FIRST WATCHES 2020 (QUARANTINE EDITION!)
- Thomas
- Jan 3, 2021
- 26 min read
So I have been keeping track of every movie I watch since roughly 2013. I started in first year university, seeing how many movies I could watch over the summer, then it morphed into tracking them all. This has been by far the most, let's say, "productive" year thus far. It is also the very first year I have passed one movie per day! (perhaps due to a pandemic limiting other options and getting me laid off for most of the year).
In total I have watched 376 movies for the first time this year. This includes about 30 short films which I am logging for only the second year. So minus that I am a bit below a movie a day.
So here are my best first watches, my worst first watches, and then just all of them!
Best First Watches
It was very hard to put them into any kind of order, so I would say these are the 22 or so top tier movies in alphabetical order. The next tier of really good movies I wanted to acknowledge are below. I won't write anything about the 2020 movies because I should later when I do my best of 2020.
Border (2018)
One of the necessary entries for my 2010s catch up, for whenever I end up doing a decade retrospective, Border is stunning. It's something I have never seen before. It plays with some common tropes but blends them into something so magical and new. I was blown away.
(from my best of 2019) One of multiple Charlie Manson related media products this year, I feel Charlie Says is the best. Matt Smith, usually not good, takes all of the creepy otherness that makes him an effective alien doctor, and uses it to make a man not meant for this species. But he real power is in the women it follows and the cycles of abuse that trapped them. It's riveting, frightening, and brilliant.
Coherence (2013)
This has to be one of the most fascinating sci-fi movies I have ever seen. It's so fresh and so engrossing, and does such a phenomenal job keeping you on your toes. I don't want to say much more because the less you know, the better.
First Cow (2020)
God’s Own Country (2017)
A beautiful and bittersweet love story from the director of this year's inferior Ammonite. It's the best of the recent run of Bleak British Farm Dramas, but not nearly as Bleak as the colour palette may seem.
Happy as Lazzaro (2018)
This is a bizarre but lovely little anti-capitalist film. It's beautiful, sad, sweet, and approaches things with such a subdued anger.
For how mixed I felt in my review, there's still something I can't shake.
Kajilionaire (2020)
Margaret (2011)
I finally watched Margaret (the director's cut) after hearing about it's unrecognized brilliance for a good decade. People weren't wrong. This is such a densely packed film, that any one element can be an interesting vein to mine.
(from my best of 2019) I'm a newbie to Mike Leigh too, Mr. Turner was my first experience and I was fascinated. Leight's partially improvised, but heavily worked-through method seems to bring a certain weight of reality to his movies. They feel more real than almost anything I've seen. Peterloo is no different. Though it eschews the deep character work of many of his works in favor of a broader cast of characters, it still manages to crystallize the discontent, fear, and ultimately hope that exists with the disenfranchised. Even if you know what is coming, there's still this beautiful optimism in seeing people stand in solidarity against inequality.
Pontypool (2008)
From Canadian Cult-Icon Bruce McDonald, this was one of the go-to films for many at the beginning of the pandemic. It takes the interesting route of following an isolated radio station host as reports come in about a deadly virus breaking out in the town. Though I may not be 100% with the ending of the film, the way it unfolds up to there is utter perfection.
Stop Making Sense (1984)
I don't really get concert films. I never have. But this year watching Stop Making Sense, The Last Waltz, Gimme Shelter, and American Utopia will be the closest I think I'll get. It's just fun, pure fun, and staged in such an inventive way with the band slowly joining David Byrne. This arrangement of Burning Down the House was also my most played song on Spotify last year if that indicates any love for the film.
The Climb (2020)
The Future (2011)
I love the idea and the curation of Mubi. So every so often I'll go on a little spurt of trying to get my money's worth out of that subscription. After seeing Madeline's Madeline and hearing hearing Dan McCoy of the Flop House Podcast talk about Miranda July's work, I thought I'd give The Future a try. It was powerful. It has a sense of aimlessness and discovery that so many indie directors try and fail to capture. It made me an immediate fan, and this year's Kajillionaire is right up there with it.
