30 Best Movies Of 2021

The year 2020 was a strange one for cinema, but 2021 is — sort of — getting back to normal. Streaming services are still going strong, and the theater-going experience has slowly been coming back. As a result, an array of films from all sorts of genres have been lighting up websites and multiplexes the world over.

And despite the existential question of when moviegoing will truly be "back," 2021 has still been filled with some truly remarkable works, from new animated classics and thrilling franchises entries to intimate dramas and even ridiculous comedies. So if you're looking for the cream of the cinematic crop this year has to offer, here are the 30 best movies that have graced our screens in 2021.

Updated on December 29, 2021: As the year progresses, more and more amazing films will be coming out each month. And we'll be sure to update our list every few weeks, keeping you current on the greatest movies of the year.

For their follow-up to the Academy Award-nominated "Bridesmaids," Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo made the choice that so many great artists have before them — create something completely and utterly different from the work that granted them success. In complete opposition to the down-to-earth improv-heavy realism of their first screenplay, "Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar" is a completely gonzo journey of two small-town middle-aged women (played by Wiig and Mumolo) whose Florida vacation takes an unexpected turn when they get involved in the machinations of a literal super villain (also played by Wiig). With everything from talking animals and Jamie Dornan as a lovelorn sidekick to one of the most unhinged celebrity cameos to cap things off, "Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar" is beautifully chaotic and bound to be one of the funniest films you'll see all year.

• Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Jamie Dornan
• Director: Josh Greenbaum
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 106 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

From director R.J. Cutler comes this epic and unabashed look into the life of one of contemporary music's most popular and mesmerizing artists. "Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry" gives us a no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes look at the young artist's career gearing up for the release of her critically acclaimed album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" The doc gives us a glimpse into the writing process, the promotional tours, and the live performances, and it's unafraid to show us the dark side of being a popular artist in the world today. For those who've wanted a ticket into the true life of being a pop star, there's no better experience than this marvel of a documentary.

• Starring: Billie Eilish
• Director: R.J. Cutler
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 141 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

"Bo Burnham: Inside" is ostensibly a stand-up comedy special, but that description barely does it justice. It's a heightened, musical document of Burnham's year of COVID-19 quarantine during which he attempts to produce a 90-minute film entirely by himself. Already struggling with acute anxiety and dissociative disorders, Burnham picks himself apart and back together again multiple times as he examines a life lived online and in public, something with which a modern audience can relate to very closely. "Inside" is a deeply cutting, intimate work, as well as a remarkable achievement in DIY filmmaking. And, of course, the songs are terrific, and when Burnham wants you to laugh, you'll laugh hard.

• Starring: Bo Burhnam
• Director: Bo Burnham
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 87 minutes
• Rating: Not Rated
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

After making a huge splash at the Sundance Film Festival (winning the Grand Jury Prize, among many other accolades), "CODA" stormed into theater's at the tail end of the summer to even more acclaim and emotional resonance with a larger audience. "CODA" tells the story of Ruby — the only hearing person in her deaf family (CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults) — and the choices she must make to pursue her passion for singing that may just take away the bond she has with her relatives. With an ensemble of absolute standout performances, most notably from Troy Katsur and Marlee Matlin as Ruby's parents, "CODA" is a charmingly empathetic film about the power of family that transcends what the world thinks of us.

• Starring: Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin
• Director: Sian Heder
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 112 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

In a year packed with movie musicals (animated and live-action), Disney's "Encanto" still managed to stand out. Set in a cloistered magical community in Colombia, "Encanto" follows Mirabel, the only member of the Madrigal family who does not have a superhuman "gift." As she struggles to find her place among her extraordinary relatives, Mirabel learns that her family's future may rest on her very ordinary shoulders. "Encanto" sports the top-shelf, big-budget brilliance fans of Disney musicals have come to expect, plus original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda. Some might find him a bit overexposed this year, but he undoubtedly brings his best to this film.

• Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, María Cecilia Botero, Diane Guerrero
• Director: Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charise Castro Smith
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 109 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

A cynical viewer might see a trailer for the latest Wes Anderson film and wonder how this director keeps getting away making what appears to be the same film, over and over. Nearly all of his movies are defined by their picture book framing, pastel color palette, dialogue that's too clever by half, and soundtracks pilfered from a hipster grandma's record collection. Surely, at some point, this schtick has to get stale, but if "The French Dispatch" is any indication, we're still years away from the Anderson oeuvre hitting its expiration date. 

