Ranking Every Movie of 2021 (sort of)

Rankings are a scourge. They create the illusion of rigidity; if X is ranked 12th and Y is ranked 14th, then X is indubitably better than Y, with zero room for argument or ambiguity. This in turn provokes bafflement, derision, and fury. How could you possibly rank that movie three spots ahead of that other movie, you utter philistine?

Of course, conversation is the lifeblood of criticism, and silly disputes about rankings can lead to more substantive debates about quality. Still, the impression of quantitative inflexibility is distasteful. That’s why, in this annual series, MovieManifesto no longer imposes actual rankings on every movie of the year. Instead, we separate them all into distinct tiers, with no ordering within individual tiers. This will surely eliminate all possible complaints about my taste.

More seriously, I like constructing this piece for two reasons. First, it stands as a record of how I felt about a given cinematic year at the time, before the inevitable shifting of objects during flight. Second, it theoretically serves as a suggestion board, which is why I append the streaming service (if applicable) to each title, along with the director and Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic data. The most common question I receive as a critic (other than “Why do you do this?”) is, “What movie should I watch?” With luck, the ensuing rankings will help you answer that question.

Tier 1: The Top 20
Remember what I said about not ranking the individual movies within tiers? For this top tier, I lied. (And for our write-up of the best movies of 2021, click here.)

1. West Side Story (directed by Steven Spielberg; 91% Rotten Tomatoes, 85 Metacritic; streaming on HBO Max and Disney+)
2. The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson; 75% RT, 74 MC; HBO Max)
3. The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion; 93% RT, 89 MC; Netflix)
4. Cyrano (Joe Wright; 86% RT, 66 MC)
5. Undine (Christian Petzold; 89% RT, 75 MC; Hulu)
6. Nine Days (Edson Oda; 89% RT, 72 MC; Starz)
7. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson; 90% RT, 90 MC)
8. Red Rocket (Sean Baker; 90% RT, 76 MC)
9. Titane (Julia Ducournau; 89% RT, 75 MC; Hulu)
10. Drive My Car (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi; 96% RT, 91 MC; HBO Max)
11. Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright; 76% RT, 65 MC)
12. Passing (Rebecca Hall; 90% RT, 85 MC; Netflix)
13. In the Heights (Jon M. Chu; 94% RT, 84 MC; HBO Max)
14. Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Žbanić; 100% RT, 97 MC; Hulu)
15. The Card Counter (Paul Schrader; 87% RT, 77 MC)
16. The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier; 96% RT, 90 MC)
17. Saint Maud (Rose Glass; 93% RT, 83 MC; Amazon Prime and Paramount+)
18. I’m Your Man (Maria Schrader; 96% RT, 78 MC; Hulu)
19. Luca (Enrico Casarosa; 91% RT, 71 MC; Disney+)
20. A Hero (Asghar Farhadi; 96% RT, 82 MC; Amazon Prime)

Tier 2: Honorable Mention
Call it an alternative top 10.

Benedetta (directed by Paul Verhoeven; 85% Rotten Tomatoes, 73 Metacritic; streaming on Hulu)
Encanto (Jared Bush and Byron Howard; 91% RT, 75 MC; Disney+)
The Last Duel (Ridley Scott; 85% RT, 67 MC; HBO Max)
No Sudden Move (Steven Soderbergh; 92% RT, 76 MC; HBO Max)
Old (M. Night Shyamalan; 50% RT, 55 MC)
Petite Maman (Céline Sciamma; 97% RT, 94 MC)
A Quiet Place: Part II (John Krasinski; 91% RT, 71 MC; Amazon Prime and Paramount+)
The Suicide Squad (James Gunn; 90% RT, 72 MC; HBO)
Violation (Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer; 88% RT, 70 MC)
Zola (Janicza Bravo; 88% RT, 76 MC; Showtime)

Tier 3: Good Movies!
Here lies a slim tier of just eight movies that are maybe a notch below the honorable mentions (see how this works?) but are still damn good in their own right.

CODA (directed by Siân Heder; 94% Rotten Tomatoes, 74 Metacritic; streaming on Apple)
The Killing of Two Lovers (Robert Machoian; 93% RT, 82 MC; Hulu)
Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson; 86% RT, 68 MC)
Plan B (Natalie Morales; 96% RT, 74 MC; Hulu)
Riders of Justice (Anders Thomas Jensen; 96% RT, 81 MC; Hulu)
Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman; 96% RT, 79 MC; HBO Max)
Stillwater (Tom McCarthy; 74% RT, 60 MC)
Together Together (Nikole Beckwith; 91% RT, 70 MC; Hulu)

Tier 4: Pretty Good Movies
There were lots of quality films in 2021, so we’re slotting a whopping 24 pictures into this tier. These movies aren’t perfect, but they’re still pretty good.

