2021 was a pretty good year for television, books, and discovering authors I wasn’t familiar with. This was the year I came across Joe Abercrombie, Ashley Pollard, Andy Weir, Jim Al-Khalili, and Peter Cawdron. In all cases I’ve read at least three of their books this year, and they were uniformly excellent. Abercrombie is an absolute master of the genre of dark fantasy, Al-Khalili a presenter and author on par with Brian Cox, Weir superb at “hard” SF, Cawdron on “First Contact” stories, and Pollard in the military SF genre. They combined made up a significant portion of my reading this year.
I’ve listed other works by category. They aren’t rated, but merely appear in order of month I wrote about them.
Movies:
Greenland – a good end-of-the-world fable
A Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin’s hilarious biopic about the two Hoffmans
Captain Fantastic – a very idiosyncratic tale of a man trying to raise a family outside of society
I Care a Lot – chilling all-too-real tale of exploitation of the wealthy elderly who are alone
Nomadland – Academy Award winning tale of America’s nomad class
Oxygène – claustrophobic tale of a woman trapped in a cylinder
Cruella – the background on one of Disney’s most famous villains.
Kingdom: Ashin of the North – a side movie to Korea’s brilliant “Kingdom” TV series
Gunpowder Milkshake – an off-beat crime caper, dark and funny
Worth – a surprisingly engrossing movie about trying to assign monetary value to lives lost on 9/11
Dune Part I – excellent remake of the Herbert classic.
Darkest Hour – Churchill in May 1940. Riveting, if factually suspect.
Don’t Look Up – Perhaps the most controversial film of the year, mocking Trump, social media, cable news and conspiracy theories.
Documentaries
Quark Science – Intellectually demanding, showcases Jim Al-Khalili as a serious presenter
Crime of the Century – Why aren’t the Sackler family hanging from gibbets? A tale of corporate mass murder.
Get Back – Peter Jackson’s amazing reveal of the final two weeks the Beatles were together.
Books
Sun Fall – Jim Al-Khalil’s story of humanity facing a solar flare.
Later – Stephen King
Bad Dog – first of three books by Pollard. The third, which I’ve yet to review, may be the best of the three.
They Called Us Enemy – George Takei’s riveting graphic novel of his youth in an American concentration camp.
Artemis – Superior Weir SF about single woman fighting corrupt corporations on the Moon.
Billy Summers – One of Stephen King’s best novels, and that’s saying a lot.
Project Hail Mary – Weir should win a raft of awards for this spellbinding first contact tale.
The Wisdom of Crowds – the rousing finale of Abercrombie’s second trilogy
The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson on the politics of fighting climate change
Termination Shock – Neal Stephenson on the sociology of fighting climate change
TV Series
Upgrade – dark comedy in which Heaven is a lot like Windows 8.
Shadow and Bone – entertaining dark fantasy
The Expanse – Perhaps the best SF series televised
Loki – Amusing look at the God of Mischief. And I don’t usually like Marvel universe stuff.
Post Mortem – No One Dies in Skarnes – dark and hilarious Norwegian vampire tale.
Only Murders in the Building – Three sleuths and a podcast try to solve a murder. Brilliant comedy.
Squid Game – the most controversial TV show of the year. Hundreds faces nearly certain death for money.
Cowboy Bebop – I sometimes think I’m the only reviewer who liked, but I did.
Hellbound – another superior Korean series, with interesting theological and sociological implications
The Outlaws – hilarious money heist British series.
Animated/Anime
Raya and the Last Dragon – one of Disney’s best animated features.
Invincible – offbeat and bloody look at superheroes and villains.
Trese – superior tale of a Filipina manggagaway who fights demons and crime
Nezha Reborn – superior animation about a child-god running amok.
Made in Abyss – four children explore deep chasm seeking family and adventure.
Arcane – Remarkable art, strong characters inform this game-based series.
Maya and the Three – riveting Mexican take on classic Atzec mythology
The Freak Brothers – raunchy and rowdy tale of three losers lost in time and space
I know 2021 was mostly a shit year for all of us, but at least it had its diversions. Let’s hope 2022 is better, and the level of our entertainment remains high!