Sometimes you get animation that’s just sort of…pandering to children, and other times you get stuff like The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which is not only a delightful and fun animated venture from Sony and Netflix, but also super sharp, funny, and smart throughout its runtime. With references to movies like Dawn of the Dead and with a surprising bit of social commentary about big corporations and tech giants, this movie is just really enjoyable. And the voice cast—with Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Olivia Colman, and Eric Andre in some of the main roles—is just delightful.

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A movie, or at least a memorable one, tends to be about the inner lives of its characters. In too many films today, though, the characters have inner lives that are thin, scannable, mystery-free. But Pablo Larraín’s entrancing drama is a lightning rod that channels the inner life of Princess Diana — the jolt and sparks of anxiety and melancholy that have turned her, during a Christmas weekend with the Royal Family, into a Royal Nervous Wreck Without a Cause. Kristen Stewart, transforming herself, does a tremulously acerbic and precise recreation of the Di personality (the halting elegance, the shyness jostling with the coquettishness of fame). But that’s just the ground floor of her performance. She takes the audience on a flesh-and-blood journey in a movie that’s at once a diary, a soap opera, a horror film, and a rigorously speculative drawing-room biopic. It’s a much more close-up experience than “The Crown.” It is also, at moments, like “The Shining” rewritten by Edith Wharton. Di, for all her privilege, is trapped in a dead marriage that makes her feel like a caged bird, and since that marriage is part of England’s infrastructure she thinks there’s no key. She finds it on the hunting ground, in the most moving scene in any film this year. She frees herself and, in doing so, rocks the old world order. “Spencer” is a tale of despair and transcendence that celebrates the true meaning of being royal.

 

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The Best Movies category awards the best-reviewed film regardless of their release, whether they went straight to streaming or swung onto the silver screen. Spider-Man: No Way Home became the mega-cultural event that would entice moviegoers back into theaters, and it lived up to the hype for critics, as well. It was a music-filled year with In the Heights, West Side Story, and Summer of Soul. On the heavy side, some big tomatoes for Pig and a career-best Nicolas Cage, Jane Campion’s first-in-11-years The Power of the Dog, and A Quiet Place Part II, everyone’s collective exhalation through horror. Meanwhile, Raya and the Last Dragon, The Mitchells vs the Machines, and Coda brought representative, progressive ingredients to family storytelling.

The order reflects Tomatometer scores (as of December 31, 2021) after adjustment from our ranking formula, which compensates for variation in the number of reviews when comparing movies or TV shows.

A movie, or at least a memorable one, tends to be about the inner lives of its characters. In too many films today, though, the characters have inner lives that are thin, scannable, mystery-free. But Pablo Larraín’s entrancing drama is a lightning rod that channels the inner life of Princess Diana — the jolt and sparks of anxiety and melancholy that have turned her, during a Christmas weekend with the Royal Family, into a Royal Nervous Wreck Without a Cause. Kristen Stewart, transforming herself, does a tremulously acerbic and precise recreation of the Di personality (the halting elegance, the shyness jostling with the coquettishness of fame). But that’s just the ground floor of her performance. She takes the audience on a flesh-and-blood journey in a movie that’s at once a diary, a soap opera, a horror film, and a rigorously speculative drawing-room biopic. It’s a much more close-up experience than “The Crown.” It is also, at moments, like “The Shining” rewritten by Edith Wharton. Di, for all her privilege, is trapped in a dead marriage that makes her feel like a caged bird, and since that marriage is part of England’s infrastructure she thinks there’s no key. She finds it on the hunting ground, in the most moving scene in any film this year. She frees herself and, in doing so, rocks the old world order. “Spencer” is a tale of despair and transcendence that celebrates the true meaning of being royal.

 

The stampede back to the multiplexes that was predicted for early 2021 didn’t quite happen, and the post-pandemic landscape for theatrical releases is still an uncertain blur, with the emergence of the Omicron variant unlikely to quicken the pace.

Still, getting away from our televisions and laptops and back to physical screenings provided an invigorating booster shot for lockdown-fatigued film critics, as did the return of Cannes, which bounced back from a year in limbo with one of its strongest editions in recent memory.

