With all of the pandemic-related delays and release strategy shifts, the 2020 film slate easily could've been massively underwhelming. While the impact from the large clusters of titles from every corner of the industry that were pushed off the calendar was certainly felt, the constant shakeups didn't result in a complete drought of quality movies.
Streamers were able to make the best out of the chaotic landscape that suddenly manifested in March with pretty deep slates that balanced their own originals (The Old Guard, One Night in Miami..., Extraction) with acquisitions from theatrical distributors (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Charm City Kings, The Lovebirds) who were looking were to bank some cash to supplement the massive box office losses they are experiencing, Universal's full embrace of both PVOD and a PVOD/theatrical hybrid model allowed them to put out some great small-to-mid budget titles (The King of Staten Island, Promising Young Woman, Freaky) during a time where other major studios are largely forgoing releasing anything at all and although it seems like a million years ago now, the relatively strong 2.5 months of traditional theatrical releases that we got at the start of the year ultimately yielded some of the year's best titles (Birds of Prey, Bad Boys for Life, The Invisible Man). There was also a perhaps not completely coincidental uptick in the release of pure escapist fare (Love and Monsters, Happiest Season, The High Note, Spenser Confidential, Palm Springs, My Spy, Bill and Ted Face the Music, several of the aforementioned titles above) that felt particularly comforting in a year where temporary joyous distractions from the bleakness of reality were needed more than ever. To put it more succinctly, 2020 was a pretty decent year for movies and I'm thankful that the shot callers around the industry were able to make that possible in a completely compromised marketplace.
Below, you'll find a smorgasbord of quick reflections on the cinematic year including a full ranking of every movie I've seen to this point, a host of accolades/awards honoring the best/worst things from 2020's movies and a very long list of titles that I haven't gotten the chance to watch yet for a variety of reasons. Please enjoy and here's to hoping that we can get COVID under control at some point this year, so we can go back to getting excited about trivial things like the release of a new Marvel or Fast and Furious movie again.
Titles I Haven't Seen Yet, but Plan on Watching At Some Point:
All Day and a Night
All In: The Fight for Democracy
All Together Now
Ammonite
Another Round
Archenemy
Arkansas
Babyteeth
Bacurau
Blood Quantum
Blow the Man Down
Come Play
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
Critical Thinking
Cut Throat City
Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen
Dreamland
Embattled
Evil Eye
Fatale
Fatman
Girl
Greenland
How to Build a Girl
I'm Your Woman
Jiu Jitsu
Jungleland
Let Him Go
Lost Girls
Max Cloud
Minari
Miss Juneteenth
Monster Hunter
Most Wanted
News of the World
Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight
Nomadland
On the Rocks
Possessor
Proxima
Rogue
Safety
Scare Me
Scoob!
She Dies Tomorrow
Shirley
Shithouse
Songbird
Spontaneous
Swallow
Sylvie's Love
Synchronic
The Big Ugly
The Boys in the Band
The Craft: Legacy
The Croods: A New Age
The Dark and the Wicked
The Doorman
The Father
The Informer
The Kid Detective
The Last Shift
The Lie
The Lodge
The Nest
The Night Clerk
The Opening Act
The Outpost
The Owners
The Silencing
The Social Dilemma
The Sunlit Night
The Wolf of Snow Hollow
Tigertail
Time
Time to Hunt
Totally Under Control
Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula
Vivarium
Wander Darkly
Welcome to Sudden Death
Wolfwalkers
Yellow Rose
You Should Have Left
112.Gretel & Hansel (D-)
111.First Cow (D)
110.Nocturne (D)
109.Run (D)
108.Antebellum (D)
107.The New Mutants (D+)
106.His House (D+)
105.Mosul (D+)
104.Fantasy Island (C-)
103.Save Yourselves! (C-)
102.Unhinged (C-)
101.The Turning (C-)
100.Like a Boss (C-)
99.The Platform (C-)
98.#Alive (C)
97.Money Plane (C)
96.Mulan (C)
95.Hubie Halloween (C)
94.Never Rarely Sometimes Always (C)
93.Onward (C)
92.Hooking Up (C+)
91.Desperados (C+)
90.The Wrong Missy (C+)
89.The Half of It (C+)
88.7500 (C+)
87.An American Pickle (C+)
86.Dick Johnson is Dead (C+)
85.Wonder Woman 1984 (C+)
84.Come to Daddy (C+)
83.Infamous (C+)
82.Black Box (C+)
81.Love. Wedding. Repeat. (B-)
80.The Broken Hearts Gallery (B-)
79.Enola Holmes (B-)
78.Pieces of a Woman (B-)
77.Honest Thief (B-)
76.The Rhythm Section (B-)
75.Escape from Pretoria (B-)
74.Words on Bathroom Walls (B-)
73.The Assistant (B-)
72.Color Out of Space (B-)
71.Bloodshot (B-)
70.The Gentlemen (B-)
69.We Summon the Darkness (B-)
68.Horse Girl (B-)
67.Lost Bullet (B-)
66.Ava (B-)
65.Tenet (B-)
64.Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics (B)
63.Irresistible (B)
62.Yes, God, Yes (B)
61.All the Bright Places (B)
60.Capone (B)
59.The Binge (B)
58.Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (B)
57.Coffee & Kareem (B)
56.Athlete A (B)
55.The Vast of Night (B)
54.Da 5 Bloods (B)
53.The Tax Collector (B)
