Best and Worst Films of 2021

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

Movies I liked in 2021:

Below the Fold
The Deep House
Fear Street Part One:  1994
Jakob’s Wife
Last Night in Soho
Luca
Meander
The Retreat
Silent Night
Slaxx
Slumber Party Massacre
The Stylist
 
Movies in 2021 I feel will get better with time:
 
Autumn Road
Honeydew
The Night
Night at the Eagle Inn
The Night House
Werewolves Within
Willy’s Wonderland
 
Movies I disliked in 2021:
 
The Alpines
The Amityville Scarecrow
Apex Predators
The Banishing
Don’t Look Up
Dune
The 8^th Night
Fever Dream
First Date
The French Dispatch
Fried Barry
The Green Knight
Hypnotic
The Legend of Fall Creek
Locked In
Lucky
The Nest (dir. James Settles)
The Penthouse
Pig
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Road Head
‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas
The Unholy
Virus Shark
Voyagers
The Woman in the Window
Zola
 
TV Shows I liked in 2021:
 
AlRawabi School for Girls (Netflix)
Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Curse of the Shadows
Calls (Apple+)
Elves (Netflix)
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (season three)
Midnight Mass (Netflix)
Reservation Dogs (Hulu)
Secrets of Sulphur Springs (Disney+)
 
TV Show in 2021 I feel will get better with time:
 
Chucky (season one)
 
TV Shows I disliked in 2021:
 
Brand New Cherry Flavor (Netflix)
The Chestnut Man (Netflix)
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Jurassic World:  Camp Cretaceous (season two and four)
Just Beyond (Disney+)
 
Other superlatives:
Coolest Title(s):  Death Rink; Sharks of the Corn
Good-but-not-as-much-as-the-hype:  Raya and the Last Dragon; Squid Game (season one)
Not-as-bad-as-they-said:  Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
Biggest Disappointment(s):  Benny Loves You; Fear Street Part Two: 1978; Ghostbusters: Afterlife;             Nightmare Alley
Most Disappointing TV Show(s):  Creepshow (season two); Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (season        two and four); Just Beyond (season one); Servant (season two)
Most Overrated:  The Mitchells vs. the Machines; Pig; PG: Psycho Goreman
Most Unnecessary Sequels:  The Addams Family 2; Don’t Breathe 2; The Forever Purge; Nobody                Sleeps in the Woods Tonight II; Spiral (From the Book of Saw)
Worthy Sequels:  Candyman; Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin
Most Unnecessary Remakes/Re-imaginings:  Dune; He’s All That; Nightmare Alley; Tom & Jerry
Worthy Remakes/Re-imaginings:  Night of the Animated Dead; Slumber Party Massacre;                             Wrong Turn
Best Anthology Film:  Bad Candy
Worst Anthology Film:  The French Dispatch
Best Documentary:  Clerk.
Worst Documentary:  ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas
Most Anticipated in 2022:  Film---Clerks III; Evil Dead Rise; Jurassic World: Dominion.                              TV---Wednesday
 
Commentary:  Movies suck nowadays.  Period.  I don’t know how many times I have to stress that every year I make these lists.  But you know what?  I thought of something not that long ago.  Sometimes movies age better.  There have been movies I wasn’t so crazy about the first time, but liked better a second time.  There have also been instances where I liked a movie the first time, but wasn’t so crazy about it the second time.  So I’m wondering if best-of lists need to be put on hold for a year or so?  Perusing through my year-end lists I’ve noticed movies that didn’t make my best list but would most definitely make it had I made the list later.  Believe it or not, some of the titles on my worst lists weren’t so bad over time; some, not many.  I didn’t love films like High Tension, Trick ‘r Treat, Let the Right One In, and Paranorman the first time I saw them, but eventually they became some of my favorite films, at least in their subgenres.  So, I don’t know, perhaps I’ll feel differently about these titles I picked later on, or I’ll wish I included other titles?  Sometimes I wonder if the films I claim to love from the past are partially due to nostalgia.  Some films I loved the first time and still love to this day, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Evil Dead, and Black Christmas, to name a few (I hope I don’t need to verify that I’m talking about the originals for all those titles, thank you).  Opinions change and criticism will always be subjective (as I always needlessly say).  It is nice to hear other opinions though and my opinions have changed sometimes due to hearing others and thinking of the film differently.  That’s why I made a list of titles this year that I think might age better.  As with the last couple years, I also just listed the best and worst titles alphabetically instead of numbering them since I don’t really know how to list either one in descending order; some better than others and some worse than others, of course.  You can always read my reviews at http://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/, and check out the ratings only at https://myfilmratings.blogspot.com/2019/02/my-film-ratings-in-alphabetical-order.html (under the ‘About Me’ section you can also click on ‘View My Complete Profile’ to check out all my blogs).  Unsurprisingly, and unfortunately, the movies I disliked far outnumbered the movies I did like (which I didn’t really love any of them; at least not yet).  I also included lists for best and worst TV shows for the first time since I watched a lot of them last year and couldn’t really choose a favorite and least favorite one.  Well, I hate to sound like a broken record, and a bit pessimistic, but I’m not looking forward to 2022 being a spectacular year for film (or TV), but, as long as movies and shows continue being released, I’ll keep watching.  Perhaps I should start making updated lists every year now too…2/7/2022

---Sean O.

2/8/2022