Being the Ricardos (directed by Aaron Sorkin; 67% Rotten Tomatoes, 60 Metacritic; streaming on Amazon Prime)
Belfast (Kenneth Branagh; 86% RT, 75 MC)
Black Widow (Cate Shortland; 79% RT, 67 MC; Disney+)
Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond; 89% RT, 69 MC; Hulu)
C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills; 94% RT, 82 MC; Showtime)
Copshop (Joe Carnahan; 81% RT, 61 MC; Peacock)
The Courier (Dominic Cooke; 85% RT, 65 MC; Amazon Prime)
The Dig (Simon Stone; 88% RT, 73 MC; Netflix)
The Dry (Robert Connolly; 90% RT, 69 MC; Showtime)
Dune (Denis Villeneuve; 83% RT, 74 MC; HBO Max)
The Humans (Stephen Karam; 92% RT, 78 MC; Showtime)
Judas and the Black Messiah (Shaka King; 97% RT, 85 MC; HBO Max)
The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal; 94% RT, 86 MC; Netflix)
The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski; 63% RT, 63 MC)
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe; 97% RT, 81 MC; Netflix)
The Night House (David Bruckner; 87% RT, 68 MC; HBO Max)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro; 80% RT, 70 MC; HBO Max and Hulu)
Old Henry (Potsy Ponciroli; 94% RT, 69 MC; Showtime)
Parallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar; 96% RT, 88 MC)
Prayers for the Stolen (Tatiana Huezo; 96% RT, 82 MC; Netflix)
The Souvenir Part II (Joanna Hogg; 92% RT, 90 MC)
There Is No Evil (Mohammad Rasoulof; 98% RT, 82 MC; Kanopy)
Tick, Tick… Boom! (Lin-Manuel Miranda; 87% RT, 74 MC; Netflix)
Werewolves Within (Josh Ruben; 86% RT, 66 MC; Showtime)

Tier 5: Not Bad, But…
These 29(!) movies are a mixed bag: enjoyable enough to recommend, flawed enough to warrant reservation.

Annette (directed by Leos Carax; 71% Rotten Tomatoes, 67 Metacritic; streaming on Amazon Prime)
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude; 91% RT, 74 MC; Hulu)
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Josh Greenbaum; 80% RT, 64 MC; Hulu)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve; 87% RT, 81 MC; Hulu)
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon; 75% RT, 58 MC)
Candyman (Nia DaCosta; 84% RT, 72 MC)
Come True (Anthony Scott Burns; 85% RT, 68 MC; Hulu)
Cruella (Craig Gillespie; 74% RT, 59 MC; Disney+)
Finch (Miguel Sapochnik; 73% RT, 57 MC; Apple)
Free Guy (Shawn Levy; 80% RT, 62 MC; HBO Max and Disney +)
Godzilla vs. Kong (Adam Wingard; 75% RT, 59 MC; HBO Max)
I Care a Lot (J. Blakeson; 78% RT, 66 MC; Netflix)
King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green; 90% RT, 76 MC; HBO Max)
Malignant (James Wan; 76% RT, 51 MC; HBO Max)
No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga; 83% RT, 68 MC)
Nobody (Ilya Naishuller; 84% RT, 64 MC; HBO Max)
Our Friend (Gabriela Cowperthwaite; 85% RT, 57 MC; Amazon Prime)
Oxygen (Alexandre Aja; 88% RT, 67 MC; Netflix)
The Protégé (Martin Campbell; 61% RT, 48 MC; Amazon Prime)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Destin Daniel Cretton; 91% RT, 71 MC; Disney+)
Silent Night (Camille Griffin; 65% RT, 52 MC; AMC+)
Spencer (Pablo Larraín; 82% RT; 76 MC; Hulu)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts; 93% RT, 71 MC)
Stowaway (Joe Penna; 76% RT, 63 MC; Netflix)
Swan Song (Todd Stephens; 92% RT, 66 MC; Hulu)
Till Death (S.K. Dale; 90% RT, 66 MC; Netflix)
The World to Come (Mona Fastvold; 75% RT, 73 MC; Hulu)
Worth (Sara Colangelo; 81% RT, 67 MC; Netflix)
Wrath of Man (Guy Ritchie; 66% RT, 57 MC; Amazon Prime and Paramount+)

Tier 6: Better Than You’ve Heard
Now it gets tricky. Both this and the next tier don’t fit neatly within this piece’s overall hierarchy; instead, they push back against prevailing opinion. Here, we’re highlighting eight movies that I found more worthwhile than most critics.

