Film of every kind.
Licorice Pizza is a 2021 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman in their film debuts, alongside an ensemble cast including Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie. The movie has generally been well-received, having been nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
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The King’s Man is a 2021 spy action comedy film directed by Matthew Vaughn from a screenplay by Vaughn and Karl Gajdusek and a story by Vaughn. The third installment in the Kingsman film series, which is based on the comic book The Secret Service (later retitled to Kingsman) by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, it is a prequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).
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Drive My Car is a 2021 Japanese drama film co-written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. It is primarily based on Haruki Murakami’s short story of the same name from his 2014 short story collection Men Without Women while taking inspiration from other stories in it. Besides Drive My Car, Hamaguchi directed the anthology Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, also released in 2021.
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Nightmare Alley is a 2021 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro from a screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, being the second feature film adaptation of Gresham’s novel, following the 1947 version. (Wikipedia)
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House of Gucci is a 2021 American biographical crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott, based on the 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden. The story revolves around the shocking true story of the Gucci family feud that costs them the control of their prestigious fashion business.
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Belfast is a 2021 British coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The semi-autobiographical film, which Branagh has described as his “most personal film”, centres on a young boy’s childhood amidst the tumult of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the 1960s. The film stars Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan, and newcomer Jude Hill.
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Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a 2021 American supernatural comedy film directed by Jason Reitman, who co-wrote the screenplay with Gil Kenan. The movie is a sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, which were both released in the 1980s. The movie is the latest in the fan-service nostalgia driven franchise soft reboot trend that Hollywood has been lazily indulging in of late.
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The Best Films of 2021 is based on the films that we have reviewed on Power of Pop in 2021. Most of these films were watched online, as visits to the cinema were hampered by the damned pandemic. Truth be told, overall, TV series were stronger than films in storytelling and characterisations and we will get to that particular list in a later post.
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Don’t Look Up is a 2021 American satirical science fiction black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Adam McKay. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as two low-level astronomers attempting to warn mankind, via a media tour, about an approaching comet that will destroy Earth.
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The Matrix Resurrections is a 2021 American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. It is the sequel to The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and the fourth instalment in The Matrix film series. The film brings back Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne-Moss and Jada Pinkett-Smith to reprise their roles from the original trilogy.
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Spider-Man : No Way Home is a superhero action-adventure drama starring Tom Holland as everybody’s favourite wall-crawler. The film is the final instalment in the Sony-Marvel Spider-Man trilogy that sets the hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). After the relatively weak performances of MCU fare in 2021, No Way Home has been highly anticipated worldwide.
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The superhero movie genre originated in comic books at the tail end of the 1930s and flourished during one of mankind’s darkest epochs viz. World War II. Since the conclusion of that war, superhero comics have been struggling for acceptance as an art form in its own right.
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The Last Duel is a 2021 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, based on the 2004 book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France by Eric Jager. The film is a period drama set in 14th century France.
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Brian Wilson Long Promised Road is a 2021 documentary film about the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson that was directed by Brent Wilson (no relation). It follows Brian and Rolling Stone editor Jason Fine as they drive around Los Angeles and visit locations from Brian’s past.
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Last Night in Soho is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed and co-written by Edgar Wright. Set in modern day London, the film moves between this contemporary setting and the 1960s in a fantastical premise, that is good fun overall but stretches the bounds of the suspension of disbelief somewhat.
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Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time is an upcoming American documentary recounting the extraordinary life of author Kurt Vonnegut, and the 25-year friendship with Robert B. Weide – the filmmaker who set out to document it.
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Eternals is a 2021 American superhero film drama based on the Marvel Comics of the same name. Created by the legendary Jack Kirby in the 1970s, Eternals’ premise was inspired by the Chariots of the Gods? novel which involves the hypothesis that the technologies and religions of many ancient civilizations were given to them by ancient astronauts who were welcomed as gods.
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The Velvet Underground is a 2021 documentary film directed and produced by Todd Haynes that follows the band The Velvet Underground. The documentary film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 7, 2021 and was released on October 15, 2021, by Apple TV+, to critical acclaim.
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Venom Let There Be Carnage is a 2021 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Venom, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel and Tencent Pictures. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the sequel to Venom (2018) and is directed by Andy Serkis.
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The Night House is an American supernatural horror drama film directed by David Bruckner, based on an original screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. The story concerns a widow who discovers a dark secret about the house her late husband built, which then leads her to a psychological battle which may cost her, her very life.
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Don’t Let Go is a 2019 American science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes. The film is a cross between a supernatural time travel story and a crime procedural and involves a premise that is essentially borrowed from Frequency (2000). This basic premise has been taken aboard as a staple of many South Korean movies and TV series as well (for e.g. The Phone), for some reason.
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The Many Saints of Newark is an American crime drama film directed by Alan Taylor and written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner. The film is a prequel of The Sopranos, the popular HBO series created by Chase with numerous younger versions of favourite characters appearing.
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The Guilty is a 2021 American crime thriller film directed and produced by Antoine Fuqua, from a screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto. A remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name, the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Christina Vidal, with the voices of Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Eli Goree, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Paul Dano, and Peter Sarsgaard.
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Free Guy is a 2021 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, and a story by Lieberman. While in general, video game adaptations have failed miserably, Free Guy succeeds by being inspired by and referencing video game culture. Yes, Free Guy is able to engage despite the superficial trappings of its premise, due mainly to excellent writing, eye-catching special effects and Ryan Reynolds’ on-screen ‘everyman’ charisma.
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Candyman (1992) is an American supernatural horror film, written and directed by Bernard Rose and based on Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden”. The movie has been recognised as one of the best movies of the horror genre, with the titular character becoming one of the most distinctive as well.
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