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

Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and the David Fincher film ‘Se7en’

We looked into the planning of a murder last Saturday when looking at Alfred Hitchcock‘s Dial M for Murder (1954). Today we extend the look into the madness of murder planning through the lens of a police procedural with a string of themed murders in the David Fincher movie Se7en (1995).

(From left, R. Lee Ermey as the police captain, Morgan Freeman as Detective Lieutenant William Somerset, Brad Pitt as Detective David Mills & Richard Roundtree as District Attorney Martin Talbot in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

The movie Se7en deals in the unlikely pairing of young police detective David Mills with experienced police detective and lieutenant William Somerset by their police captain. R. Lee Ermey portrayed the police captain that assigned Mills and Somerset together, combining know how and the experience of Somerset with the youth and exuberance of Mills. Brad Pitt portrayed Mills opposite Morgan Freeman‘s portrayal of Somerset.

(The seven deadly sins as referenced in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

At the time of the pairing, the case that grew into a connection of seven murders started as the final investigation for Somerset before he retired. Mills had just joined the unit in the New York City, New York neighborhood, having earned a bit of an investigational track record that wasn’t yet on par with Somerset. When there became a theme of repeating murders that grew past the original murder, a drama that would put these two men at the center of it would start to form.

(From left, Gwyneth Paltrow as Tracy Mills and Brad Pitt as Detective David Mills in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

The two detectives did not see the world similarly with regards to police methodology, life experience, or much of a notion of liking one another. Sensing this false start, we as the audience are introduced to the family of David and Tracy Mills with William Somerset at Tracy’s urging. In the Mills’ home, we get a thawing of the Somerset and David Mills relationship over dinner and some comic relief around the youthful mistake of buying a home along the line of an elevated subway train. Gwyneth Paltrow portrayed Tracy Mills.

(From left, Morgan Freeman as Detective Lieutenant William Somerset and Kevin Spacey as John Doe in the David Fincher movie Se7en).

Both Tracy Mills and the New York Public Library factor into where the larger narrative of where this movie was headed. The character of John Doe, as portrayed by Kevin Spacey, is not introduced to the audience until well into the movie. The fate of John Doe, Detective Lieutenant Somerset, and the Mills couple is as potentially dark as the mystery underpinning the religious mythology that accompanies the notion of the seven deadly sins at the core of this movie.

(Director David Fincher is shown on the set of the movie Se7en. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, not pictured, wrote the screenplay for the David Fincher film).

The unfolding of the story that is Se7en struck me as powerfully written and well-paced. The movie holds up to multiple viewings, with the way things come together in resolving the underpinning mystery in a manner that quite possibly defies the expectation many viewers had coming into the film. It’s with regard for the cinematography as well as the storytelling that I offer David Fincher‘s Se7en 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings in the Alfred Hitchcock film ‘Dial M for Murder’

The planning and execution of a murder without getting caught is the subject matter of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder (1954). The movie holds superficial similarity to the Matt Lynn Digital reviewed Strangers on a Train (1951), though diverges significantly in location, the feeling of claustrophobia in a largely singular set, and the faithfulness to the feeling and two-dimensional cinematography of the stage play turned screenplay by playwright Frederick Knott.

(From left, Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday, Ray Milland as Tony Wendice and Grace Kelly as Margot Wendice in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder).

Grace Kelly stars as Margot Wendice in her movie debut. Wendice is involved in a love triangle with her husband, former tennis player Tony Wendice, and love interest and crime novelist Mark Halliday. The husband and love interest were portrayed by Ray Milland and Robert Cummings, respectively. The motive for murder begins in this triangle while including, ostensibly, a financial motivation as well given Margot’s wealth coming into the Wendice marriage coupled with a matrimonial pressure to discontinue a professional tennis career.

(Grace Kelly as Margot Wendice in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder).

The notion of presenting the underlying planning for the planned crime in Dial M for Murder laid in bringing the notion of Margot’s stolen purse, some love letters between Margot and Halliday, and in getting former college classmate to Tony, Charles Swann, to handle some extortion letters Tony had sent to Margot. A pretext of acquiring a car through cash purchase lured Charles to the home of Tony and Margot, with the planned crime presented to Charles and the audience in one efficient telling.

(From left, Anthony Dawson as Charles Swann and Ray Milland as Tony Wendice in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder).

It was in the movement from planning to executing the physical murder, with Tony initiating the intended murder by placing a phone call to the Wendice home, that the planned circumstances for Tony, Charles and others occurs decidedly against the planned sequence. Anthony Dawson portrayed Charles Swann, who dies during the planned murder. The second main movement of the film brings in actor John Williams as Chief Inspector Hubbard.

(From left, Ray Milland as Tony Wendice, Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday and John Williams as Chief Inspector Hubbard in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder).

It is Chief Inspector Hubbard, in a role that draws upon the Agatha Christie character Hercule Poirot, who investigates the circumstances of the Charles Swann death. We are granted the cameo of film director Alfred Hitchcock through a photograph on the wall of the Wendice homestead, wherein the story of guilt detection for the murder planner becomes the overriding mystery of the movie.

(From left, Alfred Hitchcock in cameo, Anthony Dawson as Charles Swann (with a cigar) and Ray Milland as Tony Wendice in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder).

The playing of verbal and intellectual ping pong characterized the remainder of the film, with some expertly played attempts at misdirection leveled in multiple directions. Margot Wendice was tried for the murder of Charles Swann, with startlingly different responses from the gentlemen in the love triangle. It is my genuine pleasure to suggest that you watch the movie to see how the story turns out. I give Dial M for Murder as presented by Alfred Hitchcock 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, August 7, 2021