Likewise, the fall festival trail of Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York, all of which delivered their share of jewels, suggesting that the pervasive anxiety in the ether over the past 18 months hasn’t hurt creativity. All but one of my Top 10 and one Honorable Mention came from those festivals, or from Sundance and Berlin earlier in the year.

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There were several others I would love to have included that got narrowly inched out — among them Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, Robert Machoian’s The Killing of Two Lovers, Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers, Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby, Oliver Hermanus’ Moffie, Sian Heder’s CODA and Michael Sarnoski’s haunting debut, Pig, led by Nicolas Cage giving his best performance in years.

I was mixed on one of the year’s most widely embraced critical darlings, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, which felt more like a meandering string of vignettes than a cohesive narrative. But its evocative sense of a place and a vibe — the San Fernando Valley in the early ‘70s — and the beguiling gift of Alana Haim, who holds the screen with effortless command in her first movie role, provided much to savor.

In terms of studio releases, a weak villain and a sluggish midsection prevented No Time to Die from being top-tier Bond, but the action thriller gathered steam in its emotional conclusion, ending Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007 with a powerful valedictory salute.

Although we all grumble about the world domination of the superhero flick, I found plenty to enjoy to my surprise in three distinctive MCU entries this year — Black Widow, Eternals and especially the exciting spectacle of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Read on for my picks for best of the year, followed by those of my brilliant colleagues Jon Frosch, Lovia Gyarkye and Sheri Linden. — DAVID ROONEY

1. Drive My Car
In Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s quietly ravishing masterwork based on a sliver of a short story by Haruki Murakami, the death of his wife leaves an experimental theater director — played by Hidetoshi Nishijima with a stoicism that conceals complex depths — to process his grief through art with a multilingual staging of Uncle Vanya. But it’s in the deepening bond he forms with a guarded young woman assigned as his driver, and the shared sense of loss that emerges during their rhythmic daily journeys in his beloved red Saab, that this symphonic exploration of the mysteries of human connection reveals its shimmering truths about forgiveness.

2. The Power of the Dog
Jane Campion’s first feature in 12 years is a departure from her forensic studies of the female psyche, delving instead with equal perspicacity into corrosive masculinity and repressed sexuality. A Big Sky Western like no other, this adaptation of the 1967 Thomas Savage novel casts a transfixing Benedict Cumberbatch as rugged Montana cattle rancher Phil Burbank and Jesse Plemons as his gentlemanly brother George, who upsets the household’s equilibrium when he brings home his fragile wife Rose, played with aching delicacy by Kirsten Dunst. Rose becomes the prey in Phil’s cruel games, but her sensitive beanpole son Peter, in a knockout performance from Kodi Smit-McPhee, defies expectations by shifting the power balance, turning the chamber drama into a startling queer revenge thriller.

3. The Worst Person in the World
A key realization for me while watching Joachim Trier’s gorgeously melancholy account of the chaotic mess we make of our lives as we fumble our way to self-knowledge was how seldom we get a romantic comedy-drama in which the abrasive edges aren’t sanded off the protagonist. Played by the luminous Renate Reinsve with a flinty exterior and a churning inner restlessness, Julie is unapologetic in her mistakes as she pings between two men, Anders Danielsen Lie’s successful older underground comic book artist and Herbert Nordrum’s contentedly underachieving barista. The pressing nature of time chafes at Julie, but Trier deftly expands the lens as she confronts unresolved issues from her past and navigates shattering sorrow to glimpse a future in which she might finally own her choices.

4. Parallel Mothers
Pedro Almodóvar is among the most generous of contemporary directors, lovingly contouring roles for an unofficial repertory company of which Penélope Cruz, like Antonio Banderas, is a core member. And as he did with Banderas in Pain and Glory, he coaxes career-peak work from Cruz in this sumptuous melodrama about the tangled knots of past and present. She plays Janis, a photographer digging into painful family history when she conceives a child with an archeologist supervising her case; a friendship formed in the maternity ward with a young mother adds another layer of turbulent mystery.

5. The Lost Daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s assured debut as writer-director relocates Elena Ferrante’s novel to a Greek island, where Olivia Colman’s divorced academic, Leda, seems to identify a fellow traveler in maternal ambivalence in Dakota Johnson’s visiting American. Bringing a probing, often caustic perspective to its reflections on female relationships, motherhood and women’s struggle to carve a professional space outside it, this dark dream of a film dives into Leda’s murky interiority via another astonishing performance from Colman, equaled in flashbacks by Jessie Buckley playing the character in her younger years.

