**Ants Top Films of 2021 (Due: March 25th)**

[clayj41]

It’s time for our 13th annual film poll!

Like always, the deadline for submissions is delayed until the weekend of the Academy Awards so as to give users much needed time to catch up on all of the stuff they’ve been meaning to watch.

In the meantime, feel free to use this thread to discuss what you liked, what you didn’t like, what you’re most looking forward to seeing, etc.

1) Final submissions are due by midnight EST on Friday, March 25, 2022. Results will be announced before the Academy Awards broadcast on Sunday, March 27, 2022.

2) Votes should be PMed to me here on Ants. Please remember to number your lists in order to simplify things.

3) Lists are capped at 100, with a minimum of 10 entries necessary to be scored.

4) Just like last year, we’re dealing with atypical eligibility criteria as anything released between January 1, 2021 and February 28, 2021 is ineligible due to already being included for 2020 voting purposes.

Otherwise, as a general rule of thumb, a theatrical release is eligible if it was designated as a limited release in the United States in 2021. Films that only had festival screenings and no accompanying theatrical release are not similarly eligible. Most notably, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Drive My Car, Parallel Mothers, The Worst Person in the World, Flee, Cyrano, and A Hero are all eligible. Documentary features are eligible, as are television movies. Miniseries are not. I’m personally on the fence about The Beatles: Get Back, but I’m willing to listen to what others have to say about it.

If there are any other questions regarding eligibility, please feel free to ask.

5) Since final submissions are not due for over two months, a “secret ballot” rule is almost unenforceable. I love the spirit behind it though and would ask that as the deadline gets closer, people use their best judgment and stop posting preliminary lists. We don’t want to needlessly ruin the suspense of the final results. I won’t bring this up again unless I see it being a problem in the weeks leading up to the deadline.

I've hyperlinked all of our previous top 10 lists:
2009 – WINNER: Moon
2010 – WINNER: Black Swan
2011 – WINNER: Drive
2012 – WINNER: Silver Linings Playbook
2013 – WINNER: 12 Years a Slave
2014 – WINNER: Gone Girl
2015 – WINNER: Room
2016 – WINNER: La La Land
2017 – WINNER: Logan
2018 – WINNER: BlacKkKlansman
2019 – WINNER: Parasite
2020 – WINNER: Sound of Metal

[clayj41]

We'll also be polling Favorite Male Performance (Lead AND Supporting), Favorite Female Performance (Lead AND Supporting), Favorite Director, and Favorite Screenplay (Adapted OR Original).

Anyone interested should submit a list of their top 3 to 5 in each category.

[clayj41]

A sticky would be appreciated.

[Thesongilike]

I hope I’ll be able to catch a lot of the foreign films before the deadline!


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[thebridge15]

have to see at least some of the following before submitting:

the lost daughter
the hand of god
parallel mothers
spiderman: no way home
drive my car
flee
the eyes of tammy faye
being the ricardos
a hero

if anyone has any of these to eliminate from my consideration, that'd be fine
cyrano

[wvufan2010]

Originally Posted by thebridge15

have to see at least some of the following before submitting:

the lost daughter
the hand of god
parallel mothers
spiderman: no way home
drive my car
flee
the eyes of tammy faye
being the ricardos
a hero

if anyone has any of these to eliminate from my consideration, that'd be fine
cyrano

I hated Being the Ricardos and would say you don’t need to waste time on it, but if you want to be a completionist considering Nicole Kidman is probably getting an Oscar nom, go for it.


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[AlpineValley804]

Somehow I completely forgot Sound of Metal won our poll last year. And now I'm happy all over again.

[Ascf33]

cyrano was a preview for both Spider-man and Licorice Pizza and it looks so bad. Like who is that movie for?

[Thesongilike]

Clay is there a specific website to use as a resource to know what’s eligible for our lists?


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[clayj41]

Originally Posted by Thesongilike

Clay is there a specific website to use as a resource to know what’s eligible for our lists?


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Not really, no. If there's a question, I just look up an individual movie on IMDb to determine when it was released in the U.S. to at least a limited, non-festival lineup. Feel free to browse my 2020 and 2021 Letterboxd rankings as well. That could clarify some things.

Speaking of which, I was under the mistaken impression that The Worst Person in the World had already been released in NY/LA. That actually isn't happening until 2/4/22. So in my mind, it's ineligible for 2021.

I'd also note that Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar counts as a 2020 release (it even received a vote last year). The Courier is a 2021 release, however.

[clayj41]

These last two years have been more confusing than ever, so it's probably easier to just ask about a film's eligibility in this thread or PM me.

