Best Movies of 2021

10. MEMORIA

158 LISTS | 25 TOP SPOTS
Apichatpong Weerasethakul | 136 mins | Drama/Mystery/Sci-Fi
Tilda Swinton | Agnes Brekke | Daniel Gimenez Cacho | Jeronimo Baron

“Weerasethakul’s movies defy summary or easy categorization. To describe them as dreamlike is incomplete, since you never know who is doing the dreaming. In this case, it might be Jessica (Tilda Swinton), a Scottish expatriate living in Colombia. Or it might be alien visitors, the filmmaker, the Earth or time itself. What is certain is that this film sharpens the senses and activates emotions that are no less powerful for being impossible to name.” – A.O. Scott, New York Times

9. Summer of Soul

154 LISTS | 12 TOP SPOTS
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson | 118 mins | Documentary/Music
Stevie Wonder | Nina Simone | Gladys Knight | B.B. King

“This documentary about a series of open-air concerts in Harlem in 1969, interweaving stunning performance footage with interviews with musicians and audience members, is a shot of pure joy. The lineup is a pantheon of Black genius, including Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, the Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson and many more. But the film is more than a time capsule: It’s a history lesson and an argument for why art matters — and what it can do — in times of conflict and anxiety.” – A.O. Scott, New York Times

8. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

177 LISTS | 19 TOP SPOTS
Joachim Trier | 128 mins | Comedy/Drama/Romance
Renate Reinsve | Anders Danielsen Lie | Herbert Nordrum | Hans Olav Brenner

“Joachim Trier’s richly compassionate character study wasn’t my first movie back in theaters this year, but it was the first film that filled me with all the joy, delight and surprise of going to the movies. Trier’s film, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and properly opens in February, stars Renate Reinsve as an uncertain Oslo 30-something finding her way. I haven’t yet worked out whether it was the movie’s warm, exuberant humanity or the experience of seeing it on the big screen in a theater with other people that moved me to tears. But what’s the difference?” – Jake Coyle, Associated Press

7. Pig

179 LISTS | 16 TOP SPOTS
Michael Sarnoski | 92 mins | Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Nicolas Cage | Alex Wolff | Adam Arkin | Cassandra Violet

“It’s just too easy to joke about all the B-movie roles Nicolas Cage has accepted over these last many years, and on its surface, “Pig” might have seemed like the latest in that very long line. After all, Cage is playing Rob, a former celebrated chef who is now living in a remote cabin in the Oregon wilderness with his only friend: his beloved truffle pig. When the valuable pig is kidnapped, Rob has to return to civilization to try to save her. I know, that sounds crazy, but in the hands of director and co-writer Michael Sarnoski, “Pig” is a mud-splattered, Shakespearean drama, with Cage giving a passionate but beautifully controlled performance that reminds us he can touch greatness.” – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

6. The Green KNight

195 LISTS | 15 TOP SPOTS
David Lowery | 130 mins | Adventure/Drama/Fantasy
Dev Patel | Alicia Vikander | Joel Edgerton | Sarita Choudhury

“David Lowery, who directed 2017’s best film “A Ghost Story,” puts his stamp on Arthurian legend in a dazzling and gleefully weird dark fantasy.  Dev Patel stars as Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew and a brash young knight who runs afoul of the mysterious emerald title character one Christmas and embarks on a quest of honor, consequence and mortality. (And if that’s not enough to whet your medieval whistle, the film also features distressed ghosts, comely temptresses, scheming bandits, naked giants and a talking fox.) You’ll definitely lose your head for this one.” – Brian Truitt, USA Today

5. West Side Story

220 LISTS | 17 TOP SPOTS
Steven Spielberg | 156 mins | Drama/Musical/Romance
Ansel Elgort | Rachel Zegler | Ariana DeBose | David Alvarez

“I was among the skeptics who thought we didn’t need a remake of the 1961 musical about a gangland Romeo and Juliet. My apologies. With the help of a racially aware and freshly textured script by Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg sets the screen ablaze. Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose are stars in the making and when they share the screen with Rita Moreno, the Oscar-winning Anita of the first film in a new role, the only word to describe it is thrilling.” – Peter Travers, ABC News

