Chad Kennerk Looks Back at the Year of 2021
Poised for a resurgence, the year began with high hopes for the cinema. In the states, Nicole Kidman welcomed back audiences, slinking through a pristine theater in a sparkling pantsuit, promising that at AMC Theaters ‘we make movies better’. There really is nothing quite like sitting in a theater and having a shared experience, (mostly) free from the distractions of home. Nicole begins by saying, “We come to this place for magic.”, and masked or unmasked, that’s how it felt sitting in a movie theater for the first time since Onward. The cinema has always been a place for all generations to come together. To be entertained and challenged by flickering images representing the vast human experience, our dreams and our fears.
In spite of Covid fears, 2021 finally saw the release of anticipated films such as No Time to Die, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and A Quiet Place Part II. This felt very much like the year of the biopic, with dozens of real-life inspired titles. Steven Spielberg and Lin-Manuel Miranda also helped bring NYC musicals back to the forefront with tick, tick… Boom!, In the Heights, and West Side Story. Musical maestro Stephen Sondheim certainly left us on a high note – and with his own swan song. He personally rewrote and recorded that final voicemail to Andrew Garfield’s Jonathan Larson. Don’t Look Up and Silent Night made for a provocative December double feature, while director Ridley Scott provided history highlights with The Last Duel and House of Gucci. Through another strong year of streaming, studios began recommitting themselves to ‘In Theaters Only’ releases, particularly the fall ‘For Your Consideration’ titles and year end blockbusters.
Blockbusters like Spider-Man: No Way Home, brought youths out of their homes in droves (omicron-shromicron). The wall-crawler spun webs around the previous 2021 record holder, fellow Marvel man Shang-Chi, slinging over 600 million into the US Box Office. Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man’s haul proves optimistic for 2022. The real concern is getting audiences back for the intimate dramas and thought-provoking pieces that younger crowds tend to overlook in favour of popcorn pleasers.
In addition to appearing together in a certain marvelous money maker, Brits Andrew Garfield and Benedict Cumberbatch score high marks for delivering strong, contrasting performances. Garfield in The Eyes of Tammy Faye and the aforementioned tick, tick… Boom! and Cumberbatch with The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and director Jane Campion’s magnificent The Power of the Dog.
Chad Kennerk’s Favourites:
