Happy New Year! I wish I could share my Top 10 of 2021, but it isn’t quite ready yet. Soon! (Here’s my alternative list, ICYMI.)
For New Year’s Day I’m doing something new on FITI.
Inspired by an Instagram post from Edgar Wright, where he listed all the films he watched in 2021, I thought I should do the same. It would’ve been smart of me to keep track of them through the year… instead of devoting a few hours of my New Years Eve to assemble this list. Of course, I do to a degree with the blog and the podcast I cohost with Stephen Cooke, LENS ME YOUR EARS, but I also take in other films in the course of a year, rewatching or discovering older films just for the pleasure of it.
These kinds of catalogues always risk being an internet humblebrag: look how devoted I am to this obsession everybody! I’m sure I can name a few folks even in my own circle who’ve seen more movies than I did in 2021. It’s not a contest! My feeling is if I make a habit of keeping track of these numbers in years hence I’ll have helpful viewing statistics to compare.
This is especially important because I am no longer as Premiere Card carrier. Since mid-2015 I’ve been one of the few members of the media in Halifax to carry a Premiere Card, which allows free access to (almost) every new film in cinemas.
Cineplex is reducing the number of card carriers this year across the country, and I’m amongst the disavowed. There’s a possibility of renewal in 2023 but in the meantime I’ll be paying for my feature films, which is very likely to diminish their number. It’ll be good to see how much while also recognizing the role the pandemic has played, and will continue to play, with in-person movie watching. Sigh.
So, what follows is an alphabetical list of all the movies I watched in 2021, to the best of my memory. If I’ve seen it in the cinema (including in-person festival screenings) the title is bold. If the feature is older than two years I’ve included the year of release. I’ve also thrown in a few posters just for the fun of it. And please scroll to the bottom to see the list of documentaries I watched this past year.
Reviews of (almost) all the new films can be found on the blog by using the search function, while many of the older ones were discussed on LENS ME YOUR EARS, available on all fine podcast platforms.
FEATURES:
28 Weeks Later (2007)
48 Hours (1982)
8:37 Rebirth
84 Charing Cross Road (1987)
About Endlessness
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Annette
Another 48 Hours (1990)
Army of the Dead
Ashby (2015)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The Asphyx (1972)
Avengers; Infinity War (2018)
Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar
Barefoot In The Park (1967)
Beckett
Being The Ricardos
Best Sellers
Between Waves
Black Widow
Beans
Beat Girl aka Wild For Kicks (1960)
The Bedroom Window (1987)
Belfast
Bergman Island
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987)
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)
Blood & Black Lace (1964)
Blood Ties (2013)
Bob le Flambeur (1956)
Boss Level
Brick (2005)
Butterfly and Sword (1993)
California Split (1974)
Candyman
The Card Counter
Censor
The Charmer (2017)
The Chase (1966)
The Celluloid Closet (1996)
Chestersberg : Make Murder Legal
The China Syndrome (1979)
The Collector (1965)
Coming To America (1988)
Coming 2 America
Concrete Cowboy
Copshop
The Cotton Club Encore (1984)
Countess Dracula (1971)
The Courier
Cowboys
C’mon C’mon
Crossing Delancy (1988)
Croupier (1998)
Cruella
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Danger Diabolik (1968)
Darling (1965)
Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor
Dead Pigs
Death Line aka Raw Meat (1972)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Dragonwheel (2002)
Dear Comrades!