4. Dune

272 LISTS | 23 TOP SPOTS
Denis Villeneuve | 155 mins | Action/Adventure/Drama/Sci-Fi
Timothee Chalamet | Rebecca Ferguson | Zendaya | Oscar Isaac

“A bigger-than-IMAX vision that is as smart as it is spectacular, Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” is far and away the best blockbuster of the past few years. There was so much baggage and failure and missed opportunities swirling around “Dune” that it’s kind of miraculous that they were able to make something this clear-eyed, thrilling and visually unique. The best part is it’s not even finished yet.” – Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press

3. Drive My Car

283 LISTS | 46 TOP SPOTS
Ryusuke Hamaguchi | 179 mins | Drama
Hidetoshi Nishijima | Toko Miura | Reika Kirishima | Yoo-rim Park

“In Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s quietly ravishing masterwork based on a sliver of a short story by Haruki Murakami, the death of his wife leaves an experimental theater director — played by Hidetoshi Nishijima with a stoicism that conceals complex depths — to process his grief through art with a multilingual staging of Uncle Vanya. But it’s in the deepening bond he forms with a guarded young woman assigned as his driver, and the shared sense of loss that emerges during their rhythmic daily journeys in his beloved red Saab, that this symphonic exploration of the mysteries of human connection reveals its shimmering truths about forgiveness.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

2. Licorice Pizza

317 LISTS | 48 TOP SPOTS
Paul Thomas Anderson | 133 mins | Comedy/Drama/Romance
Alana Haim | Cooper Hoffman | Sean Penn | Bradley Cooper

“Paul Thomas Anderson’s shaggy-dog story of self-discovery in ’70s San Fernando Valley feels to me like a loose, easy-breathing culmination for Anderson, a virtuoso filmmaker here at his most tender and organic. “Licorice Pizza,” crammed with the comic chronicles of adolescence and young adulthood, is the most lived-in movie of the year.” – Jake Coyle, Associated Press

1. The Power of the Dog

388 LISTS | 69 TOP SPOTS
Jane Campion | 126 mins | Drama/Romance/Western
Benedict Cumberbatch | Kirsten Dunst | Jesse Plemons | Kodi Smit-McPhee

“Twelve years after her last film, Campion (The Piano) returns with a vengeance in Power, a Western noir so fraught it should come with its own Xanax. Benedict Cumberbatch is frankly terrifying as Phil, a Montana rancher whose toxic dance with his fragile new sister-in-law (Kirsten Dunst) and her teenage son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) shimmers with strange electricity.” – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

Full List:

