The Top 10 Best Films (and TV shows) I saw in 2021

I’ve already released my worst-of list for 2021, and now time for the best-of. I didn’t watch as many truly great films as I would have liked this year, as many films like The Green Knight or The Suicide Squad came in the middle of Melbourne’s many lockdowns. But I did manage to see some really awesome/amazing/entertaining films and TV shows this year, and I want to share them with you so that you may go see them yourself.

Before I start, I should say that I’m NOT including films released in Australia in 2021 that were nominated for awards at the 2020 Oscars. So Minari and Judas and the Black Messiah – you were great, but no dice.

Let’s get to it then!

10. Invincible

Creator: Robert Kirkman

Cast: Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Gillian Jacobs, Walton Goggins, Zachary Quinto, Zazie Beetz

Subversion of the superhero is all too common, from the dark satiric depths of The Boys to the philosophical ruminations of Eternals to the cynical bro-comedy of Santa Inc.. Of course, just subverting a cliché isn't good enough on its own - there needs to be good things to balance it out. Thankfully, Invincible strongly delivers on that front.

Brilliantly animated and impeccably voiced, Invincible makes its presence known through its brutal flipping of superhero genre cliches, but then delivers a strong character piece on how expectations can crumble at a moments notice. With great plot twists and plenty to sink into, I highly recommend this one.

9. High Ground

Director: Stephen Maxwell Johnson

Cast: Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Simon Baker, Callan Mulvey, Aaron Pedersen, Ryan Corr, Caren Pistorius, Sean Mununggurr, Witiyana Marika, Esmerelda Marimowa, Maximillian Johnson, Jack Thompson

An Australian film about the treatment of the Indigenous peoples is a dime-a-dozen these days, so what makes High Ground stand out so? Because more deeply than that, it's a film about parenthood and responsibility, masculinity in times of war, and how all of it can deeply shatter the psyche of those who need help.

Wonderfully photographed and strongly intense, High Ground refuses to be just graphic violence and lecturing. It's cautioning, angry, dark, and captivating at times, asking the audience hard questions about characters who we would normally side with without question. May it go well in the Australian Awards Circuit.

8. Tick, Tick… BOOM!

Director: Lin-Manuel Miranda

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Robin de Jesus, Alexandra Shipp, Joshua Henry, Judith Light, Vanessa Hudgens

Lin-Manuel Miranda has had a real load of work this year. Not only did he adapt his hit musical In the Heights to the cinema, he also wrote the music to Encanto and Vivo, both animated hits that achieved strong viewership despite neither being particularly impressive. But he also had his directorial debut, where he put his writing idiosyncracies and musical notes away for a moment...and it was where he truly shined.

Adapting Jonathan Larsen's autobiographical musical of the same name, Tick, tick...BOOM! sees a never better Andrew Garfield as a young struggling writer trying to compose a classic musical in a world which he refuses to catch up with. There's plenty of deep analysis of Larsen poking fun at his own idealistic ways and how art fails to properly portray reality, but this movie is worth seeing just for Andrew Garfield acting his heart out trying to bring a satirical space musical to the stage. Lin-Manuel, keep doing this stuff.

7. Dune

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgard, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Chang Chen, Stephen McKinley-Henderson

Dune is decidedly imperfect. Its characters are not particularly interesting, its third act is incredibly lacking, and it changes aspect ratio almost as frequently as Michael Bay. But that doesn't discount from the sheer spectacle that Dune can and frequently does present.

One of the most visually sumptuous movies of the year, just the sight of a vehicle in Dune can bring artistic shivers down the spine. It has a propulsive, intense energy as you stare at these impossible structures and marvel at the incredible imagination on display. You see thousands of years in history and violence etched into the metal of the buildings, in the worn costumes, and in the sands of the desert.

Dune can be frustrating, cold, even annoying, but when it gets going, you won't get anything else quite like it.

6. Pig

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin

Pig is far more impressive for what it isn't rather than what it is. Marketed as a sort of revenge thriller as Nicolas Cage tracks down his stolen pet pig, it is much more an anti-revenge thriller, focusing on a character searching for meaning through mutual understanding than through gunning everyone down, John Wick-style.

Putting aside Pig's immaculate presentation (especially for a first-time director), Pig finds its catharsis in the lack of catharsis - we feel the devastation of Nicolas Cage as he desperately searches and finds no answer, as we see those happy around him crumble and fall under the realisation that they are living a lie. The silence and sadness of the film blows you away without anyone drawing their guns. It's fantastic stuff.

