My Best of 2021

In honor of continuing the yearly tradition, here’s my list for 2021:

Top 5 Albums:

  1. Lord Huron – Long Lost
  2. Lorde – Solar Power
  3. Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
  4. The Killers – Pressure Machine
  5. Coldplay – Music of the Spheres

Top 5 Movies:

  1. Last Night in Soho / The French Dispatch
  2. Dune / A Quiet Place Pt. II
  3. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  4. Luca / Spider-Man: No Way Home
  5. Eternals / Stowaway

Top 5 TV shows:

  1. Mare of Easttown / Arcane S1
  2. Loki S1
  3. Foundation S1
  4. WandaVision S1 / Ted Lasso S2
  5. The Morning Show S2 / What If S1

Top 5 Games:

  1. Returnal
  2. It Takes Two / Hitman 3
  3. Deathloop
  4. New Pokémon Snap / Life is Strange: True Colors
  5. Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart

In yet another twist for modern times, the pandemic continued to thwart any sense of normalcy this year. Despite that, we saw the release of incredible movies, shows, games, and albums. I tried to make it a habit to not spend so much time glued to screens this year (especially due to remote work requiring so much screen time), but still managed to experience the best that entertainment had to offer.

Lord Huron came out with tracks that hit me so hard emotionally, Last Night in Soho was my unexpected sleeper hit favorite film of the year, The French Dispatch was Wes Anderson at perhaps his best with incredible scenes that suddenly come to life, Mare of Easttown was just such an impeccably directed and tightly written suspense thriller of a series, Arcane was just an unexpectedly great series with a phenomenal animation and art style, and Returnal made me marvel at how wonderfully unique and challenging video games can be. All in all, not bad at all, given that all of this happened in the backdrop of a pandemic.

Next year is already looking like it’s off to a stacked start with some incredible games and movies coming out early in the year, so I’m excited to see how they all rank up in my list for next year!