2020 was not exactly the best of years for the film industry. Delays in releases of months or even, in some cases, an entire year, have left a mark on the industry that may never be completely erased: streaming film consumption has catapulted, and theaters have a future before them. that, even recovering normality in many previous aspects, is more uncertain than ever.
With 2021, the industry has had the possibility of recovering part of the lost ground: premieres that were suspended, new ways of presenting exhibitions… Superhero films seem to have regained their pulse at the box office while other genres are slowly going recovering some ground. These are some of the best movies of the year, both in theaters and on streaming platforms.
‘The map of perfect little things’
Two films with time loops and romantic comedy styles have coincided in time. This has a more youthful approach than ‘Palm Springs’, but that doesn’t make it any less suggestive: without the need to go into explanations or waste time, this surprising emotional adventure is deeper and at the same time more carefree than it seems, is an Amazon Prime Video original to pay attention to. Especially for the excellent performances of Kyle Allen and Kathryn Newton.
- You can see it on Amazon Prime Video
‘Saint Maud’
The first horror bomb of the year works at low intensity and is immersed in codes of intimate drama. A young woman obsessed with religion and the fact that God speaks about her through her (Morfydd Clark) believes that she has a divine mission that consists of saving the soul of her last patient, a terminally ill woman who was once a famous dancer. The fine line that separates extreme devotion and manic unreason is crossed again and again in a film that plays at being pious and profane at the same time, with sublime and atrocious aesthetics which is one of the most overwhelming debuts in recent years. , from writer-director Rose Glass.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘The excavation’
An emotional and luxurious drama produced by Netflix, based on the true story of the Sutton Hoo excavation and with an extraordinary leading duo: Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. This is a landowner who commissions an excavator to unearth what could be a first-class archaeological find, while World War II rages around her. A film with classic echoes that face serious and transcendent themes, but with exquisite sensitivity and stupendous visual workmanship.
- You can see it on Netflix
‘The painter and the thief’
A very unique documentary, one of those that can be enjoyed as if it were an authentic suspense film full of plot twists, in which a Czech painter, Barbora Kysilkova, establishes a curious relationship of sincere friendship with one of the thieves who stole a pair of her paintings a while back. The feelings that blossom between them, unexpected and full of twists and nuances, are the core of this amazing documentary.
- You can see it on Filmin
‘New order’
An uncomfortable, brutal film, with a slightly dystopian tone but that portrays a reality that we have before our noses: that of an unstable society, which vibrates, dangerously transforming into a powder keg, and with a single step in the wrong direction can be blown up.. A starting point as simple as the armed rebellion of the most disadvantaged finds a unique balance between post-apocalyptic fiction, traditional thriller, and social drama. Not for all palates (especially due to its conservative offshoots), but precisely for that reason, it is almost obligatory viewing.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘Swallow’
Through its section of unreleased films that did not reach theaters last year due to the pandemic, Movistar+ is recovering very interesting films. ‘Swallow’ was seen a couple of years ago in Sitges, it attracted a lot of attention, and no wonder: it is a sinister horror fable with touches of pop satire in which a housewife (impressive Haley Bennett) who wears a seemingly perfect life begins to ingest objects as a secret protest against his frustrations. Asphyxiating literally and metaphorically, ‘Swallow’ is a poisoned parable of the superficiality of everyday life.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘The Assistant’
One of the best (if not the best) films that have been seen regarding the cases linked to the #metoo movement. Although this Kitty Green film does not give real names, the symbolic link with the Harvey Weinstein case, here in a constant clever off-screen, is obvious. Its thriller rhythm does not at all soften the harshness and tragedy of the subject it deals with, and Julia Garner rightly becomes one of the revelation actresses of the season.
