2021 Wrap Up!

Ah, 2021. Another year spent mostly inside. Luckily, we live in a time in which a seemingly infinite amount of great films, books, and tv shows are available at our fingertips. Alas, not everything I read and watched turned out to be great. Some weren’t even good. Still, more than enough were. That’s all you can ask for in a year like this.

By the Numbers:

• • 177 Movies Watched (23 from this year)
  • 24 Books Read (2 from this year)
  • 42 seasons of TV watched across 26 series (22 series from this year)

Additions to the “A” List:

The films that were added to my running list of all A and A- movies since beginning this blog.

• • 8 1/2 – Federico Fellini (1963)
  • Nights of Cabiria – Federico Fellini (1957)
  • Three Colours: Blue – Krzysztof Kieślowski (1993)
  • Three Colours: Red – Krzysztof Kieślowski (1994)
  • Kicking and Screaming – Noah Baumbach (1995)
  • Memories of Murder – Bong Joon-ho (2003)
  • Jules and Jim – François Truffaut (1962)
  • Judas and the Black Messiah – Shaka King (2021)
  • Soul – Pete Docter (2020)
  • Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy (2007)
  • Barking Dogs Never Bite – Bong Joon-ho (2000)
  • Nomadland – Chloé Zhao (2020)
  • Mustang -Deniz Gamze Ergüven (2015)
  • Varda by Agnès – Agnès Varda (2019)
  • Coming to America  – John Landis (1998)
  • Cléo from 5 to 7 – Agnès Varda (1962)
  • The Long Goodbye – Robert Altman (1973)
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson (2014)
  • California Split – Robert Altman (1974)
  • La Ciénaga – Lucrecia Martel (2001)
  • Blood Simple – The Coen Brothers (1984)
  • Burn After Reading – The Coen Brothers (2008)
  • The Last Detail – Hal Ashby (1973)
  • Bo Burnham: Inside – Bo Burnham (2021)
  • The Parallax View – Alan J. Pakula (1974)
  • Solaris – Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
  • Roma – Federico Fellini (1972)
  • Y Tu Mamá También – Alfonso Cuarón (2001)
  • Ratatouille – Brad Bird (2007)
  • Shithouse – Cooper Raiff (2020)
  • Dune – Denis Villeneuve (2021)
  • Fat Girl – Catherine Breillat (2001)
  • Seven Beauties -Lina Wertmüller (1975)

Various Writings

Movie Logs:
January
February
March
April
May 
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

2021 Reading Log

2021 Television Log

Top Ten TV Shows

Movies

January
Three Colours: Blue – Krzysztof Kieślowski (1993)
Three Colours: White – Krzysztof Kieślowski (1993)
Old Boyfriends – Joan Tewkesbury (1979)
Three Colours: Red – Krzysztof Kieślowski (1994)
Tenet – Christopher Nolan (2020)
The Peanut Butter Falcon – Tyler Nilson, Henry Schwartz (2019)
Fighting with My Family – Stephen Merchant (2019)
Variety Lights – Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada (1950)
The White Sheik – Federico Fellini (1952)
Dr. Strangelove… – Stanley Kubrick (1964)
I Vitelloni – Federico Fellini (1953)
Il Bidone – Federico Fellini (1955)
La Dolce Vita – Federico Fellini (1960)
Nights of Cabiria – Federico Fellini (1957)
The Town – Ben Affleck (2010)
Kicking and Screaming – Noah Baumbach (1995)
Memories of Murder – Bong Joon-ho (2003)
Jules and Jim – François Truffaut (1962)
8 ½ – Federico Fellini (1963)
Some Kind of Heaven – Lance Oppenheim (2020)
The Little Things – John Lee Hancock (2021)

February
Soul – Pete Docter (2020)
Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy (2007)
Juliet of the Spirits – Federico Fellini (1965)
Mr. Jealousy – Noah Baumbach (1997)
Shoot the Piano Player – François Truffaut (1960)
Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell (2020)
Barking Dogs Never Bite – Bong Joon-ho (2000)
Framing Britney Spears – Samantha Stark (2021)
Judas and the Black Messiah – Shaka King (2021)
Death at a Funeral – Frank Oz (2007)
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao (2020)
One Night in Miami – Regina King (2020)
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – George C. Wolfe (2020)
Atlantics – Mati Diop (2019)
Saint Maud – Rose Glass (2019)
Skate Kitchen – Crystal Moselle (2018)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin (2020)