Anderson's tenth narrative feature is an absolute delight, fully living up to its curious gimmick as the final issue of a literary journal given cinematic form. The feature is separated into multiple "articles," each covering a different story set in the fictional village of Ennui-sur-Blasé, France, and narrated by a different author. While Anderson's patented cute/funny/sad tone prevails over every segment, each individual story is a riot in itself that combines for an absolutely delightful experience.

• Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton
• Director: Wes Anderson
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• Rating: R
  
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

It's hard to imagine that a film as bold and assured of itself as "The Green Knight" will be able to march into theaters in 2021 to dethrone this movie as one of the year's top cinematic achievements. From the mind of writer/director David Lowery ("Pete's Dragon," "A Ghost Story") comes this mesmerizing adaptation of the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and his quest for honor and nobility by challenging the mystical Green Knight in a "Christmas game"" of strength and chivalry. What follows is a sensual, mind-boggling quest that takes Gawain through a series of trials that test him more than he's ever been tested before. With a final sequence that's sure to leave you gobsmacked and visuals pulled from the brilliant depths of Lowery's mind, "The Green Knight" is a film that not only has a heart of gold but a darn good head on its shoulders.

• Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton
• Director: David Lowery
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 125 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

Part magic show, part solo performance, part full-on reckoning with what it means to be human, Derek DelGaudio's "In & Of Itself" is guaranteed to be unlike any movie you'll ever watch, let alone this year. DelGaudio, a master of magic and showmanship, crafts a performance piece built around his own life story and his own desire to be understood in a world so ready to judge him so quickly. Through masterful illusions that must be seen to be believed and an emotionally gut-wrenching final illusion, "In & Of Itself" is a beautiful meditation on how you can't truly judge a book by its cover.

• Starring: Derek DelGaudio
• Director: Frank Oz
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: N/A
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%

The movie musical made a triumphant comeback in 2021, with such varied stage-to-screen adaptations as "Dear Evan Hansen," "Tick...Tick... Boom!," and "West Side Story." And the year got off to a triumphant start with director Jon M. Chu's filmed adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical "In the Heights." From writers Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes, Chu's film is an explosive and dynamic story of a Washington Heights community banding together when the forces of gentrification and economic peril come barreling their way. With magnetic performances, thrilling choreography, and some of the best staged musical numbers put on film in years, if you want a sense of what a great musical movie should look like, you've got to take a trip to "In the Heights." 

• Starring: Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace
• Director: Jon M. Chu
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 143 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

The bizarre and elongated Oscar season of 2020/2021 might make you forget that the award-winning "Judas and the Black Messiah" was in fact a 2021 release. And what a triumphant film to kick off the year it was, telling the story of Fred Hampton, the Black Panthers, and William O'Neal — the FBI informant tasked with taking the Panthers down. Buoyed by two otherworldly performances from LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya (in the performance that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), "Judas and the Black Messiah" is a film about revolutionary politics told in a revolutionary fashion, and it still stands out as one of the most dramatically thrilling films of the year.

• Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
• Director: Shaka King
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 126 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Modern cinema often seems divided into two categories: crowd-pleasing blockbusters and obtuse arthouse films. Director Paul Thomas Anderson's thoughtful and entertaining "Licorice Pizza" is a reminder that this division is artificial. This quirky coming-of-age story follows a 15-year-old actor (Cooper Hoffman) who falls for a woman 10 years his senior (Alana Haim) in 1970s Los Angeles. It's a skillfully shot, cleverly written, brilliantly performed comedy that is refreshingly lacking in heavy-handed Oscar-bait signifiers. "Licorice Pizza" has become an awards darling not by working off tired "important movie" checklists, but by simply being very good.

