Best/Worst films of the worst year

2020 took everything, but I will not be stopped from doing a top 10. Of course, this is a list culled from maybe only a third as many films as I see in a given year. I have no idea when the last time was that I saw such a large percentage of a year's releases outside of theaters. In fact only 3 of the 10 were seen in theaters.

And of course many of the big movies that might have been on the list never came. So there is only 1 franchise movie on the list.

And because of movies getting released in all different ways, there are some movies that made it out that I just haven't seen yet. Everything I have seen and heard tells me that Promising Young Woman could be incredible, but I have no idea when I will get to see it.

So here goes it with the most woefully incomplete top ten list since I began doing top ten lists. And I'm doing them alphabetically, cause I just am.

The list:

Birds of Prey: Just a super fun DC romp with Margot Robbie flanked by a bevy of badass ladies.

Da 5 Bloods: The first half of this was right up there with Spike Lee's best. Then it got messy.

The Lodge: A great, dark horror film with a dynamite payoff.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: A spectacular acting showcase for both Viola Davis and the sensational final performance by Chadwick Boseman.

Palm Springs: One of the best uses ever for the Groundhog Day premise. I figured an Andy Samberg movie would be funny, but it also got deep and finally gave Cristin Miliotti a showcase.

Soul: Wouldn't put it at the very elite Pixar level,  but it's right at the top of the next one.

Spontaneous: Some good YA type films this year, but this one was the most original and the best. Katherine Langford!

The Trial of the Chicago 7: Aaron Sorkin doing a potent, political true story with a great cast.

Unpregnant: Super fun road dramedy with the stellar pairing of Haley Lu Richardson and the inimitable Barbie Ferreira.

Yellow Rose: Certainly the surprise of the year, a compelling and moving movie about a Fillipino immigrant (the superb Eva Noblezada) who dreams of being a country singer. 


Some honorable mentions:
The Gentlemen
Antebellum
All The Bright Places
Tenet
The Way Back
The Night Clerk
The Midnight Sky 
The Old Guard
Irresistible
The Broken Hearts Gallery

The 5 worst (okay, more than 5 technically):

The Grudge, The Turning, Brahms: The Boy 2: Okay, I can't pick. I sat through all 3 in theaters pre-COVID. All were just rock bottom dull and useless horror garbage. 

Greed: A terrible Steve Coogan "comedy" that I have since hated more cause I wasted one of my last pre-shutdown movie trips on it.

Capone: An awful biopic with Tom Hardy in a career worst performance of nothing but loud mumbling.

Downhill: Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus scowl at each other for 2 hours. What fun.


And...the ten best older movies I saw for the first time, mostly from roughly late March til September. 

The Apartment
Hunt For The Wilderpeople
Leave No Trace
Hollywood Shuffle
Heaven Can Wait
Serpico 
American Honey
Cop Car
Rain Man
Top Secret 

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