March
The Wolfpack – Crystal Moselle (2015)
Varda by Agnès – Agnès Varda (2019)
La Pointe Courte – Agnès Varda (1955)
Molly’s Game – Aaron Sorkin (2017)
Coming to America – John Landis (1988)
David Byrne’s American Utopia – Spike Lee (2020)
Paris is Burning – Jennie Livingston (1990)
Let the Sunshine In – Claire Denis (2017)
Crip Camp – James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham (2020)
Sound of Metal – Darius Marder (2020)
The Muppet Movie – James Frawley (1979)
Tangerine – Sean Baker (2015)
American Factory – Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert (2019)
Free Solo – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin (2018)
The Great Muppet Caper – Jim Henson (1981)
Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg (2020)
El Camino – Vince Gilligan (2019)
Boyhood – Richard Linklater (2014)
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung (2020)
Mustang – Deniz Gamze Ergüven (2015)
Kajillionaire – Miranda July (2020)

April
Cléo from 5 to 7 – Agnès Varda (1962)
Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Adam Curtis (2021)
Shiva Baby – Emma Seligman (2020)
Shirley – Josephine Decker (2020)
Daguerréotypes – Agnès Varda (1976)
Hard Eight – Paul Thomas Anderson (1996)
Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson (2014)
California Split – Robert Altman (1974)
Honeyland – Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov (2019)
The Long Goodbye – Robert Altman (1973)
Ripley’s Game – Liliana Cavani (2002)
Strangers on a Train – Alfred Hitchcock (1951)
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson (2014)
The Lady Vanishes – Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
La ciénaga  – Lucrecia Martel (2001)
Rope – Alfred Hitchcock (1948)

May
Blood Simple – Joel Coen (1984)
Raising Arizona – Joel Coen (1987)
Burn After Reading – Joel & Ethan Coen (2008)
A New Leaf – Elaine May (1971)
The Heartbreak Kid – Elaine May (1972)
The Boy Downstairs – Sophie Brooks (2017)
10 Things I Hate About You – Gil Junger
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Mike Newell (1994)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High – Amy Heckerling (1982)
The Edge of Seventeen – Kelly Fremon Craig (2016)
Emma. – Autumn de Wilde (2020)
The Mitchells vs. The Machines – Mike Rianda (2021)
Zama – Lucrecia Martel (2017)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Phil Lord, Christopher Miller (2009)
Midnight Run – Martin Brest (1988)
Hell or High Water – David Mackenzie (2016)
Romancing the Stone – Robert Zemeckis (1984)
Say Anything – Cameron Crowe (1989)

June
Klute – Alan J. Pakula (1971)
The Last Detail – Hal Ashby (1973)
Notting Hill – Roger Michell (1999)
Plan B – Natalie Morales (2021)
The Parallax View – Alan J. Pakula (1974)

July
No Sudden Move – Steven Soderbergh (2021)
Zola – Janicza Bravo (2021)
The Pelican Brief – Alan J. Pakula (1993)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Peter Jackson (2001)
Yi Yi – Edward Yang (2000)
My Winnipeg – Guy Maddin (2007)
3 Women – Robert Altman (1977)
A Brighter Summer Day – Edward Yang (1991)
Pride and Prejudice – Joe Wright (2005)
A Town Called Panic -Stéphane Aubier,Vincent Patar (2009)
Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage – Garret Price
Bo Burnham: Inside – Bo Burnham (2021)

August
Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)– Questlove (2021)
A Story of Floating Weeds – Yasujirō Ozu (1934)
The Green Knight – David Lowery (2021)
A Confucian Confusion – Edward Yang (1994)
Untold: Malice at the Palace – Floyd Russ (2021)
Solaris – Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
The Secret of NIMH – Don Bluth (1982)
Paddington  – Paul King (2014)
Paddington 2 – Paul King (2017)
It’s Such a Beautiful Day – Don Hertzfeldt (2012)
Fantastic Planet – René Laloux (1973)
Fellini’s Roma – Federico Fellini (1972)
Sex, Lies, and Videotape – Steven Soderbergh (1989)
Y tu mamá también – Alfonso Cuarón (2001)
The Third Man – Carol Reed (1949)
Ratatouille – Brad Bird (2007)
The Incredibles – Brad Bird (2004)
The Incredibles 2 – Brad Bird (2018)
Monsters, Inc. – Pete Docter (2001)

September
After Hours – Martin Scorsese (1985)
Gosford Park – Robert Altman (2001)
Candyman – Bernard Rose (1992)
Together Together – Nikole Beckwith (2021)
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar – Josh Greenbaum (2021)
Ticket of No Return – Ulrike Ottinger (1979)
Scarface  – Brian De Palma (1983)
Vivre Sa Vie – Jon-Luc Godard (1962)
Plus One – Jeff Chan, Andrew Rhymer (2019)
Baby Driver – Edgar Wright (2017)
Shithouse – Cooper Raiff (2020)

