We couldn't wait for December to start talking about the best movies of the year. After about a third of the way through 2021, a decent number of good flicks had already come along. So we decided to begin this list. We updated it periodically over the the next few months, and now, finally, we present the 33 best films of the year.
Bonus:
The Voyeurs
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Roots drummer Amir "Questlove" Thompson's directorial debut is this documentary detailing the mostly-forgotten Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-week celebration of Black art that spanned most of the summer of 1969. This may be your first time hearing about the event because, while it was filmed, the footage was almost immediately stored in a basement, where it stayed for nearly 50 years, when the producers failed to find any interest from exhibitors.
While the festival itself was incredible, what's even harder to believe is its position as an obscure relic lost to time. The Harlem Cultural Festival, which was free to the public and held at the 20-acre Mount Morris Park (now named Marcus Garvey Park), drew a crowd of at least 300,000 and featured unqualified music superstars, including, but not limited to: Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, The 5th Dimension (giving their first Harlem performance), David Ruffin and a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder (he even plays a drum solo!). Lasting six weeks, each weekend focused on a different genre, including: Broadway in Harlem; the Gospel Festival; the Caribbean Festival; the Blues & Jazz Festival; and the Miss Harlem Beauty Pageant and Local Talent show. Even then NYC mayor John V. Lindsay showed up and spoke to the crowd -- as did Rev. Jesse Jackson. It's worth noting that the event was funded by both the city of New York and Maxwell House (I was surprised to learn that Maxwell House released a commercial detailing coffee's African origins).
As the footage reveals, there was greater interest in the festival than in the Moon Landing, which occurred during the middle of the event, in Harlem. And some Harlemites express the belief that the HCF was instrumental in preventing riots in the area (Harlem, along with 100 American cities erupted in violence following Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination the previous year.)
The "soul" part of the documentary's title has a double-meaning. Yes, the festival was Black but it also featured a heavy gospel component. Aside from Mahalia Jackson, Pop Staple & the Staple Singers performed and the Edwin Hawkins Singers graced the crowd with their international hit "Oh Happy Day". And don't think the event was no laughing matter. Comedians Willie Tyler (& Lester) and Moms Mabley hit the stage as well
While event host and producer Tony Lawrence did a masterful job of compiling a legendary line-up of talent for the festival, Questlove should be commended for recruiting such a formidable list of interviewees for the documentary. He gets takes from Stevie Wonder, Chris Rock, Rev. Al Sharpton, Mavis Staples, Lin-Manuel and Luis Miranda, Sheila E. and former NY Times reporter Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who, along with orthopedic physician Hamilton Holmes, comprised the pair of African-American students who integrated the University of Georgia. Even better, several festival attendees detail their personal experiences.
Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is the best early contender for the Best Documentary Academy Award-winner next year. The film already won Grand Jury prize and the Audience Award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Another music festival that took place that summer (a mere 100 miles away) got all of the notoriety and the first documentary to focus on it went on to become the fifth highest-grossing film of 1970. If there's any justice in the world, Summer of Soul won't fall into obscurity like the event on which it's based.
Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
Citizen Ashe
25. Nobody
Apparent beta-male Hutch Mansell is really a retired CIA assassin. This fact is so secret that even his wife and kids don't know. And it's bad news for the Russian mobsters who break into his home with nefarious intentions.
24. The Courier
The Courier is the first spy film of 2021 (James Bond and Ethan Hunt will return later this year) and it's a win. Though it features several key events associated with the 007 and Mission: Impossible franchises -- a mission in Russia, a night at the ballet, cooperation between the CIA and MI6, the threat of nuclear war and loads of suspense -- The Courier lacks the action spectacle that's become a hallmark of both. And it still works. In fact, The Courier is the most watchable non-action spy thriller I've ever seen.
