Here Are Mike's 10 Favorite Movies of 2021

2020 was an especially strange time for film. Theaters were closed for most of the year, which meant most of the high-profile releases were either delayed or pushed out to streaming services.

And that, in turn, made 2021 a pretty strange time for film, too. Because now we've been flooded with all kinds of movies - ones that were always planned for this year, ones that were supposed to come out last year, and all of them coming to us from a million different places. It's hard to keep track of whether a movie is in theaters or streaming, and if it is streaming somewhere, which one of the 8000 different services it'll actually be on.

I'm someone who watches a lot of movies, and every year right before I head out for the holidays, I like to publish my top 10 list on the site. So that's what I'm doing now! As always, there are still plenty of movies from this year I need to watch, so this is by no means my final list - strong contenders like Licorice Pizza, The Matrix Resurrections, Red Rocket, The Lost Daughter, The Tragedy of Macbeth and more could upend this list entirely!

But I think it's a great jumping off point, and I like to think there's pretty much something for everybody in the following movies. So without further ado, here it is:

Mike's 10 Favorite Movies of 2021

Honorable Mentions: Plan B, The Night House, C'Mon C'Mon, Tick Tick... Boom!, Bergman Island, Cryptozoo, Last Night in Soho, Derek Delgaudio's In & Of Itself, Nobody, West Side Story

10. The Power of the Dog - dir. Jane Campion (Available on Netflix)

9. The French Dispatch - dir. Wes Anderson (Currently In Theaters and Available to Purchase at Home for $19.99)

8. Shiva Baby - dir. Emma Seligman (Available on HBO Max)

7. Annette - dir. Leos Carax (Available on Amazon Prime)

6. Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) - dir. Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (Available on Hulu)

5. The Father - dir. Florian Zeller (Available on STARZ)

4. In the Heights - dir. Jon M. Chu (Available on HBO Max)

3. The Last Duel - dir. Ridley Scott (Available to Rent at Home for $5.99)

2. Pig - dir. Michael Sarnoski (Available on Hulu)

1. The Mitchells vs. the Machines - dir. Mike Rianda (Available on Netflix)