(from my best of 2019) Speaking of stomach churning, Jennifer Kent's followup to The Babadook, has some truly horrific scenes, but it's a revenge story over all, and one could argue it doesn't cover enough new ground to be anything special, but I disagree. The dehumanizing racism of Colonialism is on full display, and though our protagonist is a white woman, and she does finally befriend an aboriginee tracker, it feels more honest and earned. It doesn't stink of the dated trope of people of colour sacrificing themselves for white approval. Their friendship is slowly built out of mutual respect and pain, but it's not immediate. Baykali Ganambarr's wonderfully played Billi disappears at the slightest hint of danger, and takes most of the movie to finally befriend the colonizer. It's harsh, beautiful, and brilliant.
The Silence of Others (2019)
Just an absolutely crushing documentary. Spain has only really begun to struggle with the long black shadow of Franco's facist grip over the nation. This documentary follows one of the groups trying to seek some form of justice for those who have committed crimes against the people of Spain, and closure for the families of the state's many victims.
The Wailing (2016)
For the seance scene alone. A long, languid, but inventive and engrossing horror movie. Every element of this works just right, and it plays with ambiguity and prejudice so well.
Tommaso (2020)
Really Good Second Tier
A Fantastic Woman (2017), A Touch of Sin (2013), American Utopia (2020), Babyteeth (2020), Bad Education (2020), Birds of Passage (2019), Black Bear (2020), Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (2020), Blow the Man Down (2020), Borat 2: Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), Boys State (2020), Buzzard (2014), Byzantium (2012), Clown (2014), Da 5 Bloods (2020), Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008), Dick Johnson is Dead (2020), Drug War (2012), Emma. (2020), Escape from New York (1981), Fourteen (2020), Fury (1936), Ginger Snaps (2000), His House (2020), Host (2020), I Lost My Body (2019), Little Joe (2019), Lover's Rock (2020), Martin Eden (2020), Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind (1984), Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always (2020), Our Daily Bread (1934), Palm Springs (2020), Please Give (2010), Possessor (2020), Residue (2020), Riddick (2013), Saint Frances (2020), She Dies Tomorrow (2020), Shirley (2020), Sorry We Missed You (2020), Swallow (2020), The Blob (1988), The Invisible Man (2020), The Platform (2020), The Twentieth Century (2020), The Vast of Night (2020), Undine (2020), Vivarium (2020), Warrior (2011), and Water Lillies (2007)
Worst First Watches
If it needs to be said, I’m not a professional. I just do this for free. At a cost actually... I tend to mostly watch movies in which I am interested. This generally saves me from having to watch movies that I am less likely to enjoy. Even some of the absolute garbage I watch, I enjoy guiltily, or my expectations are better calibrated. The movies I list here are the ones I enjoyed the least, or ended up being the biggest disappointments. I have placed them in no particular order, just in broad categories.
Wrongheaded:
Wonder Woman (2020)
I can’t add much to what Walter Chaw of FilmFreakCentral said about it, but to reiterate: it is an awful, soulless picture, it has an ugly message, an ugly colour grading. The only reason it takes place in 1984 is because the surge of 80s nostalgia. It completely sidesteps WWII, which of course it does, but it leaves the question open. I think more of Gal Gadot than a lot of critics, even if she isn't great. The special effects look unfinished. So many inexplicable decisions. Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig give it their very best, but there’s no saving this.
The Basket Case Trilogy
The first film seemed to attempt to be a serious horror film, and it was largely a failure. There are some legitimately scary moments, but it’s mostly boring and silly. So director Frank Henenlotter latched onto the latter of these descriptors for the unnecessary and increasingly deranged sequels. They are gross in the wrong way, but I will give them credit for being completely off the wall and giving me at least one good laugh out loud moment in #3.
Les Misérables (2019)
France’s Oscar submission last year over the universally acclaimed masterpiece Portrait of a Lady on Fire, likely because it’s “timely”. I really didn't like this movie. It tried hard to play both sides with "sure some police are bad, but what about these guys?" It never makes an effort to look at the power structures that encourage bad policing, it feels like a very bad apples take. Add this to the overstuffed and deeply contrived plot, and not actually getting into the inciting incident until an hour or so into the movie, it's not effective work.
