The movies that mattered in 2021, while streaming soared and box office suffered

'West Side Story,' 'Tick, Tick ... Boom!' and 'In the Heights'

All 3 of these movies could person qualified individually, but the thrill of 3 standout musicals successful 1 twelvemonth was offset successful portion by their commercialized struggles, with lone "Tick, Tick" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda's awesome directorial debut -- being spared questions astir underperforming astatine the container bureau by virtuousness of Netflix declining to supply specified data.

These movies nevertheless merit to beryllium collectively lauded successful portion to promote much of them, with the knowing that much astatine bats volition inevitably mean creator and/or fiscal strikeouts, a la "Annette" and "Dear Evan Hansen."

'Shang-Chi' and the 'Legend of the Ten Rings' and 'Encanto'

Credit Disney with a duplicate stroke for inclusion by launching Marvel's archetypal Asian superhero vehicle and a sprightly animated philharmonic (also with music from Miranda) astir a Latinx household whose matriarch survived a exile acquisition to settee successful Colombia. Both movies were rather bully connected their ain but marque a stronger connection together.

'Coda' and 'Belfast'

The small-boned coming-of-age communicative has been astir wholly relegated to the indie-film shelves, but the Apple TV+-backed story astir the proceeding kid of deaf parents deed nary a mendacious note, an illustration of taking a precise basal template and making it shine.

Ditto for Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical trip backmost to the violence-torn Ireland of his youth, successful a movie that exhibits the formative relation of popular civilization successful the young protagonist's life, portion offering a timely illustration of the quality toll associated with bigotry and division.

'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

A precise enjoyable sequel connected its own, represented present chiefly due to the fact that of the reassuring awesome that it sends astir the quality to get radical successful theaters. That said, the movie's blockbuster numbers besides item the spread betwixt specified marquee franchises and much superior melodramatic fare -- a feast oregon (more often) famine script that has go a yawning chasm during the pandemic.

'The Power of the Dog'

Another rubric that benefited from Netflix's patronage, allowing writer-director Jane Campion to accommodate a communicative that is simply a very, precise dilatory burn, with 1 of the astir lingering payoffs of immoderate movie released this year. Even with a splendid formed topped by Benedict Cumberbatch, it's the benignant of movie that streaming progressively makes possible, and that much radical person surely seen due to the fact that of it.

'Licorice Pizza'

A lightweight dramedy from manager Paul Thomas Anderson, looking backmost connected beingness successful L.A.'s San Fernando Valley during the 1970s, that validates a definite benignant of auteur-driven filmmaking. In that sense, contempt the problematic aspects of its cardinal narration the movie stood retired adjacent to less-accomplished examples of that successful 2021, including Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" and Guillermo del Toro's "Nightmare Alley."

'Drive My Car'

Although Japanese manager Ryusuke Hamaguchi's movie clocks successful astatine 3 hours (so nary points for economy), it's an engrossing communicative of nonaccomplishment and forgiveness, and based connected aboriginal response, possibly champion positioned to widen the practice of planetary movie successful the Oscar contention aft "Parasite's" breakthrough successful 2020.

'Flee'

In a twelvemonth afloat of terrific documentaries, it's hard to deliberation of 1 that much nimbly combined antithetic genres than this Danish film, utilizing animation to archer the communicative of Amin Nawabi, who fled Afghanistan for Denmark seeing small aboriginal arsenic a cheery younker increasing up nether an oppressive regime.

While employed successful portion to obscure Amin's identity, the animation adds a vivid and astir hypnotic prime to those memories, bringing the communicative unneurotic successful an utterly archetypal way.

'Summer of Soul'

Questlove's directing debut culled from recently discovered footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival offered a fascinating model into that humanities moment, and however that play has echoed from a half-century agone into the present. In a twelvemonth of memorable weddings of euphony and film, the operation seldom paid disconnected much handsomely than this.

'Being the Ricardos'

A amusive and an enlightening look astatine Lucille Ball's genius done 1 eventful week during "I Love Lucy's" heyday, Aaron Sorkin's movie is represented present chiefly arsenic a rebuke to the premature freak-out assemblage that objected to the casting earlier seeing the movie. Argue the movie's merits each you privation (and absorption has surely been mixed), but Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem's performances arsenic Lucy and Desi Arnaz service arsenic a reminder it's usually omniscient to tune retired the voices of outrage that bubble up from societal media.