October
Daisies – Věra Chytilová (1966)
The Many Saints of Newark – Alan Taylor (2021)
Jennifer’s Body – Karyn Kusama (2009)
Candyman – Nia DaCosta (2021)
Dune – Denis Villeneuve (2021)
Last Night in Soho – Edgar Wright (2021)
Titane – Julia Ducournau (2021)

November
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Chris Columbus (2001)
Safe – Todd Haynes (1995)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Chris Columbus (2002)
The Grand Bizarre – Jodie Mack (2018)
Fat Girl – Catherine Breillat (2001)
Leave No Trace – Debra Granik (2018)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Alfonso Cuarón (2004)
The French Dispatch – Wes Anderson (2021)
That Thing You Do! – Tom Hanks (1996)
Maggie’s Plan – Rebecca Miller (2015)
Desperately Seeking Susan – Susan Seidelman (1985)
Band Aid – Zoe Lister-Jones (2017)
How It Ends – Zoe Lister-Jones (2021)

December
King Richard – Reinaldo Marcus Green (2021)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Mike Newell (2005)
Save Yourselves! – Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson (2020)
Belfast – Kenneth Branagh (2021)
Buffaloed – Tanya Wexler (2019)
Seven Beauties – Lina Wertmüller (1976)
Citizenfour – Laura Poitras (2014)
Karaoke Girl – Visra Vichit-Vadakan (2013)
Butter on the Latch – Josephine Decker (2013)
Thou Wast Mild and Lovely  – Josephine Decker (2014)
Microhabitat – Jeon Go-woon (2017)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – David Yates (2007)
Blow the Man Down – Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy (2019)
Don’t Look Up – Adam McKay (2021)
The Breadwinner – Nora Twomey (2017)
How to Build a Girl – Coky Giedroyc (2019)
The To Do List – Maggie Carey (2013)

Books

• Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison (1952)
• Mad Men Carousel – Matt Zoller Seitz (2015)
• A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn (1980; 2015 edition)
• V. – Thomas Pynchon (1961)
• Breaking Bad 101 – Alan Sepinwall (2017)
• Antkind – Charlie Kaufman (2020)
• It’s Garry Shandling’s Book – Ed. Judd Apatow (2019)
• The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Matt Zoller Seitz (2015)
• There are No Children Here – Alex Kotlowitz (1991)
• The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
• The Aeneid – Vergil; Translation by Shadi Bartsch (2021)
• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (1813)
• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain – George Saunders (2021)
• Piranesi  – Susanna Clarke (2020)
• Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah – Richard Bach (1977)
• A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway (1964)
• Jitterbug Perfume – Tom Robbins (1984)
• This Is How You Lose the Time War – Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone (2019)
• Moments of Being – Virginia Woolf (1972)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling (1997)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling (1998)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling (1999)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling (2000)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling (2003)

Television

• Mad Men (Seasons 2-7) – Matthew Weiner (AMC)
• It’s a Sin – Russell T. Davies (Channel 4 / HBO Max)
• Breaking Bad (Seasons 1-5) – Vince Gilligan (AMC)
• Mare of Easttown -Brad Ingelsby (HBO) 
• Hacks – Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky (HBO MAX)
• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Season 2) – Zach Kanin, Tim Robinson (Netflix) 
• Mythic Quest (Seasons 1 & 2) – Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, Rob McElhenney (Apple TV+)
• Betty (Season 2) – Crystal Moselle (HBO)
• The White Lotus – Mike White (HBO) 
• Detroiters (Seasons 1 & 2) – Sam Richardson, Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, Joe Kelly (Comedy Central)* 
• 9/11: One Day in America – Daniel Bogado (National Geographic) 
• Normal People – Sally Rooney, Alice Birch, Mark O’Rowe (Hulu / BBC)* 
• Reservation Dogs – Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi (FX on Hulu) 
• Ted Lasso (Seasons 1* & 2) -Jeff Ingold, Liza Katzer, Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis (Apple TV+)
• Squid Game – Hwang Dong-hyuk (Netflix) 
• Only Murders in the Building – Steve Martin, John Hoffman (Hulu)
• You (Season 3) – Greg Berlanti, Sera Gamble (Netflix) 
• What We Do in the Shadows (Season 3) – Jermaine Clement (FX)
• Impeachment: American Crime Story – Scott Alexander, Sarah Burgess (FX) 
• Better Call Saul (Seasons 1-5) – Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould (AMC)
• The Great British Baking Show (Series 12) – Anna Beattie (Channel 4 / Netflix) 
• Survivor (Season 41)– Charlie Parsons, Mark Burnett, Jeff Probst (CBS)
• Succession (Season 3) – Jesse Armstrong (HBO) 
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 11) – Larry David (HBO) 
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 15) – Rob McElhenney (FXX)
• How To with John Wilson (Season 2) – John Wilson (HBO)