The 50 Best Movies of 2021

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – January 5, 2022

Here is Metacritic's final list of the 50 best-reviewed movies of 2021, ranked by Metascore. This list only includes films receiving at least 7 reviews from professional critics.

All films released between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 in at least one U.S. theater or directly to streaming or VOD/digital services were eligible for inclusion. Short films and reissues are excluded, and so are any eight-hour Beatles movies that were screened as a TV miniseries. Titles are ranked by Metascore (a weighted average of scores from top professional critics) prior to rounding based on scores as of January 3, 2022.

Additional content by Keith Kimbell.

5 of 25 photo by Apple

87 The Velvet Underground

(#19) It was a wonderful year for music documentaries on screens big and small. One of the best—which played in both formats as it debuted on Apple in conjunction with a limited theatrical run—was this appropriately unconventional feature from director Todd Haynes (Carol) of one of the most influential bands in rock history. The truly groundbreaking Lou Reed-led band forever changed the sound of rock music while increasing the format's possibilities and opening the doors to countless followers. Haynes eschews a straightforward profile and narration for a mood piece, layering multiple images (including footage from the archives of Andy Warhol) to provide a glimpse of both the band and their milieu—New York's art scene in the late 1960s.

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“Making ingenious use of split-screen, experimental montage and densely layered images and sound over two fabulously entertaining hours, Haynes puts his distinctive stamp on the material while crafting a work that could almost have come from the same artistic explosion it celebrates.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

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