- You can see it on Filmin
‘Wild’
Wild thriller with a B-series spirit that easily became the most unprejudiced and shameless show of fun of these first months of the year. An imposing Russel Crowe channels Michael Douglas from ‘A Day of the Fury’ just at the moment when it seems that Joel Schumacher’s emblematic film is once again, more than a crazy thriller, a piece of social commentary. Whether you take it as an urban drama without squeamishness or as a skid festival, a must-see event for the brothers of the Brotherhood of Strong Emotion.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘Palm Springs
The other time loop and romantic comedy film released in a few months have a more openly acidic and thirty-something tone than the aforementioned ‘The Map of Perfect Moments’. It was one of Hulu’s biggest recent hits in the United States and has arrived on streaming this year after its theatrical release was thwarted by the pandemic. With magnificent performances by Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti and a wonderful capacity for constant surprise, it is one of the comedies of the year, and also one of the most vitalistic and appropriate films for the times we are living in, condemned as we are to an eternal return. constant.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘In Fabric’
With his usual elegance, Peter Strickland (director of the incredibly sophisticated ‘ The Duke of Burgundy ‘ and ‘ Berberian Sound Studio ‘) proposes, from material that is pure thematic demolition (the story of a cursed dress that passes from owner to owner, with lethal results) a film that draws on Asian genre cinema, giallo and Euro-horror of the seventies, while remaining completely contemporary. A small wonder that many will dismiss as “high horror”, but at the end of the day it is good horror.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘ Zack Snyder’s Justice League ‘
The definitive version of ‘Justice League’ ended up being more than just a darker remake and some deleted scenes. There are four hours that HBO broadcast as a single film and that connects with Zack Snyder’s vision of the DC characters. If bright, festive Marvel-style heroes are your thing, you might not be interested, but if you’re enthralled by the idea of angry, tormented Superman and Batman, this movie is like Christmas coming early.
- You can see it on HBO Max
‘ Godzilla vs. Kong ‘
One of the first box office hits within Warner’s plan for 2021 to release all its major releases simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, and which, in retrospect, may be causing more disappointment than joy. In this case, the clash between the two giants of monster cinema resulted in a more violent and brutal show than ever, with spectacular twenty-minute fights of unstoppable destruction. Adam Wingard has revitalized the Monsterverse and guaranteed the continuity of the house’s giant monsters.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘Mortal Kombat’
The adaptation of the popular and bloody fighting video game, without a doubt, pointed in the right direction: necromancers and cyber ninjas, fatalities, gore, all-out orientalism, and constant fights that are better executed than more ambitious martial arts vehicles like ‘Shag Chi’. The formula is simple; adjusting to it by transmitting the intensity and brutality of the original is no longer so, but this ‘Mortal Kombat’ is a real gift for fans of the franchise, and the best thing: it guarantees continuation.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘Black Widow’
The film that should have given continuity to the MCU after the end of the previous phase was finally left a little behind its predecessors after being delayed a year. Finally, this film that takes up the Avenger and her life as a spy, with a plot that mixes thriller, some comedy, and a great cast with Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, and David Harbour, has worked. The whole thing has those sometimes somewhat bland (despite the budget) airs of Marvel secondary products, but it is very competent entertainment.
- You can see it on Disney+ and Movistar+
‘Army of the dead’
Zack Snyder, who this year can see his ego more than satisfied thanks to his Director’s Cut of ‘Justice League’, returns to his origins by revisiting the post-apocalyptic world of his debut, ‘ Dawn of the Dead ‘. This time he sends the survivors of the end of the world to Las Vegas, where in the middle of a veritable ocean of dead, a group of mercenaries try to rob a casino. Brimming with Snyder’s visual tics, his curious mix of genres makes it a remarkable piece of entertainment.
- You can see it on Netflix
‘Cruella’
Partly following the formula of ‘Maleficent’, but seasoned with a few drops from recent films like ‘Birds of Prey’, the first trailers for ‘Cruella’ pointed to an interesting reinterpretation of one of the great Disney villains, Cruella de Vil. The result did not hide too many surprises, but luckily it channeled more the energy of the wonderful Glenn Close from the live-action remakes of ‘101 Dalmatians’ than from Angelina Jolie’s redemption stories.
- You can see it on Disney+ and Movistar+
‘A Quiet Place 2’
A highly anticipated sequel (among other things, due to the continuous delays) whose main challenge was to maintain the feeling of an unprotected family that worked so well in the first installment. To justify the return of all the characters there have been flashbacks to the origin of the invasion, and the constants of the franchise return, including many scenes in absolute silence. Somewhat derivative, but overall an excellent exercise in apocalyptic tension.
- You can see it on Amazon Prime Video 2
‘Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings’
An entirely oriental cast and the promise that the action scenes would be on par with the classic seventies comics were intended to make people forget the company’s latest martial arts disaster (Netflix’s ‘Fist of Steel’, the worst of its series). Marvel). Finally, the result is somewhat below ‘Mortal Kombat’ in those terms, but it is still a very estimable entertainment, with abundant doses of Chinese fantasy to please the Asian market (and without achieving it entirely, although in global terms the film is triumphing ).