5. Bo Burnham: Inside

Director/Cast: Bo Burnham

This technically isn't even a movie - it's a series of skits by YouTuber Bo Burnham filmed entirely in his apartment over the course of 2020. There's no through narrative, merely the framing device of isolation by COVID-19. But that frame can have a lot hung on it, and Bo Burnham had a lot to say.

Like reading through the rambling diary of the everyday thoughts of a human being, Inside speaks much to the mental confusion and anguish of our modern times through skits, satire, banality, self-deprecation and suicide. The incredible photography and editing may make it seem like a particularly expensive YouTube poop, but there's much analysis to be had and many realizations that can come from watching this stream-of-consciousness exploration of the mad mind of the sane.

In years to come, this could even be a historical text. For now, it's just a great film.

4. Squid Game

Creator: Hwang Dong-hyuk

Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam Tripathi, Kim Joo-ryoung

I think more than anything, I appreciated Squid Game's immense watchability. It had a killer narrative hook that made you want to keep coming back for more, which was the classic reality TV-esque "who will die next?" speculation. On top of that, it boasted incredible characters, diverse environments and a constant sense of tension bleeding through the screen.

Aside from how easy and enjoyable it was to just watch this show, Squid Game absolutely delivers on its many fronts of societal commentary. Whether it be predatory systems, American imperialism, human interaction, exploitation of the innocent, or just sheer madness at the heart of regular people, Squid Game has a deeply engaging core to it that will leave you discussing the show as much as gawking at it.

3. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Director: Mike Rianda

Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Mike Rianda, Olivia Colman

My favourite film at the halfway point of the year, this Netflix/Sony joint came from the minds behind Into the Spider-Verse and Gravity Falls, combining the visual inventiveness of the former with the semi-grounded family storylines of the latter. As a result, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is one of the best kids films I've seen in a while, especially in a year where those are few and far between.

Following a family road trip as the daughter heads off to film school, Mike Rianda's debut feature feels like a great animated TV series turned into a feature film. It has the confidence, energy and wisdom of shows like Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and The Simpsons, along with all the requisite heart and soul required. Go ahead and watch it, you'll sure enjoy it.

2. The Last Duel

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck

An okay film will tell you what something is. A good film will tell you what something is in an interesting setting or format. A great film tells you why something is in an interesting setting or format. And Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel is most certainly a great film.

Taking its exploration of sexual assault and toxic masculinity to 13th-century France, The Last Duel frames its themes through the lens of brutal tension, furious tirades, quiet moments and even absurdist dark comedy in the Hundred Years War. Incredible to absorb and discuss on a thematic level due to its unique setting and varied exploration, it’s easy to forget the sheer force of Scott’s filmmaking, the immaculate editing, the incredible visual design and pitch-perfect performances from a cast who know what they’re doing.

We need more films like this, that go high-concept with themes and break down their origin, their perpetuation, their why. This should never have bombed at the box office, because it’s too damn good.

So it’s accurate to say that The Last Duel was my favourite film of 2021. But it was not my favourite piece of media. That would be something I never saw coming in a million years…

1. Arcane

Creator: Christian Linke, Alex Yee

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, Kevin Alejandro, Katie Leung, Jason Spisak, Toks Olagundoye, JB Blanc, Harry Lloyd, Mia Sinclair Jenness

By all precedent, Arcane shouldn’t have worked. It was an adaptation of a video game, which in the year of Mortal Kombat, Dynasty Warriors and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, should have seen it as a flop. The video game in question was an annoying e-sports thing with no real story and defined more by its bizarre ad campaigns that actual gameplay. And it was being made by no-name producers and by a French animation studio no-one has heard of. It should have died.

Boy, I’ve never been so happy to be wrong in a long time.

Arcane is a masterpiece, and I don’t use that lightly. It integrates the visual design and immersive storytelling of a video-game into a consumable format without tripping on the excessive lore and references that made others fall. It provided a tight, always-moving story that perfectly centered on broad themes of societal responsibility and smaller character moments of sibling relationships. It creates a living, breathing world full of amazing characters without batting an eyelid at the difficulty and scale of it all. And it’s the only thing this year that had me crying tears at its conclusion.

Don’t dismiss this like I did – this is an incredible piece of media, and you should binge it all in one day like I did.