[clayj41]

Originally Posted by thebridge15

have to see at least some of the following before submitting:

the lost daughter
the hand of god
parallel mothers
spiderman: no way home
drive my car
flee
the eyes of tammy faye
being the ricardos
a hero

if anyone has any of these to eliminate from my consideration, that'd be fine
cyrano

I see you watched The Lost Daughter but haven't ranked it on your 2021 Letterboxd list yet. It struck me as something you'd like.

Same goes for The Hand of God. I don't know where you generally stand on the MCU, but No Way Home is a top tier entry.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Being the Ricardos aren't very good, but they certainly include some noteworthy performances.

I'll be seeing The Tragedy of Macbeth (via Apple TV) and Drive My Car tomorrow. I'd like to squeeze in Red Rocket as well, but I don't think I'll be able to swing it based on its start time, at least not without running the risk of missing the start of Drive My Car.

[Thesongilike]

Originally Posted by clayj41

These last two years have been more confusing than ever, so it's probably easier to just ask about a film's eligibility in this thread or PM me.

Ok and as always thanks Clay lol


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[Ascf33]

Did we come to a consensus on Get Back?

[clayj41]

Originally Posted by Ascf33

Did we come to a consensus on Get Back?

There hasn't really been a discussion, but I'm in the "no" camp regarding its eligibility.

[Ascf33]

I don't have a hard opinion either way but it will affect my rankings in a big way (ie: Hamilton from last year)

[ExistenceNow]

I would say no to Get Back.

[clayj41]

In further support of that position, I'd note that it's ranked as the 23rd best television show of all-time on IMDb.

Edit: The Last Dance is ranked 16th though, so there you go.

[Ascf33]

Quo vadis, Aida? 2020 or 2021? US Release date is March 5th, 2021 but it was at both TIFF and Venice 2020 with some limited stuff after.

[AlpineValley804]

Originally Posted by Ascf33

Quo vadis, Aida? 2020 or 2021? US Release date is March 5th, 2021 but it was at both TIFF and Venice 2020 with some limited stuff after.

I think rule of thumb has always been that we go by the release of when it's actually feasible for all or most of us to see it. So not film festivals or exclusively NY/LA release.

2021 eligible, I say.

[clayj41]

Originally Posted by Ascf33

Quo vadis, Aida? 2020 or 2021? US Release date is March 5th, 2021 but it was at both TIFF and Venice 2020 with some limited stuff after.

Originally Posted by AlpineValley804

I think rule of thumb has always been that we go by the release of when it's actually feasible for all or most of us to see it. So not film festivals or exclusively NY/LA release.

2021 eligible, I say.

It was nominated for Best International Feature last year, but it wasn't widely accessible in the U.S. until March 2021. We'll count it for this year's voting, but moving forward I'm going to try to mirror the Academy more closely.

Case in point, I'd recently indicated that The Worst Person in the World wasn't eligible for this year because it didn't make it to the States until last month. But plenty of us have had an opportunity to catch it since then, and I've decided that we will include it for this year's voting.

There may be some foreign films that won't make our lists moving forward, but hopefully we'll be better equipped to avoid confusion a year after the fact.

[Ascf33]

Originally Posted by clayj41

It was nominated for Best International Feature last year, but it wasn't widely accessible in the U.S. until March 2021. We'll count it for this year's voting, but moving forward I'm going to try to mirror the Academy more closely.

Case in point, I'd recently indicated that The Worst Person in the World wasn't eligible for this year because it didn't make it to the States until last month. But plenty of us have had an opportunity to catch it since then, and I've decided that we will include it for this year's voting.

There may be some foreign films that won't make our lists moving forward, but hopefully we'll be better equipped to avoid confusion a year after the fact.

Thank you sir

[Thesongilike]

I think I only have a handful left to watch that would have any impact to my rankings. I’m planning to watch Summit of the Gods, Gucci, and Flee.


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[thebridge15]

gonna watch red rocket tomorrow then I think I’m good to submit

[Ascf33]

The Worst Person in the World is probably my last missing piece for the year. Hoping a good copy of that leaks soon.

[thebridge15]

they're projecting good quality versions of it in movie theaters

[Ascf33]

I am a father of twins. I see maybe three movies a year and two of them are animated.

[thebridge15]

ah, I don't think they'd enjoy it

nor would they understand it if they don't speak norwegian or...read

[clayj41]

Lists are due one week from today!

[BotheLaneFan]

Ruling on the two South Park “movies” that came out on Paramount +?