Based on the true story of an early 1960s intelligence-gathering mission, the film examines the events surrounding cold-war era Russian Colonel Oleg Penkovsky's smuggling classified intel regarding the Soviet nuclear program to the west through English businessman Greville Wynn -- all while under the ever-watchful eye of the KGB. This little-known operation contributed greatly to the peaceful end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And both men put themselves at substantially greater risk than the British and American agents overseeing the operation. Worse, their handlers eventually hang them out to dry. Neither had exploding pens or life-like facemasks -- just mini-cameras, lots of guts and a determination to prevent World War III. Did Penkovsky, codenamed "Ironbark", get caught? Did Wynn?
Star Benedict Cumberbatch's last spy film, The Imitation Game, was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 2015 and The Courier is a considerably better movie. It remains to be seen whether or not No Time to Die (due in October) or Mission: Impossible 7 (scheduled for November) can provide compelling espionage-based drama. The Courier has certainly set the bar high.
23. The Mauritanian
22. Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street
20. Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali
Even without the late James Gandolfini, this Sopranos movie
managed to be compelling. What made the long-running Sopranos television series special was its focus on the MODERN mafia. But the time period in which the prequel is set -- the 1960s and 70s -- still, sadly, makes it timely. The film's focus on the 1967 Newark riots is eerily reminiscent of last year's widespread George Floyd protests.
15. Love in a Bottle
14. Send It
13. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is one of the rare examples in filmmaking wherein the sequel to a shit movie is so good that it makes up for its predecessor (although said predecessor should never be watched again under any circumstances). All of the returning characters -- Darius Kincaid, Michael Bryce and Sonia Kincaid -- are much funnier this time around and, as a bonus, they're joined by FBI agent Bobby O'Neill, who's just as hilarious.
This go-round, Darius has been kidnapped by a gang of criminals and Sonia recruits Bryce to help liberate her sociopathic husband.
12. Stillwater
11. Judas and the Black Messiah
Appropriately debuting during Black History Month, almost exactly three years after the wide release of Black Panther, comes another great movie focusing on Black heroes and featuring the uber-talented Daniel Kaluuya in a supporting role (and Ryan Coogler behind-the-scenes) -- except this one's about American Black Panthers. Judas and the Black Messiah recounts the true story of how Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois branch of the famed civil rights organization was set up to be assassinated by the FBI working with a tactical unit of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and Chicago police.
The film accurately depicts how Hampton's murder (at 21-years-old) was facilitated by federal informant William O'Neal. O'Neal, an African-American, was recruited for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's clandestine counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO), designed to discredit and dismantle the Civil Rights Movement, after his arrest for car theft and impersonating a federal agent. Offered an opportunity to avoid a potential five-year prison sentence in exchange for gathering information that could be used to further FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's mandate to eradicate the Black Power movement, O'Neal effectively became a spy for the federal government.
The film follows O'Neal as he insinuates himself into both the Black Panther Party organization, working his way up to security chief, and Hampton's life, revealing a snippet of a filmed interview with the actual Bill O'Neal before the credits and informing the viewer that he took his own life later that evening.
Already named one of the 10 best movies of the year by AFI and nabbing nominations from the both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild (the Oscars have been pushed back to April due to the coronavirus pandemic), Judas is poised to either become an awards-season favorite or the latest in a long line of Black movies to be snubbed in spectacular fashion. If there's any justice, Black Messiah will sweep all of the major awards this season. It's set the bar impossibly high for the rest of what Hollywood has to offer in 2021.
In light of the documented, widespread instances of police brutality against African-Americans participating in the many protests against racially-motivated murders of Black men at the hands of law enforcement throughout 2020, one of the overriding themes of Judas is sadly, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
10. Army of the Dead
After Vegas falls to a zombie outbreak, a billionaire hires a team of specialists to infiltrate the overrun city and retrieve his duckets from a casino vault.
