for me and some of which made me realize I’d liked the wait better. Thank you delayed releases! I also escaped the bubble of streaming from my bed this year, and watched more movies in more different theatres than I have before, which was a fantastic experience. I can’t say if it 2021 was a good year or a bad year for film, but I can say that I enjoyed my time there. So, out of all the ones I got around to, here are my top ten of 2021. Continue reading “Jonathan Shu’s Top 10 Films of 2021” →

Stephanie Chuang’s Top Ten Films of 2021

2021 was a year that began in strict lockdown and ended in cautious reopening. Films that were meant to be released in 2020 and subsequently delayed reluctantly opened this year to much less pomp and circumstance once it became clear that we were in the pandemic for the long haul. For me, this year saw my return to school, and also my return to theaters. I was delighted to be able to see films with my friends on the big screen again, many of which I had been looking forward to for over a year. After the disappointment that was 2020, it’s undeniable that 2021 was an improvement both in film and overall.

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Spencer Malmberg’s Top 10 Films of 2021

2021 was honestly not my favorite year for movies, and we are going into a highly disappointing Oscar season by the unredeemable amount of nominations for Don’t Look Up. I did like a lot of movies this year though; I also watched way more movies from 2021 then any year I have before. At the time of writing this I have marked down 82 movies from 2021 on my Letterboxd, which is a crazy amount of times I sat in a theater. There wasn’t a lot of box office success, and definitely an even higher impact on Oscar pick season in the late fall and winter movie runs, but it was fun to watch a lot of very different stories and look at the different techniques in which filmmakers go about their movies.

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Maddie McDougall’s Top 10 Films of 2021

Another year of fantastic filmmaking has come to a close. Film fans far and wide will be sharing their favorites of twenty-twenty-one, and I am certainly no exception to the rule. I am so grateful for having gotten to see so many films this year, from virtual Sundance to better-than-usual streaming releases. Despite the fact that I watched more than 50 new releases this year, there are still many that I have not gotten the chance to see. I am sure that if I had seen them before writing this list, C’Mon, C’Mon, Licorice Pizza, and Red Rocket would have strong chances at making an appearance on this list. They surely would have to put up a fight with this phenomenal Top 10, however. So sit back, have a skim, and feel free to pass judgement on my personal assessment on some of the best that 2021 had to offer.

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Review: ‘The French Dispatch’ Is a Love Letter to Writers Who Cover the Extraordinary

There is a joy in settling down to read a special newspaper or magazine article, one where you know the writer is cataloging the unordinary. Something about an everyday medium that normally covers topics and records events we consider commonplace (sports, politics, violent crimes, etc.) instead chronicling astonishment and intrigue is uniquely appealing—perhaps because it reminds us that the world is not constantly a cold, dull place. Two of my favorite examples of these are “The ballad of the Chowchilla bus kidnapping,” which recounts the hijacking of a school bus and the nationwide fervor that followed, and “Pellet Ice is the Good Ice,” which takes a deep dive into a kind of ice cube that’s hard to come by and unrivaled in quality. 

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