Best of 2021 Entertainment - Favourite Albums, Songs, Movies and TV Shows

• 1 : Marina - Ancient Dreams in a Modern World [Indie Pop]
• 2 : For Those I Love - For Those I Love [Progressive House]
• 3 : Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure [Electropop]
• 4 : Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises [Modern Classical]
• 5 : The Bug - Fire [Dub/Grime]
• 6 : The Datsuns - Eye to Eye [Fuzz-Rock]
• 7 : Lisa Ekdahl - Grand Songs [Lounge/Bossa]
• 8 : Bicep - Isles [Breakbeat]
• 9 : Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend [Alternative Rock]
• 10 : Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert [UK HipHop]
• 11 : Griff - One Foot In Front Of The Other [Electropop]
• 12 : Dawn Richard - Second Line [Alternative R&B]
• 13 : St Vincent – Daddy’s Home [Psychedelic Soul]
• 14 : The War on Drugs - I Don't Live Here Anymore [Heartland Rock]
• 15 : Chvrches - Screen Violence : Director's Cut [Synthpop]
• 16 : Biffy Clyro - The Myth of the Happily Ever After [Alternative Rock]
• 17 : Turnstile - Glow On [Post-Hardcore / Rock]
• 18 : Tyler, the Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost [West Coast Hip Hop]
• 19 : Saint Etienne - I've Been Trying To Tell You [Art Pop]
• 20 : Iron Maiden - Senjutsu [Heavy Metal]

As mentioned - I consumed Royal Blood's output more on a singles basis this year - and there was an extended period where I was watching the 'Boilermaker' video on at least a daily basis - probably for well over a month. I've always liked a lot of what Charli XCX does - but not always over an entire album - Good Ones is one of her finest - and almost as catchy as 'Gone'.

The Weeknd is a triple-threat in this listing - appearing solo, with Rosalía, and with Swedish House Mafia - all great songs. I also have a real soft spot for Elton John + Dua Lipa + PNAU - Cold Heart - which I still seem to enjoy despite extensive and possibly excessive repeated exposure.

Silk Sonic only had 2 killer tracks on their album as far as I am concerned - both released as singles and featured here. Burial appeared with 2 new tracks on a limited release EP this year - where Dark Gethsemane was the standout track. Smerz delivered the brilliant 'Believer' which really wasn't sustained over that album - said track was in quite a different league to the rest. And Caroline Polacheck is just a genius songwriter - and most of what she touches is gold - Bunny is a Rider is the top featured track on many an end-of-year lists.

Abba's double-headed revival was pretty great - and Doja Cat was all over 2021 - cameoing on every other artists' tracks while doing a tonne of her own. Such eclecticism doesn't always work well over an entire album - unless of course you are The Avalanches!

A real mix of influences with quite a lot coming out of the various Latin and Afrobeat / Afropop communities. Dance and Electronic Music is still strong in all its forms - and with no lack of solid grooves coming through the ranks.

I quite like that I end the listing with the almost Jazzy Freeform Techno of Jlin's 'Embryo'. This list is every bit as eclectic as the above album selection - where it could have done with at least one or two heavy metal tracks too probably - while I appraise everything on its own merits - and there is no genre quota - as I just list out the songs that appeal to me most - in the order of their appeal - including how many times I've played them back time and time again!

Should be something for most everyone here too!

