From ‘King Richard’ to ‘Gunda’: The 10 best films of 2021

I distinctly remember when I saw my first movie on the big screen in 2021. It was “In the Heights,” the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, and perhaps I can be forgiven for thinking, as the movie started up, that it was the greatest film ever made. I felt this way because the experience of sitting in a big, booming theater, at long last, with larger-than-life actors parading across the screen, was a revivifying reminder of what first drew me to the movies – and what draws me still.

Since that time in June, I have seen many more movies in theaters, and quite a few more on the home screen. I’ve made my tentative peace with this bifurcated approach