The best movie scenes of 2021

Next week, The A.V. Club unveils its list of the best movies of 2021. Today, we’re getting a little more granular on this rapidly elapsing, pandemic-shaped year for the cinema by looking at the movies within the movies: those unforgettable moments that served to either fortify the greatness of the films that contained them or offer a silver lining for the less-than-great ones they momentarily improved. These were the best scenes of the year, and they hailed from blockbusters and indies, musicals and action flicks, our absolute favorite films of the year and a few that just made us laugh or wince or cheer for a couple blissful minutes. Note, as always, that there will of course be spoilers—especially towards the end, where we’ve stuck the most climactic scenes chosen by our 11 contributors. And with that caveat out of the way, let’s take a page from one of our selections and ask: So may we start?

Scene of the year: Licorice Pizza

Next week, The A.V. Club unveils its list of the best movies of 2021. Today, we’re getting a little more granular on this rapidly elapsing, pandemic-shaped year for the cinema by looking at the movies within the movies: those unforgettable moments that served to either fortify the greatness of the films that contained them or offer a silver lining for the less-than-great ones they momentarily improved. These were the best scenes of the year, and they hailed from blockbusters and indies, musicals and action flicks, our absolute favorite films of the year and a few that just made us laugh or wince or cheer for a couple blissful minutes. Note, as always, that there will of course be spoilers—especially towards the end, where we’ve stuck the most climactic scenes chosen by our 11 contributors. And with that caveat out of the way, let’s take a page from one of our selections and ask: So may we start?