Ten Great Movies from 2021

Emilia Jones & Marlee Matlin (r) star in CODA

Movies I watched in 2021 that I'd happily watch again, and probably will: 

CODA - (APPLE TV) - Touching coming of age story with Emilia Jones as a high school senior struggling to explain to her non hearing family why she wants to study singing.  

THE POWER OF THE DOG - (NETFLIX) - Cruel rancher Benedict Cumberbatch meets his unexpected match in Kodi Smith-McPhee, the effeminate son of his sister-in-law. 

LICORICE PIZZA - (THEATERS) - Ambitious 15-year-old boy meets immature 25-year-old woman.  Fun and adventure ensue in L.A.'s 1970's San Fernando Valley.  Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman debut. 

BELFAST - (Streaming - $19.95) - Kenneth Branagh memories of growing up in Northern Ireland during the 1960's civil unrest.  

NIGHTMARE ALLEY - (THEATERS) - Guillermo del Toro revives the 1947 film noir of of a carnival con man's rise and fall.  Outstanding performances include Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Toni Collette.  

SUMMER OF SOUL - (HULU) - Questlove restores footage of the 1969 Harlem Music Festival, revived with commentary on how those times relation to ours.  

WEST SIDE STORY - (THEATERS) - Steven Spielberg restyles one the great musicals of the 1950's. Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler honor Leonard Bernstein's music and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics.   

PASSING - (NETFLIX) - Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson deal with the color line of 1920's New York.  A story of Blacks and Whites told in Black and White. 

THE CARD COUNTER - (STREAMING - $5.99) - Oscar Issac fascinates as a small-time gambler drawn to avenge his training as a military interrogator.  

THE FRENCH DISPATCH - (STREAMING - $5.99) - Wes Anderson pays tribute to a New Yorker style magazine in three delightful vignettes.  

Ten Best Movies of the Decade

Daniel Kaluuya stars in Get Out

Ah Heck, everybody else made one, so here's mine...

1. Get Out - Created a new kind of horror thriller, with comedy and social comment.
2. Moonlight - Revised the definition of movie love story.
3. Bridesmaids - Launched several actress careers, and paved the way for women in comedy. And that wedding dress scene!
4. Lady Bird - Announced Greta Gerwig as a director to watch.
5. Boyhood - Captured the passage of time.
6. Spotlight - Best investigative thriller since "All the President's Men."
7. The Master - Cult leader Phillip Seymour Hoffman in a haunting performance.
8. Hell or High Water - Taylor Sheridan's modern western, given life by a wistful Jeff Bridges.
9. Wonder Woman - Redefined the superhero movie.
10. The Avengers - Announced the Marvel Universe.

Top Ten Movies of 2019

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

1. One Upon a Time in Hollywood - Those were the days in L.A.
2. The Irishman - Scorsese perfects the mob thriller, adding an unconventional moral.
3. Parasite - Income inequality turns horror thriller.
4. Jo Jo Rabbit - 10-year-old comes of age in Hitler's Germany, with his mother's help.
5. The Farewell - Awkwafina and her grandmother outsmart the rest of the family.
6. The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Little seen poem of a young man's love for his past and hometown.
7. Ford v Ferrari - Cars & guys and friendship & family.
8. Queen & Slim - Crime thriller reimagined.
9. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Mr. Rogers, from a different angle.
10. Little Women - Classic, reenergized for our time.

10 Movies I Liked During the First Half of 2019

Tom Schilling stars in Never Look Away

10. Late Night - Emma Thompson at her best, as a biting, late night talk show host with her career on the line. Mindy Kaling makes a plucky foil as the new and only female writer.

9. Yesterday - Delightful comedy romance about a world where only Himesh Patel remembers The Beatles. Hard-to-beat combination of music, romance and the price of fame.

8. Rocketman - Jukebox musical based on Elton John's life. Taron Edgerton sings great, and the production numbers make this sparkle.

7. Toy Story 4 - Pixar advances computer animation. Tony Hale creates a hilarious new character, and Tom Hanks adds gravitas.

6. Gloria Bell - Julianne Moore plays a modern day Mary Tyler Moore, who hilariously gets even with difficult boyfriend John Turturro.

5. The Perfection (Netflix) - Cello prodigies Alison Williams and Logan Browning combine "Me Too" with "Get Out" and fascinating story telling.

4. Us - Jordan Peele knows how to tell a story and throw in a twist. Lupita Nyong'o gives a master class in acting.

3. The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Jimmie Fails loves his home town and the house where his grandfather lived. A poem to place and family and longing for connection.

2. Booksmart - Olivia Wilde makes a smashing debut as a director. Kaitlin Dever and Beanie Feldstein delight as two smart girls who sew their wild oats the night before graduation.

1. Never Look Away - German epic about an artist's life before and after World War II. The best three-hour German subtitled epic you'll ever see.

Oscar Predictions - 2019

Best Picture - Roma
Best Director - Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Best Actor - Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Actress - Glenn Close, The Wife
Best Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Best Support Actress - Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk)

Hedging my Bets:
Roma could get upset by Green Book or Bohemian Rhapsody.
Alfonso Cuarón has a tiny chance of losing to Spike Lee.
Rami Malek could lose to Christian Bale of Vice.
Mahershala Ali might lose to Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

The Show Itself:
I have a feeling it's going to be a mess. The lack of a host hurts focus. I hear celebrities from the recording industry and sports will talk about what film means to them. That sounds boring. I also hear producers have no intention of keeping the show under three hours.

Top 10 Movies of 2018

Yalitza Aparicio & Marco Graf (r) star in Roma

1. Roma - Stellar production, touching memoir.
2. Green Book - Funny, uplifting social message.
3. A Star Is Born - Old school Hollywood with new school music.
4. Black Panther - Thrilling origin story
5. Won't You Be My Neighbor? - Mr. Rogers, missed more than ever.
6. If Beale Street Could Talk - Artful story of minority struggle.
7. A Quiet Place - 2018's most gripping story. Shhhhh!
8. Blindspotting - Friendship and struggle, expressed with art.
9. First Reformed - Religion as metaphor elevates Ethan Hawke.
10. First Man - Neil Armstrong changes the universe.

Great Movies of 2018, So Far...

Chadwick Boseman stars in Black Panther

Halfway Thoughts: 10 titles I liked, between January and June:

1. Black Panther - Re-energized the superhero saga.

2. A Quiet Place - Horror/thriller. Stay quiet or get eaten.

3. Won't You Be My Neighbor? - Mr. Rogers on civility.

4. RBG - Explains Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

5. Thoroughbreds - Two spoiled rich girls plot a murder.

6. Tully - A new mother makes an unusual friend.

7. The Death of Stalin - Veep style satire, but historically accurate.

8. First Reformed - Ethan Hawke as a minister in crisis.

9. Sorry to Bother You - Wildly creative, funny, and revolutionary!

10. Hearts Beat Loud - Father/daughter bond with music.

Top 10 Movies of 2014

My #1 movie of 2014... Boyhood

The great movies seemed to come towards the end of 2014. Here’s my list of the best of the year, and a few reasons why... plus a few more worth remembering.