This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2021

some critics have suggested it's a step down from elle but i think it's about as great. it's arthouse exploitation in the mode of verhoeven's previous two, and i also love that all of these movies focus on women who never fully give themselves away

it is also, imo, the lesbian nun movie i was promised

it's also soooo gross and fucking hilarious

Although really I have only seen two things on MUBI she starred in.

benedetta my most anticipated and brad’s post got me stoked anew. elle is one of my favs of the last decade for sure

It's good. Charlotte Rampling ftr

R. Brody's #1 is a choice...

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2021-in-review/the-best-movies-of-2021

1. “The French Dispatch”
2. “Licorice Pizza”
3. “Zola”
4. “I Was a Simple Man”
5. “In the Same Breath”
6. “C’mon C’mon”
7. “Passing”
8. “Pebbles” (“Koozhangal”)
9. “Petite Maman”
10. “Procession”

And J. Ro...

https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2021/10/sight-and-sound-ten-best-list-2021/

1. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
2. Her Socialist Smile (John Gianvito)
3. Tiong Bahru Social Club (Tan Bee Thiam)
4. Martin und Hans (Mark Rappaport)
5. John Farrow Hollywood’s Man in the Shadows (Claude Gonzalez & Frans Vanderburg)
6. While We Were Here (Sunčica Fradelić)
7. Letters from the Ends of the World (a dozen of the first graduates of Béla Tarr’s FilmFactory)
8. Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Saftie)
9. Cry Macho (Clint Eastwood)

An incomplete list of nine titles for an incomplete, pandemic year that cries out for updates and afterthoughts. That may help to explain why many items here are at least partially films/videos about films/videos (and at least one item, Letters…, is about the pandemic). Having to compile a so-called ‘2021’ list in October compels me to add Uncut Gems, seen too late in 2020 to make it onto last year’s list.

Petite Maman was underwhelming even given its running time, but I may need to give it another shot.

thought Uncut Gems was repulsive, but it stays in my memory

like Tony Blair

zola doesnt belong anywhere near these lists imo

hence its appearance on mine

Just aortic dissect me...

2021 WAFCA AWARD WINNER:
Best Actor: Andrew Garfield (tick, tick...BOOM!)https://t.co/vYa5JRtzuu #WAFCA #WAFCA2021 pic.twitter.com/8P1lBEixCI

— WAFCA (@WAFCA) December 6, 2021

Started watching it an hour ago while working out, bailed screaming after 15 minutes.

I'm sure I'll see a worst one as I deep dive into Oscar crap, but as of now the musical number pantomime of his fight with his girlfriend is the year's bar that'll have to be surpassed.

(Grudgingly admit that Garfield acts the shit out of the part, but in a way that makes one need to avert one's eyes.)

Grudgingly admit that Garfield acts the shit out of the part,

That's the trouble.

Here's the full DC crix winners:

Best Film:
Belfast

Best Director:
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Best Actor:
Andrew Garfield (tick, tick...BOOM!)

Best Actress:
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

Best Supporting Actor:
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

Best Supporting Actress:
Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Mass

Best Youth Performance:
Woody Norman (C'mon C'mon)

Best Voice Performance:
Awkwafina (Raya and the Last Dragon)

Best Original Screenplay:
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Best Animated Feature:
The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Best Documentary:
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Best International/Foreign Language Film:
Drive My Car

Best Production Design:
Patrice Vermette, Production Designer; Richard Roberts and Zsuzsanna Sipos, Set Decorators (Dune)

Best Cinematography:
Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS (Dune)

Best Editing:
Myron Kerstein, ACE; Andrew Weisblum, ACE (tick, tick...BOOM!)

Best Original Score:
Hans Zimmer (Dune)

An opinion.

NYT crix go for Drive My Car and Summer of Soul...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/movies/best-movies.html

Manohla Dargis
01. Drive My Car
02. The Power of the Dog
03. The Velvet Underground
04. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
05. Passing
06. Azor
07. The Card Counter
08. The Disciple
09. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
10. Spencer

A.O. Scott
01. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
02. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
03. The Power of the Dog
04. Petite Maman
05. Bring Your Own Brigade
06. Bergman Island
07. Drive My Car
08. Memoria
09. West Side Story
10. The Velvet Underground

Bad Luck Banging is made to be included on year-end lists, and may well be an accurate portrait of the times we live in, but I very much disliked it.

