The Best of 2021

2021 is finally drawing to a close so it's time for my now traditional end of year post where I round up some of my favourtie bits of media from the last twelve months.

TV

I've been finding that I am actually watching less TV than ever now I am have complete control of what's on the box. The BBC have given us some great dramas this year- Line of Duty was as thrilling as ever and I felt the ending was apt and Vigil was a brilliantly tense if somewhat absurd submarine murder mystery. There was also Doctor Who: Flux, by far the best series of the show for some years with it's tense series-long story. 

It was Disney though who really captured my attention on the small screen with Marvel Studios branching into TV for the first time with exclusive shows for Disney+. There was The Falcon and the Winter Soldier which was a bit hit and miss but had some breath-taking moments, animated multiverse show What If?, and the superb WandaVision, Loki and Hawkeye. All three of the latter were fantastic but I think I have to say that Hawkeye was my favourite. It may have felt less ground-breaking that the other two but it managed to keep the quality at a consistently high level and was just so much fun to watch.

Film 

This is the big one. I have watched a ridiculous forty-one films that were released in 2021, a great many of these on the big screen. In October I decided to purchase an Unlimited card for the cinema that is now only ten minutes drive away and so I've been every week since and seen so many fantastic films. 

I've enjoyed the Marvel films this year with Shang-Chi and Spider-Man: No Way Home being particular highlights but actually my favourtie comic book movie of the year was The Suicide Squad which is just fantastic. There's been plenty of other films that I've loved to- Princess Di drama Spencer was amazing, gentle parenthood drama C'mon C'mon was lovely and I was surprised to find I adored Stephen Spielberg's new version of West Side Story. There was also plenty of high quality films on streaming from Arthurian fantasy The Green Knight to Lucille Ball biopic Being the Ricardo's. 

I'm declaring my film of the year a two way tie because I simply can't decide between them. One is Dune, which director Denis Villeneuve brought to life in a stunning way and I am very much looking forward to Part Two. Then there's The Mitchells Vs. The Machine, an Sony Picture Animation film that ended up being released on Netflix. It has a terrible title but it's an utterly brilliant family film and the best animation I've seen for some time. 

Book 

I haven't actually read many newly-released books in 2021 due to the fact that I've been reading my way through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I'd read the odd one but decided to systematically work my way through the entire canon which has been an utter joy so far. I especially love the books about the Witches, especially Witches Abroad but my favourtie in the series so far has been Men at Arms which discusses diversity by having a troll and a dwarf join the City Watch. 

There have been a handful of new releases I've enjoyed and my book of the year goes to The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman. It's the second in his Thursday Murder Club series and whilst being a TV personality certainly helps to sell books you don't make the huge sales figures Osman has without them being of a huge quality. They are about a group of pensioners who solve murders and are fantastic, very funny with lots of heart and decent mysteries too. 

Podcasts: 

After getting somewhat obsessed with podcasts in 2020 I've suddenly found I just don't have the time to listen as much what with actually being at work all year and no longer spending ninety minutes in the car a day commuting. I've been enjoying comedy history podcast You're Dead to Me this year, learning and laughing at the same time is very much a way I like to spend my time. A new discovering I've enjoyed is Soundtracking presented by Edith Bowman who interviews people from the film industry discussing the use of music in their films. 

My podcast of the year is an old favourtie which I've become even more addicted to, No Such Thing as a Fish. Each episode sees four of the Qi elves, Dan, James, Anna and Andy discuss the latest facts they've stumbled upon. It's full of fascinating and trivia and is utterly hilarious. It's become particularly special to me this year as when I had Covid and was isolating and indeed at other times when I've been ill, this podcast has seen me through. The four hosts almost feel like friends and I know that 2021 would have been a more miserable year if I didn't have this podcast to fall back on.

Well, that's it for 2021 thank goodness. I look forward in hope to 2022- surely, surely, it's going to be better year? Fingers crossed...

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