Top Five Movies of 2021 So Far. Plus: Questlove on ‘Summer of Soul’

Summer of Soul 2021

Seen together at Sundance in January. A concert documentary built from previously unseen footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, opening on Stevie Wonder's drum solo.

F9 2021

A little below average for the Fast series, per Sean.

Godzilla vs. Kong 2021

Nice to have at that moment, but not top-five material for either franchise.

Mortal Kombat 2021

Wanted it to be good. It wasn't.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It 2021

Not the best Conjuring movie.

The Human Voice 2020

Pedro Almodóvar's 30-minute short with Tilda Swinton. It doesn't fit the usual runtime, but Sean says it's as good as almost anything out this year.

Minari 2021

Both realized mid-taping they'd forgotten to consider it, having seen it at Sundance 2020, but its wide release and box office run were 2021.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines 2021

Luca 2021

Pixar's, not yet mentioned on the show before this.

Raya and the Last Dragon 2021

Long theatrical tail for a movie that's been out for months.

Independence Day 1996

Nostalgia detour: both were pre-teens when it hit theaters, and it brought back memories of packed-house screaming.

Judas and the Black Messiah 2021

No. 1. Sean's been turning over the pushback since release. He thinks it holds together as a cat-and-mouse thriller rather than a straight Fred Hampton biopic.

Summer of Soul 2021

No. 2, ahead of his own interview with director Questlove later in the episode.

Test Pattern 2021

No. 3. Shatara Michelle Ford's first film, originally on the festival circuit in 2019 but not released to the public until February 2021. Sean calls it a tough but gracefully made watch.

No Sudden Move 2021

No. 4. Soderbergh's HBO Max heist film. Sean was holding a slot for it before he'd even seen it.

Saint Maud 2020

No. 5. Rose Glass's A24 Catholic horror film. Sean calls it "not an Amanda movie," but a strong debut.

Quo Vadis, Aida? 2021

No. 1. Jasmila Žbanić's Bosnian War drama, about a UN translator during the Srebrenica massacre. Amanda went in with modest expectations and came out floored.

Judas and the Black Messiah 2021

No. 2, matching Sean's No. 1.

Summer of Soul 2021

No. 3, matching Sean's No. 2.

Bo Burnham: Inside 2021

No. 4. The one film on Amanda's list that acknowledges the last year without ever naming the pandemic.

No Sudden Move 2021

No. 5, matching Sean's No. 4.

Summer of Soul 2021

His directorial debut, cut from 40 hours of unseen 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival footage he lived with for five months before editing.

Amazing Grace 2018

His actual north star, not The Last Dance: Sydney Pollack's Aretha Franklin concert film taught him to keep the audience inside the room without leaving the footage for context.

Uncut Gems 2019

His comparison for the discomfort of Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Going On: gripping and excellent, but stressful to sit with.

Fantastic Fungi 2019

His answer to the show's closing question: the last great thing he saw, a documentary about mushrooms he caught while quarantining on a farm.