• Starring: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn
• Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 133 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Director Ben Sharrock's startling, quiet, and strikingly hopeful film focuses on Omar, a Syrian refugee waiting on a Scottish island to find out if he's been granted asylum. Along the way, the movie shows us the tragically monotonous process of waiting out these days in a remote, isolated location. Through wonderfully witty humor, painfully relevant social commentary and our lead character's passion for music in a world constantly trying to keep him down, "Limbo" may be one of the more lesser-known 2021 releases that deserves a larger audience to appreciate the wonders of its story.

• Starring: Amir El-Masry, Vikash Bhai, Ola Orebiyi
• Director: Ben Sharrock
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 103 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Director Chad Hartigan and screenwriter Mattson Tomlin couldn't have known how hard "Little Fish" was going to hit. Produced before COVID-19 claimed millions of lives and changed the way the survivors saw the world, "Little Fish" is set during a global pandemic where the victims suffer from progressive memory loss. The story follows Jude and Emma, a young couple who struggle to maintain their relationship after one of them begins to present symptoms of the disease. The scale of the tragedy is massive, but the scope of the film is tightly focused on their romance. It's an intimate, heart-wrenching, yet enriching love story anchored by remarkable lead performances that would be compelling under any circumstances but absolutely devastating in context.

• Starring: Olivia Cooke, Jack O'Connell, Soko
• Director: Chad Hartigan
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Rating: N/A
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

After a series of films fervently focused on the existential crisis of being human, it was a gentle relief to see Pixar release a film like "Luca," a film that avoids questions like "what does it mean to truly have a soul?" and instead asks the far more important question of "can two fish monster friends win a triathlon to get a Vespa?" Such are the simple pleasures of the Italian-set gentle masterpiece from America's most trusted animation house, with a film more focused on lush visuals and deep character connections than intricate plot machinations. "Luca" feels like taking a short and sweet European vacation, and the simple pleasures of this fishy film make it not only one of 2021's best but also one of the most inspired Pixar films in years.

• Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman
• Director: Enrico Casarosa
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

James Wan's latest horror grotesquerie — a film that's like if a Sam Raimi horror film was cranked up to 11 — thrills and delights from start to finish while leaping from twist to twist with all the confident glee in the world. When Madison Mitchell (a stellar Annabelle Wallis) starts seeing visions of murders being committed, she needs to piece together why this is happening and what the horrifying secrets from her past may have to do with all this. With one of the most chaotic final acts of a movie seen in years, Wan has created a film that's sure to delight horror fans for countless spooky seasons to come.

• Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young
• Director: James Wan
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 111 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%

A film that feels like the inside of an internet-obsessed teenager's mind bursting to life, "The Mitchells vs The Machines" is an utterly hilarious and heartwarming piece of animation from the geniuses over at Sony Pictures Animation, produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," "The LEGO Movie"). Here, the Mitchell family, on a cross-country trip before daughter Katie heads to college, must come together to stop a mass technological robot uprising. Though they might not seem like a perfect family, it becomes clear that the Mitchells, with their lovable idiosyncrasies, are the only ones capable of saving humanity. With wonderfully lush visuals and a flurry of jokes every minute, "The Mitchells vs The Machines" is a guaranteed new classic for the whole family.

• Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph
• Director: Mike Rianda
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 114 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

The latest genre exercise from one of our finest contemporary directors, Steven Soderbergh, "No Sudden Move" is proof the filmmaker still knows how to craft a masterful heist movie guaranteed to keep you guessing where things are going until the very end. Here, Don Cheadle plays our "hero," Curt Goynes, a local gangster who's been hired by a local criminal — Brendan Fraser in a brilliantly slime turn — to hold an accountant's family hostage as part of an embezzlement scheme. But what should be an easy job becomes anything but, as an eclectic and dazzling ensemble — including Benicio Del Toro, Amy Seimetz, Kieran Culkin, and so many more — turn this simple con job into one of the most entertaining and eviscerating dramas of the year.

• Starring: Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, David Harbour
• Director: Steven Soderbergh
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

In 2006, the James Bond film franchise got its first hard reboot with "Casino Royale." Now portrayed by Daniel Craig, this new Bond would get an origin story and a more fleshed-out character arc than the he'd typically received on the big screen. This year, Craig's take on Bond becomes the first version of 007 to get a deliberate ending. "No Time to Die" isn't just another globe-trotting action-adventure — though there's plenty of action to speak of — it's also the most emotional, character-driven chapter in the franchise since "Casino Royale." The 50-year-old Bond movie rulebook is tossed out the window, making the action and stakes more suspenseful and unpredictable than ever.

