
Rumors of the death of movies were greatly exaggerated in 2021, at least from a quality standpoint. While box office receipts stayed down after 2020's total turtle-shelling, theaters remain open and there's no shortage of new films for them to show. AMC was saved by stonks, Regal has partnered with Matt Damon to bully customers into buying cryptocurrency, and streaming services continue to blast out content from a high-pressure hose. No major delays as of yet have put a damper on 2022, and while this coming year might be the one that sees cinema return to a profitable normal, it will be very difficult for it top 2021's creative output. Helped out by plenty of delayed films that otherwise would've belonged to 2020, 2021 has emerged as at least as great a movie year as 2018, possibly even competing with 2016. While I'm no enemy of depressive, contemplative fare, the theme of the year kept coming back to joy. It marked the best moments of French Dispatch and revereberated throughout wistful works like Licorice Pizza, Luca, and The Hand of God. Big hearted comedies like Bad Trip and Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar reveled in it, musicals like West Side Story and Summer of Soul generated it, and even gonzo French extremities like Titane and Benedetta reached for it between transgression and blasphemy. Who knows what the future will look like as commercial trends get uglier? For now, movies continue to be great!