The best (and worst) films of 2021

And my top movie of the year is...

This year I watched more than two dozen theatrical films. I liked most all of them. Here’s my list of those movies, ranked. I should note that I don’t always love musicals, so for one to top my list must mean it’s pretty darn good to me—so good, in fact, that it’s the first and so far only musical for which I’ve downloaded a complete album and listened to on repeat ever since.

  1. Tick, Tick … Boom!

  2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

  3. Belfast

  4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

  5. The Last Duel

  6. A Quiet Place II

  7. Last Night in Soho

  8. Nightmare Alley

  9. West Side Story

  10. Dune

  11. Free Guy

  12. Nobody

  13. Venom vs. Carnage

  14. Green Knight

  15. Pig

  16. Cruella

  17. The Suicide Squad

  18. Ghostbusters: Afterlife

  19. Black Widow

  20. Jungle Cruise

  21. Clifford The Big Red Dog

  22. Dear Evan Hansen

  23. Eternals

  24. Godzilla vs. Kong

  25. The Addams Family 2

  26. The Protege

  27. Inside Bo Burnham

  28. Don’t Look Up

A few I haven’t yet seen, but want to:

  • Tragedy of Macbeth

  • Licorice Pizza

  • A Journal for Jordan

  • Encanto

  • House of Gucci

  • Red Rocket

  • The French Dispatch

  • The Many Saints of Newark

  • King Richard

  • In the Heights

  • C’mon C’mon

  • CODA

  • Spencer