6. The Souvenir: Part II
The rare sequel that reframes and expands upon the original in illuminating ways, Joanna Hogg’s autobiographical portrait of a young filmmaker trying to rebound from a toxic relationship that ended in tragedy is, like Drive My Car, a cathartic exploration of the healing power of art. Honor Swinton Byrne again brings emotional transparency and a rawness beneath the posh reserve of the director’s alter ego as she walks the tricky lines between artifice and authenticity, insecurity and creative vision.

7. West Side Story
Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner’s thrilling reimagining of the 1961 classic combines the Technicolor exhilaration of large-scale vintage movie musicals with a distinctly contemporary awareness of the complexities of racial intolerance and the importance of dignified representation. The Puerto Rican characters in this Manhattan gangland clash are given dimensions they previously lacked, but then again, everything about this spectacular remake surges with fresh vitality, including the tragic romance.

8. Petite Maman
Many films sailed beyond the two-hour mark this year, some less justifiably than others. Céline Sciamma followed her international breakthrough, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, with this perfectly compact curio, which packs more into a mere 73 minutes than many filmmakers can explore at any length. The time-matrix magic of a girl experiencing loss for the first time and meeting her own mother as a child in the woods would seem antithetical to Sciamma’s limpid naturalism. But the dream logic of childhood games is translated here in tangible everyday terms, finding wonder in simplicity.

9. Passing
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga provide the pulsing emotional center of first-time writer-director Rebecca Hall’s exquisite adaptation of Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel about two Black women on either side of the “color line.” The atmospheric evocation of Jazz Age New York — rendered in richly textured black-and-white — ripples with the constant threat of people being unmasked in a thoughtful and moving consideration of identity in relation to race, gender, class and sexuality.

10. The Tragedy of Macbeth
Joel Coen’s stripped-down take on the Scottish play is furious and fleet, anguished and elemental, instantly taking its place among the great screen adaptations of Shakespeare, with spellbinding chiaroscuro visuals that evoke Dreyer. As the murderous Scot who would be king and the manipulative wife fueling his thirst for power, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand lead a superlative ensemble, embodying not just ruthless ambition but also the panicked race against time to secure their place in history. And what Kathryn Hunter, playing all three witches, achieves with her diminutive physicality and harsh croak of a voice is extraordinary.

Honorable mentions: Compartment Number 6, Flee, The Green Knight, The Hand of God, I Carry You With Me, Identifying Features, Spencer, Summer of Soul, The Velvet Underground, Zola

1. The Power of the Dog
2. Drive My Car
3. West Side Story
4. The Souvenir: Part II
5. CODA
6. Spencer
7. Annette
8. The Lost Daughter
9. Bergman Island
10. Summer of Soul

Honorable mentions: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Compartment Number 6, The French Dispatch, Moffie, Parallel Mothers, Passing, Saint Maud, A Son (Un fils), Sublet, Summer of 85

1. Drive My Car
2. The Power of the Dog
3. Faya Dayi
4. Passing
5. Summer of Soul
6. Parallel Mothers
7. Ailey
8. The Humans
9. Spencer
10. The Green Knight

Honorable mentions: The Inheritance, Jockey, The Lost Daughter, Plan B, Prayers for the Stolen, Procession, 7 Prisoners, Shiva Baby, Test Pattern, Zola

1. Summer of Soul
2. The Power of the Dog
3. Drive My Car
4. Passing
5. Compartment Number 6
6. The Lost Daughter
7. West Side Story
8. All Light, Everywhere
9. I’m Your Man
10. The Humans

Honorable mentions: Atlantis, Azor, Cyrano, Fever Dream, Jockey, The Killing of Two Lovers, Lamb, Petite Maman, Procession, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?

(Photo by Universal/Everett Collection.)