RTITLEL#1ARL%#1%TCLTCL1TCL%TCL1%
1The Power of the Dog388694.0348%11%1051952%11%
2Licorice Pizza317484.1539%8%851742%10%
3Drive My Car283463.9935%7%911645%9%
4Dune272234.9934%4%41120%1%
5West Side Story220174.8827%3%54727%4%
6The Green Knight195155.0624%2%38219%1%
7Pig179165.6122%3%35517%3%
8The Worst Person in the World177194.8521%3%50525%3%
9Summer of Soul154125.3319%2%53726%4%
10Memoria158254.5519%4%43621%3%
11Titane151125.0519%2%23211%1%
12The French Dispatch143115.1718%2%31415%2%
13Petite Maman143175.1517%2%45522%3%
14CODA12395.4115%1%1728%1%
15Belfast118243.6015%4%24512%3%
16Annette115134.9514%2%27213%1%
17The Card Counter11436.2014%0%33116%1%
18Red Rocket11245.9814%1%32116%1%
19The Lost Daughter10866.3213%1%38519%3%
20C'mon C'mon10756.2513%1%26113%1%
21The Souvenir, Part II10464.9713%1%37118%1%
22Spencer10355.9413%1%32316%2%
23tick, tick… BOOM!9815.6712%0%1819%1%
24Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy9295.0311%1%27313%2%
25Flee9155.6711%1%1919%1%
26The Last Duel9046.2911%1%1909%0%
27Passing9016.3011%0%38019%0%
28Spider-Man: No Way Home8994.7711%1%703%0%
29The Mitchells vs. the Machines8985.6011%1%1015%1%
30Parallel Mothers8725.8311%0%29014%0%
31Days83124.1110%2%22211%1%
32Zola8375.6310%1%21210%1%
33King Richard8235.4310%0%1919%1%
34The Tragedy of Macbeth7835.4110%0%1929%1%
35Benedetta7825.7810%0%1517%1%
36Bergman Island7756.1810%1%25312%2%
37Mass7445.359%1%1105%0%
38In the Heights7325.989%0%1216%1%
39Judas and the Black Messiah7235.569%0%1105%0%
40The Father6834.519%0%22211%1%
41Nightmare Alley6855.758%1%1909%0%
42Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn6665.238%1%28214%1%
43Shiva Baby6307.078%0%1105%0%
44The Velvet Underground6125.958%0%26113%1%
45No Time To Die6026.427%0%904%0%
46Undine5415.627%0%1507%0%
47Don't Look Up5435.867%0%904%0%
48Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings5406.567%0%502%0%
49Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar5246.336%1%1618%1%
50The Woman Who Ran5126.066%0%1708%0%
51What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?5065.306%1%1939%2%
52The Harder They Fall4836.526%0%1105%0%
53The Suicide Squad4715.946%0%301%0%
54Bo Burnham: Inside4444.915%1%402%0%
55A Hero4625.735%0%1407%0%
56The Beatles: Get Back4384.675%1%502%0%
57Last Night in Soho4006.005%0%502%0%
58In Front of Your Face4845.055%0%1115%1%
59Quo Vadis, Aida?3935.195%0%1507%0%
60Vortex4655.815%1%1246%2%
61Malignant3626.924%0%301%0%
62Nine Days3554.214%1%512%1%
63The Hand of God3545.384%1%924%1%
64Procession3416.314%0%1608%0%
65All Light, Everywhere3326.084%0%814%1%
66No Sudden Move3107.004%0%703%0%
67The Matrix Resurrections3036.214%0%211%1%
68France3015.784%0%814%1%
69Luca3006.854%0%703%0%
70Cyrano3006.054%0%703%0%
71El Planeta2817.333%0%1015%1%
72Riders of Justice2615.793%0%703%0%
73A Quiet Place Part II2607.003%0%402%0%
73Being the Ricardos2604.553%0%603%0%
75Cry Macho2436.313%0%402%0%
76Compartment No. 62925.003%0%703%0%
77Faya Dayi2325.673%0%613%1%
78The Rescue2315.333%0%402%0%
78Free Guy2316.003%0%201%0%
80The Girl and the Spider2725.043%0%713%1%
81Cruella2115.083%0%301%0%
82The Humans2107.573%0%904%0%
83Old2006.462%0%201%0%
84House of Gucci1907.582%0%703%0%
85Zack Snyder's Justice League1815.832%0%201%0%
86Great Freedom2206.522%0%402%0%
87Azor1806.082%0%603%0%
88The Sparks Brothers1705.922%0%201%0%
88I'm Your Man1706.542%0%502%0%
90Nobody1616.632%0%201%0%
91Encanto1607.292%0%201%0%
91Test Pattern1607.182%0%301%0%
93Playground1934.422%0%804%0%
94Murina1915.292%0%1005%0%
95Censor1507.132%0%201%0%
96Il Buco1815.532%0%402%0%
97Zeroes and Ones1505.832%0%201%0%
98The Tsugua Diaries1706.642%0%603%0%
99A Night of Knowing Nothing1715.602%0%412%1%
100Cryptozoo1409.112%0%402%0%
100Old Henry1407.292%0%603%0%

Lists Included 801 | Top Critics’ Lists Included 260

R Rank
L Total number of lists where the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year
AR Average position on ranked top 10 lists
#1 Total number of lists where the film was selected as the best film of the year
L% Percentage of total lists where the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year
#1% Percentage of mentions where the film was selected as the best film of the year
TCL Number of times that the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL1 Number of times that the film was selected as the best film of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL% Percentage of times that the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL1% Percentage of lists where the film was selected as the best film of the year on top critics’ lists