Welcome to MovieJawn’s Split Decision! Each week, Ryan will pose a question to our staff of knowledgeable and passionate film lovers and share the responses. Chime in on Twitter, Facebook, our Instagram, or in the comments below.

This week’s question: 

What is a 2021 movie that shouldn’t be overlooked?

The Tomorrow War - Despite middling reviews across the board, and despite the backlash Chris Pratt oversaturation in the industry, I still feel like this big, dumb, alien invasion movie was overlooked. It’s fun as hell, the CG creature effects are terrifying, and it features one of my favorite supporting roles of the year in Sam Richardson (Detroiters, Werewolves Within) bringing a true Everyman spirit to blowing killer aliens to smithereens. Does the time travel paradox stuff hold up upon inspection? Probably not, but I didn’t come to this one for logic. I came for a spiritual successor to Independence Day and I got it. –Ian Hrabe, Staff Writer

While fully understanding why a lot of people aren’t gonna “dig” this one, I think John and the Hole is something really worth watching that most people will never have heard of. On the surface, it’s a thriller about a creepy, loner kid tormenting his family but there’s a side story (that is, somewhat jarringly, forced into the film) that guided me towards a different outlook. It’s really about the pressures and responsibilities dumped on younger generations without being given any direction or support. You can check out the full review Rosalie did on it following Sundance. While I would gladly buy a blu-ray of this, it’s currently only available to rent or buy on the usual digital platforms. -Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Misha and the Wolves. I loved this documentary, which seemed to have been quietly dropped on Netflix after screening at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s a remarkable true (crime) story about….no. I can’t--and won’t--tell you what it’s about. Part of the brilliance of the film is that as it unfolds viewers come to recalibrate what is really going on. (I love that the filmmaker introduces a new  interviewee in the last ten minutes of the film!) This documentary features one of the best participants I’ve seen in a documentary all year, but all of the subjects are engaging. I can’t recommend this film enough! –Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

If you can find it, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is a film you should not miss this year. It has been making the festival circuit this year so I had the opportunity to see it for Nightstream Fest. It is a Japanese science fiction film that is shot on iphones. It manages to do so much with its big science fiction concepts even with its tiny budget and spaces. Taking place exclusively in the confines of a coffee shop and a tiny apartment they manage to do so much great filmmaking. It is a unique and strange concept that is a lot of fun to watch play out. The cast is great and it is so much fun to watch them all play off each other. –Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

Poly Styrene: I am a Cliché is a very poignant documentary told from the perspective of the late-punk musician’s daughter. Producer, director, writer, and daughter, Celeste Bell, threads together her mother’s life and career with personal photographs and anecdotes her days as the lead singer of X-Ray Spex. Despite the familial connection, Bell does not gloss over the more difficult stages of Styrene’s life, nor the strain that those stages had on their own relationship. I tuned in to learn about a punk girl that had somehow never hit my radar and walked away with so much more! –Matt Crump, Staff Writer

In any given year - since joining the MJ family at least - most of my highest rated films are ones I've written about for the site. This year is no different: Spoor, most of Fantasia Fest (but especially Strawberry Mansions, One-Second Champion, Frank & Zed, and All the Moons), but one that flew kind of under the radar for most people was the remake of Slumber Party Massacre, from director Danishka Esterhazy. It takes the set-up of the '82 original - that there was a massacre almost exclusively at a slumber party - and uses it as a launching point for a highly satirical, stylized, and surprising send-up of teen slashers as a genre. Not everything can be Scream, and I was sincerely glad to see a new "meta" slasher that knows enough to be its own thing. Esterhazy has an eye for fun projects, or at least for projects she can have fun with (I've also seen her 2019 Banana Splits Movie which I was surprised to enjoy so much) and I will check out anything she works on going forward. - “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer

For me, it’s Beautiful Something Left Behind. That was the first film I saw this year, and the most impactful one as well. Running away from grief is easy in the moment, but it’s something we all have to face and process, no matter where we are from or what we believe. I have changed a lot since I first watched this documentary, and it was a great push to start that journey of looking within. I’m forever grateful for these kids. - Ashley Jane Davis, Staff Writer

I have no doubt that, overall, this film won’t be overlooked by the audience who cares about animation. However! If you weren’t a person who cared about what all those cool cats over at Gravity Falls ended up doing, The Mitchells vs. The Machines might get lost in all the Netflix content dumping. It remains one of the best written and directed animated family films, possibly ever, but especially for teens (both actual and at heart). For everybody who ever failed to connect with a parent, but wanted to, The Mitchells vs. The Machines is emotional and funny… not to mention a bit poignant in its plotting, given its relationship with technology. This film totally rocks, and I want to talk about it for years to come! –Emily Maesar, Staff Writer

Two very different films from earlier this year that already seem forgotten are Nattawut Poonpiriya’s One for the Road, which I saw (virtually) at Sundance simply because it was produced by Wong Kar-Wai. What I found was an affecting melodrama about love, regret, and the ways we let relationships fail. The film urges us to make the most of the time we have with the people we care about, even if it seems difficult.

The other is Those Who Wish Me Dead, a satisfying “dad thriller” that plays off a True Grit dynamic with Angelina Jolie’s smokejumper character in the Rooster Cogburn role. Read my full review here. –Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor