My Favorite Movies of 2020
Whew, what a year of watching (not to mention, erm, other things). As strange as it was not going to the movies anymore, 2020 did offer a good opportunity to stream from across the years to your heart’s content. And so, I spent more time this year catching up on old movies and TV then with new works, so I thought it was more fitting to list the stuff that resonated with me the most across this wide gamut (Austin Kleon also does a similar thing, see his lists for 2020):
- The Black Cauldron: I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen this before- a dark, undiscovered Disney gem that reminded me of the animated Lord of the Rings movie.
- The Old Man and the Gun
- American Splendor
- Barry
- Soul: It’s old hand by now to say Pixar’s done it again, but by golly they have. Soul felt like a thematic sequel to Inside Out in how the film explored a whole other world that represented our psychic subconscious and all the while made you feel more grounded in this new strange reality.
- Marshawn Lynch: A History
- I’m Thinking of Ending Things
- Little Women
- 1917: I wrote back in my Oscars preview how “few films have ever felt as intoxicatingly fluid, haunting, and mesmerizing as 1917 and the continuous tracking shot is a big reason why.”
- Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story: Few new, let alone any, flicks in general have felt as fun, fresh and joyous. Add in the steampunk Diagon Alley meets “Christmas village” setting and the best hip hop musical soundtrack this side of Hamilton, and you have a new holiday instant classic.
- Host: If I had to name a favorite released in 2020 this would probably be it. Nothing felt more relevant and it strangely offered some of the best escapism I had this past year.
Honorable Mentions: That Thing You Do! (I think I’ve seen this before, but whatever. RIP Adam Schlesinger), Kedi (way better than the 15 minutes of Cats I watched), The One and Only Ivan, A Christmas Carol (2019), Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Pride of the Yankees, Ken Burns’ Baseball series, Speed Cubers, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Two Popes, Get On Up (RIP Chadwick Boseman).
Something other than honorable mention: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade- I’ve seen this a million times and it doesn’t get old. RIP Sean Connery.