• Starring: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux
• Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 163 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%

For those who've been following the glorious and hilarious career of actor Bob Odenkirk and have been wondering when, oh when will he get his own action thriller film, your prayers have finally been answered with "Nobody." Odenkirk plays Hutch, a seemingly ordinary man (a nobody, if you will) just trying to raise his family, when a burglary attempt at his home unravels a plot involving the Russian mob, a mysterious past, and Hutch having to unleash his badass self onto the world to take the bad guys down. As someone who developed his skills in the world of sketch comedy, Odenkirk is a no-brainer for playing an average schlub who, on the turn of a dime, turns into a master assassin capable of taking down mobsters left and right. In a year that proved that the world loves Odenkirk more than we ever knew, "Nobody" is a fun and thrilling testament to how great of a performer he truly is.

• Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd
• Director: Ilya Naishuller
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

"Passing" is the story of Irene Redfield, a middle-class Black woman in Harlem who discovers that her childhood friend, Clare, has been passing as a white woman and is married to a racist white businessman. Their reunion prompts Clare to secretly reenter Black society and develop a close relationship with both Irene and her husband, Brian, but this also stirs up deep anxieties in Irene about race, color, and sexuality. 

"Passing" is delicate character piece driven by nuanced performances by Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, and André Holland, whose interplay only becomes more fascinating as the story unfolds. It's also a confident directorial debut for Rebecca Hall, filmed in a claustrophobic 4:3 frame and a monochrome that evokes both the film's themes and its period setting.

• Starring: Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland
• Director: Rebecca Hall
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

When you hear the premise "Nicolas Cage tries to find his kidnapped pig," a very particular kind of movie pops up in your brain. Whatever your mind comes up with, it's guaranteed to not be the patient, meditative, graceful drama that is "Pig," one of the most impressive debut films of the year from writer/director Michael Sarnoski. Nicolas Cage plays Rob, a reclusive chef living in the Oregonian woods, whose only companion is his precious truffle pig. But after the lovable swine's kidnapping, Rob ventures into the city of Portland where he will stop at nothing to find his four-legged companion. What starts off as the beginnings of a revenge thriller morphs into a reflective story about grief and companionship, with Cage easily giving one of his most quiet and powerful performances in years, resulting in a can't-miss piece of modern filmmaking.

• Starring: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin
• Director: Michael Sarnoski
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 92 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Jane Campion makes her long-awaited return to feature films with "The Power of the Dog," a slow-simmering character drama set in the American West, circa 1925. Gruff cowboy Phil Burbank feels his macho independence threatened when his gentler brother, George, marries widow Rose Gordon and brings her and Peter, her teenage son, into their home. What follows is a nuanced study of masculinity, as Phil attempts to mold Peter into the kind of man he was taught to be. 

• Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons
• Director: Jane Campion
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 127 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

One of 2021's most gripping pieces of horror filmmaking came early in the year with Rose Glass' stellar debut film, "Saint Maud." After the traumatic loss of a former patient, nurse Katie — now calling herself "Maud" — has found a new religious calling and is hoping to make amends for the sins of her past. But as she's working to take care of her newest patient, her commitment to her faith is pushed to almost supernatural limits, as Maud comes to question the new life she's made for herself. A film filled with mesmerizing and intimate sequences of horror and with an ending that's easily one of the scariest — and slyly funniest — of the year, "Saint Maud" is an assured debut horror film that'll leave searing images in your mind for years to come.

• Starring: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle, Lily Frazer
• Director: Rose Glass
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 84 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Has anyone been able to capture Jewish anxiety in the 21st century as remarkably as Emma Seligman does in "Shiva Baby?" No matter the answer, there's no denying that Seligman's debut feature is one of the most hilarious and terrifying films of the new year. Danielle has a busy day, spending the morning with her sugar daddy, Max, and having to head straight over to a shiva for a recently deceased family member. But suddenly, these two worlds collide in a way that Danielle would never have expected, resulting in a comedic film presented with the claustrophobic visuals of a horror film. It's a stellar debut from Seligman and a surefire sign of a brilliant new voice in cinema to keep an eye on.

