2021: The Year in Movies

It’s all a blur…

I have only written two reviews since last January thanks to a combination of pandemic ennui and the fact that I just don’t think that watching a movie at home has the same effect as watching it in a theater.

I watched many streaming movies that are being shown concurrently in theaters. I had to search my viewing history to realize that I saw many movies that I promptly forgot.

I don’t know how the model of releasing movies in theaters almost concurrently with streaming is not going to deliver the coup de grace to agonizing movie theaters. Why would people spring almost $20 (in NYC) for a movie they can watch at home two weeks later? I myself have succumbed to these economics. I can rent promising films for less than ten bucks but it is never a completely fulfilling experience. On the other hand: people fidgeting with their goddamned cellphones in the dark.

This is all very depressing.

I have been back to some theaters. It’s kind of nice to have the place almost all to yourself, but it’s also sad to miss that communal feeling that makes movies exciting: the shared laughter, tears, frights, or even the boredom. I like noticing when people look at their watches when a movie loses its grip on the audience. I like hearing people react when a movie holds us in its hands. With almost…