9. Secret Magic Control Agency
8. Flora & Ulysses
7. Without Remorse
Without Remorse is the Killmonger prequel that we've always wanted -- but without the MCU's goofy style of comedy. In Black Panther, disillusioned former Navy SEAL Erik "Killmonger" Stevens explains that he's taken lives "in America, Afghanistan, Iraq..." All of these casualties were spurred by the murder of a loved one (his father). Well, Remorse shows disillusioned former Navy SEAL John Kelly take lives in America, Syria and Russia. And the vast majority of these homicides are prompted by the murder of two loved ones (his wife and unborn child).
After returning to the states following a mission in Aleppo, Syria, members of Kelly's SEAL team are bumped off one-by-one by Russian nationals. Kelly himself almost becomes one of the victims but he manages to take out most of the hit team that breaks into his house -- but not before his pregnant wife Pam is shot to death. And not without taking enemy fire himself. What follows is a man-with-a-vendetta story that intersects with plenty of political intrigue involving shady intelligence operatives and clandestine missions as Kelly goes rogue (Jason Bourne-style) and liberally uses his license to kill.
Technically, Without Remorse belongs to the Tom Clancy collection of films and television shows adapted from his books; it just happens to be the best of the bunch. And it's refreshing to see one of these stories not revolve around CIA analyst and supposed desk jockey Jack Ryan.
It was only a matter time until star and producer Michael B. Jordan launched another franchise. Beginning with 2015's Creed, he's been on a five-movie winning streak of excellent cinematic output. Without Remorse is number six. And a must-see.
6. City of Lies
Though it was shot in 2017, City of Lies is just now seeing the light of day in North America (it was released on blu-ray in Italy in 2019). A combination of legal disputes and rumored opposition from law enforcement almost saw this flick get permanently swept under the rug but it was well worth the two-and-a-half year wait for U.S. movigoers.
Using the actual names of those involved, City of Lies details the real life investigation into the murders of rappers Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace and to a lesser extent, Tupac Shakur, and the police corruption that said investigation revealed. Based on author Randall Sullivan's book "LAbyrinth", the movie reveals how former LAPD detective Russell Poole's police work led him down some pretty grim paths and to the conclusion that LAPD officer David Mack was also an active member of the Bloods street gang while on the job. Even more astonishing, Mack moonlighted as security for Death Row Records. Worse still, he was directly involved in the 1997 murder-for-hire of Wallace.
While Mack refused to cooperate with police following his arrest, his partner and fellow Bloods member, Officer Rafael Perez, cut a deal after his arrest for the theft of $800,000 worth of cocaine from a police evidence room. Perez's information uncovered the widespread law enforcement corruption that came to be known as the Rampart scandal. His information implicated more than 70 other police officers.
5. The Tomorrow War
By the year 2023, Iraq War veteran and family man Dan Forester has seemingly made a successful transition back into civilian life. And then he's drafted for military service in a global effort to repel alien invaders. However, because the invasion doesn't take place until 2051, Forester and his fellow draftees are sent to the front lines via a wormhole. Why use fighters from the past? Because the war has ground the human population down to less than 500,000. And the situation is so dire that conscripts are given about seven days (if they're lucky) of basic training before deployment. The war machine is in desperate need of bodies.
4. Black Widow
After a pandemic-related delay of over two years (105 weeks), the MCU, which had begun releasing three films a year before COVID, finally gave us another movie. Black Widow features a soul-searching solo mission for Avenger Natasha Romanoff.
The story, set between Civil War and Infinity War, begins with Natasha's efforts to remain under-the-radar after having been branded a fugitive (along with Steve Rogers and James Barnes) following her violation of the Sokovia Accords at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport. Her decision to switch sides has put her in the crosshairs of Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. And after Yelena Belova, who posed as Natasha's sister as part of a Russian sleeper cell in Ohio, reaches out, the former assassin heads to Budapest. Though she fears the consequences of returning to the city following her defection, fellow-assassin Yelena explains that no one wants to be targeted by "one of the big ones" (like Thor) who'd come to avenge Natasha's murder. After discovering that the Black Widow program is still active, the two determine to dismantle it once and for all. But first they have to find its director. And that means reuniting with the spies who posed as their parents 21 years earlier.