Unhinged (2020)
What a grotesque little movie, and again, not in always good way. Russel Crowe gives it his all, and there is some skill in the choreography of the action and orchestration of the events, but it feels too wrong. It feels out of place. Like Jennifer Jason Leigh in the hitcher, there is horror visited upon innocents that is too gruesome for what this film feels like it should be. I guess I shouldn't rewrite the movie, but the brutality is too much. The film is strongest in the inciting conflict. Crowe as the titular madman gets honked at by our put-upon but undeveloped young mother. The arrogance and faux kindness on display from Crowe is brilliant. That scene where the arrogant white man lays out the conditions for his forgiveness to a total stranger, the path to where he will give her permission to walk free from this conflict, is great. The impotent rage, and masculine posturing is perfect. But the film doesn't follow up on that. It makes him an effective monster and he successfully teaches our young mother a lesson, which kills the movie.
Missed Opportunities
Eurovision: Fire Saga (2020)
I don’t know who told Will Ferrell that his singing is funny or good, but it is neither. There is maybe no more tired on-screen character than Will Ferrel playing a delusional buffoon. I know I'm in the minority, but I haven't found it funny since Anchorman. There is some good here, the music isn’t bad, Dan Stevens is great, and Rachel McAdams almost keeps the film above water. She is so likeable, but that just makes you root against Ferrell's narcissist who drags her down. Had they cast anyone but Will Ferrell instead of McAdams it would have been an improvement. He has the ability to play a charming dope, or an obnoxious lout. This is the latter.
Fantasy Island (2020)
Another monkey's paw story! There is so much potential in the premise of doing a Horror remake of Fantasy Island. But it settles for such mundanity. The island doesn't really make sense by the internal logic of the film. It goes for so many twists when none of them work. It's a disappointment.
The Hunt (2020)
The manhunting genre is always a little guiltily interesting. This one had the money, cast, and effects work to put together something good looking and gory, but boy does it not really make sense. The final reveal of what is going on is incredibly stupid, and every element of foreshadowing that gets you closer to that reveal is equally as stupid. The conceit is also a mess, was this aimed specifically at conservatives? Is it a lampooning of their conspiracy theories? Because it gives us survivors we aren't that invested in (like an Alex Jones stand in, who the fuck would ever care about him?) and we aren't going to side with the killers, so what are we watching? They try to have their cake and eat it with a reveal at the end to redeem our hero, but its too late, and just doubles back on any real stand it may have taken. The end result seems to be "can't we all just get a long" which is so pandering and facile.
Sharpe's Waterloo (1997)
An awful and unnecessary entry to the Sharpe series. SPOILERS AHEAD: It would have been one thing to have Sharpe somehow wrangled back into battle to put him at Waterloo, fine, but to also a) smear the prince of Belgium with no historical backup and b) contrivedly bring back two beloved members of his rifle company just to have them die after Sharpe deserts? Just trash. Utter trash. And this series isn't exactly 18 homeruns, but this one is just awful.
Battle: Los Angeles
It’s a cool idea, doing a ground-up perspective of an alien invasion. Sadly, that is all they approached the movie with. The script is just a machine-learning version of every war movie and alien invasion movie mashed together, the characters are interchangeable, and worst of all, the action is incoherent. A dumb action movie can fly on good action just like a dumb horror movie can fly on good gore or scares. Without it there is nothing redeemable here. I missed looking up the year for this movie apparently and I care so little I’m not even going to look it up.
Mulan (2020)
Who knew Disney’s heartless enterprise of remaking beloved classics so they can be released for a billion dollars each would eventually strike a septic tank? The part that makes this such a missed opportunity is that Mulan is an interesting story to be told. I’m no fan of the original, but the idea of seeing this story retold as a straight epic was exciting. I don’t know what went wrong and when. It’s a good cast, a decent director, good story… maybe the four (non-Chinese) screenwriters? Maybe a team of producers that have produced mostly bad movies? I don’t know but it came out looking cheap, and so poorly cobbled together that it feels like it was cut down for a TV slot.
The Social Dilemma (2020)
Want a documentary on the dangers of social media with a) awkward fictional elements that mostly don’t work, and b) a refusal to point to capitalism as the main source of the problem? This is the one for you then. It’s another self-congratulating attempt to treat the symptoms.
Exorcist 2: Heretic (1977)
I guess there’s maybe fruitful territory for a sequel to the Exorcist, but boy this is kind of dumb, very dull, and poorly acted. Richard Burton gives 175%, which makes his performance a bit fun for how huge it is, but it’s just so dopey.
