Popgap Diary: 2021 in Review
Written by dorrk |
130+ movies from 2021…Ranked from best to worst!
Even though I enjoyed several new movies during 2021, and my favorite of the year, Riders of Justice, ranked higher (92.44%) than anything from the previous year (which topped out at 91.43% with The Twentieth Century) and all but my favorite of 2019 (Under the Silver Lake: 94.60%), I feel overall pretty blah about the entire batch. Maybe I'm getting jaded, but I don't feel the same level of fondness that I still hold for many supposedly lesser movies of the past several years (like: Leto, 91.70%; Spontaneous, 90.41%; The Kid Detective, 89.37%; I'm Thinking of Ending Things, 88.59%; Monos, 88.42%; Midsommar, 87.87%; Marriage Story, 86.36%; Waves, 85.93%; The Climb, 85.22%; Lovers Rock, 84.66%; Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 84.35%; Parasite, 84.20%; Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood, 83.98%). My guess is that the last couple of years have so seriously disrupted the movie industry, that we are more or less living off the fumes of previous years, from projects that barely made it through production prior to shutdowns, to movies surviving tortured release date manipulations, to movies made under less-than-ideal production circumstances. Or maybe movies have just gotten colder. I don't know what it is, but the vibe has changed. There was a lot of good stuff in 2021, but I just don't love it the way I want to love it.
A little farther down is a list of all the new-release movies I watched during 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, ranked from best-to-worst. Before we get to that, here are my nominees (and favorites, bolded) for the semi-usual collection of film awards categories:
Best Non-English Language Films of 2021
This is maybe the thinnest crop of foreign movies I can recall, even though it includes my two favorites of the entire year. I can't recall when my top five in this category would've extended down to 70%.
- Riders of Justice (91.83%)
- A Hero (90.18%)
- Drive My Car (82.58%)
- Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (76.51%)
- Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (70.28%)
Best Documentaries of 2021
- A Glitch in the Matrix (68.25%)
- Some Kind of Heaven (54.68%)
- Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (53.74%)
- Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché (53.49%)
- Ascension (52.13%)
Best Animated Films of 2021
Nothing. Yawn to this category in any year. I can no longer muster the will to watch the "big" releases in this category. I struggled through a few off-beat ones (Cryptozoo, The Spine of Night, Mad God), but didn't like any of them much.
UNDERRATED / UNDERSEEN 'WALLFLOWERS' OF 2021
I saw/heard almost no discussion about these surprising and provocative releases:
- Violet (83.98%)
- Old Henry (82.20%)
- Copshop (70.63%)
- Agnes (67.33%)
Best Looking Films OF 2021
- The Green Knight (79.30%)
- Spencer (68.38%)
- The French Dispatch (51.06%)
- Last Night in Soho (64.68%)
- Old Henry (82.20%)
Best-WRITTEN MOVIES OF 2021
- A Hero (90.18%)
- Riders of Justice (91.83%)
- Violet (83.98%)
- Drive My Car (82.58%)
- Bergman Island (68.23%)
Best-DirectED MOVIES OF 2021
- Dune - Denis Villeneuve (77.62%)
This award is simply for resisting what must have been massive pressure to turn this into formulaic Marvel-ish garbage. It's a rare sincere and personal sci-fi epic. - A Hero - Asghar Farhadi (90.18%)
- Riders of Justice - Anders Thomas Jensen (91.83%)
- Violet - Justine Bateman (83.98%)
- C'mon C'mon - Mike Mills (83.87%)
Best Supporting Actress OF 2021
- The Lost Daughter - Jessie Buckley (68.00%)
- King Richard - Aunjanue Ellis (61.90%)
- The French Dispatch - Lea Seydoux (51.06%)
- Bergman Island - Mia Wasikowska (68.23%)
- A Hero - Sahar Goldoost (90.18%)
Best Supporting Actor of 2021
- House of Gucci - Jared Leto (80.39%)
