Last year I watched 235 movies, 138 of them for the first time. Of those 138 most were good, some were great, some were disappointing, and a couple were awful. But rather then make a “best of” list I decided to share 20 movies I loved. Each movie I chose here offers something different, some made me think, some made me cry, some made me smile but each one moved me. My hope is that if you seek them out you too will be moved. Sadly many of the older movies are not streaming anywhere but they are worth keeping an eye out for. Here in alphabetical order are my picks.
Animal Kingdom
An Australian crime drama as much about dysfunctional family dynamics as crime. I started and quit the show that came after but this is a must see.
Streaming on: 🙁 (not streaming in Canada)
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The Babadook
Australian again and also again a first time writer/director. A brilliant and imaginative horror movie with to my mind a game changing twist. Be comforted going in that the child actor was shielded from all the scary stuff.
Streaming on: Shudder
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Blow-Up
Watching classics you always wonder: Will it live up to the hype? This one does in spades. Instantly one of my all time favorite films. Warning: one scene has not aged well at all even if it as stunningly shot as the rest of the film.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Detour (1945)
The ultimate bad day movie. This no budget Noir is as chilling as they come and constantly shocking. A masterpiece.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
With the single exception of the dumb and forced upon him “A Knives Out Mystery” subheading everything about Rian Johnsons sequel to his delightfully clever Knives Out is perfectly charming and delightfully clever. A great cast make it look like it might have been even more fun to make then it is to watch and it’s huge fun to watch. Bonus points for the epic cameo’s.
Streaming on: Netflix
Buy or Rent on: 🙁
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
This powerful meditation on sex and relationships is riveting from start to finish and unique in that it is primarily focused on a woman, her needs, her empowerment. This is going to be one of the toughest Oscar fights in years for best actress but the sheer bravery of Thompsons final shot, both her own and the filmmakers make me want her to win both for her performance and to make a statement.
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The Last Duel
I liked it until the final act then I loved it. Amazing, amazing work, one of Ridley Scott’s best and that’s saying something. I was already a fan of all the boys and Jodie Comer but I went looking for the work of co-writer Nicole Holofcener after seeing this.
Streaming on: Crave and Disney+
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Honestly I didn’t enjoy this one for almost the first hour but I stuck with it because I’ve never not loved a Powell/Pressburger film before. The last almost two hours made me fall completely in love with it.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The Lodger (1927)
Excepting a few early silents I think this is the only Alfred Hitchcock movie I had not yet seen. It is the first movie where Hitchcock really demonstrated his signature style and it is thrilling. Proof that silent films can be great.
Streaming on: Classix App, Criterion Channel
Buy or Rent on: Apple TV
Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
This documentary is only fifteen minutes long but it is fifteen minutes your never going to forget. It is a record of the fact that there was a time in America you could get postcards to commemorate the lynching you attended. Like Holocaust documentaries this is as important a watch as it is uncomfortable.
Streaming on: Amazon Prime and Paramount+
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Do NOT accidentally watch the star studded, unnecessary and disappointing 2021 remake. The modern remake softens the blow where the original makes no attempt to redeem one of the most despicable characters to grace the silver screen. This one chills right through one of the darkest endings ever. Not sure how it got made in 1947 but I’m awfully grateful it did.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: DVD from Amazon.ca
Nope
I assume everyone is a big fan of Jordan Peele after watching Get Out (if you haven’t seen it yet you need to). This, his third, is the movie you make when you get to do whatever you want. Peele does whatever he wants and the result is not so much great as it is delightful fun. An ode to 50’s monster movies, a history of African Americans in the movies, a treatise on animal use and abuse and a bunch of other stuff plus it is totally original and sometimes terrifying. What more could you want?
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Paths of Glory
Technically it is superb in the way that became a Kubrick trademark. What surprises is that possibly the most clinical filmmaker of all time has made a completely emotional picture. I’m old enough that I was horrified but not surprised by scenes where the villainous French generals causally disregard human life in pursuit of career highlights but I watched it with my teenage son and he was shocked and horrified. Over 60 years later it still may be the greatest anti-war movie ever made.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Phenix City Story
This true life tale takes place in Alabama and well it should not be mistaken for a history lesson the bones of the story are real and they are shocking. It starts out as pretty standard stuff but it gets brutal fast. There is one scene I can’t believe made it onto the screen in 1955. It is not a masterpiece but the real life element takes its engagement to the next level.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The Rules of the Game
If I were picking a best film I saw this year this would be a top contender. At first glance it looks like a social farce about the mores and morality of the wealthy and entitled but Renoir’s subtle and brilliant movie gets less funny and more tragic until all the clever vapidness leaves a taste like ash in the mouth. If like me you need to read the subtitles it’s extra hard to pay attention to the fact that multiple parallel stories are being told on screen at once thanks to a masterful use of deep focus cinematography. Brilliant on every level.
Streaming on: Criterion Channel
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
The Shop Around the Corner
I never got around to this because I know it to be original of You’ve Got Mail a movie my wife adores and I don’t like. It was on TCM around Christmas so we watched it together. It is a great movie but that’s not why its here. It made the list because it made me smile the entire time. The sweetest movie I watched all year it is also serious and smart. A legitimate contender for best romantic comedy of all time.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Small Axe episode 1: Mangrove
It is a bit of a cheat to include 1 out of 5 episodes but I started late in the year and I’m stuck on episode 2. I’ll get a review of them all out later but episode 1 was so eye opening to me I had to include it. For no particular reason I have never thought of Britain as racist against people of African descent like America’s well documented history. This movie (based on real events) takes place in a Caribbean community in London circa 1970 and tells a terrible racist history. Honestly the movie moves so slow that at times it is borderline painful but the events are riveting and I loved the portrait of this wonderful vibrant community. Social justice has rarely been so raw, heartbreaking and riveting.
Streaming on: Amazon Prime
Buy or Rent on: Apple TV
Take This Waltz
Writer/Director Sarah Polley is in the spotlight this year for her film Women Talking but it is not her first directorial effort worth checking out. Honestly I had my issues with this movie about a married woman who faces temptation but I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks. Actually I’m still thinking about it off and on months later. It’s messy at times and brilliant at times and it just might be a masterpiece.
Streaming on: Netflix, Crave, Starz, ACM+, SundanceNow
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV
Wild Strawberries
Honestly I don’t remember much detail about this film but I remember how I felt watching it. It is in a word: lyrical. One of the most emotionally beautiful films I have ever seen. A deceptively simple treatise on life by one of the greatest filmmakers ever. Unmissable.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Apple TV
The Witch: A New-England Folktale
Writer/Director Robert Eggers burst onto the scene with this deceptively simple horror masterpiece a few years ago. Practically flawless it is the definition of authentic moviemaking. A wonder to look at and to experience.
Streaming on: 🙁
Buy or Rent on: Amazon Prime and Apple TV