- You can see it on Disney+
‘Time’
A family discovers that the paradisiacal beach where they have gone to spend their vacation makes them age quickly, reducing their life expectancy to a single day. After his introduction to superhero cinema, closing his trilogy of excellent films on the subject, Shyamalan returns to the mysteries without apparent explanation, with a film that is more enjoyable the less you know, and that is more oriented toward drama than fantasy.
‘The Suicide Squad’
A sequel that aimed to make us forget the worst DC movie of recent times, and the truth is that it had a lot going for it: James Gunn takes the baton before his return to Marvel, which guarantees laughter, hooliganism, and ultraviolence. Margot Robbie or Viola Davis return to the cast, and to them is added a very large roster of outcasts among whom Michael Rooker, Idris Elba, Peter Capaldi, Nathan Fillion, and John Cena stand out. We were expecting the most brutally fun superhero movie of the year, and it falls a bit halfway to its promise of pure hooliganism, with a film that is too long and cumbersome to be genuinely provocative.
‘Dune’
The most spectacular cast of the year (Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, and a long etcetera) champion what was undoubtedly the most important and risky film of the year. year for Warner. A very expensive, very ambitious, and complicated adaptation of a highly respected science fiction classic – not particularly commercial, either. Denis Villeneuve (‘The Call’) directed with his usual aesthetic sumptuousness a production that arrived almost a year later than the initially scheduled date, but that managed to sustain interest in a very complicated adaptation.
‘No time to die
One of the first films delayed due to the pandemic has also been one of the most begging to be seen. The new installment of James Bond, the last one with Daniel Craig at the helm, had a great look, with Rami Malek as a disfigured villain and Ana de Armas answering 007. In the end, the pandemic has also had its way with Bond and the production suffered somewhat unnoticed, but that doesn’t stop it from being the most luxurious action film of 2021.
‘Venom: There will be carnage’
Until the premiere, it was not clear if the film would affect the Spider-verse that Sony has the possibility of building, and finally, it chose to continue the tone and style of the first installment, which is not bad at all as a proposal that distances itself from the well of the monolithic MCU. The duo Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson are perfect to embody the metamorphic protagonists, and the balance between action, humor, terror, and pure extravagance returned without problems.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘Titan’
One of the most talked about and unclassifiable films of the year, which has aroused out-of-control admiration and also a few discussions due to the explicit nature of the violence and how far it takes its proposal. All in line with Julia Ducournau’s previous film, the fantastic ‘Crudo’, where surrealist horror, body horror, and social commentary intermingle. Of course, not a film for all tastes, but one of the essential events of the year if you are interested in the most risky and transgressive cinema.
‘The Green Knight’
A true indie extravaganza that we are not used to receiving fluently and without the need to resort to extravagant physical editions. It is a reformulation of an Anglo-Saxon legend that was studied in depth by experts such as Tolkien and which here is the result of a modern and precious revision. Aesthetically captivating, interweaving horror and classic fantasy, an essential event for rarity trackers … and believers in the entelechy that streaming kingpins can still surprise us.
- You can see it on Amazon Prime Video
‘Last Night in Soho’
The latest film by Edgar Wright, director of ‘Zombies Party’ and ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’, looked great and had a breathtaking cast, led by Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp, and Diana Rigg. Finally, she has not lived up to his promises and is carried away by both his tacky side and an expository laziness unusual for Wright. Still, this psychological thriller about a young woman passionate about fashion who mysteriously travels to the 1960s is one of the most visually powerful films of 2021.
‘Finch’
Apple is making a powerful commitment to movies on its streaming platform. One of the clearest examples is this science fiction story starring an inventor, the last human on a post-apocalyptic Earth who creates a robot to keep his dog company when he dies. Miguel Sapochnik, responsible for the Battle of the Bastards in ‘Game of Thrones’, directs with a good pulse for the dramatic scenario, and the result is a dark but hopeful humanist vision of the end of the world with which it is inevitable not to get excited.
- You can see it on Apple TV+
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’
On paper, it seemed that the full-throttle nostalgia formula that was used for this new installment of ‘Ghostbusters’ would work better than the gender-changed reboot of the reviled last installment, but ‘Beyond’ is more toned when he forgets his precedents. The new cast, the relationships between them, and the setting that is radically different from the New York of the original films is a breath of fresh air where this film, to be round, should have stayed throughout the entire length.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home
The film with the highest-grossing first weekend of the year had us for a good part of 2021 chaining conjectures about its tributes to the past and the scope of its multiverse. Finally, the thing remains a somewhat confusing gibberish, more concerned with satisfying the nostalgic than with proposing a film as consistent as its two predecessors, but the result is striking enough to be crowned the best Marvel film of the year without problems.