- Agnes - Chris Browning (67.33%)
- Riders of Justice - Nicolas Bro (91.83%)
- House of Gucci - Al Pacino (80.39%)
- Riders of Justice - Gustav Lindh (91.83%)
Best Actress OF 2021
- House of Gucci - Lady Gaga (80.39%)
- Spencer - Kristen Stewart (68.38%)
- The Worst Person in the World - Renate Reinsve (62.27%)
- The Novice - Isabelle Fuhrman (69.12%)
- CODA - Emilia Jones (68.75%)
Best Actor of 2021
- A Hero - Amir Jadidi (90.18%)
- Riders of Justice - Mads Mikkelsen (91.83%)
- C'mon C'mon - Joaquin Phoenix (83.87%)
- Old Henry - Tim Blake Nelson (82.20%)
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage - Tom Hardy (68.72%)
Best MOVIE OF 2021
- Riders of Justice (91.83%)
- A Hero (90.18%)
- Violet (83.98%)
- C'mon C'mon (83.87%)
- Drive My Car (82.58%)
2021 MOVIES WATCHED AND RANKED
Riders of Justice
Unusually potent combination of comedy, action and pathos, with perfectly managed shifts in tone. I love movies that surprise me, and this Danish thriller is uniquely refreshing. Gret performances from Mads Mikkelsen, Nicolas Bro, Lars Brygmann, and Gustav Lindh. Bonus: A Christmas movie! Flickchart rank: 425 (92.44%).
A Hero
A stirring morality tale that projects perfectly onto our modern media age, as it examines how a simple good deed is unraveled by narrative shaping, emotional manipulation, petty lies, stubbornness, and cynicism. Perfectly shot and acted, with the performance of the year from Amir Jadidi. Flickchart rank: 527 (90.18%).
Violet
A powerful and original psychological drama from the surprising source of first-time director Justine Bateman. I suspect Violet is one of those movies that is either a perfect hit or a disastrous miss, and heavily dependent on mood and openness. Bateman has a confident vision, and I totally bought into it this time. Flickchart rank: 857 (83.98%).
C'mon C'mon
One of the recurring narrative themes of 2021 was adults struggling with parenting. In C'mon C'mon, Joaquin Phoenix gives a gentle performance as a bachelor thrown into the parenting fire when he takes his pre-teen nephew on a road trip to New York and New Orleans. Bonus: A beautifully shot black-and-white New York movie! Flickchart rank: 858 (83.87%).
Drive My Car
One of the unlikely hits of 2021, a three-hour long Japanese navel-gazer which gained huge critical praise despite being extremely difficult to see. I'd never heard of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi prior to this past year and have now seen two of his movies. He's an original and thoughtful voice, with very specific interests, so his movies lack easy appeal, but reward patient engagement. Flickchart rank: 930 (82.58%).
Old Henry
Gorgeously shot western with a rare lead perfomance from character actor Tim Blake Nelson. A quiet and tense autopsy on the mythology of the Old West. Nice supporting performance from Stephen Dorff. Flickchart rank: 943 (82.20%).
Saint Maud
One those movies that awkwardly straddles release years, epecially in the tumult of 2020. I reviewed it last year, where it came at No. 9 for the year: Slow-burn psychological horror with a religious touch, SAINT MAUD is yet another empathetic look at the dangerous sense of social dislocation permeating society, especially on the fringes. Morfydd Clark is perfect in the title role, and writer/director Rose Glass wrings maximum tension with her patient studying of Maud’s internal disintegration. Flickchart rank: 976 (80.74%)
House of Gucci
I'm not much a fan of Ridley Scott, whose best movies seen in the context of his entire career look like flukes. This, however, is one of his best: shallow, glitzy, overstuffed and full of meaty performances that a better director might have ruined through restraint. Jared Leto bookends 2021 with two extremely weird goofball turns, Al Pacino is as good as ever, and Lady Gaga should retire after this tour-de-force she will likely never come close to matching. Flickchart rank: 1056 (80.39%).
