NCAA Hoops 2022

Kansas fans are still sad and a little bitter over the lost 2020 NCAA men's basketball tournament. KU was 28-3 and ranked #1 in both the AP and USAT coaches poll and in Ken Pomeroy's more sophisticated stats-based system. Indeed, in Pomeroy's system, the gap between #1 and #2 was about as large as the gap between #2 and #8. The team was riding a 16 game winning streak, last losing to Baylor -- a team that ended the season ranked #4 and #5 in the two polls and then won the 2021 championship. The Baylor loss was avenged (on the road) as the 12th game in the winning streak.

The team also lost the very first game of the season by 2 points to Duke at Madison Square Garden, which ended the year ranked #8 and #11. Their third loss was on the road by 1 point to Villanova in December. 'Nova ended the year ranked #10 in both polls.

It was a really good Kansas team and KU likely would have been the favorite in the tournament. Still, despite eagerly wanting another championship, I've likely taken the 2022 team too far in this bracket:

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Best Films of 2021

Below, find the annual list produced by Metacritic that reflects an aggregation of over 300 "Top 10" film critic lists for the year. Every year, I note this list to keep track of what I've seen and to provide my own tiered rankings of the films. I might add some comments especially if I've updated my rankings from my prior post on new films that I managed to see in 2021. 

Generally, I post this list in February (just to be sure the rankings are final) and I'll have typically seen about half of them -- thanks partly to a concerted effort in the new year to see them. 

FILMS MENTIONED ON MOST CRITIC TOP 10 LISTS - 2021

Movie and Metascore		# 1st Place	# 2nd Place	# Other	Points
1	89 The Power of the Dog	31	23	118.5	257.5
2	91 Drive My Car	23	23	89.5	204.5
3	90 Licorice Pizza	20	21	86	188
4	74 Dune	12	12	67.5	127.5
5	85 West Side Story	10	7	66	110
6	85 The Green Knight	7	11	66.5	109.5
7	96 Summer of Soul	10	5	61.5	101.5
8	90 The Worst Person in the World	8	12	51.5	99.5
9	82 Pig	7	5	57.5	88.5
10	94 Petite Maman	8	6	44	80
11	91 Memoria	11	7	29	76
12	75 Titane	6	3	49	73
13	74 The French Dispatch	3	4	47.5	64.5
14	86 The Lost Daughter	6	2	39.5	61.5
15	75 Red Rocket	2	3	43.5	55.5
16	90 The Souvenir Part II	2	5	37.5	53.5
17	75 CODA	5	3	31	52
18	75 Belfast	9	2	20.5	51.5
19	77 The Card Counter	0	6	38.5	50.5
	76 Spencer	3	1	39.5	50.5
21	82 C'mon C'mon	2	3	38	50
22	81 The Mitchells vs. The Machines	4	3	31	49
23	86 Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy	5	3	27.5	48.5
24	91 Flee	2	2	33	43
25	67 Annette	3	2	28	41
26	88 Parallel Mothers	1	2	33	40
27	85 Passing	0	0	39.5	39.5
28	74 tick, tick...BOOM!	0	5	29	39
29	74 Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn	3	4	20	37
30	87 The Tragedy of Macbeth	3	0	24.5	33.5

Because we include some foreign publications, it is possible for a few titles to repeat from last year's list due to differences in USA and overseas release dates. 

I have seen a few of these films to-date, but have plenty to go (22 of 30 listed). As I watch them, I'll highlight changes. 

Tier 1 These are top-notch Oscar-worthy films.

Belfast

The Worst Person in the World 
The Power of the Dog

Summer of Soul

Licorice Pizza

Passing

Obviously, I would have selected Belfast over CODA for Best Picture. Summer of Soul was really entertaining and Licorice Pizza was fun. See The Worst Person in the World. 

Tier 2 These are very good films, but with some flaws. Some of them have received Oscar nominations. 

C'mon C'mon 

Red Rocket 

The French Dispatch

The Lost Daughter

CODA

The Card Counter

Pig (Hulu)

Dune (HBO Max)

The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Netflix)

Flee (Hulu)

Spencer

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Drive My Car 

C'mon C'mon features a terrific kid actor and a solid performance by Joaquin Phoenix. And a Gaby Hoffman sighting. 

Red Rocket director Sean Baker makes really good films -- this one is about someone from the Boogie Nights porn scene returning to Texas in unexplained poverty. Bad decisions prevail, but character choices are limited by their context. 

The Card Counter turned out to be an Iraq film, which I didn't realize before viewing it. It's difficult to watch at times. Viewers likely expect to see a gambler succeeding (or failing) with life-altering consequences. Here, you get that, but also Abu Ghraib flashbacks. 

Frankly, the order of the first 6 of these Tier 2 films could be altered on any given day. 

Tier 3 These are likely good films, but with more flaws.

The Souvenir Part II

The Green Knight

None so far.

I typically don't need lower tiers for this list because it is comprised of the very best movies of the year -- at least according to film critics. 

Here's the alphabetical list of the 22 films that I have not yet seen (with some streaming info added):

Annette 

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Memoria

Parallel Mothers

Petite Maman

tick, tick..BOOM! (Netflix)

Titane

West Side Story 

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

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