I made a vow at the beginning of the year to watch more movies. Over the last decade I've pivoted, like most people, to watching TV shows. And while I can knock out three 1-hour episodes of a show in a row, a 2-hour movie seems like a chore. It makes no sense, but I know I'm not the only one like this.
My vow, well, it did not go very well. It lasted about as long as work-form-home did. Once I had to go back to the office, the ritual stopped pretty much dead in it's tracks, leaving me with a pretty short list of 21 movies. So, here are the movies I watched (NOT that came out) in 2021, ranked from worst to first.
21. Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021). Just awful. The only truly bad movie I watched all year. Felt gaslighted by all the positive reviews.
20. Blow Up (1966). I don't know that I've ever seen a movie that made me want to live in a particular era more than this, but despite how good this looks, it was a slog for me, film students be damned.
19. Nosferatu (1922). I understand its importance, but for a non-film buff, it's not the most exciting way to spend an hour and a half. Glad I did finally see it though.
18. The Maltese Falcon (1941). I cannot seem to watch movies keeping in mind the context and era in which they were made, which makes it difficult for me to judge them on their own merits.
17. Nomadland (2020). I'm in the minority on this, but as good as Frances McDormand is, putting her on screen with non-actors made this feel like a documentary promoting van life.
16. Life Of Brian (1979). Never been a huge Monty Python fan, but I liked it, maybe time to re-visit.
15. Sound Of Metal (2019). Really, really god performance by Riz Ahmed, but I feel it was a bit rushed at times, and some very important things were glossed over or rushed.
14. Uncut Gems (2019). Liked this a lot, but the frantic noisescape and movement made it an uncomfortable watch.
13. Lola Montès (1955). Way ahead of it's time, with great performances.
12. In & Of Itself (2020). Very interesting, but could have done without the celebrity audience cameos, which undermined the whole thing for me.
11. First Cow (2019). Odd little film that I enjoyed a great deal.
10. Judas And The Black Messiah (2021). Great performances all around and a good story well told. Lakeith Stanfield may be my favorite actor.
9. Blade Runner (1982). Unreal that I never saw this prior to 2021.
8. The Disaster Artist (2017). Easily the funnest movie I saw all year.
7. The 39 Steps (1935). It's crazy that movies came this far in the 13 years since Nosferatu.
6. North By Northwest (1959). Trying to catch up on my Hitchcock. First 3/4 is fantastic, but kind of stalls and peters out at the end.
5. The Immortal (2019). I am an unabashed Gomorrah fanatic, so I was gonna like this no matter what.
5. Paths Of Glory (1957). Now we have entered cream-of-the-crop, 5-star territory. Incredibly good anti-war movie.
3. Battle Of Algiers (1966). At times I had trouble remembering this is a movie, not a documentary.
2. The Apartment (1960). Incredible. Dark, funny, sweet, raunchy. Didn't even know fils like this were being made in 1960. May go on a Billy Wilder rabbit hole in 2022.
1. Parasite (2019). Believe the hype. One of the greatest movies I have ever seen.