• 1 : Royal Blood - Boilermaker / Typhoon / Limbo (SebastiAn Remix) [Riff-Rock]
• 2 : Charli XCX - Good Ones / New Shapes / Out Out [Electropop]
• 3 : The Weeknd - Take My Breath [R&B Electropop]
• 4 : Rosalía, The Weeknd, Tokischa - La Fama / Linda (Bachata / Electropop]
• 5 : Swedish House Mafia, The Weeknd - Moth To a Flame [Electropop]
• 6 : Elton John + Dua Lipa + PNAU - Cold Heart PNAU Remix [Electropop]
• 7 : Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open [R&B Soul]
• 8 : Burial - Dark Gethsemane [Elecronic / Dubstep]
• 9 : Smerz - Believer [Electropop]
• 10 : Caroline Polachek - Bunny is a Rider [Art Pop]
• 11 : Abba - Don't Shut Me Down / I Still Have Faith In You [Pop]
• 12 : Doja Cat, SZA - Kiss Me More / Need to Know / Woman [R&B HipPop]
• 13 : Indigo De Souza - Hold U [Electropop]
• 14 : Neiked, Mae Muller, Polo G - Better Days [Electropop]
• 15 : Amaarae, Kali Ulchis, Moliy - Sad Girlz Luv Money (Remix) [Afropop]
• 16 : Jessie Ware - Hot N Heavy / Please [Post-Disco]
• 17 : Peggy Gou - I Go / Nabi [Italo-infused House]
• 18 : Jayda G - All I Need [House]
• 19 : Joy Orbison, Léa Sen - Better [Deep House]
• 20 : Bizarrap, L-Gante - L-Gante : Bzrp Music Sessions Vol. 38 [Latin Trap]
• 21 : Kali Uchis - Telepatía [Latin Pop]
• 22 : Imagine Dragons, JID - Enemy [Electropop]
• 23 : Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits / Shivers [Dance-Pop]
• 24 : Anne-Marie, Little Mix - Kiss My (Uh Oh) [Electropop]
• 25 : The Kid Laroi, Justin Bieber - Stay [HipPop]
• 26 : The War on Drugs, Lucius - I Don't Live Here Anymore [Heartland Rock]
• 27 :  CKay - Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah) [Afropbeat / Afropop]
• 28 : City Girls - Twerkulator [Hip Hop / Electro]
• 29 : Saweetie, Doja Cat - Best Friend [HipHop / HipPop]
• 30 : Jlin - Embryo [Freeform Techno]

I'm still some way off peak cinema this year - where my viewing calendar was simply the following :

• June 5th - Quiet Place [Cineworld 4DX] (Sent into enforced Quarantine a few days later]
• June 19th - Nobody [Odeon] (Sent into enforced Quarantine again a few days later]
• [Cinema Hiatus]
• August 25th - Free Guy [Cineworld 4DX 3D]
• September 3rd - Shang-Chi [Cineworld 4DX 3D]
• October 2nd - No Time To Die [Cineworld IMAX]
• October 23rd - Dune [Cineworld IMAX]
• October 30th - French Despatch [Vue]
• November 6th - The Eternals [Cineworld 4DX 3D]
• November 13th - Last Night In Soho [Vue]
• November 20th - Ghost Busters Afterlife [Cineworld 4DX]

Of those 10 visits, 4 merited inclusion in the final selection - where Covid really got in the way quite a bit - and I had to watch quite a lot on VOD - mostly courtesy of Amazon and Netflix, but also on Now TV and Disney+ - and Apple TV to a lesser degree - I watched all 4 Disney Blockbuster premiers on Disney+ on early release - Black Widow, Cruella, Jungle Cruise, and Raya and the Last Dragon.

I also made a point of watching all of this year's major awards nominees - where I found quite a lot of them somewhat pointless and overly drawn-out with ponderous timings - including big prize winner Nomadland. In fact I was a little nonplussed with The Green Knight, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Minari, Nomadland, and Sound of Metal - each for a variety of reasons. I loved the Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank last year - and Promising Young Woman, The Father and Judas and the Black Messiah from this year - those were my own winners! While none was a patch really on last year's Parasite by Bong Joon Ho! Which reminds me that I have quite a number of cool Asian movies to catch up on too - again many of which have yet to make it into UK distribution!

UK's release schedule seems a lot slower than everywhere else - so I really wanted to - but was unable to see Annette, Red Rocket, Shiva Baby, Spider-Man No Way Home, Titane and West-Side story. I also stopped attending cinema in December when Omicron started spiking.

Nevertheless some great watches this year - with Dune just about justifying the top place. I really loved Last Night in Soho - how it glitzed up and glamorised 60's Soho - before exposing its dirty and seedy underbelly - great cinema really. I also found the last Daniel Craig Bond to be Magnificent, and while The French Despatch wasn't quite up there with the best of Wes Anderson - it was still some of the most creative film-making of all time - the setups, visuals, acting and score were amazing as always - while there wasn't always enough narrative heft - and some of the segments were over-wordy and somewhat out-stayed their welcome.

There's a few themed sets here - the two Danish Mads Mikkelsen films, the two Truffle films, and the hat trick of Female Revenge Action Thrillers - all sort of riffing on the same kind sorta female John Wick style scenarios - all 3 were entertaining - and about in the order listed.

I didn't get around to enough Art-House movies really this year - and some of them - like 'In the Earth' weren't quite as fully rounded as I expected. Note that I fell asleep during The Eternals, while my most pleasant surprise was 'Riders of Justice'! I also really wanted to see quirky Icelandic horror 'Lamb' (Dýrið) - but that hasn't reach UK distribution yet as far as I'm aware.

