2021 was only five years ago but feels about 5 million years ago. Nowhere do I feel that more deeply than in remembering the movies that came out that year. In the post-pandemic blur, Hollywood brought us back to theaters… ish? F9 finally came out after a year on the shelf. Black Widow had a simultaneous release in theaters and on Disney Plus that prompted Scarlett Johansson to sue Disney. There was a whole sequel to Space Jam! Remember? I barely do.
Many gems prevailed: The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Pig, Old, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League for a certain club of boys on the internet. Many didn’t. I consider them “lost” movies — oddities that barely exist in our memories, let alone streaming services. Many are worthy of rediscovery, or just discovery of the first time. Here are five.
6
No Sudden Move
Steven Soderbergh’s 2021 film came and went in the HBO Max streaming churn, which is a shame, because it’s a low-key crime thriller that absolutely rips. Set in 1954 Detroit, Soderbergh and his go-to screenwriter Ed Solomon use a seemingly simple heist to expose the rot underneath America’s mid-century golden age. With effortlessly cool performances from Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, and David Harbour, the movie hums with paranoia as it blossoms into an indictment of corporate greed (with an amazing cameo toward the end that perfectly punctuates it all). A violent stroke of cynicism with some of the wildest fisheye-lensed cinematography ever captured, anyone who complains they don’t make “movies for adults” these days owes themselves a viewing of No Sudden Move.
No Sudden Move is streaming on HBO Max.
No Sudden Move makes a good companion to Benicio del Toro’s 2025 work
Del Toro’s recent movies with Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson have a companion waiting on HBO Max.
5
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
The Escape Room franchise absolutely exists to capitalize on the explosive popularity of escape rooms — a free IP cash-in. But here’s the thing: Tournament of Champions director Adam Robitel totally understands the appeal of immersive puzzles, and it isn’t gore (unless, uh, you frequent really screwed up escape rooms IRL, which… OK). For Robitel and the viewers of this cut-above sequel, it’s all about the joy of watching impossibly elaborate puzzles click into place.
Director Adam Robitel turns every setpiece into a giant homicidal Rube Goldberg machine, whether it’s a Tesla coil subway car, a laser-grid bank vault, or a fake beach that literally liquefies beneath the characters. The movie’s lore is completely bananas, but Robitel keeps the whole thing breezy and inventive enough that it never collapses into grim Saw cosplay. Not all horror needs to be dumb fun but permission granted for the Escape Room crew to keep on nailing goofball thrills at this level for as long as they’re allowed.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is available to rent.
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‘You start with a little spark, and by the end, it’s a Tesla coil’
4
Luca
Depending on if you have children under the age of 10, Luca may not be a “lost” movie because you’ve plowed through literally every G-rated option Disney Plus has to offer. But for anyone who missed this straight-to-video Pixar joint, completely overshadowed by Turning Red, I would recommend it to anyone, young or old, susceptible to a story of friendship.
Luca is a simple story painted with extravagant color and lush Italian romance. The story of two sea monsters, one timid and the other overly fearless, indulges in coming-of-age tropes while shattering them with a very un-Pixar cartoonish touch and true tween performances. The story itself is simple, but it uses that simplicity to center shifting relationships between Luca, his best bud, and a human girl they befriend along the way, exploring how different friendships can coexist without turning it into a romantic conflict. And writer-director Enrico Casarosa, working with writers Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones, refuses to go too big with any payoff. It’s character, character, character all the way through, with magical animation that almost makes up for the fact that you’re watching a movie at home versus actually being in Genoa.
Luca is streaming on Disney Plus.
3
Malignant
Far too few people think of Malignant when they hear the name “Gabriel,” which is a shame, because James Wan’s back-head boogeyman deserves a spot on the Mount Rushmore of gross little freaks.
Wan is known for building franchises out of Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, but Malignant is probably best served by not just being a one-and-done effort but being lost to time and ready for greater cult discovery. Over 112 minutes, he mashes everything from gloopy Italian giallo to Dark Castle trash together into a visceral goulash. I’m not sure it functions on a narrative level for that full runtime as it veers into domestic abuse melodrama and psychic murder mystery, but it’s often-languid pace becomes part of the charm. Through swooping camera moves and neon lights, Wan builds and builds and builds Malignant toward an all-timer of a final act. Scary? I dunno. Audacious? Undeniably.
Malignant is streaming on HBO Max.
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2
The Card Counter
No one has quite reckoned with the Iraq War and the people who carried its horrors home like Paul Schrader did in The Card Counter. Five years later, Oscar Isaac’s ice-cold performance — a perfect complement to 2017’s First Reformed — remains burrowed under my skin.
On paper, The Card Counter is about a gambling flâneur bouncing from casino to casino — scuzzball cinema. But really it’s about a guy trying to suppress a core that rotted in the wake of Abu Ghraib. Through Schrader’s camera, every hand of poker feels tense, every conversation feels like it could go bad. Flashbacks to moments of torture bleed through intoxicated haze. And yet, what surprised me most is how much heart it still has: Tiffany Haddish brings a sweetness that keeps the whole thing from sinking into despair. It’s an angry movie, one that’ll tie your stomach in knots, but it’s not a loud one. Schrader is a student of slow cinema and knows the delicate hand required to descend into a character’s psychology.
The Card Counter is streaming on Prime Video.
Paul Schrader will change how you think about movies
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1
Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)
In retrospect, it was a matter of when not if: Provocateur Sion Sono and baroque barker Nicolas Cage just had to eventually make a movie together. Fate. Unfortunately, they made one basically no one has seen!
Sono’s post-apocalyptic samurai-western-nightmare tosses Cage into a leather suit rigged with explosives — including one equipped directly to his testicles! — then unleashes him into a radioactive wasteland where Sofia Boutella wields a gatling gun to plow down mutants. Cage could blow up at any moment and watching Prisoners of the Ghostland you feel like maybe the movie could too. Mad Max: Fury Road as midnight-movie trash. It’s a movie driven by a storyteller with zero restraint. Anyone looking for a searing screenplay full of human observation should go back a blurb and watch The Card Counter. But if you’re reading this at 1 a.m. desperate to find a movie for your mood, this is the only option.
Prisoners of the Ghostland is streaming on AMC Plus and Shudder.
