The Year 2021 in Movies

Continuing with the final part of our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through today. Today we share the sixty-eight (68) movies reviewed across ten (10) decades by Matt Lynn Digital in 2021.

(The 1941 movie Citizen Kane is one of seven movies that Matt Lynn Digital gave 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5).

Citizen Kane (1941) was written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. The Michael Curtiz directed film Casablanca (1942) also earned 4.5-stars, as did the Alfred Hitchcock directed film Psycho (1960).

(The 1961 movie The Hustler starred Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason).

The Robert Rossen directed film The Hustler (1961) is joined by the Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver (1976), the James Cameron directed movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and the David Fincher movie Se7en (1995) as also having earned 4.5-stars by Matt Lynn Digital in 2021.

(Several films by Alfred Hitchcock made their way into the Matt Lynn Digital reviews in 2021. North by Northwest and Strangers on a Train were a couple of favorites).

The Shop Around the Corner (1940) as directed by Ernst Lubitsch is one of eleven movies having earned 4.25-stars in 2021. The Alfred Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train (1951) joins the Hitchcock film North by Northwest (1959) in the same category.

(Martin Scorsese movies are well received by Matt Lynn Digital. The 1995 movie Casino received 4.25-stars).

A Christmas Story (1983) as directed by Bob Clark has consistently hit me in a warm spot. The Richard Donner directed Lethal Weapon (1987) offers comedic action at a solid pace.  The Rob Reiner directed movie Misery (1990) juxtaposes mystery against the sweet storytelling of the Harold Ramis movie Groundhog Day (1993). Casino (1995) by director Martin Scorsese is the second film in our reviews to pair Scorsese with actor Robert De Niro. The Sixth Sense (1999) as directed by M. Night Shyamalan also earned our rating of 4.25-stars.

(The 2003 Ridley Scott movie Matchstick Men dips our toes into the 21st century of cinema).

The Ridley Scott movie Matchstick Men (2003) earned 4.25-stars, as did the David Fincher movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).

(The clean-cut reputation of the actor James Stewart is put to the test in his portrayal of Paul Biegler is the 1959 Otto Preminger movie Anatomy of a Murder).

Frankenstein (1931) as directed by James Whale received 4-stars as an origin tale into the more frightening side of cinema. The movie Saboteur (1942), the movie Rope (1948) and the movie Dial M for Murder (1954), as directed by Alfred Hitchcock, all earned similar ratings. The Otto Preminger directed movie Anatomy of a Murder (1959) closed out the three decades of cinema rated at this level.

(The 1974 Mel Brooks movie Young Frankenstein comedically poked fun of the 1931 James Whale movie Frankenstein).

The Mel Brooks directed movie Young Frankenstein (1974) worked on a level equal to the film that inspired it. Richard Donner succeeded in the horror movie genre with The Omen (1976) while John Carpenter delivered a similar 4-star rated movie with Halloween (1978). The Hugh Hudson directed film Chariots of Fire (1981) won four Academy Awards while the James Cameron sequel movie Aliens (1986) won a pair of awards.

(Seven Academy Awards and 4-stars from Matt Lynn Digital awaited the Kevin Costner‘s directorial debut movie, Dances with Wolves).

The epic Western Dances with Wolves (1990) as directed by Kevin Costner earned 4-stars, as did the Steven Spielberg movie Jurassic Park (1993), the movie Jumanji (1995) starring Robin Williams and the Tony Scott directed movie Enemy of the State (1998).

(The adventure of The Polar Express centers around the experience of finding joy in the notion of Christmas. Matt Lynn Digital granted the movie 4-stars).

The Stephen Frears movie High Fidelity (2000), the Paul Haggis directed movie Crash (2004), the Robert Zemeckis movie The Polar Express (2004), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) starring Gary Oldman and the Jake Kasdan directed movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) all earned four stars.

(John Ford directed the western named Stagecoach. The movie starring John Wayne was granted 3.75-stars).

Alfred Hitchcock directed two separate movies based on the same source material twice. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) as well as The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) each earned 3.75-stars from Matt Lynn Digital. The John Ford directed movie Stagecoach (1939), starring John Wayne, is accompanied by Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), John Ford’s The Quiet Man (1952), and both The Trouble with Harry (1955) and The Wrong Man (1956) by Alfred Hitchcock.

(The 1962 Stanley Kubrick movie Lolita is often misunderstood yet tells a morally difficult story for those that can stick with it for understanding).

Stanley Kubrick directed the movie Lolita (1962), which is one of twenty-seven movies granted 3.75-stars by Matt Lynn Digital. Alfred Hitchcock‘s movie Torn Curtain (1966), Brian De Palma‘s movie Sisters (1972), the Don Siegel directed movie Escape from Alcatraz (1979), the John Hughes directed movie Sixteen Candles (1984), Ron Howard‘s movie Cocoon (1985) and the David Cronenberg directed movie The Fly (1986) each received a similar 3.75-stars.

(The 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs as directed by Quentin Tarantino received 3.75-stars from Matt Lynn Digital).

