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The best movies and TV of 2021, picked by NPR critics

By Aisha Harris,
Eric Deggans, Bob Mondello, Glen Weldon, Linda Holmes
Published December 23, 2021 at 5:01 AM EST
Eric Liebowitz/FX; Warner Bros; Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu; Noh Juhan/Netflix; Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures; Niko Tavernise/© 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; A24; Marvel Studios; Kirsty Griffin/Netflix

In 2021, movies tentatively returned to theaters. Television production stopped, and started, and sometimes stopped again. Movies and TV seasons that had been delayed were finally seen, and projects that would once have shown up only on big screens appeared on small ones.

With all that in mind, NPR's critics have rolled our movie and television picks into one big — and grateful — list of the things we most enjoyed watching this year, whether we were in or out of the house, with others or on our own.

Reviews by Eric Deggans, Aisha Harris, Linda Holmes, Bob Mondello and Glen Weldon. Editing and production by Clare Lombardo and Natalie Escobar, with copy editing by Patricia Cole and Preeti Aroon. Photo research by Ashley Pointer, Clare Lombardo and Natalie Escobar. Design and development by Alyson Hurt. contributed to this story

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Aisha Harris
Aisha Harris is a host of Pop Culture Happy Hour.
See stories by Aisha Harris
Eric Deggans
Eric Deggans is NPR's first full-time TV critic.
See stories by Eric Deggans
Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.
See stories by Bob Mondello
Glen Weldon
Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.
See stories by Glen Weldon
Linda Holmes
Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.
See stories by Linda Holmes

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The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

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Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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