Licorice Pizza
Shambling, episodic coming-of-age romance highlighting the generational culture gap of the early 1970s. Paul Thomas Anderson fills Licorice Pizza with alluring period locations, gorgeous framings, silly gags, and oddball cameos, all with the purpose of thumbing a nose at the inscrutable messiness of adulthood. Flickchart rank: 1070 (79.97%).
The Green Knight
Elusive and weird, but staggeringly beautiful arthouse fantasy is unlikely to please anyone hoping for Hobbity action, but this feels like a deep labor of love from director David Lowery, and that affection bleeds through every scene. I'm not sure that Dev Patel has a handle on the complexity required by his role, which stifles the impact, but otherwise this is glorious filmmaking. Flickchart rank: 1077 (79.30%).
Dune
A big budget sci-fi epic on a blockbuster scale that shows no interest in formulaic disposable action sequences or homogenous Marvel-like jokiness. Unlike most of its peers, this feels like a story its director was dying to tell and a world he had been dreaming about his entire life. Flickchart rank: 1185 (77.62%)
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Funniest move of the year, easy. Kristen Wiig's absurd cringe sensibility at its most inspired. Flickchart rank: 1192 (77.48%)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
A thoughtful anthology from Drive My Car director Hamaguchi. Each story is quietly compelling, and some explosive without ever being loud. Flickchart rank: 1263 (76.51%)
Broadcast Signal Intrusion
Flickchart rank: 1588 (70.57%)
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
Flickchart rank: 1602 (70.28%)
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
Flickchart rank: 1605 (70.08%)
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Flickchart rank: 1667 (68.72%)
The Worst Person in the World
Flickchart rank: 2012 (62.27%)
Fear Street Part One: 1994
Flickchart rank: 2162 (58.32%)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
Flickchart rank: 2486 (53.74%)
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Flickchart rank: 2577 (52.13%)
The Many Saints of Newark
Flickchart rank: 2666 (50.43%)
The Killing of Two Lovers
Flickchart rank: 2574 (50.32%)
Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage
Flickchart rank: 2677 (48.51%)
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Flickchart rank: 2768 (48.37%)
The Scary of Sixty-First
Flickchart rank: 2927 (44.32%)
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass
Flickchart rank: 2981 (43.84%)
Prisoners of the Ghostland
Flickchart rank: 3412 (36.28%)
Fear Street Part Two: 1978
Flickchart rank: 3740 (28.16%)
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Flickchart rank: 4086 (21.12%)
Fear Street Part Three: 1666
Flickchart rank: 4274 (17.93%)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Flickchart rank: 4606 (13.76%)
2021 MOVIES, WATCHED AND RANKED
| Movie | |
|---|---|
|
Riders of Justice
Unusually potent combination of comedy, action and pathos, with perfectly managed shifts in tone. I love movies that surprise me, and this Danish thriller is uniquely refreshing. Gret performances from Mads Mikkelsen, Nicolas Bro, Lars Brygmann, and Gustav Lindh. Bonus: A Christmas movie! Flickchart rank: 425 (92.44%).
|
|
A Hero
A stirring morality tale that projects perfectly onto our modern media age, as it examines how a simple good deed is unraveled by narrative shaping, emotional manipulation, petty lies, stubbornness, and cynicism. Perfectly shot and acted, with the performance of the year from Amir Jadidi. Flickchart rank: 527 (90.18%).
|
|
Violet
A powerful and original psychological drama from the surprising source of first-time director Justine Bateman. I suspect Violet is one of those movies that is either a perfect hit or a disastrous miss, and heavily dependent on mood and openness. Bateman has a confident vision, and I totally bought into it this time. Flickchart rank: 857 (83.98%).
