Movie Harvest Time

Okay, January's over and, as promised, I've got a ranking of movies for you. I managed to add fourteen 2021 movies to the four I actually saw in 2021. I wish I'd had time for more but, alas, I don't.

18. The Eternals (my review, Wikipedia entry)

This one's pretty infamous by now. Hopefully Marvel learned its lesson but I fear not.

17. Free Guy (my review, Wikipedia entry)

You'd have to pay me to watch this guy again.

16. Don't Look Up (my review, Wikipedia entry)

Or at this movie.

15. The Green Knight (my review, Wikipedia entry)

They took an extraordinary poem and made something far too ordinary.

14. Lady of the Manor (my review, Wikipedia entry)

A descent little comedy, nothing to set the world on fire, but a pleasant couple of hours.

13. Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway (my review, Wikipedia entry)

Some great animation and an intriguing female lead are bogged down by an unimaginative story and design.

12. Black Widow (my review, Wikipedia entry)

It's hard to top Black Widow as she appeared in Winter Soldier but this movie doesn't seem to try. The seductive assassin has been transformed into something pretty dull in this movie that even Scarlett Johansson can't keep afloat.

11. Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (my review, Wikipedia entry)

It's so dumb in so many ways but so fun. I didn't even mention the silly slapping scene in my review.

10. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (my review, Wikipedia entry)

The lead was adequate and his sidekick played by Awkwafina was annoying but there were some good, and one really good, action sequences in this movie.

9. Raya and the Last Dragon (my review coming soon, Wikipedia entry)

I was surprised how much I liked this entry into the faux-Asian fantasy genre made famous by Avatar: The Last Airbender. Somehow, Awkwafina's really funny in this movie, maybe because they made her look like Joan Rivers. Still, this film is very, very badly written.

8. Pig (my review, Wikipedia entry)

A refreshing little film and a nice vehicle for Nicholas Cage.

7. Luca (my review, Wikipedia entry)

Cute and sweet with genuinely good chemistry between the characters.

6. No Time to Die (my review, Wikipedia entry)

The scenes with Ana de Armas alone elevated this otherwise descent movie considerably.

5. Dune (my review, Wikipedia entry)

Beautiful and scrupulously intelligible, this transmission of Frank Herbert did some justice to his prose and had some terrific casting.

4. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (my review, Wikipedia entry)

Unabashedly and charmingly nostalgic, this one nonetheless takes time to nurture its own characters and they're genuinely good.

3. Spider-Man: No Way Home (my review, Wikipedia entry)

Thankfully bringing back a sense of stakes to the Spider-Man films, this one was also unabashedly nostalgic but it also integrated that nostalgia into a captivating spectacle. A better one than Endgame, even.

2.The Suicide Squad (my review, Wikipedia entry)

James Gunn's combination of sweet and deranged may not have been for most people but, boy oh boy, was it ever for me.

1. Nightmare Alley (my review coming soon, Wikipedia entry)

Guillermo del Toro does it again, surprisingly with a genuine, honest to goodness, film noir. This film isn't just brilliant, its examination of psychological scams makes it eminently necessary for this modern world where people are routinely duped by false information on the internet more than I bet you realise. Find that hard to believe? See this movie, rubes.

Twitter Sonnet #1518

The flying books were carved of skyless trees.
The long awaiting meal was cold betimes.
Atop the whirling wind a maiden pleas.
A quiet figure late in peace reclines.
The green was really yellow dust and gas.
Resplendent times were had amid the belt.
Below the girdle dwells a giant ass.
A hefty seat was truly tapped and felt.
No harder job exists beyond the tent.
A single symbol reps the mind and heart.
An iron whip to heaven's rafter's sent.
The eye was saved from hasty poison dart.
A ranking bloomed before the starting moon.
The shadows stretch and silver giants loom.