The way we consumed movies fundamentally changed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but even as theaters have slowly begun to reopen, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video remain a primary way most people watch films in 2021.
The shift led to studios postponing many 2020 blockbusters, and although the critical favorites for 2020 reflect a less spectacle-filled slate of films than in 2019, this year, studios have begun to unleash the cache of IMAX-friendly material that had been building up in the vaults. But among the superheroes and monsters, plenty of intimate sleeper hits have broken through.
This collection of films isn't a preview of the year end best-of lists or a plate full of Oscar bait, but rather the best films that have caught the eye of SFGATE writers and been worth exploring off the screen. That ranges from yet-to-be-released SXSW documentaries featuring Bay Area performers, to romantic comedies that should've been based in Berkeley, to some good old-fashioned monster mayhem.
"Judas and the Black Messiah"
HBO Max
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Daniel Kaluuya in a scene from "Judas and the Black Messiah."
Associated Press"'Judas and the Black Messiah' is true and it hurts. It’s every bit as important to learn about as the heroics of Rosa Parks. The story of Fred Hampton is Black history, and not the kind that’s so disconnected to contemporary society that we can only admire it from afar. It’s the kind that carries a still-applicable message, which is the purpose of learning history anyway. We learn so that we can grow and change, not just to know facts for a test and then keep the status quo.
"I was fortunate enough to sit down with Keith Lucas — one of the writers of 'Judas' along with his twin brother Kenny, Will Berson and Shaka King, who also directed it — to ask him about the movie and why it’s somehow on Hollywood to tell us the true history." — Rod Benson, read more
"White Tiger"
Netflix
Adarsh Gourav (Balram) in "The White Tiger."
Tejinder Singh Khamkha/Netflix"At the turning point of new Netflix film 'The White Tiger,' low-caste Indian chauffeur Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) squats in the middle of a patch of tall weeds on an otherwise perfectly manicured lawn, the camera looking down on him. He is surrounded on all sides by towering bungalows as his voiceover booms, 'I was trapped in the rooster coop, and don’t believe for a second there’s a million-rupee game show you can win to get out of it.'" — Ikya Kandula, read more
"Justice League"
HBO Max
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in "Zack Snyder's Justice League"
HBO Max"Four years later, 'Justice League' is BACK. Yes, Warner Bros is trying to f—k this chicken all over again. So, out of both journalistic responsibility and a deep, deep self-loathing, I subjected myself to both the original cut of 'Justice League' and then the revised version all in one go. The following explainer will outline, in breathtakingly needless detail, what you can look forward to should you subject yourself to a similar experiment." — Drew Magary, read more
"To All the Boys: Always and Forever"
Netflix
Noah Centineo as Peter Kavinsky and Lana Condor as Lara Jean Covey in "To All The Boys: Always and Forever."
Sarah Shatz / Netflix"In the final installment of the Netflix teen rom-com saga 'To All The Boys: Always and Forever,' Lara Jean Covey is utterly torn between two colleges: UC Berkeley and New York University.
"Our lovelorn protagonist (played by the endlessly endearing Lana Condor) just came back from a life-affirming senior class trip to New York, which included a glam rooftop party, a trip to Levain Bakery for its cookies, and, for reasons only loosely explained, a theft of a pink couch." — Joshua Bote, read more
"The World's A Little Blurry"
Apple TV Plus
Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell in the Apple TV Plus documentary "Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry."
Courtesy of Apple TV+"In one of the closing scenes of the new Billie Eilish documentary 'The World's A Little Blurry' on Apple TV Plus, the 19-year-old mega pop star sits in her jet-black Dodge Charger flexing her new driver’s license and reflecting on her rise to fame.
"'I’m nominated for six Grammys. I have my dream car. Finneas has his dream car. It's raining. I have my pooch doggy in the car. I had donuts last night. I’m not in a relationship, thank the lord. My relationship with my family is good. I am pretty, somewhat. I am famous, as f—k. Life is good.'" — Dan Gentile, read more
"Raya and the Last Dragon"
Disney Plus
"Raya and the Last Dragon" debuted in theatres and Disney Plus premium access on March 5, 2021.
Courtesy of Disney"When Disney Plus released 'Raya and the Last Dragon' for premium access streaming on Friday, I had mixed feelings before watching it, given Disney’s track record with its treatment of women and world cultures in its animated features.