|
|
C'mon C'mon
One of the recurring narrative themes of 2021 was adults struggling with parenting. In C'mon C'mon, Joaquin Phoenix gives a gentle performance as a bachelor thrown into the parenting fire when he takes his pre-teen nephew on a road trip to New York and New Orleans. Bonus: A beautifully shot black-and-white New York movie! Flickchart rank: 858 (83.87%).
|
|
Drive My Car
One of the unlikely hits of 2021, a three-hour long Japanese navel-gazer which gained huge critical praise despite being extremely difficult to see. I'd never heard of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi prior to this past year and have now seen two of his movies. He's an original and thoughtful voice, with very specific interests, so his movies lack easy appeal, but reward patient engagement. Flickchart rank: 930 (82.58%).
|
|
Old Henry
Gorgeously shot western with a rare lead perfomance from character actor Tim Blake Nelson. A quiet and tense autopsy on the mythology of the Old West. Nice supporting performance from Stephen Dorff. Flickchart rank: 943 (82.20%).
|
|
Saint Maud
One those movies that awkwardly straddles release years, epecially in the tumult of 2020. I reviewed it last year, where it came at No. 9 for the year: Slow-burn psychological horror with a religious touch, SAINT MAUD is yet another empathetic look at the dangerous sense of social dislocation permeating society, especially on the fringes. Morfydd Clark is perfect in the title role, and writer/director Rose Glass wrings maximum tension with her patient studying of Maud’s internal disintegration. Flickchart rank: 976 (80.74%)
|
|
House of Gucci
I'm not much a fan of Ridley Scott, whose best movies seen in the context of his entire career look like flukes. This, however, is one of his best: shallow, glitzy, overstuffed and full of meaty performances that a better director might have ruined through restraint. Jared Leto bookends 2021 with two extremely weird goofball turns, Al Pacino is as good as ever, and Lady Gaga should retire after this tour-de-force she will likely never come close to matching. Flickchart rank: 1056 (80.39%).
|
|
Licorice Pizza
Shambling, episodic coming-of-age romance highlighting the generational culture gap of the early 1970s. Paul Thomas Anderson fills Licorice Pizza with alluring period locations, gorgeous framings, silly gags, and oddball cameos, all with the purpose of thumbing a nose at the inscrutable messiness of adulthood. Flickchart rank: 1070 (79.97%).
|
|
The Green Knight
Elusive and weird, but staggeringly beautiful arthouse fantasy is unlikely to please anyone hoping for Hobbity action, but this feels like a deep labor of love from director David Lowery, and that affection bleeds through every scene. I'm not sure that Dev Patel has a handle on the complexity required by his role, which stifles the impact, but otherwise this is glorious filmmaking. Flickchart rank: 1077 (79.30%).
|
|
Dune
A big budget sci-fi epic on a blockbuster scale that shows no interest in formulaic disposable action sequences or homogenous Marvel-like jokiness. Unlike most of its peers, this feels like a story its director was dying to tell and a world he had been dreaming about his entire life. Flickchart rank: 1185 (77.62%)
|
|
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Funniest move of the year, easy. Kristen Wiig's absurd cringe sensibility at its most inspired. Flickchart rank: 1192 (77.48%)
|
|
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
A thoughtful anthology from Drive My Car director Hamaguchi. Each story is quietly compelling, and some explosive without ever being loud. Flickchart rank: 1263 (76.51%)
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Shiva Baby
Flickchart rank: 1329 (75.29%)
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Red Rocket
Flickchart rank: 1431 (73.18%)
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Psycho Goreman
Flickchart rank: 1385 (72.70%)
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In the Heights
Flickchart rank: 1443 (72.13%)
| |
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Copshop
Flickchart rank: 1582 (70.63%)
| |
|
Broadcast Signal Intrusion
Flickchart rank: 1588 (70.57%)
| |
|
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
Flickchart rank: 1602 (70.28%)
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The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
Flickchart rank: 1605 (70.08%)
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Boiling Point
Flickchart rank: 1610 (70.05%)
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Together Together
Flickchart rank: 1606 (70.05%)
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Prayers for the Stolen
Flickchart rank: 1651 (69.19%)
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The Novice
Flickchart rank: 1647 (69.12%)
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CODA
Flickchart rank: 1665 (68.75%)
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Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Flickchart rank: 1667 (68.72%)
| |
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Spencer
Flickchart rank: 1678 (68.38%)
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A Glitch in the Matrix
Flickchart rank: 1713 (68.25%)
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Bergman Island