Along with horror films like A Quiet Place Part II, action movies have been instrumental in demonstrating signs of vital life at the 2021 box office. Nobody made an unlikely commercial action hero out of Bob Odenkirk as theaters were re-opening, and afterwards, massive Blockbusters like F9, Black Widow, and Godzilla vs. Kong drew huge crowds that approached pre-pandemic levels. On streaming, we’ve seen attention-grabbing hits like Hulu’s Boss Level, two Zack Snyder jams (Army of the Dead and his mythical director’s cut of Justice League), and Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake. And now we’ve collected every Fresh and Certified Fresh action movie from the year.(And don’t forget to check out our ongoing guides to the best horror movies of 2021, and the best movies of 2021.) —Alex Vo

Spring is in full swing, bringing another helping of (you guessed it) movies and TV shows that are new on Netflix this week, including the sequel to Zack Snyder’s space opera “Rebel Moon.”

“Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver” continues where the first movie left off, following Kora (Sofia Boutella) as she and her group of warriors defend their planet Veldt against the nefarious Motherworld. 

This is a weird article to pen, considering quite a few of these films made it onto the list last year, and we never got to see them because of the pandemic. And the movies we did get to see didn’t astound us in the way we expected: Tenet was divisive and Wonder Woman 1984 went from a fresh rating to the dismal 60% it has on Rotten Tomatoes now.

Can 2021 breathe life back into the film industry? Will we ever go back to the cinemas, or will be streaming become the new normal? Much like things were in 2020, it remains to be seen how things will play out, but I’m hoping that these movies do make it out into the world – it’s just too much for us to wait any longer. Here are the biggest new movies of 2021.

 

1. The Little Things | January 29th, 2021

I have missed Denzel Washington doing films like this. There was a whole string of movies that Washington did in the late 90s and early 2000s, which focused on thriller/whodunit aspects, films like Déjà Vu and The Bone Collector, so it really tickles my nostalgia to see him take on a similar role in The Little Things.

In The Little Things, Washington’s Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon and Rami Malek’s Sergeant Jim Baxter try to find the man responsible for several murders around Los Angeles. The film also stars Jared Leto, though details about his role have been kept under wraps.

As we know, Warner Bros. has struck up a deal with HBO, so The Little Things will be released on HBO Max the same day it has its theatrical debut.

 

2. Coming 2 America | March 5th, 2021

The first film was released in 1988, which means that the sequel is being released thirty three years after the original made its debut. At this point, it’s definitely not a necessary sequel, but hey, it will still be a treat nonetheless to see Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall team up on screen once again. The film was originally set for a theatrical release from paramount Pictures, but the distribution rights were sold to Amazon due to the coronavirus.

In the upcoming sequel, Prince Akeem (Murphy), who is set to become the king of the fictional country of Zamunda, finds out he has a son he never knew about. To honor the former king’s dying wish to raise his grandson as the crown prince, Akeem and Semmi (Hall) once again leave for America. I am not exactly sure how Akeem sired a son since he was so fixated on Lisa (Shari Headley) in the first movie, but hey, Randy Watson and his band Sexual Chocolate are back, so no complaints here.

 

3. The King’s Man | March 12th, 2021

Much like many other movies, it hasn’t been the easiest journey for The King’s Man, which has been delayed numerous times before landing its current release date. It looks like it will keep this date, but it’s hard to know in these volatile times.

The King’s Man is the prequel in The Kingsman franchise, and director Matthew Vaughn teased that this film will help set up the third Kingsman film. The King’s Man will focus on the origins of the titular spy agency during World War I, starring Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou and Charles Dance.

 

4. Last Night in Soho | March 27th, 2021

Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho is one of those movies that made one of my lists last year, and considering the man’s filmography (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver etc), I was definitely looking forward to this film. But alas, Wright was unable to complete the film in time for its original release date due to the pandemic, so Focus Features announced the film’s delay to 2021.

Wright’s psychological thriller stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie and Matt Smith. There isn’t much information on the plot details, besides the story being set in London’s Soho district and containing some type of time travel as Thomasin McKenzie’s character gets to experience 1960s London. Considering how The Queen’s Gambit blew up last year, Taylor-Joy’s presence in the film should draw a bigger audience, so maybe the delay is a good thing.

 

5. Godzilla vs. Kong | May 21st, 2021

Like The Little Things, Godzilla vs. Kong will be released on HBO Max and make its cinematic debut concurrently. This will be a follow-up to 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It was revealed in the movie’s end credits that numerous titans were converging on Skull Island, and we can’t imagine that Kong is going to be happy about that.