To quote a letterboxd review of this year’s To The Ends of the Earth,
“I get it, but two hours of it?”
The Turin Horse (2011)
There is some brilliant craft at hand here because Bela Tarr, if nothing, is bursting with vision. But part of the problem with showing the boringness of daily life, is that it’s often boring. That’s why we have montage, but he uses it sparingly, and thus does not spare us from the drag.
Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)
This may be one I have to re-watch, but it really left me cold and sleepy when I first saw it. It felt so inscrutable. The images are pretty, but the plot is so thin and then we depart on an hour long dream sequence that I didn't even know was a dream sequence until I looked up the plot to refresh my memory. The film feels like a flimsy excuse to set up that long take. As I talked about in my 1917 review, I am over long takes.
Shakes the Clown (1991)
I am very grateful for Bobcat Goldthwaite as a director. He makes movies about things nobody else would. But this “look it’s a drunk party clown!” concept is a sketch at best. The comedy just doesn’t land, and what little plot there is doesn’t work. You see a pre-fame Adam Sandler as a bar clown though. The rest of his filmography is pretty solid though.
Greener Grass (2019)
Another sketch that was stretched to a feature. The dedication to the look and absolute weirdness is admirable, but the undercooked plot is suffocated by the style and setting. We’re supposed to watch (co-director, writer, and star) Jocelyn DeBoer losing her grip on life, but it’s already such a weird and crazy world that it’s hard to relate because we start off where she is supposed to end up, and she doesn't quite make it there either.
Miscellaneous
The House Bunny (2008)
There has been a recent revisionism that has tried to paint Anna Faris as funny. It is mistaken. There are a handful of moments in this that work, but it’s so forgettable. The thing I remember most is that the only character of colour doesn’t speak as her sole character trait.
Nimic (2020) People accuse Terence Malick of falling into self-parody. So after making his most accessible, most formally mainstream , and probably best film, Yorgos Lanthimos puts this to wrestle that crown away.
Tammy & The T-Rex (1994)
Bad on purpose is usually just bad. There are a couple funny gory moments, but overall, there’s no heart and no love here. It tries too hard.
Leprechaun (1993) I don’t really know what I was expecting. It started off pretty promising, but then Jennifer Aniston shows up, along with a precocious child and mentally disabled gentleman, and then suddenly it's a lot of tasteless humour and Goonies-level horror. Which means none.
The Lodge (2020) Grim. Unpleasant. Pretty unbelievable. The directors, Severin and Franz, are inventive, and seem to have some interesting ideas, but they spin into such silly territory it becomes very difficult to take it seriously.
[Spoiler-Highlight to Read] I am pretty over horror movies that have a dark ending that isn't at least clever. There’s supposed to be some redemption, these grim endings (which are sooooo 2004) are just an exercise in misery. [Spoilers Over]
ALL OF MY FIRST WATCHES (with assorted notes)
1. Ash is Purest White (2019)
2. Monos (2019)
► There is so much here I like. But there's something that doesn't quite work and I think it's our protagonist. They are a blank slate, and so it becomes difficult to really latch on.
3. Hail Satan! (2019)
4. The Great Hack (2019)
5. Wild Nights With Emily (2019)
► The low budget approach and presence of Molly Shannon, who I usually find obnoxious, lowered my expectations but I was blown away. So good, funny, and heartfelt.
6. The Holiday (2006)
7. 13 Going on 30 (2004)
8. Synonyms (2019)
► This was very close to going in "I get it, but two hours of it?" up there because I couldn't connect with it. There's enough here, including some good performances, to elevate it. But I feel like I needed to meet it more than halfway to get what it was working towards.
9. The King (2019)
►"Oh, that's an interesting piece of history, what if I... made it dumber..." There is a lot to admire here, from the production value to the performances, but it's just kind of dumb. The plot blends the shakespearean fairy tale with the history, and it ends up being neither to any great effect.
10. Apollo 11 (2019)
11. The Nightingale (2019)
12. Holiday (2019)
► What a difficult movie. Victoria Carmen Sonne is excellent and carries the film on her shoulders, and her character suffers for it.
13. The Biggest Little Farm (2019)
► Fascinating subject, but the filmaker is very clearly an amateur. This leads to a wonky framing device, and a repeated 'establish challenge, reveal solution' format that becomes very repetitive.
