My Top 5 Best Films of 2021

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5. Dune: Part One– A fantastic-looking film that starts off strong but ends up feeling like it just goes on forever before stopping abruptly to set up a sequel.

4. Black Widow– While it hurts the plot a bit knowing how Natasha’s story ends, the scaled-back approach that focuses on family works well. But the over-the-top sky battle at the end is too much mindless action and takes away from this personal story approach.

3. The Suicide Squad– A fun dark-comedy with characters that work even though they shouldn’t. A tendency for style over substance hurts the final product.

2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings– A solid origin story that has great action sequences and a lot of heart but suffers from on over-stuffed finale.

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home– It brings together elements from past and present Spider-Man films in a satisfying way but does suffer from a few tonal shifts and a few stretches where it almost grinds to a halt.

My Top 5 Worst Films of 2021

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I’m pretty picky about the films I see, so the this is really more a list of my least favorite films of the year.

Honorable mention: The Matrix: Resurrections: Actually worse than some of the other films on my list, but I knew going in it wouldn’t be any good. (I didn’t bother seeing in theaters and just watched it on HBO Max.) A few films made this list because they were major letdowns.

5. Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Tom Hardy once again gives his all to make Venom and Eddie Brock work, and Carnage has his moments, but it’s not enough the other lackluster characters and mediocre plot.

4. Ghostbusters: Afterlife – After a goofy opening sequence, the film introduces some intriguing characters, only to mostly ignore all but one of them and then basically go into rehashing the plot of the original film.

3. F9– While the returning cast still has great chemistry and John Cena is a decent addition, the action has become so cartoony that putting a car in space is more believable than most of the other action sequences.

2. Snak Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins– It starts off as a grounded film about a man with a lot of childhood baggage, but quickly loses credibility when all the magic ninja stuff and unnecessarily over-the-top production designs are introduced.

1. Mortal Kombat – A great opening sequence and R-Rated Fatalities give hope of a video game adaption that honors the source material. But weak fight scenes, dialog and plot details that border on camp start to derail the film early on.

Movie Review: The King’s Man

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Advertised as an action-packed prequel to “The Kingsman” featuring colorful characters and cool-spy tech, this film is kind of a slow-moving World War 1 period piece that lacks direction or much of the fun stuff that was expected. The foundation of Kingsman spy agency could’ve been an interesting concept, but it’s pushed to the background for too much of the film, and a lot of it happens off-screen. The plot is just a tale of the first World War, but they add in some Bond-like villains that are pulling all the strings from behind the scenes. And they’re too concerned with keeping a lid on the man running thing’s identity just to set up a mediocre twist. While Mathew Vaughn’s previously directed “Kingsman” films have featured inventive and kinetic actions sequences, things fall pretty flat here. Action is scarce, and while there are a couple of good fight scenes, nothing stands out as being memorable. That goes for the characters as well. The acting is strong, but nobody really connects much with the audience. (With maybe the exception of Rasputin, who’s probably way too over the top, but at least makes an impact.)

** out of *****

Movie Review: The Matrix Resurrections

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After a nearly twenty-year absence, “The Matrix” franchise returns and the film doesn’t just struggle to get out of the trilogy’s shadow, it intentionally spends a lot of time in it. The latest movie in the series is part sequel, part meta-commentary, and part love letter to the originals. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really succeed at any of these. The sequel aspect is on the messy side, with a hodgepodge of new characters, old characters, and old characters played by new actors. Aside from Neo himself, nobody particularly stands out. (New characters fall flat, and the new actors are hit and miss taking over fan-favorite characters.) The meta portion of the film drags things down somewhat but has some interesting concepts that ultimately gets pushed aside for the more tried and true formula. And while some of the nostalgia factor is necessary, it’s kind of gratuitous and makes you pine for that groundbreaking first film. This is where the new film fails the most, as it really brings little new to the table. The action and effects are serviceable, but there’s nothing memorable here. They do introduce some interesting concepts that gel nicely with the end of the last film, but at the end it basically rehashes what they’ve already done.

**