While the original version of the movie didn’t establish a victor between the two, director Adam Wingard is promising that this film will have a definite victor, so we don’t walk away debating or feeling unsatisfied because of it ends up a stalemate.

Who do you think will end up the winner in this battle amongst monsters?

 

6. The Green Knight | July 30th, 2021

Unlike films such as Tenet or the new Bond film, The Green Knight didn’t come to my notice till A24 released its official trailer. That trailer caught my attention, and the fact that it has Dev Patel in a lead role is just icing on top of the cake.

The movie is an adaptation of the 14th century Arthurian tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. During a New Year’s Eve’s feast at King Arthur’s castle, a figure going by the name of the green knight enters. He challenges any knight brave enough, that he would allow them to strike him with his own axe, with the condition that the same person find him a year later to receive the same treatment.

With movies like Uncut Gems, The Lighthouse, Hereditary, The Farewell in their repository, I think A24 has basically proven they know what a good movie looks like, and I hope The Green Knight will be another success for the company.

 

7. The Suicide Squad | August 6th, 2021

Choosing James Gunn to direct this, after the man directed the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Marvel, is such an interesting move by Warner Bros., who owns the rights to DC material. Gunn mentioned that Warner Bros. offered him any project of his choosing after he was let go by Disney, and he chose Suicide Squad because that’s what he wanted most. Now that Disney has hired him back for the third Guardians of the Galaxy film, Gunn is the rare filmmaker to have made movies for both sides.

Gunn recently commented that this sequel/remake will be R-rated, following in the footsteps of Deadpool and Logan. In The Suicide Squad, new and old members of an imprisoned supervillain government task force are sent to destroy an old laboratory prison. Margot Robbie will return as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman will resume his role as Rick Flag, and Viola Davies is back as Amanda Waller. New faces include Idris Elba, John Cena, Peter Capaldi and Sylvester Stallone.

 

8. Death on the Nile | September 17th, 2021

Death on the Nile was another Disney-owned film brought forward from the tatters of 2020. It is the second installment in the Hercule Poirot franchise, the follow-up to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express. While director Kenneth Branagh’s previous effort wasn’t exactly stellar, what it did have going for it was an excellent ensemble cast, with the likes of Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Willem Dafoe on board.

Death on the Nile will most likely be a similar affair, a faithful adaptation with a star-studded cast, such as Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot and Leticia Wright. This time Poirot (Branagh) will be solving the murder of a young heiress aboard a cruise ship on the Nile river.

 

9. Dune | October 1st, 2021

Of all the delays, I have to say, Dune’s almost a year postponement hurt the most. After eagerly waiting the whole year to see Denis Villeneuve’s vision on the big screen, Warner Bros. decided to delay it, and its fate was cemented when Wonder Woman 1984 took up a December release date. Thankfully, because of Dune’s concurrent release on HBO Max and cinemas, Warner Bros. most likely can’t delay it any longer.

Dune is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel. Dune is also a two part feature, which is why Villeneuve took on the project, so that he could properly complete the vision he has for Dune.

 

10. The Last Duel | October 15th, 2021

The last time we had a Ridley Scott movie was in 2017, the film All The Money In The World, and while it was okay, it didn’t feel like a top-tier Scott film. The Last Duel does feel like a return to roots, doing what he does best, tackling a historical drama piece set in medieval France. The cast is a stacked one, with the likes of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Driver and Jodie Comer on board. It is adapted from Eric Jager’s The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France, in case you want to have a read before the film hits the theatres.

Comer’s Marguerite de Carrouges claims she’s been raped by her husband’s best friend. This leads to her husband challenging said friend to a duel, the last legally sanctioned duel in the country’s history. The film was supposed to have a January release date, but plans were hampered because of the pandemic, which explains its current release date.

 

11. Eternals | November 5th, 2021

While Warner Bros. has been bolder in their choices this year, choosing to move ahead with Blockbuster films like Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984, Disney has been a bit more cautious. Even though Disney released Mulan and Soul on Disney Plus, the approach to Marvel films has been a tad conservative, since films like Black Widow and Eternals were both pushed from their 2020 release dates to 2021, since they hoped that things would be back to normal by 2021.

It remains to be seen if Disney will stick to this date. Still, I am looking forward to it, considering it is one of the more diverse Marvel films, and the fact that it is directed by Chloé Zhao, a director who came from the indie scene, I am hopeful that she will bring something new to the MCU worldbuilding and storytelling.