Total Recall (1990) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone are joined by the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs (1992), the Brian De Palma movie Carlito’s Way (1993), the Jan de Bont directed movie Speed (1994), The Santa Clause (1994) starring Tim Allen and the Kevin Smith directed movies Clerks (1994) and Chasing Amy (1997).

(The 2002 movie Insomnia from director Christopher Nolan offered a character focused with less abstraction focus in earning 3.75-stars).

The Howard Deutch sports comedy movie The Replacements (2000) introduced a string of movies, including the Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia (2002), the Gavin O’Connor movie Miracle (2004), the Tim Burton directed movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), the Clint Eastwood directed movie Richard Jewell (2019) and the Christopher Nolan movie Tenet (2020), that offered quality movie making rated at 3.75-stars.

(The 2003 movie Timeline as directed by Richard Donner is one of three movies to earn 3.5-stars by Matt Lynn Digital).

Sylvester Stallone stars in the movie Cliffhanger (1993), which stands beside the Wolfgang Petersen directed movie Outbreak (1995) and the Richard Donner directed movie Timeline (2003) as receiving 3.5-stars.

(Brian De Palma‘s 1990 movie The Bonfire of the Vanities received 3-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 from Matt Lynn Digital).

The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) as directed by Brian De Palma was not a commercial success, earning a 3-star rating from Matt Lynn Digital. The movie lost over $31 million, despite a reasonably strong cast.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, or similar work to that mentioned above, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Friday, December 31, 2021

Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin in the Bob Clark movie ‘A Christmas Story’

It was almost a week before Thanksgiving in the United States when A Christmas Story (1983) was released on Friday, November 18, 1983. Christmas day would come in approximately five weeks, with the day of holiday being the day we review and remember the movie with those who found us on Matt Lynn Digital.

(Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker in the Bob Clark movie A Christmas Story).

Peter Billingsley portrayed nine-year-old Ralphie Parker, whose experience of anticipating Christmas that year was shared through a series of vignettes leading up to the secular holiday from 1940. The stories for the movie, set in Hammond, Indiana, reflect the hometown of Jean Shepherd, the narrator and adult voice of Ralphie Parker. Shepherd‘s books In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters provide the source material for A Christmas Story. Bob Clark directed the movie.

(From left, Melinda Dillon as Mrs. Parker, Darren McGavin as Mr. Parker and The Old Man, Ian Petrella as Randy Parker and Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker in the Bob Clark movie A Christmas Story).

We are introduced to the Ralphie’s fantastic daydreams associated with receiving a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle for Christmas. We meet Ralphie, his brother Randy, some of Ralphie’s friends, and Ralphie’s parents in the opening scenes of the movie. Ian Petrella portrayed Randy Parker, Ralphie’s younger brother. Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon portrayed the mother and father of the Parker children.

(From left, Scott Schwartz as Flick, Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker and R.D. Robb as Schwartz in the Bob Clark movie A Christmas Story).

The vignettes contained with The Christmas Story offer some delightfully engaging notions of what life was like growing up in a North American factory town in 1940. Others offer glimpses of poor taste bordering on garish. Others engage the audience with a realistic sense of time and place, referencing old fashioned means of transportation, communication, electric power and living. The drive for Ralphie’s toy rifle intermixed with traditions of Christmas and growing up in the neighborhood.

(From left, Yano Anaya as Grover Dill and Zack Ward as Scut Farkus in the Bob Clark movie A Christmas Story).

The neighborhood and schoolyard were the sources of many of the neighborhood storytelling. There were the stories with Ralphie Parker, Flick and Schwartz in the class of Miss Shields that included classroom shenanigans as well as a metal pole in the winter cold of the school yard. There was bullying in the schoolyard and along the path home of bullying by Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. R.D. Robb and Scott Schwartz portrayed Schwartz and Flick, respectively. Zack Ward and Yano Anaya portrayed Scut Farkus and Grover Dill, respectively.

(From left, Tedde Moore as Miss Shields and Leslie Carlson as Christmas Tree Salesman in the Bob Clark movie A Christmas Story).

Miss Shields, as portrayed by Tedde Moore, transitioned between the vignettes for Ralphie’s home life and school life. Beyond the school yard and classroom specifics offered in The Christmas Story, there is a very clear theme from the adults to Ralphie regarding the safety concerns related to the safe operation of Ralphie’s desired air rifle. Would Ralphie get the gun? Could Ralphie handle the gun without hurting himself? Would the adults speak past Ralphie’s wishes to the safety concerns, in essence dashing his hopes? This recurring plot point worked quite well for the movie, even with repeated viewings of the film. The multiple storylines related to getting the family Christmas tree, in addition to a lamp won as an award, hit different people different ways on the engaging and garish question.

(From left, Drew Hocevar as Male Elf, Jeff Gillen as Santa Claus, Ian Petrella as Randy Parker and Patty Johnson as Lead Elf in the Bob Clark movie A Christmas Story).

My intention here has been to give you some glimpses at a high level of some plot points that were engaging to me for this movie, while touching others in glancing form. There are vignettes that were not discussed, and the engaging quality of them get into the humor and sentiment related to time, specific subject matter, the fantasy with humor interspersed throughout, along with other points. There is plenty to enjoy with A Christmas Story as directed by Bob Clark, which I give 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, December 25, 2021