As we roll into 2022, I wanted to take a snapshot of where we are with the current state of rankings for various perspectives here at Half Popped Reviews.
Overall Top 10
Several of the movies which typically top “all time” lists are present. PATHS OF GLORY and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION take the top two spots. BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945) and THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1966) are tied for third, but each only have three reviewers weighing in on their ratings score, the minimum needed to be ranked on HPR. With five times as many people rating it, PSYCHO slips into the top spot just 0.09% ahead of the only superhero movie in the Top 10, Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT.
The one film directed by Martin Scorsese to make it into the Top 10 isn’t one that most might predict, with SILENCE (2016) out ranking some of the acclaimed director’s other high profile films. It’s currently tied with SCHINDLER’S LIST, the pair of movies focused on historic religious persecution tied at the #7 spot. GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM has ratings scores from the minimum number of people needed to get it a ranking, but its average earned it a spot in the Top 10. Rounding out this list is the second-highest rated film from 2016, the only musical on the list, LA LA LAND.
For posterity’s sake, the rest of the Top 25 at this point in time:
11. Seven Samurai
12. North By Northwest
13. Goodfellas
14. United 93
15. Ninotchka
16. The Godfather
17. Parasite
18. Anatomy of a Murder
19. Searching
20. Whiplash
21. Pulp Fiction
22. A Separation
23 (tied). A Face In The Crowd
23 (tied). JFK
23 (tied). Nine Days
23 (tied). Volver
Top 25 of 2021
Two of the top three movies in 2021 were superhero movies, and they featured the absolute biggest names in the genre’s history. The social media movement proved to be for good reason, as Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE tops the list, with the 4-hour epic director’s vision was nearly unanimously praised as a masterpiece. Currently dominating theater box offices, having already pulled in over $1B, is the era-weaving SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME. Sandwiched between the two is the surprisingly well-reviewed Nic Cage film PIG.
A fantastic and cool new western, THE HARDER THEY FALL hits at the fourth-best reviewed movie of the year, and I hope it gains notoriety as more people become aware of it and appreciate its greatness. In the number 5 spot, MOXIE doesn’t have a star-studded cast like the aforementioned western, but perhaps a few years from now we’ll see it as a stepping stone for some up-and-coming talents. It’s currently tied with PASSING, which features Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga.
CODA follows in the seventh spot, the indie helping promote awareness about the deaf and their families with a critically acclaimed film, following the lead of last year’s SOUND OF METAL. In the eighth spot, GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE breathes life into the franchise in a way that its Paul Feig-helmed 2016 counterpart failed to do. TOGETHER TOGETHER with Ed Helms just barely found its way into the ninth spot, just 0.2% ahead of Speilberg’s remake of WEST SIDE STORY. There was nearly another musical in the Top 10, with Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of RENT’s creator Jonathan Larson in TICK, TICK… BOOM! finding itself nearby at 11th on the list. The rest of the Top 25:
12. The Mitchells vs The Machines
13. In The Heights
14. Free Guy
15. King Richard
16. Last Night in Soho
17. The Power of The Dog
18. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
19. Val
20. Roadrunner
21. The French Dispatch
22. Judas and the Black Messiah
23. Luca
24. Encanto
25. Belfast
As someone who doesn’t earn any money from any of the streaming services at this point and pays for my own subscriptions to these services, I will state that I find it interesting how many of these highly-ranked films came from Netflix.
We’ll revisit this list 12 months from now to see how things changed as more people get the opportunity to see and provide their perspective on the movies of 2021.
Best (and Worst) of Best Picture
Because of the visibility and prestige that comes with a film winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, I’m putting more of a focus on analyzing those winners (and the nominees) in some new features coming to HPR in 2022. For now, I’ll start with looking at which of the films having been awarded the top prize at the Oscars have fared to this point, according to those who have reviewed them here.
The Best
The two highest rated of the films aren’t a surprise. SCHINDLER’S LIST holding the top spot ahead of THE GODFATHER is a mild surprise, though it would’ve been more surprising if either film were outside of the Top 5. PARASITE ranking in ahead of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA at spots 3 and 4 respectively is something that I don’t expect will continue to be the case when we revisit this list a year from now. THE GODFATHER PART II is currently in the fifth spot, and is probably most-likely to benefit by more reviewers rating Best Picture winners over the next 12 months. GONE WITH THE WIND and its iconic status is firmly in the Top 10 at the sixth spot, with the equally iconic CASABLANCA following shortly behind. The third installment of Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation has plenty of high ratings, so with nearly twice as many scores than most of the other films ahead of it on the list, LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING isn’t likely to have its average rating drop too much in the next 12 months. The same goes for 12 YEARS A SLAVE, which comes in at ninth on this list and has been reviewed by almost twice as many people as the aforementioned LOTR film. Rounding out the Top 10 is IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, whose spot is possibly in danger as 1934’s winner is introduced to audiences which may have more modern sensibilities.
The Worst
Although a dozen films having won Best Picture don’t have enough ratings yet to qualify for overall rankings, only two of them currently have scores lower than AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, which is currently the 77th lowest rated Best Picture Winner. There is a bigger variation of opinion of YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, but not enough to have it any higher than the 76th lowest rated of the list. GRAND HOTEL comes in at the 75th spot, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS hitting 74th, OUT OF AFRICA reached 73rd, and CHARIOTS OF FIRE is 72nd. The 71st lowest ranked film on the list is GIGI, which is lower than OLIVER and MIDNIGHT COWBOY at 70th and 69th respectively. CRASH finishes better than I expected at 68th.
Podcasts
Another area on which I’m going to be putting more effort in 2022 is on podcasts. While decent progress was made in getting content on HPR, the importance of movie podcasts certainly warrants higher prominence here. A few podcasts worth mentioning:
Science Fiction Remnant (Twitter: @SciFiRemnant) is currently the podcast with the most episodes linked through this site and covers the most movies, with 28 episodes (and a corresponding 28 movies covered).
The Awesome Friday Podcast (@awesomefridayca) has 18 episodes linked here, with 20 different movies covered on those episodes.
The LAMBcast (@LAMBThe) is my pick for the podcast likely to have the most episodes and movies covered when I revisit this list 12 months from now. It currently has 11 episodes linked through this site, with 16 movies covered.
BS Movies Podcast (@BSMoviesPodcast) only has 3 episodes linked on HPR, but those episodes cover 26 movies.
I’m excited to continue to discover more podcasts over the next year and get better acquainted with those I’ve already found. I’m even in discussions to bring about a podcast of my own to talk about not just movies, but also the reviewers and movie podcasts covered by this site!
Coming Soon
The other areas getting more focus over the next 12 months that are likely to be covered in next year’s equivalent of this review are the Movie Ladders concept (which might be getting a sibling “pyramid” concept that could be exciting) and the Movie Trios concept. Why focus on these areas? More on that to come in discussions over the next month!