AUC’s Top 2021 Movies & TV Series
By: Farida ElSirgany & Aya Nassar
@FSirgany
@ayaanassarr
The year 2021 is coming to a close and we’re taking a break from pandemic talk to celebrate some of AUC’s favorite movies and TV series released this year, and those being released in the coming weeks.
No year would be complete without its superhero movie lineup and 2021 was a particularly strong one for Marvel fans. With movies like Black Widow, The Eternals, Venom: Let There be Carnage, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and the highly anticipated Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Expectations for Spider-Man are particularly high as fans of the original Spider-Man (2002-2007) movies starring Toby Maguire can expect to see Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe reprise their roles as the iconic villains of Doc Oc and the Green Goblin, respectively.
The cinematic return of these super villains came to be because, after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), the world found out that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Safe to say, this makes his life pretty hectic and the best solution Peter can think of is to call in a favor from Dr. Strange to alter the past. Naturally, this doesn’t go to plan and fans are waiting to see just how crazy things will get.
“I have a final on the release day [December 15] that ends at 7:30, I’ll be at the cinema at 9:00. [I’m excited because] they’re going to explore the multiverse, like in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and they’re going to include the other Spider-Men, Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield,” Nariman Sharaf, a Communication and Media Arts (CMA) senior, told The Caravan.
“And I like that Doctor Strange is involved too. So all of these things I’m very, very excited about,”
Black Widow (2021) takes place after the events of Captain America: Civil War. In it, Natasha Romanoff a.k.a Black Widow confronts her past with the organization that turned her into a spy. Chased by the Taskmaster, she joins forces with her old connections to finally wipe the organization out.
“I like that they gave Black Widow a background story even after [Avengers: Endgame]. I watched all of Marvel’s movies so I’m up-to-date and one of my favorite characters was black widow. I also liked that they started tying stuff together with Venom,” said Sharaf.
Another Marvel fan, Mechanical Engineering freshman Adham ElAsfar, told The Caravan that he preferred the first Venom (2018) movie but still enjoyed Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and ranks it high among his favorite Marvel movies.
“[Tom Hardy’s] acting is great. He is very comedic and he really gets into his scenes. I also really liked how they portrayed Carnage,” said ElAsfar.
In the meantime, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) introduced a new hero to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Born of a forbidden love between his father, the founder of the Ten Rings criminal organization, and his mother, a guardian of a magical village, Shang-Chi was trained in martial arts from a young age. After leaving his father’s organization for a normal life, Shang-Chi is forced to fight once again with the fate of the world at stake.
“This movie [Shang-Chi]… the graphics are amazing, the cinematography was great, the plot was amazing. I’m a huge Marvel fan so, anything Marvel makes I’ll like, with the exception of Captain Marvel (2019) and a few other movies,” Habiba Harb, a Business sophomore, said.
“What I liked is that it was a really good movie after Endgame (2019). They had to bounce back to something strong after Endgame. I used to practice Taikwondo so all the fights and action scenes were so fascinating for me,” said
Another favorite of the year is James Bond: No Time to Die (2021). Daniel Craig’s final movie as the world’s most famous spy begins with him trying to enjoy his retirement with Madeleine Swann, his love interest from Spectre (2015). This retirement is interrupted when old CIA friend Felix Leiter asks Bond to help to rescue a kidnapped scientist. The mission turns out to be far more complicated than he expected and 007 must try to outplay the villain Safin, played by Rami Malek, with higher stakes than ever.
“The overall theme is really good, the cinematography is great, the plot is amazing, the script is amazing, as usual. But because I won’t see Daniel Craig [as James Bond] again, that’s why it’s my favorite movie of 2021,” said Amina Hany, a sophomore majoring in Psychology and Theater.
“It was a farewell to Daniel Craig after five years of James Bond,” said Marawan Ashraf, a Construction Engineering freshman.
Whether you have younger siblings or just want to connect with your inner child, Disney Pixar’s Luca (2021) is a heart-warming tale about a sea monster who can take the form of a boy while on land. As he experiences life on land for the first time and tries to fit in, Luca learns to overcome his fears through the friends he meets on the way.
“I have five nephews and nieces so I have watched it with them more than ten times. I really loved it because it gave me a sense of family gathering and it reminds me of [my nephews] each time I watch it,” said Ayat ElMonayiri, a Business Entrepreneurship junior.
