2021 Wrap Up

It’s hard to believe that another year has come to an end. In some ways, it was like I blinked and 2021 was over. Starting out in another lockdown (which definitely impacted my maintaining this blog) was rough, but then halfway through, movie theatres opened up again. Nothing will ever beat walking into that large auditorium, settling into those chairs and buckling in for a life changing journey.

2021 brought many great films that certainly made making this list a difficult task. Some I forgot along the way. Some made themselves known to me more recently. And others I wish I could erase from my memory all together. There are also a few that I think I generously rated, but what can you do?

So without further ado, here are my top 5 best and worst of the year.

Best

  1. Promising Young Woman
  2. West Side Story
  3. In The Heights
  4. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  5. Encanto

Worst

  1. Space Jam: A New Legacy
  2. The Green Knight
  3. Thunder Force
  4. Locked Down
  5. Tom and Jerry

The Green Knight

Based on the Arthurian legend, The Green Knight follows Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) as he embarks on a life or death quest to combat against the famous giant who has threatened Camelot. Risking his life (and his head), Gawain sets off on a journey that turns out to be so much more than he ever could have expected. Not only does he want to prove himself to his family and the court, but he hopes to learn more about himself in the process.

I grew up loving Arthurian legends and so my wanting to watch this movie seemed like a no brainer. I was really looking forward to it and the trailer looked amazing. Sadly, I was very much let down. This was not at all what I had been expecting. In fact, I left the cinema wondering what the fuck I had just watched. A day later and I am still scratching my head, unable to comprehend it.

First of all, the pacing of the film was way too slow. I struggled to pay attention and found everything happened at a snail’s pace. On top of that, it was confusing. I understand that this was supposed to be a unique and artistic approach to a classic story, but it didn’t work. The plot got muddled and the various chapter titles throughout were distracting as well as hard to read. Not to mention as well that the music was often too loud and would sometimes drown out what the characters were saying to one another.

I did think that the cinematography was well done, though it would have been nice to have less dark scenes. Sometimes it was hard to see what was happening on screen. I also thought that Dev Patel did a great job and I am a fan of Alicia Vikander, but that’s about all the positives I can say about it.

Unfortunately, The Green Knight missed all the marks for me. Maybe my expectations were too high, I don’t know. All I do know is that I wasted two hours of my life and I will never get them back.

Rating: ♥♥