"Would there be issues of consent, like in the early days of Disney’s animated movies, when Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were kissed while they were asleep to 'save' them? Would someone be held prisoner only to see her captor’s heart of gold and fall in love with him, like Belle did with the Beast? Would white American actors provide voices of characters they have no cultural connection to, as happened with both child and adult Simba?" — Julie Tremaine, read more
"Summer of Soul"
Not yet streaming, coming soon to Hulu
"Chronicling the Harlem Cultural Festival concert series that ran in the summer of 1969, the documentary unearths previously unseen footage of icons like Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone and Nina Simone, alongside commentary from everyone from Chris Rock to Lin-Manual Miranda. The performances are of course the highlights (Stevie Wonder’s drum solo will blow your mind), but for a movie from a first-time filmmaker it’s spectacularly edited, which earned it the Grand Jury and Audience Awards for best documentary." — Dan Gentile, read more
"Coming 2 America"
Amazon Prime Video
Eddie Murphy stars in "Coming 2 America."
Courtesy of Amazon Studios"I was, in theory, in the perfect demographic for the release of 'Coming 2 America,' which dropped on Amazon over the weekend (you gotta sign up for Prime to watch it; no a la carte viewings BOOOOOOO). I grew up right when Eddie Murphy became a star. I discovered 'SNL' because of him. My folks brought home a VHS copy of 'Delirious' to our apartment in Chicago and I memorized the thing. I memorized 'Raw,' too. I worshipped all of the early Murphy comedies. I also worshipped original 'Coming To America' director John Landis, who knew how to stage comedy as a grand spectacle — a skill that’s been rendered extinct in this century — and whose contempt for authority made my nuts swell with pride. I had been waiting, not all that patiently, for Eddie Murphy to make a sequel to 'Coming To America,' and for him to return to stand up, for the majority of my existence. So I was gonna watch this sequel no matter what." - Drew Magary, read more
"alone together"
Not yet streaming
Bay Area drag performer Poison Oakland is among the fans featured in a new documentary about English pop star Charli XCX, and how she recorded her newest album in just five weeks during the pandemic.
Courtesy of SXSW"In a flurry of Zoom calls, self-recorded vignettes and distorted animation sequences, the film follows Charli XCX and her fanbase — known as her 'Angels' — on an unexpected mission. The pop star enlists the help of the Angels to release said album, 'how i’m feeling now,' in a matter of just five weeks. We learn how deeply collaborative that process was, as Charli holds demo listening sessions for her fans, workshops lyrics with them over Instagram live, and asks them to contribute footage and creative oversight for her music videos." — Amanda Bartlett, read more
"Godzilla vs. Kong"
HBO Max
"Godzilla vs. Kong" premieres on HBO Max and in theaters on March 31, 2021.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures"The latest monster blockbuster that arrived on HBO Max and in real life movie theaters March 31 is about two things: a giant lizard and a giant primate. 'Godzilla vs. Kong' is a celebration of spectacle in an era where that’s been sorely lacking because of the closure of theaters amid the coronavirus pandemic, and one that I’m on record for being very excited about. If you brave an IMAX theater to see it, like I did for the first time in a year, it will feel revelatory just to watch something outside your house.
"Which is to say, I enjoyed 'Godzilla vs. Kong,' and it’s tempting to put a period at the end of that sentence and call it a day, but as much as I love seeing planes swatted out of the air by a lizard tail, I left the theater feeling like no one really won in this battle." — Dan Gentile, read more
"We Are As Gods"
Not yet streaming
Stewart Brand and another member of the Merry Pranksters check the instruments on top of The Bus, while Anthony Dean Wells, known as the Hermit, paints The Bus with Day-Glo colors. They are preparing for the Acid Test Graduation in San Francisco, October 1966.
Ted Streshinsky Photographic Arc/Corbis via Getty Images"If you trace the arch of San Francisco counterculture, there’s few figures as ubiquitous as [Stewart] Brand. He spent his early days as part of the '60s psychedelic trouble-making collective known as the Merry Pranksters, and rubbing shoulders with the Grateful Dead. He also founded the Whole Earth Catalog, which Steve Jobs referred to as 'Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along.' But even his most ambitious projects don’t come close to reviving a lost mammal whose tusk alone weighs 200 pounds.
"That de-extinction project, Revive & Restore, is the through-line of a new documentary that premiered at SXSW Online 2021 called 'We Are As Gods.' It’s directed by Jason Sussberg and David Alvarado ('Bill Nye: Science Guy'), with a score by longtime Brand collaborator Brian Eno." — Dan Gentile, read more
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