Amir El-Shennawy, AUC alumnus, director, producer and winner of two CineGouna Awards in the Gouna Film Festival 2019 shared with The Caravan his picks for the year’s top movies. He remarked that this year was particularly good for Egyptian and Arab films as many were featured in prestigious film festivals
“In my opinion, some of the most notable films released in 2021 are Titane, A Hero, The Worst Person in the World, Dune and Drive My Car. My personal favorites this year include Amira (by Mohamed Diab), and Feathers (by Omar EI-Zoheiry). I really like Amira because it approached a fresh angle of the Palestinain struggle from a different perspective, and because the film itself is a success story of Arab co-production; namely, between Egypt and Jordan. I enjoyed Feathers because it adopts a different cinematic language that we don’t see a lot in Egyptian and Arab cinema,” said El-Shennawy.
If you’re not a movie buff, however, and binge-watching a good series is more like you, then 2021 was equally special. With more new shows than we could keep up with, this year treated us with mind-blowing series on all streaming platforms, whether Arabic or English, that left the audience talking and debating long after the finales.
One such series is none other than Squid Game. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re not only missing out on the endless memes, references and obsession that many now have, but also a masterpiece that will have you holding your breath for six episodes straight. This is especially true when you get halfway through, which is when you’ll have to throw all your expectations out the window because this is when you truly have no idea what the next plot twist might be.
A Korean production that made even the usually non-Jorean fans glued to their screens, Squid Game is about hundreds of contestants who are struggling financially so they accept an invitation to compete in children’s games from their childhood for a very tempting prize, but the stakes are deadly.
“I felt the show was refreshing compared to everything else on Netflix. Each character had a tragic backstory which made it hard to blame them for anything they did in the games. My favorite character, though, was Kang Sae-Byeok because she was one of the strongest contestants, who are mostly men, which was empowering. It’s one of the best, if not the best, shows of 2021 because it really has it all,” said Economics Junior Maryam Nagi.
Another show that people couldn’t stop streaming on Netflix in 2021 is Clickbait. Possessing strong Gone Girl vibes with the mysterious disappearance of the main character, the show gave one the feeling of being truly trapped. Keeping people on the edge of their seats, Clickbait was an instant hit with audiences.
It is about family man Nick Brewer (played by Adrian Grenier, best known for his role in the television series Entourage and the film The Devil Wears Prada) who is kidnapped. Then dark and mysterious secrets about him emerge online as his kidnapper is putting a deadline for killing him for all to see. With an anonymous figure behind it and a ticking clock, those closest to him try to find out who is behind it and why.
“I liked the side drama and the way they ended each episode which just made me intrigued to watch more. My favorite character has to be Brewer’s sister because she didn’t give up on him,” said Business Marketing senior Yara El-Hussiny.
As for Arabic serials, the second season of Leih La (Why Not?) was the highlight of the year. With a very controversial first season that came out almost a year before the second, many were on their toes waiting to know what the new story would be about.
With a star-studded cast including Menna Shalaby, Maha Abu Ouf, Ahmed Hatem, Mourad Makram, Donia Maher, Sarrah Abdelrahman in addition to many others, it tackled the idea of adoption through Nada (Menna Shalaby) when she decides to foster an orphan and face society’s judgements and criticism for her as a single mother.
“Leih La highlights underrated issues in Egypt and how they really affect some people’s lives. It changed how people think about adoption and how an adopted child would feel as well. Also, it shows the suffering of women of a certain age because of Egyptian society’s mindsets. It normalizes women being at a certain age and not getting married while adopting or fostering a child,” said Janna Moataz, CMA sophomore.
Finally, another series that opened up a lot of conversations this year is Khali Balak Min Zizi, starring Amina Khalil and Mohamed Mamdouh alongside others. The series peaked to number 1 on Shahid VOD soon after its release and stayed from the top series of Ramadan 2021 long after the month ended.
It follows Zeinab or Zizi (Amina Khalil) who after hitting her husband and gets convicted of a felony, tries to prove her innocence with the help of the lawyer Mourad (Mohamed Mamdouh) while trying to reestablish her life as a single woman, working with Tito (Reem Abdel-Kader), a child suffering from Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) that Zizi suffered from, but was not diagnosed with due to lack of awareness.
“It’s my favorite because it normalizes a condition that commonly exists and raises awareness about it. It shows that these people just need a certain treatment and that they can succeed. My favorite character was Zizi because she represents the future of ADHD as she was able to work on herself and succeeded in her work, showing how we don’t need to simply suppress how energetic ADHD patients are with medications,” said Aya Emad, Construction Engineering Sophomore.