‘Matrix Resurrections’
This one has managed to keep all the details of its plot to itself until its premiere, barely revealing details in the previous months beyond the fact that a good part of the cast of actors and technical crew from the original trilogy returned. This time Lana Wachowski directs alone, but otherwise, old acquaintances such as Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith return. The result is highly stimulating, a film full of references to the first trilogy but overflowing with critical spirit and reflections on nostalgia and the state of the genre. An overwhelming and intelligent proposal to close the year.
‘Don’t look up
Another million-dollar production from Netflix to end the year that wants to measure itself against the films that are released in theaters, and this one does so with a cast of stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet and Ariana Grande in an ensemble film about a pair of scientists who have to convince the rest of humanity that the world is ending. The result is far superior to the somewhat faded ‘Red Alert’ and proposes a political and social satire about our relationship with science.
- You can see it on Netflix
‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Pure fun with this new adaptation of Capcom’s million-dollar survival horror game saga. More oriented towards horror than action, with characters as recognizable as the Redfield brothers, Jill Valentine, or Albert Wesker, among others, and making – on paper – the effort to explain the origins of two settings as emblematic as the Spencer mansion and Raccoon City, the proposal is a real mess of mutations, unbridled action and general nonsense. One of the funniest films of the year, although more in line with Paul WS Anderson’s previous adaptations than with the latest video games.
‘holy spirit
Chema García Ibarra makes his feature film debut after a long and fruitful career of success in the field of short films. Her obsessions are still very present here and she channels the spirit of the story of the bizarre Levantine encounters in the third phase with her obsessions and her delirious aesthetic, so every day it seems from another planet. Without a doubt, one of the Spanish films of the year, although it has not garnered as much attention as others.
‘Evil one
In a year in which genre cinema has promised a lot and only rarely delivered everything it promised, James Wan’s new film is a refreshing novelty. Crazed and brutal, with insane plot twists and zero commitment to the director’s fans, who will be disappointed if they look for another ‘The Warren File’, ‘Maligno’ has elements of Giallo, slasher, and supernatural nonsense, and although it is not perfect, she has plenty of shamelessness.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘The woman in the window’
A true paranoid madness who lived an erratic career in the United States, between delays to make remounts after disastrous test passes and the inevitable pauses in distribution due to COVID. Finally, Netflix released it exclusively and we found ourselves with a hilarious exercise in trotted and shameless suspense, a rehash of ‘Rear Window’ in an agoraphobic key with a first-class cast and a lot of old-school suspense surprises.
- You can see it on Netflix
‘The Mitchells against the machines’
The best-animated film of the year did not come from Disney or Pixar but was released exclusively by Netflix after Sony decided to sell the distribution rights in 2020 due to COVID-19. A rebellion of the machines in the middle of a family trip crossing the United States from one end to the other is the excuse for a hilarious production that avoids the typical cheesy anti-internet message to advocate for intergenerational understanding thanks to technology. Produced by the practically infallible Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, creators of ‘The LEGO Movie’ and ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’.
- You can see it on Netflix and Movistar+
‘Psycho Goreman’
It triumphed a couple of editions ago in Sitges and has proven to be one of the most stimulating surprises of the year now that it hits our screens. Brimming with the ineffable spirit of the direct-to-video films of the 80s and 90s, this film falls right in that indescribable middle ground where a children’s movie could also be full of monsters and gore. A marvel with intergalactic warlords, bounty hunters, and unruly children, aimed at a very specific type of viewer, whose heart will possibly burst in a shower of glitter.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘Hidden passenger’
A delicious shamelessness that recycles a classic American fantasy plot (the urban legend of the gremlin on warplanes that later became a milestone in popular culture thanks to Richard Matheson and ‘Twilight Zone’) with a combative and fun reading of genre and a fast pace. Chloë Grace Moretz is trapped with an all-male crew and a bugger in the belly of a plane, in one of those movies that takes away all the sorrows.
- You can see it on Movistar+
‘The Empty Man
We close with the best possible taste in our mouths: what is perhaps the best horror film of the year (and of last year, when it was released in hidden theaters). Pure, suffocating, and Lovecraftian horror that vibrates in the vein of current literary authors such as Thomas Ligotti, and that raises a series of topics as current as lies that become truths through repetition… but in a transcendent key. A wonder that will take time to lose strength.
- You can see it on Disney+
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
