Every year I look back on what has come out, and I try and make a Top 5 list of my favorites that I’ve checked out. Well, this might be a bit tricky this year with movies. Though, my rule is that I just need to have watched that movie, read that book, or played a game for the first time that year. So, I should be able to come up with some movies to talk about.

5. Bill And Ted Face The Music

I’m not going to lie, movie watching was done this year. If I didn’t have a lot of December year end and year beginning articles to write, I might not even have Bill and Ted Face the Music on the list. I fully expect that Spider-Man No Way Home will push this off the list. But I haven’t seen that yet.

Bill and Ted Face the Music is a fun film, it’s a good end to the Bill and Ted “trilogy” that didn’t need to be a trilogy. It follows their kids as they try and find the music again before the world ends. Because Bill and Ted haven’t written the song that is going to save the world as the first movie predicted.

In my review, and I still stand by this, I’d watch the original two over and over, but Bill and Ted Face the Music just is fine. You can see some brief thoughts on it here. The movie just seems to lose some of the heart that the other ones have, which makes sense because it’s a long time later. But the year has slim movie pickings for me.

4. Dune

Another one I’m not sure would make the list in a normal year. Granted, I think it would because it’s such a gorgeous movie. Dune is a movie a Dune fans in the best way possible. It’s also a movie for Dune fans in the worst way possible. It tells the story and stays true to the first book too a fault. I like the book, but the first part is extremely dry and it’s not even on Arrakis yet.

But they get the look right, the casting is solid, and the music is great. Once the action kicks in, the last 30 minutes of the movie, it’s really fun. I want to see the second part because even more happens there. But I’m not going to be jumping for joy for the first part. I think if I watch both together, it’ll be very long, but I’ll appreciate it a lot.

3. Black Widow

I won’t lie, it’s Marvel from here on out. Marvel is a soft spot for me, but they did a good job on all their movies this year. I don’t think they messed up any of them. Black Widow is the lowest just because it was a nice Black Widow story, but after Endgame, I don’t need more Black Widow story. And while it sets up some characters, I don’t think it sets up enough, but I do like Yelena a lot.

This is my favorite Marvel spy movie, it’s more Bond like and more my style as compared to something like Captain America: Winter Soldier. Some of that is that it has more humor in it. Some is that Winter Soldier tries to be Bourne, which I thought was just okay and isn’t my style and Black Widow tries to be classic Bond which I like more.

2. The Eternals

The Eternals might not make some people’s lists, but I really enjoyed it. You can hear my thoughts on it on the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast here. But this is a different type of Marvel film. It is building a new team. And it builds a team in a very different way. It also creates a much larger world/universe to be dealt with within the MCU.

I think that the story plays out well. While I kind of get why it can feel rushed, I think the character motivations all make sense. And when they divide as to who they stand with, it makes sense. The acting was very solid as well in this movie. Gemma Chan and Lia McHugh really steal the show, but so many of the roles are well done.

1. Shang Chi And the Legend of the Ten Rings

My Top Marvel film and top movie I saw in 2021 is Shang-Chi. Disclaimer, this is before seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I don’t know what to expect from that. But Shang Chi blended so much together really well. It felt most like a Marvel film for the new character introduced. And the humor in the movie is a lot of fun. I think the humor is better than the Eternals.

Plus, the action in the film is so nice. Clearly taking inspiration from the style of other movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it is some of the best action I’ve seen. There is such artistry in how it is done and there are also some nods to anime in the fighting style at times as well.

That’s my list for 2021. The only other movie I could even consider, that I remember is the Addams Family animated film, my wife and I rented and watched the first one of those. It is a perfectly fine movie. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but I’d also not tell people to skip it. It’s just a fun, pretty straightforward, movie without many twists are great jokes.

What are the best movies you saw for the first time this year?

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