52.Vampires vs. the Bronx (B)
51.VFW (B)
50.Hillbilly Elegy (B)
49.Mank (B)
48.Deerskin (B)
47.The Fourty-Year-Old Version (B)
46.Kajillionaire (B)
45.Happiest Season (B)
44.Unpregnant (B)
43.Spree (B)
42.The High Note (B)
41.Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (B)
40.The Babysitter: Killer Queen (B)
39.Buffaloed (B)
38.The Hunt (B)
37.Holidate (B)
36.My Spy (B)
35.Becky (B)
34.Sonic the Hedgehog (B)
33.Underwater (B)
32.The Devil All the Time (B)
31.Get Duked! (B)
30.The Lovebirds (B)
29.Uncle Frank (B)
28.Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (B)
27.Bill and Ted Face the Music (B)
26.Class Action Park (B+)
25.Guns Akimbo (B+)
24.Big Time Adolescence (B+)
23.Spenser Confidential (B+)
22.The Way Back (B+)
21.The Photograph (B+)
20.The Rental (B+)
19.Project Power (B+)
18.Sound of Metal (B+)
17.Palm Springs (B+)
16.Freaky (B+)
15.Uncorked (B+)
14.Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (B+)
13.Extraction (B+)
12.Black Bear (B+)
11.Love and Monsters (B+)
10.One Night in Miami... (B+)
9.Bad Boys for Life (B+)
8.The Old Guard (A-)
7.Charm City Kings (A-)
6.Promising Young Woman (A-)
5.The King of Staten Island (A-)
4.Birds of Prey (A-)
3.The Trial of the Chicago 7 (A)
2.Soul (A)
1.The Invisible Man (A)
Awards:
Best Picture: The Invisible Man
Best Director: Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man
Best Actor: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Best Actress: Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man
Best Supporting Actor: Eli Goree, One Night in Miami...
Best Supporting Actress: Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Best Original Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Adapted Screenplay: Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man
Best Cinematography: Matthew Libatique, Birds of Prey
Best Score: Ludwig Goransson, Tenet
Best Visual Effects: Love and Monsters
Best Animated Movie: Soul
Best Non-English Language Movie: Deerskin
Best Documentary: Class Action Park
Best Directorial Debut: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Best Villain: Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), Birds of Prey
Worst Villain: Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson), Run
Best Performance in a Bad Movie: Russell Crowe, Unhinged
Worst Performance in a Good Movie: Norm Lewis, Da 5 Bloods
Best Performance by a Suspect Actor: Kevin James, Becky
Worst Performance by a Good Actor: Sarah Paulson, Run
Best Overacting: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Worst Overacting: Kenneth Branaugh, Tenet
The 3rd Annual "Carry a Movie on Their Back" Award Presented by Greg Jennings: Alison Brie, Horse Girl
Best Action Sequence: One Take Gun/Fist/Knife Fight, Extraction
Worst Action Sequence: Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah, Wonder Woman 1984
Best Blockbuster: Birds of Prey
Worst Blockbuster: The New Mutants
Most Enjoyable Remake: The Invisible Man
Most Useless Remake: Gretel & Hansel
Best Top Dollar PVOD Rental: The King of Staten Island
Biggest PVOD Rental Bullet Dodged: Antebellum
Best Movie I Risked Contracting COVID to See in Theaters: Freaky
Top Movie I'm Glad That I Didn't Risk Contracting COVID to Go See in Theaters: The New Mutants
Finest Hidden Indie Gem: Charm City Kings
Most Insufferable Indie Trash: First Cow
Biggest Surprises:
1.The Invisible Man
2.Love and Monsters
3.The Photograph
4.Holidate
5.Becky
Biggest Letdowns:
1.The Gentlemen
2.Tenet
3.An American Pickle
4.The Platform
5.Mank
Most Underrated Movies:
1.Charm City Kings
2.Birds of Prey
3.The King of Staten Island
4.Black Bear
5.Uncorked
Most Overrated Movies:
1.First Cow
2.Run
3.His House
4.Pieces of a Woman
5.Da 5 Bloods
Top Performances:
1.Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man
2.Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
3.Aubrey Plaza, Black Bear
4.Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
5.Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
6.Eli Goree, One Night in Miami...
7.Robert Pattinson, The Devil All the Time
8.Alison Brie, Horse Girl
9.Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
10.Joe Keery, Spree
Breakthrough Performances:
1.Eli Goree, One Night in Miami...
2.Mamoudou Athie, Uncorked
3.Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Charm City Kings
4.Cristin Milioti, Palm Springs
5.Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
6.Kingsley Ben-Adir, One Night in Miami...
7.Bill Burr, The King of Staten Island
8.Meek Mill, Charm City Kings
9.Lulu Wilson, Becky
10.Brigette Lundy-Paine, Bill and Ted Face the Music
Top Acting Ensembles:
1.Black Bear
2.One Night in Miami...
3.The King of Staten Island
4.Charm City Kings
5.Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
6.Birds of Prey
7.The Trial of the Chicago 7
8.Uncorked
9.The Old Guard
10.Freaky
10 Most Anticipated Movies That I'll Hopefully Be Able to See in 2021:
1.Those Who Wish Me Dead
2.The Suicide Squad
3.Don't Look Up
4.Fast and Furious 9
5.Last Night in Soho
6.Army of the Dead
7.Nobody
8.The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
9.Next Goal Wins
10.The Harder They Fall
No comments:
Post a Comment