Death of a Ladies’ Man
Delores Claiborne (1995)
Desperate Hours (1990)
The Dig
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014)
Dog Soldiers (2002)
Don’t Look Up
Doors
Double Indemnity (1944)
Drive My Car
Dune (1984)
Dune
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Eternals
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
F9: The Fast Saga
Farewell My Lovely (1975)
The Father
Flickering Lights (2000)
Flowers of Shanghai (1998)
Free Guy
The French Dispatch
French Exit
The Frightened City (1961)
The Gambler (2014)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Ghostbusters II (1989)
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Girl
The Glorias
The Godfather III (1990)
The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone
God of Gamblers (1989)
Godzilla vs Kong
The Golden Child (1986)
The Good Thief (2002)
The Great Buck Howard (2008)
The Green Knight
Greenland
The Guilty
Gunpowder Milkshake
Happy Together (1997)
Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man (1991)
Hard Eight (1996)
The Harder They Fall
Hear My Song (1991)
Hillbilly Elegy
His House
Homeboy (1988)
Hope
House of Gucci
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
The Humans
Hunger (2008)
An Ideal Host
Identifying Features
I Care A Lot
The Immigrant (2013)
In A Better World (2010)
Inherent Vice (2015)
In The Earth
In The Heights
Ismael’s Ghosts (2017)
Italian For Beginners (2000)
I Used To Go Here
John Carter (2012)
Johnny Handsome (1989)
JT LeRoy (2018)
Judas And The Black Messiah
Julia (1977)
Jungle Cruise
Kate
The Kid Detective
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
King Richard
Klute (1971)
Ladyhawke (1985)
Lamb
The Last Duel
Last Night in Soho
The Last Seduction (1994)
The Late Show (1977)
Laura (1944)
Licence to Kill (1989)
Licorice Pizza
The Living Daylights (1987)
Locked Down
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Lore (2012)
Luzzu
Margrete: Queen of the North
The Mauritanian
Malignant
Mass
The Matrix (1999)
The Matrix: Reloaded (2003)
The Matrix: Revolutions (2003)
The Matrix: Resurrections
Memoria
Metro (1997)
Metroland (1997)
Minari
Misbehaviour
The Mitchells vs the Machines
Mortal Engines (2018)
Mothering Sunday
Moxie
My Days of Mercy (2018)
My Salinger Year
My Summer of Love (2004)
The Nest
News of the World
Niagara (1953)
Night At The Eagle Inn
Night Blooms
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Nightmare Alley
Night Moves (1975)
Night Of The Demon aka Curse Of The Demon (1957)
Night Raiders
Nobody
Nomadland
No Sudden Move
No Time To Die
No Way Out (1950)
Old
One Night In Miami…
Our Friend
Our Souls At Night (2017)
Out of The Past (1947)
Oxygen
Palm Springs
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Paprika (2006)
Passing
Peace By Chocolate
Peeper (1975)
Perfumes
Petite Maman
Phantom Lady (1944)
Pieces of a Woman
Pig
The Pleasure Girls (1965)
The Power of the Dog
Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
Promising Young Woman
The Protege
A Quiet Place: Part II
The Rainmaker (1997)
Reminiscence
Rent (2005)
Repulsion (1965)
Riders of Justice
Rose Plays Julie
A Royal Affair (2012)
The Saint (1997)
Saint Maud
Saint-Narcisse
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (2011)
Saving Face (2004)
The Secret Garden (1949)
The Secret Garden (1987)
The Secret Garden (1993)
The Secret Garden (2017)
The Secret Garden
Seige (1983)
The Seven-Ups (1974)
Shaina
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
She Dies Tomorrow
Six Minutes To Midnight
Small Axe: Mangrove
Small Axe: Lover’s Rock
Small Axe: Alex Wheadle
Soul
The Souvenir
The Souvenir Part II
Spencer
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Stillwater
Stowaway
The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
The Stunt Woman (1996)
Sublet
The Suicide Squad
Supernova
Swan Song (Stephens)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
These Are The Damned (1962)
They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (1969)
tick, tick… BOOM!
Tin Can
Titane
Together Together
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse
The Tomorrow War
Tove
Trouble In Mind (1985)
Two Days One Night (2014)
Undine
The United States vs Billie Holiday
Vampyr (1931)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Vertiges: A Woman In Danger (2001)
Violation
West Side Story (1961)
West Side Story
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
White Sands (1992)
Wife of a Spy
Wildhood
Wild Mountain Thyme
The Witches
The Wolfman (2010)
The Worst Person in the World
Year of the Dragon (1985)
Yes, Madam (1985)
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Zero Effect (1998)
Zola
DOCUMENTARIES:
The American Sector, Acasa My Home, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Dust Radio: A Film About Chris Whitley, Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing, Fanny: The Right To Rock, Flee, FTA, A Glitch In The Matrix, Jodorowski’s Dune, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, Once Were Brothers, Original Cast Album: Company, Softie, Some Kind of Heaven, Soul Boys of the Western World: Spandau Ballet, A Song For You, The Austin City Limits Story, The Sparks Brothers, Stray, Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, Summer of Soul… Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised, Suzi Q, Taming The Garden, Tina, Val, Witches of the Orient, Wojnarowicz, Woodstock 99
