2021 in review

This was a strange, memorable year, filled in equal parts with wonder and horror.  So many amazing things happened this year and, yet, that was balanced by the awfulness of the state of the world.  Yin and Yang.  

As for movies, I saw exactly one movie in the theater this year.  That was Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.  I loved it, and it shot immediately into the top five of my favorite Marvel films.  

Seeing only one theatrical release taught me I really didn't miss going to the theater as much as I thought I would.  Now, a big part of that is that nothing was released this year that I really wanted to see, other than Shang-Chi.  I suspect 2022 will bring out more movies I'm genuinely interested in, but we'll see.  

At home, either on DVD, blu-ray, or streaming services, I watched over 130 movies.  Slightly less than half of those were new-to-me movies; the rest were re-watches.

Favorite new-to-me movies:

1. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - fun and beautiful, with characters and a storyline I loved

2. Patton (1970) - not at all what I was expecting, and I loved it so much I watched it twice in a row.

3. Capricorn One (1977) - not sure how I never saw this one previously, but it was a good conspiracy theory movie that I really enjoyed.  I did not expect Telly Savalas to be so much fun.  He stole all his scenes.

4. Romeo and Juliet (2015 2-part series) - this one took a few liberties with the story and characters, but those changes enriched and helped make the story even better.  I was not expecting to enjoy this so much

5. The 300 Spartans (1962) - because, reasons

Worst:

1. Futureworld (1976) - why oh why was this made??  After how good Westworld is, to turn this clunker out?  And that dream sequence... what the?????

2. Prometheus  (2012) - one of the very few movies I wish I could unsee.  Except for the part in the beginning where Michael Fassbender imitates Lawrence of Arabia, which was great.  I should have realized it was going to attempt to explain things and steered well clear.  I love Alien and Aliens, but this was pretty much the opposite of what I would have wanted for a prequel.

Best movie-viewing was running through a host of dystopian films.  I'd seen them all previously, but in light of where the world currently is, they were even more frightening than in the past.  Rollerball (1975) was my unexpected favorite, but also, surprisingly, the most terrifyingly realistic of all of them.  Why?  Because its future is ruled by large corporations, because of the censorship and how very few think for themselves, because individuality has been wiped out, and, most importantly, because the people have willingly given up their freedoms for security and comfort and they think that was the right choice to make.  Gee, none of that resonates right now, not at all.  *shudders*

Favorite tv series was the incomparable WandaVision, which currently tops all other Marvel movie/shows for me.  Brilliant, wonderful, satisfying.

I only picked up a couple new-to-me film scores this years.  Come Away by John Debney and Cliffs of Freedom by George Kallis are the two I've been listening to regularly, as they're part of the playlist for my new novel.

Favorite song from 2021 is off the new Duran Duran album.  The rest of the album did nothing for me, but I purchased this one immediately.

However, my favorite new-to-me song of the year is an older song, the Eagles "Waiting in the Weeds."  I'm not ordinarily a slow-song type girl, but this one is on its way to becoming my favorite song of all time.  It kept me sane this year whenever things got too bad.  (Runner-up song was Aerosmith's "Livin' on the Edge," which I also fell in love with.  Weird Al's parody "Livin' in the Fridge" is priceless.)

And so, 2021 draws to a close.  Good-bye!  Bring on the 2022!

Happy New Year, everyone!