Flickchart rank: 1700 (68.23%)
| |
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Ascension
Flickchart rank: 1715 (68.21%)
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The Lost Daughter
Flickchart rank: 1709 (68.00%)
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The Rescue
Flickchart rank: 1717 (67.94%)
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Agnes
Flickchart rank: 1749 (67.33%)
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Petite Maman
Flickchart rank: 1876 (64.78%)
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Last Night in Soho
Flickchart rank: 1871 (64.68%)
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The Souvenir: Part II
Flickchart rank: 1931 (64.19%)
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Save Yourselves!
Flickchart rank: 1924 (64.16%)
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Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Flickchart rank: 1918 (64.11%)
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Our Friend
Flickchart rank: 1943 (62.55%)
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The Worst Person in the World
Flickchart rank: 2012 (62.27%)
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The Dry
Flickchart rank: 1950 (62.25%)
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King Richard
Flickchart rank: 2021 (61.90%)
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All My Friends Are Dead
Flickchart rank: 2029 (61.43%)
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Fear Street Part One: 1994
Flickchart rank: 2162 (58.32%)
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Zola
Flickchart rank: 2214 (57.38%)
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Wild Mountain Thyme
Flickchart rank: 2250 (56.33%)
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Malignant
Flickchart rank: 2331 (55.53%)
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Some Kind of Heaven
Flickchart rank: 2429 (54.68%)
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Don't Look Up
Flickchart rank: 2449 (53.97%)
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Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
Flickchart rank: 2486 (53.74%)
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Ride the Eagle
Flickchart rank: 2489 (53.68%)
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Val
Flickchart rank: 2431 (53.49%)
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Wrath of Man
Flickchart rank: 2505 (53.31%)
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The Little Things
Flickchart rank: 2371 (53.22%)
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No Sudden Move
Flickchart rank: 2480 (52.16%)
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Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Flickchart rank: 2577 (52.13%)
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Kandisha
Flickchart rank: 2584 (51.89%)
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Nobody
Flickchart rank: 2599 (51.60%)
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The Velvet Underground
Flickchart rank: 2586 (51.42%)
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Jumbo
Flickchart rank: 2596 (51.22%)
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The French Dispatch
Flickchart rank: 2612 (51.06%)
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The Beta Test
Flickchart rank: 2623 (50.44%)
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The Many Saints of Newark
Flickchart rank: 2666 (50.43%)
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The Killing of Two Lovers
Flickchart rank: 2574 (50.32%)
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Don't Breathe 2
Flickchart rank: 2604 (50.27%)
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The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Flickchart rank: 2669 (49.64%)
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Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage
Flickchart rank: 2677 (48.51%)
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The Voyeurs
Flickchart rank: 2753 (48.50%)
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Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Flickchart rank: 2768 (48.37%)
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Nitram
Flickchart rank: 2772 (47.98%)
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Lily Topples the World
Flickchart rank: 2774 (47.04%)
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The Night House
Flickchart rank: 2833 (46.90%)
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The Hand of God
Flickchart rank: 2853 (46.66%)
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The Scary of Sixty-First
Flickchart rank: 2927 (44.32%)
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Pig
Flickchart rank: 2901 (44.29%)
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West Side Story
Flickchart rank: 2989 (43.87%)
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Come True
Flickchart rank: 2867 (43.86%)
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JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass
Flickchart rank: 2981 (43.84%)
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Black Widow
Flickchart rank: 2974 (42.70%)
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Shadow in the Cloud