The film will follow the events of Avengers: Endgame, where an unexpected tragedy will force the Eternals, who have secretly lived on Earth for over 7000 years, to reunite to protect humanity from their evil counterparts, the Deviants.

 

12. Mission: Impossible 7 | November 19th, 2021

I am sure that by now most of you have heard Tom Cruise’s fiery outburst at certain members of the Mission: Impossible 7 team for COVID-19 violations. Whether you condone his actions or not, his reaction shows the continued volatility that the coronavirus continues to wreak on the film industry, especially since this film’s production has been shut down twice in 2020 due to the pandemic. Now that things are back up and running again, protocols need to be maintained if they wish to continue production and keep its 2021 release.

Somehow, this film has managed to film in countries like Italy, Norway and England in the midst of a pandemic, proving that Cruise and team are still going all out to deliver a fantastic Blockbuster. The film has yet to be titled, but this will probably change as things firm up closer to release.

 

13. West Side Story | December 10th, 2021

I have always been on the fence when it comes to musicals adapted for film. All we need to do is look to Ryan Murphy’s The Prom that was released on Netflix last month to see what I mean. I mean, if a film has a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and even Broadway star Andrew Rannells, you would expect something quite glorious to emerge. And while the musical numbers were decently handled and performed, along the way, the camp overshadowed the true heart of the musical.

So, the information that Steven Spielberg has directed a movie musical is a conflicting one – I desire to hold on to my claim that musicals should remain on the stage, yet I also want this to be good, because it’s Spielberg.

The man has apparently been imagining a movie adaptation of West Side Story for a very long time. He mentioned to Vanity Fair that he “just fell completely in love with it as a kid. West Side Story has been that one haunting temptation that [he has] finally given in to.”

Like Bernando’s proclamation that “in America, nothing is impossible”, maybe Spielberg will be the one to truly pull off a successful movie adaptation of a musical – fingers crossed.

 

14. The Matrix 4 | December 22nd, 2021

Not to sound like a broken record player, but I have conflicting feelings with regard to this fourth movie in The Matrix franchise. The trilogy, while imperfect, felt complete. I am not a fan of directors/creators returning to worlds they have set in stone and shaking things up again. Yet, I am curious to see the direction the film will take, and the possibilities it could open up. The fact that both Keanu Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss are resuming their roles signals something quite good. Reeves himself said that “Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with [him]. That’s the only reason to do it.”

Nothing is quite known about the film, only that Hugo Weaving and Laurence Fishburne aren’t resuming their roles. There are many new faces joining the project, such as Jonathan Groff, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Neil Patrick Harris, and once again, everything is being kept tightly under wraps.

 

15. Babylon | December 25th, 2021

This entry might be a shot in the dark, seeing as how there is still no news as to whether the movie will keep its 2021 release date. Adding fuel to the uncertainty is the news that Emma Stone, who was attached to the project, dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Margot Robbie is in talks to replace her, though there is no confirmation of this, but if she does come onboard, it will be the second film she and Brad Pitt have worked on together. I am a hopeful individual, and since its delay has yet to be announced, it remains a film to look forward to in 2021.

Babylon is a period, R-rated drama, set in the shifting moment in Hollywood when the industry turned from silent film to talkies. Damien Chazelle is no stranger to narratives such as this, considering his exploration of Hollywood in La La Land, but the fact that it is a period film makes it an interesting venture for Chazelle, and Babylon does seem to be in the same vein of David Fincher’s Mank (here’s hoping it’s more digestible).

Regardless of its release date, considering all the individuals attached, it is sure to be a strong contender come awards season.

READ NEXT: 10 Best Movies of 2020 You Should Watch

35.

Ron’s Gone Wrong
(2021)

PG
|
107 min
|

Animation, Adventure, Comedy

The story of Barney, an awkward middle-schooler and Ron, his new walking, talking, digitally-connected device. Ron’s malfunctions set against the backdrop of the social media age launch them on a journey to learn about true friendship.

Directors:
Sarah Smith,
Jean-Philippe Vine,
Octavio E. Rodriguez
|
Stars:
Jack Dylan Grazer,
Zach Galifianakis,
Ed Helms,
Olivia Colman

Votes:
40,267