It’s that time again! When I think I’m going to skip a year of The Toddy Awards, I get a bunch of emails and social DM’s asking for them. So… let’s get this started with movies. I thought 2021 was going to be anemic with the spread of COVID shutting down movie theaters across the world. But the influx of 1st run streaming movies punched up the number of motion pictures I got to see last year. My initial list of movies was almost 30 strong. Cutting it down to a tight 10 took a few rounds, as my top movies kept shifting depending on how I enjoyed the rewatching. But I finally settled on my favorite movies of 2021. Peep it:
My Favorite Movie of The Year
I know! Malignant is a big surprise choice to me too! But when I look back and remember which movie was the most enjoyable watching it the first time, nothing beats the crazy-ass ride James Wan takes us on in this 80’s throwback slasher movie. And let’s be honest… this should’ve been an awful ‘direct-to-video’ movie, and trying to explain this movie to another person would guarantee they wouldn’t go see it. But the twist is… all the awfulness in this movie is intentional. Everything about it is paying homage to cheesy 70’s and 80’s drive-in slasher movies.
So what a one-word explanation of this movie? CRAZY!! I feel bad for everyone who watched the horrible first 15 minutes of this movie and stopped because they expect a horror movie because they would’ve missed the bat-shit crazy ride James Wan was about to take us on. All the cheesy dialog, the cheap sets, the costumes and everything that screamed ‘crappy’ about this movie was all a set up for a crazy third act that brought me back to being a youngster watching movies like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street.
It’s a crime that this movie didn’t do as well as it should’ve. We can blame COVID, or the attention-span of today’s audiences, but this movie should’ve been a hit over Halloween. But I can guarantee this will become a cult classic in years to come. If/when you see that 3rd act you’ll know what I mean. Looking at the crop of movies on my list, I tried to find another to take my top slot. But to be honest, Malignant was hands down the most fun I had watching a movie.
Check out Grace Randolph’s review on her Beyond The Trailer channel. She nails it.
Best of The Rest