Flickchart rank: 2983 (41.61%)
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Moxie
Flickchart rank: 2977 (41.51%)
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The Spine of Night
Flickchart rank: 3162 (40.78%)
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Cryptozoo
Flickchart rank: 3274 (39.31%)
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Rifkin's Festival
Flickchart rank: 3149 (39.20%)
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Werewolves Within
Flickchart rank: 3171 (39.16%)
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Annette
Flickchart rank: 3235 (38.42%)
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Belfast
Flickchart rank: 3301 (37.85%)
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Eternals
Flickchart rank: 3341 (36.89%)
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Fried Barry
Flickchart rank: 3398 (36.57%)
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Prisoners of the Ghostland
Flickchart rank: 3412 (36.28%)
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Censor
Flickchart rank: 3472 (33.37%)
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Dinner in America
Flickchart rank: 3521 (32.89%)
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Nightmare Alley
Flickchart rank: 3612 (32.87%)
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A Quiet Place Part II
Flickchart rank: 3505 (32.05%)
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I Care a Lot
Flickchart rank: 3466 (31.89%)
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Free Guy
Flickchart rank: 3660 (31.70%)
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The Card Counter
Flickchart rank: 3677 (31.06%)
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Coming Home in the Dark
Flickchart rank: 3675 (31.01%)
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The Tragedy of Macbeth
Flickchart rank: 3696 (30.97%)
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About Endlessness
Flickchart rank: 3701 (30.41%)
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Mad God
Flickchart rank: 3815 (28.65%)
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Titane
Flickchart rank: 3797 (28.48%)
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Fear Street Part Two: 1978
Flickchart rank: 3740 (28.16%)
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Slumber Party Massacre
Flickchart rank: 3872 (28.15%)
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No Time to Die
Flickchart rank: 3845 (27.49%)
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Candyman
Flickchart rank: 3895 (27.20%)
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Most Dangerous Game
Flickchart rank: 3775 (26.68%)
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Sisterhood
Flickchart rank: 3966 (25.90%)
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Azor
Flickchart rank: 4009 (25.30%)
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Godzilla vs. Kong
Flickchart rank: 3835 (25.10%)
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Stillwater
Flickchart rank: 3945 (24.58%)
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Army of the Dead
Flickchart rank: 3910 (24.05%)
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Lucky
Flickchart rank: 3965 (22.51%)
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The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Flickchart rank: 4086 (21.12%)
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Infamous
Flickchart rank: 4237 (18.86%)
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Howard's Mill
Flickchart rank: 4275 (18.66%)
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Lamb
Flickchart rank: 4321 (18.49%)
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Fear Street Part Three: 1666
Flickchart rank: 4274 (17.93%)
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Halloween Kills
Flickchart rank: 4361 (17.39%)
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Coming 2 America
Flickchart rank: 4219 (17.24%)
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The Power of the Dog
Flickchart rank: 4432 (16.64%)
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The Pizzagate Massacre
Flickchart rank: 4433 (16.44%)
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Skull: The Mask
Flickchart rank: 4534 (15.60%)
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We Need to Do Something
Flickchart rank: 4551 (15.22%)
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Nine Days
Flickchart rank: 4539 (14.86%)
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Tick, Tick... Boom!
Flickchart rank: 4536 (14.80%)
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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Flickchart rank: 4606 (13.76%)
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Benedetta
Flickchart rank: 4628 (13.41%)
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Wild Indian
Flickchart rank: 4687 (12.60%)
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Historia de lo Oculto
Flickchart rank: 4903 (7.23%)
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Willy's Wonderland
Flickchart rank: 4730 (6.89%)
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Cry Macho
Flickchart rank: 4885 (6.85%)
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