Chaos Walking (directed by Doug Liman; 22% Rotten Tomatoes, 38 Metacritic; streaming on Hulu)
Cherry (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo; 37% RT, 44 MC; Apple)
Gunpowder Milkshake (Navot Papushado; 59% RT, 47 MC; Netflix)
The Little Things (John Lee Hancock; 45% RT, 54 MC; HBO Max)
Reminiscence (Lisa Joy; 36% RT, 46 MC; HBO Max)
Voyagers (Neil Burger; 25% RT, 44 MC; HBO Max)
The Voyeurs (Michael Mohan; 44% RT, 54 MC; Amazon Prime)
The Woman in the Window (Joe Wright; 26% RT, 41 MC; Netflix)

Tier 7: Disappointing

And here we have the flip side. Except that the nine films in this tier really break down into two types: either widely acclaimed movies where I wasn’t nearly as enamored as my critical brethren, or high-profile movies where the product failed to match the pedigree.

The Disciple (directed by Chaitanya Tamhane; 96% Rotten Tomatoes, 83 Metacritic; streaming on Netflix)
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay; 55% RT, 49 MC; Netflix)
Eternals (Chloé Zhao; 47% RT, 52 MC; Disney+)
Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen; 98% RT, 91 MC; Hulu)
The Green Knight (David Lowery; 89% RT, 85 MC; Showtime)
House of Gucci (Ridley Scott; 63% RT, 59 MC)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul; 89% RT, 91 MC)
Pig (Michael Sarnoski; 96% RT, 82 MC; Hulu)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen; 92% RT, 87 MC; Apple)

Tier 8: Not Good, Not Terrible
Selection bias means that I rarely actively dislike the movies which I choose to watch. And I didn’t actively dislike these 24 quasi-duds. I’m just not inclined to recommend them.

Antlers (directed by Scott Cooper; 60% Rotten Tomatoes, 57 Metacritic; streaming on HBO Max)
Army of the Dead (Zack Snyder; 67% RT, 57 MC; Netflix)
Cry Macho (Clint Eastwood; 58% RT, 58 MC; HBO Max)
Dear Evan Hansen (Stephen Chbosky; 29% RT, 39 MC)
Don’t Breathe 2 (Rodo Sayagues Mendez; 44% RT, 46 MC; Starz)
Dream Horse (Euros Lyn; 89% RT, 68 MC; Hulu)
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (Will Sharpe; 70% RT, 63 MC; Amazon Prime)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Michael Showalter; 69% RT, 55 MC; HBO Max)
False Positive (John Lee; 48% RT, 54 MC; Hulu)
French Exit (Azazel Jacobs; 64% RT, 56 MC; Starz)
The Harder They Fall (Jeymes Samuel; 88% RT, 68 MC; Netflix)
Here Today (Billy Crystal; 48% RT, 40 MC; Starz)
Jungle Cruise (Jaume Collet-Serra; 62% RT, 50 MC; Disney+)
Kate (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan; 45% RT, 47 MC; Netflix)
Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson; 57% RT, 53 MC; Netflix)
The Many Saints of Newark (Alan Taylor; 71% RT, 60 MC; HBO Max)
The Mauritanian (Kevin Macdonald; 75% RT, 53 MC; Showtime)
Night Teeth (Adam Randall; 38% RT, 42 MC; Netflix)
Oslo (Bartlett Sher; 75% RT, 54 MC; HBO Max)
Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada; 93% RT, 75 MC; Disney+)
Those Who Wish Me Dead (Taylor Sheridan; 62% RT, 59 MC; HBO Max)
The Tomorrow War (Chris McKay; 52% RT, 45 MC; Amazon Prime)
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Lee Daniels; 56% RT, 52 MC; Hulu)
The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani; 91% RT, 76 MC; Netflix)

Tier 9: Lousy
In a different year, maybe I’d label these eight movies “bad.” But I’m feeling charitable, so let’s stick with “lousy.”

Above Suspicion (directed by Phillip Noyce; 25% Rotten Tomatoes, 46 MC)
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (Michael Chaves; 56% RT, 53 MC; streaming on HBO Max)
F9: The Fast Saga (Justin Lin; 59% RT, 58 MC; HBO Max)
Jolt (Tanya Wexler; 40% RT, 48 MC; Amazon Prime)
Things Heard & Seen (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini; 39% RT, 49 MC; Netflix)
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese; 100% RT, 91 MC; Criterion)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis; 58% RT, 49 MC; Starz)
Vivo (Kirk DeMicco; 87% RT, 66 MC; Netflix)