• Starring: Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, Polly Draper
• Director: Emma Seligman
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 77 minutes
• Rating: N/A
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Director Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead," "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") effortlessly makes the jump to documentary filmmaking with his latest project, "The Sparks Brothers," an in-depth look at the greatest band you've never heard of. Sparks, a musical duo composed of real-life brothers Ron and Russel Mael, have been making avant-garde, garishly performed, brilliantly composed underground music for decades now, and Wright's love for the band shines through in every frame. The director's delightful and informative new film takes you on a journey through the history of the band, giving interviews with Sparks' biggest fans, footage of their best work, and a wonderful sense of why you too should fall in love with these underappreciated musical icons.

• Starring: Ron Mael, Russell Mael, Edgar Wright
• Director: Edgar Wright
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 135 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

Nobody does fan service like Marvel. Or, in this case, like Sony and Marvel, who have used the occasion of the third MCU Spider-Man film to celebrate the character's cinematic history. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" pits the MCU's Peter Parker against the ghosts of Spidey movies past, via the magic of Marvel's multiverse. "No Way Home" could have just been a nostalgia parade — look, Alfred Molina's Dock Ock! Look, J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson! — but it's also a terrific adventure in its own right, and a fitting capstone to the "Iron Man Jr." era of Spider-Man films.

• Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch
• Director: Jon Watts
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 148 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

After footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was left unattended and unaired for over 50 years, the world is ready to bear witness to this once-in-a-lifetime cultural event in the jam-packed documentary "Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)." Directed with an unsurprisingly characteristic rhythm by Roots frontman Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, "Summer of Soul" takes this legendary festival — featuring brilliant performances by the likes of Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder, among many others — and uses it to dissect where Black American culture stood in the late 1960s. From religion to haircare to mayoral politics to the Moon Landing (which happened during the festival), Thompson's film acts as both literal cinematic document and socio-political treatise on Black America, all while celebrating the joyful artistry of the musicians of the day.

• Starring: Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson
• Director: Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%

In hindsight, it seems like madness that Steven Spielberg, a master of blocking and camera movement and one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his generation, took so long to make a movie musical. As a lively and visually arresting blend of Old and New Hollywood magic, his "West Side Story" is worth every bit of the wait. The cast, music, and choreography are all top-notch, but the MVP might be screenwriter Tony Kushner, who gives the story contemporary poignance while anchoring it in the real-life history of New York City. This new "West Side Story" more than holds its own against the Oscar-adorned 1961 version.

• Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 156 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

A marvelous Netflix film from acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani ("Chop Shop," "Man Push Cart") and based on the novel of the same name by Aravind Adiga, "The White Tiger" is a devastating drama of the treachery behind trying to get ahead in the world and the cost of wanting to become "better" when it means using others in your way. Here, we follow Balram, a young man hired to be the driver for a rich family from a nearby village in India, who learns quickly that the fastest way to move ahead in life is through deceit, selfishness, and ingenuity of the worst sort. With a keen eye towards telling a compelling story and making an impassioned argument for us all to dismantle class struggle, "The White Tiger" is a worthwhile drama to throw near the top of your Netflix queue.

• Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas
• Director: Ramin Bahrani
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 126 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Inexplicably the greatest film ever to be adapted from a Twitter thread, "Zola" is one of the wildest rides you'll take at the movies this year. From genius alt-comedy director Janicza Bravo, with a script co-written by wunderkind playwright Jeremy O. Harris, "Zola" spins the stranger-than-fiction story of sex worker Zola and her grand trip down to Florida with her new "friend" Stefani and all-too-strange characters they meet along the way. "Zola" excels not only because of its complete outlandish comedic sensibility but also thanks to the expert editing and sound design that bring the world of the contemporary internet to life, with pings and beeps and kinetic movement that make you feel like you're living inside Zola's phone as she's tweeting out every ridiculous moment of this trip. It's as vibrant and singular a film as they come and one of the most joyous new movies you'll see in 2021.

• Starring: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun
• Director: Janicza Bravo
• Year: 2021
• Runtime: 87 minutes 
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%