This guy ... https://variety.com/lists/2021-best-movies/owen-gleibermans-top-10-2/

Owen G's top 10

01. Spencer
02. House of Gucci
03. The Beatles: Get Back
04. Drive My Car
05. Cruella
06. Zola
07. King Richard
08. Zack Snyder's Justice League
09. CODA
10. Parallel Mothers

Just got my ILX film poll email BTW

Compiling it is gonna be interesting, my film watching the last couple years is barely limited to the year in which I’m watching

It said "2020" -- did I read it wrong?

I think we actually are just catching up to last year, no?

Which, great, I finally watched Days and it's my #1 of 2020!

huzzah!

Oh, is it for 2020? Cool!

Sight and Sound top 50:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/50-best-films-2021

NY Film Critics Online live:

ACTOR: In this corner of the multiverse, Benedict Cumberbatch's POWER OF THE DOG performance was the dominant favorite. pic.twitter.com/j9YWWXH7Zv

— NYFilmCriticsOnline (@NYFCOOfficial) December 12, 2021

ACTRESS: It's only appropriate that Tessa Thompson joined her PASSING co-star, Ruth Negga, in the winner's circle. pic.twitter.com/YFP47DCLgq

— NYFilmCriticsOnline (@NYFCOOfficial) December 12, 2021

They do have a fondness for The Power of the Dog.

Good to see Tessa Thompson get a citation tho!

They do have a fondness for _The Power of the Dog_.

Boston is bringing a few offbeat choices tho…

And the winner is...for Best Actress: Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) pic.twitter.com/n8gC3wZae5

— Boston Society of Film Critics (@TheBSFC) December 12, 2021

And the winner is...for Best Actor: Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car) pic.twitter.com/B4ZvTKOTlg

— Boston Society of Film Critics (@TheBSFC) December 12, 2021

They have decidedly moved into the National Society’s turf

Watched Annette with a college movie friend. We both thought it was kind of weird and unpleasant. That is how I also remember feeling about Holy Motors though, and that film has really stayed with me.

I would like to see all of these 2021 movies, but films like Memoria and Drive My Car I’m not expecting to see anytime soon

I guess the Golden Globes are back, which who cares.

pre-20th century: cyrano
20th century: the power of the dog, West Side Story, belfast, licorice pizza, king richard, Tick, Tick…Boom!
contemporary: coda, don't look up
fantasy: dune

Critics' groups that announce nominations first are irritatingly student council but Chicago didn't do too bad overall...

BEST PICTURE

Drive My Car
The Green Knight
Licorice Pizza
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
David Lowery, The Green Knight
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story

BEST ACTOR

Nicolas Cage, Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, tick, tick...BOOM!
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car
Simon Rex, Red Rocket

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Agathe Rousselle, Titane
Kristen Stewart, Spencer

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
Colman Domingo, Zola
Mike Faist, West Side Story
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Catriona Balfe, Belfast
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Riley Keough, Zola
Ruth Negga, Passing

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Drive My Car by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Haruki Murakami & Takamasa Oe
The Green Knight by David Lowery
The Lost Daughter by Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog by Jane Campion
West Side Story by Tony Kushner

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Card Counter by Paul Schrader
The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson
Licorice Pizza by Paul Thomas Anderson
Pig by Michael Sarnoski
Red Rocket by Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Flee
Procession
The Sparks Brothers
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
The Velvet Underground

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Drive My Car
A Hero
Petite Maman
Titane
The Worst Person in the World

I submitted my nominations to my critics group an hour ago.

The only scuttlebutt: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar will do better than expected, and I hope Jamie Dornan gets the nod for it instead of Belfast.

They really didn’t like King Richard, did they?

Legit who did tho?

I stopped watching three more minutes more than Tick Tick.

Spencer
Belfast
Dune
King Richard
West Side Story
House of Gucci
tick tick…Boom!

haven’t seen most of them and am not looking forward to them. watched part of King Richard, about 45 minutes, which was all I needed to see of that movie (two and a half hours long!), and sat through the film about Jonathan Larson with Andrew Garfield playing him in a disconcertingly aggressive way

how does West Side Story translate to 2021

as far as 2021 musicals go, In the Heights is lovely