In a normal year I see about 30 to 40 movies in the cinema - while I doubt that's going to occur again for a while. Certain films are for sure worth seeing in IMAX or in 4DX - while a lot of households now have decent AV equipment including big screens and 3D sound-systems of their own - so I have no qualms about watching most films on a Big Screen OLED set. Films like The Father and similar - close and personal films work fine at close quarters - action blockbusters and comedies are probably more fun in the cinema with a big crowd reacting to every move and wise-crack. 

I've been very grateful to the big Networks for premiering movies online too for VOD premiers - as it has often been difficult to get to the cinema this year for a variety of reasons - and it looks like Omicron is going to offset / upset the new year somewhat too. I will probably stay out of cinemas until the numbers start coming down significantly again ...

• 1 : Dune - Cinema [Sci-Fi / Space Opera]
• 2 : Last Night In Soho - Cinema [Thriller / Horror]
• 3 : No Time To Die - Cinema [Action Adventure / Thriller]
• 4 : The French Despatch - Cinema [Art-House Fantasy]
• 5 : Riders of Justice - Amazon (Danish) [Thriller / Caper / Dramedy]
• 6 : Another Round - Amazon (Danish) [Dramedy]
• 7 : Pig - Amazon [Drama]
• 8 : The Truffle Hunters - Amazon (Italian) [Documentary]
• 9 : Coda - Apple TV [Coming-of-Age Dramedy]
• 10 : Promising Young Woman - Sky / Now TV [Psychological Thriller / Black Comedy]
• 11 : The Father - Amazon [Drama]
• 12 : Judas and the Black Messiah - Amazon [Biographical Crime Drama]
• 13 : I Care a Lot - Amazon [Black Comedy / Thriller]
• 14 : The Mitchells vs the Machines - Netflix [Family Animation]
• 15 : Gunpowder Milkshake - Sky / Now TV [Revenge Action Thriller]
• 16 : Kate - Netflix / Jolt - Amazon [Revenge Action Thriller]
• 17 : Zola - Amazon [Black Comedy Crime Thriller]
• 18 : No Sudden Move - Amazon [Period Crime Thriller / Caper]
• 19 : Power of the Dog - Netflix [Western Drama]
• 20 : Raya and the Last Dragon - Disney+ [Family Animation]

Of course a lot of great shows continued this year while we also had a slew of imaginative new ones. Sci-Fi and High Fantasy were particularly catered well for this year - with that all perfectly coming together in killer newcomer Arcane - a French-made League of Legends Computer Game off-shoot - which ended up being the most perfect show this year - character development, visuals and effects - and a great theme tune made it well well worth absorbing.

Succession really is the best scripted show on television these days - and with the sharpest dialogue - it never disappoints and continues to throw odd curve-balls in your direction. Like many I totally loved the Beatles Get Back Documentary, and WandaVision totally broke the mold for what super-hero serials could be like - Loki tried to do interesting things too - but could not compete with WandaVision.

I've loved following the ever expanding 'Expanse' - which takes us into new territories yet again - the sort of spiritual successor to BattleStar Galactica (Revival), I also found Sweet Tooth delightful - and while slightly flawed - season 2 of The Witcher and Season 1 of The Wheel of Time were still fantastic viewing - more for Lord of the Rings fans really rather than Game of Thrones - the scripting in some of the early seasons for GOT was just next-level - and with characters like Tyrion - that series could do no wrong for a long time - I was both satisfied and disappointed with the final season - in some ways those things had to come to pass really - while not nearly enough loose ends were tied up!

Also in the not perfect but entertaining category was Cowboy Bebop which has sadly been cancelled after just one season. It all got a bit heavy and overwrought in the end - and lost the irreverent insouciance of the original animated series - I still mostly liked it and wanted to give it another chance.

Sex Education was enormously entertaining in its third season - and particularly for us Peaches fans - in the choice of musical numbers.

I've enjoyed a myriad of great shows on Now TV, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV and BBC. I seem to operate mostly on the big streaming networks - while I really must watch more CrunchyRoll too again some day - as I've kind of fallen behind with my anime. There really is no shortage of great shows of all genres - although there are some patchy quality issues. Some of the production values on those smaller shows are quite superb though and often put the big studios to shame.

I look forward to seeing lots more great shows return in 2022 - as well as witnessing the next chapter of Star Wars, Marvel, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones Prequels and the like ... Do let me know what you've been mostly watching this year too!