My Favourite Films of 2021? Still thinking about it... ;-)

***UPDATED March 6, 2022 **** As I watch more 2021 films, I'll move them up if I love them.  Please expect a new post on my Top Favourites before Oscar Night. *****

I've always enjoyed compiling my list of Favourite Films each year.   Before COVID, it was easy for me to check out many new films long before the end of the year by attending film festivals or heading often to movie theatres.  Nowadays, the release of some films on streaming services like Netflix partially makes up for the loss the festivals and open movie theatres during lock down. 

But I'm still far behind in my viewing of the biggest films of 2021.  Furthermore, I'm also hesitant to come out with my big list too soon because I have found that my thoughts on my favourite films evolve over time.  The test of time for me is to acknowledge which of my favourite films I actually watch over and over again because they excite me and deliver each time.  That's not something you can know from one viewing.  It takes months to acknowledge which Blu-ray I'm turning on again and again (I always buy Blu-rays of my favourites.)  

For instance, I went back to my 2020 favourites list and changed it again.  Of my favourites that year, I continually go back and re-watch Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Tenet, for which I have the Blu-ray.  My initial top choice of that year was Supernova, a perfectly romantic and nuanced story which I continue to admire.  But its subject matter and style don't make for enjoyable repeat viewings.  So I moved it down to my third choice for 2020, below the stunning Promising Young Woman, a film I have watched multiple times as its awesome rhythm and quality remain continually enjoyable (despite its dark subject matter.)

So I'm going to think long and hard about the films of 2021 before I come up with any kind of final list of favourites.   And again this year, I still have so many acclaimed movies even to see for the first time.   I imagine I will come up with a final list before this March's Oscars.  

In the mean time, I'm going to simply list the 2021 films I've seen so far which I would consider to be major contenders for my heart or my Top Ten, in alphabetical order so as not to preempt my own deliberations.  This is tentative, of course, as there are many other 2021 films I still need to see.  

TOP 10 FILMS OF 2021 I'VE SEEN SO FAR, in alphabetical order (updated March 6, 2022): 

Belfast

CODA

Don't Look Up

King Richard

The Lost Daughter

No Time To Die

The Power of the Dog

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Spider Man: No Way Home

West Side Story

OTHER 2021 FILMS I'VE SEEN WHICH I ENJOYED AS WELL, in alphabetical order:

Being the Ricardos

Boy Meets Boy

Black Widow

Chaos Walking

Cruella

The Eternals

Fear Street: Part One - 1994

Fisherman (extremely sexy short gay film)

I Carry You With Me

Licorice Pizza

Mountain Lodge

Passing

Seaspiracy

Tick Tick...Boom! 

The Tragedy of Macbeth

2021 FILMS I STILL WANT TO SEE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, in order of preference: 

The Eyes of Tammy Faye 

Spencer

The King's Man

Cyrano

Nightmare Alley

Drive My Car 

Respect

Scarborough 

Night Raiders

Fear Street: Part Two - 1978

Fear Street: Part Three - 1666

Last Night in Soho 

Benediction

Mothering Sunday

OTHER 2021 FILMS I SAW WHICH UNDERWHELMED ME, in alphabetical order:

Dune

In The Heights

Moffie

Sequin in a Blue Room

Voyagers