How is it that during the Year I decided I was going to watch LESS movies was the year I’ve actually seen the most movies in one year? Out of all the movies that premiered in 2021, I was able to see 187 of them. Around 60 of them were at a movie theater while the rest were from the many streaming services I subscribe to.
First off, I want to give thanks to HBO Max / Warner Bros for providing the day and date releases of their movies. I know I took advantage of that convenience. Appreciate it.
Secondly, I don’t think I’ll ever see a movie theater screening sold out ever again. Spider-Man No Way Home made all the money in the world, and the opening night screening I went to wasn’t even sold out. Compare that to the MCU releases pre-pandemic and it’s got to make you wonder.
Thirdly, due to the delays and the pandemic, the variety of movies released in 2021 was a smorgasbord of a lot of non-blockbuster films. That meant that I ended up seeing more genres and stories that you don’t normally see in theaters. That’s not necessarily an automatic win.
Due to the smaller non-blockbuster budgets, there seemed to be a similar quality among those movies. I feel like I’ve seen the most “B” quality grade films in 2021 than in any other years. In my grading scale, that’s either an “ENJOYED IT” or a “LIKED IT.”
Studios are playing it safer, hence the similar grade in quality? Maybe. Either that, or I need to be more specific with my grades. I know this was the hardest list I’ve ever had to sort through, and I’m still not completely comfortable with where the movies are ordered on this list.
Speaking of which, here’s the list below that shows my top favorite 50 movies out of the 187 movies I’ve seen released in 2021. There are still a lot of films I haven’t seen yet, so this is an incomplete sampling.