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.

7 of 25 photo by A24

88 The Tragedy of Macbeth

(#17) Working without his brother Ethan for the first time, Joel Coen directs a noir-ish, black-and-white take on Shakespeare's Macbeth starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as an older-than-normal Lord and Lady Macbeth. (The age change is intended to give the characters greater urgency in their actions, and the altered title of the film is also intended to reflect this new take.) Corey Hawkins, Moses Ingram, Brendan Gleeson, and Harry Melling also star. The Scottish film received excellent reviews out of its NY Film Festival debut in September—with Washington, in particular, singled out for an incredible performance that could be rewarded with an Oscar nomination—and it will get a chance to connect with a wider audience when it heads to Apple TV+ later this month.

Watch it on AppleTV+ (starting January 14, 2022)

“It’s a visual feast that’s served with enormous respect for the essence of Shakespeare’s words, even though Coen has shaved the text so that it moves at a furious pace, with a sudden slap of an ending that feels entirely fitting. It’s a creepy, bone-shaking triumph.” —Dave Calhoun, TimeOut

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