10. The FRENCH DISPATCH
143 LISTS | 11 TOP SPOTS Wes Anderson | 107 mins | Comedy/Drama/Romance Benicio Del Toro | Adrien Brody | Tilda Swinton | Lea Seydoux
“Wes Anderson’s wildly comedic, yet fiercely serious, adaptation of stories and personalities from the classic age of The New Yorker unleashes a self-surpassing torrent of dramatic and decorative complexity, philosophical power, and physical intensity. It’s an extraordinary film of the life of the mind-body connection, of history in the present tense.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
9. Titane
150 LISTS | 12 TOP SPOTS Julia Ducournau | 108 mins | Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller Vincent Lindon | Agathe Rousselle | Garance Marillier | Lais Salameh
“Julia Ducournau’s sophomore feature-length film, Titane, was one of the most intriguing and unique films released this year, earning the Palme d’or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Its story morphs from a surreal body-horror fever-dream about a female serial killer with a love (and lust) for cars into a story about two people who struggle to embrace and love one another unconditionally, in spite of their insecurities and failures. Agathe Rouselle and Vincent Lindon’s performances carry the film that ponders the self-destructive nature of failing to meet others’ expectations, and the love that can occur when people are embraced regardless of their differences.” – Paul Dika, Exclaim!
8. Summer of Soul
153 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
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
219 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
280 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
302 LISTS | 46 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:
| R | TITLE | L | #1 | AR | L% | #1% | TCL | TCL1 | TCL% | TCL1% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Power of the Dog | 388 | 69 | 4.03 | 48% | 11% | 139 | 27 | 53% | 12% |
| 2 | Licorice Pizza | 302 | 46 | 4.14 | 38% | 7% | 113 | 16 | 43% | 7% |
| 3 | Drive My Car | 280 | 46 | 4.00 | 35% | 7% | 118 | 24 | 45% | 11% |
| 4 | Dune | 272 | 23 | 4.99 | 34% | 4% | 58 | 6 | 22% | 3% |
| 5 | West Side Story | 219 | 17 | 4.86 | 27% | 3% | 70 | 10 | 27% | 5% |
| 6 | The Green Knight | 195 | 15 | 5.06 | 24% | 2% | 56 | 3 | 22% | 1% |
| 7 | Pig | 179 | 16 | 5.61 | 22% | 3% | 43 | 3 | 17% | 1% |
| 8 | Summer of Soul | 153 | 12 | 5.30 | 19% | 2% | 49 | 5 | 19% | 2% |
| 9 | Titane | 150 | 12 | 5.01 | 19% | 2% | 32 | 2 | 12% | 1% |
| 10 | The French Dispatch | 143 | 11 | 5.17 | 18% | 2% | 39 | 2 | 15% | 1% |
| 11 | The Worst Person in the World | 142 | 13 | 4.84 | 18% | 2% | 65 | 8 | 25% | 4% |
| 12 | Memoria | 133 | 22 | 4.22 | 17% | 3% | 51 | 6 | 20% | 3% |
| 13 | CODA | 122 | 9 | 5.38 | 15% | 1% | 32 | 3 | 12% | 1% |
| 14 | Annette | 115 | 13 | 4.95 | 14% | 2% | 36 | 3 | 14% | 1% |
| 15 | Belfast | 114 | 23 | 3.57 | 14% | 4% | 29 | 5 | 11% | 2% |
| 16 | The Card Counter | 114 | 3 | 6.20 | 14% | 0% | 45 | 2 | 17% | 1% |
| 17 | Red Rocket | 109 | 4 | 5.99 | 14% | 1% | 39 | 2 | 15% | 1% |
| 18 | The Lost Daughter | 107 | 6 | 6.33 | 13% | 1% | 48 | 5 | 18% | 2% |
| 19 | Petite Maman | 106 | 10 | 5.30 | 13% | 2% | 41 | 5 | 16% | 2% |
| 20 | C'mon C'mon | 106 | 4 | 6.33 | 13% | 1% | 31 | 1 | 12% | 0% |
| 21 | The Souvenir, Part II | 104 | 6 | 4.97 | 13% | 1% | 48 | 4 | 18% | 2% |
| 22 | Spencer | 103 | 5 | 5.94 | 13% | 1% | 30 | 3 | 12% | 1% |
| 23 | tick, tick... BOOM! | 98 | 1 | 5.67 | 12% | 0% | 17 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 24 | The Last Duel | 90 | 4 | 6.29 | 11% | 1% | 30 | 2 | 12% | 1% |
| 25 | Passing | 90 | 1 | 6.30 | 11% | 0% | 39 | 0 | 15% | 0% |
| 26 | Spider-Man: No Way Home | 89 | 9 | 4.77 | 11% | 1% | 14 | 1 | 5% | 0% |
| 27 | The Mitchells vs. the Machines | 89 | 8 | 5.60 | 11% | 1% | 15 | 0 | 6% | 0% |
| 28 | Flee | 89 | 5 | 5.60 | 11% | 1% | 33 | 1 | 13% | 0% |
| 29 | Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy | 88 | 9 | 5.12 | 11% | 1% | 39 | 8 | 15% | 4% |
| 30 | Days | 83 | 12 | 4.11 | 10% | 2% | 41 | 6 | 16% | 3% |
| 31 | Zola | 83 | 7 | 5.63 | 10% | 1% | 26 | 2 | 10% | 1% |
| 32 | King Richard | 82 | 3 | 5.43 | 10% | 0% | 18 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 33 | Parallel Mothers | 80 | 1 | 5.87 | 10% | 0% | 37 | 0 | 14% | 0% |
| 34 | The Tragedy of Macbeth | 76 | 3 | 5.42 | 9% | 0% | 23 | 3 | 9% | 1% |
| 35 | Benedetta | 76 | 2 | 5.65 | 9% | 0% | 32 | 0 | 12% | 0% |
| 36 | Bergman Island | 75 | 5 | 6.12 | 9% | 1% | 27 | 3 | 10% | 1% |
| 37 | Mass | 73 | 4 | 5.38 | 9% | 1% | 21 | 0 | 8% | 0% |
| 38 | In the Heights | 73 | 2 | 5.98 | 9% | 0% | 17 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 39 | Judas and the Black Messiah | 72 | 3 | 5.56 | 9% | 0% | 8 | 0 | 3% | 0% |
| 40 | The Father | 68 | 3 | 4.51 | 9% | 0% | 20 | 2 | 8% | 1% |
| 41 | Nightmare Alley | 67 | 4 | 5.85 | 8% | 1% | 19 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 42 | Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn | 65 | 6 | 5.25 | 8% | 1% | 31 | 2 | 12% | 1% |
| 43 | Shiva Baby | 63 | 0 | 7.07 | 8% | 0% | 20 | 0 | 8% | 0% |
| 44 | The Velvet Underground | 61 | 2 | 5.95 | 8% | 0% | 26 | 2 | 10% | 1% |
| 45 | No Time To Die | 60 | 2 | 6.42 | 7% | 0% | 13 | 0 | 5% | 0% |
| 46 | Undine | 54 | 1 | 5.62 | 7% | 0% | 23 | 0 | 9% | 0% |
| 47 | Don't Look Up | 54 | 3 | 5.86 | 7% | 0% | 9 | 0 | 3% | 0% |
| 48 | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings | 54 | 0 | 6.56 | 7% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 2% | 0% |
| 49 | Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar | 53 | 4 | 6.43 | 7% | 1% | 19 | 1 | 7% | 0% |
| 50 | The Woman Who Ran | 51 | 2 | 6.06 | 6% | 0% | 23 | 1 | 9% | 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
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