Though no other Avengers appear onscreen, plenty get shotouts (T'Challa, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Ant-Man, Thor) and Clint Barton's voice is heard over an earpiece.
Sexist title and man-bashing (which is sometimes literal) aside, the 24th MCU movie actually indicts more than one gender. The primary villain is male, of course, but the story reveals several of its female characters (Natasha Romanoff, Yelena Belova) to be just as nefarious as he is (it's not often that you see a film's protagonist use a little girl as bait and then intentionally blow her up). And, as in the case of Melina Vostokoff, some of them are complicit (instrumental, even) in his heinous crimes, which include the subjugation of a legion of brainwashed female assassins -- and by extension, world leaders -- across the globe.
3. Outside the Wire
Outside the Wire offers a fresh take on the familiar "rogue AI" story, all the while questioning the wisdom of military reliance on detached warfare, such as the use of drones in combat. Star Anthony Mackie's casting is fitting, given his cinematic history as Sam Wilson, the right-hand man of Steve "Captain America" Rogers in five MCU movies. This time around, Mackie is the super-soldier and the captain as a U.S. Marine in the not-too-distant future.
2. The Snyder Cut
The history-making Snyder Cut was well worth the wait (if only we could get the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad). My cut would eliminate the team's infiltration of S.T.A.R. labs, the Superman's resurrection, the rooftop meeting with Commissioner Gordon (the latter two of which were largely intact in Josstice League) and the Martian Manhunter CGI but that would still leave you with a three hour-epic. After daring to kill of the Superman in BvS, director Zack Snyder had the audacity to bump off Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn as well. And he did it well.
When it's all said and done, perhaps the greatest trick Snyder would have ever pulled would be to unveil this opus that increased fan-demand (not to mention pleasing the critics) with a monumental cliffhanger and leaving Warner Bros. to pick up the pieces without sequels to complete the story. But they deserve it.
1. The Suicide Squad
Although we still haven't gotten what we really want, the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad, the DCEU has rolled out an R-rated follow-up with lots more supervillains and a much higher body-count.
One of the standouts from the first movie, Harley Quinn, is mostly annoying and an example of a schtick growing thin this time around -- she actually has a fight scene in which she's surrounded by animated flowers and cartoon birds. And apparently, she somehow became a ninja master -- while in prison? Although she's given plenty of spotlight, a couple of new characters (and one semi-new character) steal the show right from under her. Despite her constant association with rodents, new squad member Cleo "Ratcatcher 2" Cazo is easily half of the heart of the film (it's not often that you come across a supervillain who's overflowing with love). The other half, Robert "Bloodsport" DuBois, is only semi-new because as a Black assassin with weird guns, expert marksmanship and an estranged young daughter, he's awfully similar to Suicide Squad's Floyd "Deadshot" Lawton.
Besides Harley, Amanda Waller, team leader Rick Flag and Digger "Captain Boomerang" Harkness all return for this sophomore impossible mission as well. And this one is easily WEIRDEST comic book movie that comes to mind, with a humanoid weasel and swarms of rats and starfish playing pivotal roles in the story. There's also a walking, talking great white -- Nanaue -- but his low intelligence relative to humans makes him closer to the antagonist in Jaws than Jabberjaw. But hey, there's plenty of bloody gore and graphic violence to go along with the wackiness.
While not nearly as good as its predecessor, The Suicide Squad is exponentially better than the unwatchable Birds of Prey and provides a reasonably-entertaining opportunity to check back in with both Task Force X and the DCEU. One of the movie's themes is that people are rarely as little -- or great -- as their labels. For instance, a bank robber isn't necessarily a scumbag and a self-described champion of peace and liberty may not be a hero. Hopefully, we'll get another Suicide Squad sequel in the future (featuring Bloodsport, Ratcatcher 2 and Deadshot).
Originally published 4/6/21
Updated 12/1/21
No comments:
Post a Comment