14. The Edge of Democracy (2019)
15. Peterloo (2019)
16. Give Me Liberty (2019)
17. Depraved (2019)
18. Gemini Man (2019)
19. Relaxer (2019)
20. Chained for Life (2019)
► This is a lovely and unexpected little movie. It takes place on a film set where a young actress has signed up for what is essentially an exploitation film. This film is the opposite as it takes the people with physical differences and lets them be people. They're actors, and she bonds with them on that level and any superficial differences wash away. There's also the connection where her, as an actress, is objectified for her appearance as well. The plot is fairly loose but it doesn't really hamper the film.
21. An Elephant Sitting Still (2019)
22. Captive State (2019)
23. Long Day's Journey Into Night (2019)
24. Donbass (2019)
25. Shadow (2019)
26. Charlie Says (2019)
27. The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
28. Birds of Passage (2019)
29. Sunset (2019)
► It approaches everything so obliquely that you have to spend too much time getting your bearings. The photography is so interesting, but the style can be too limiting despite some incredible moments.
30. One Cut of the Dead (2019)
31. 1917 (2019)
32. Venom (2018)
► Goofy fun.
33. The House I Live In (2012)
34. Please Give (2010)
35. Underwater (2020)
► Very cool. I am always surprised to see money invested in a movie like this and it makes me happy. Sci-fi adventure horror.
36. Margaret (2011)
37. The Internet’s Own Boy (2014)
38. Rampart (2011)
39. Black Death (2010)
40. I Saw the Devil (2010)
41. Coherence (2013)
42. The Selfish Giant (2013)
► Crushing. End capitalism please.
43. Creep (2014)
44. Creep 2 (2017)
► A lot has been said about these movies, but if you are interested in horror and haven't checked them out, it's worth it. They use found footage in an interesting way and Creep 2 is smart in how it brings us back into the conceit with a totally different perspective.
45. Faults (2014)
46. Levon Helm: Ain't in it For My Health (2010)
47. V/H/S (2012)
► More hit than miss.
48. Beyond the Lights (2014)
49. V/H/S 2 (2013)
► More miss than hit.
50. Geostorm (2017)
51. The Last Waltz (1978)
52. Cohen & Tate (1988)
► So much better than expected. It baffled me that Roy Scheider wasn't a leading man until the very moment of his death.
53. Stop Making Sense (1984)
54. Journey 2: The Centre of the Earth (2012)
55. Ironclad (2011)
56. The Innkeepers (2011)
57. XX (2017)
► Only one of these entries really clicks which is too bad.
58. Homefront (2013)
59. Maniac (1980)
60. Warrior (2011)
► Gavin O'Connor knows how to make a sports movie. Great cast, and hits every note it needs to.
64. Sinister (2012)
► Very good.
65. Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
► Ditto.
66. Vernon, Florida (1981)
67. She's Beautiful When She's Angry (2014)
68. Hair Love (Short, 2019)
69. Basket Case (1982)
70. Be Here to Love Me (2004)
71. Midway (2019)
72. Dark Money (2018)
► The book by Jane Mayer is vital, and the documentary just doesn't land the same crushing blow.
73. Apaches (1977)
74. Sanctum (2011)
75. Birds of Prey (2020)
► One of only two DCEU movies that is actually unabashedly good. The best of the DCEU, and if you consider this a super hero movie, probably in the upper echelon.
76. Honeymoon (2014)
77. Child's Play 2 (1990)
► Imperfect, but god the climactic showdown in a toy factory is perfect.
78. The Vault (2017)
79. Where's My Roy Cohn? (2020)
80. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
81. Basket Case 2 (1990)
82. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
► One from the "Thomas is a Philistine" Files, I just didn't get it. It's fine. Maybe my expectations were too high due to it's stature in film history.
83. Priest (2011)
84. Casino Jack and the United States of Money (2010)
85. Strange Brew (1990)
► I didn't expect to like it, but I did.
86. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
87. Basket Case 3 (1991)
88. Gimme Shelter (1970)
► Bananas. How did this happen?
89. Sharpe's Enemy (1994)
90. Brain Damage (1988)
►Better than it should be, clever, but also a little gross in a bad way. Somehow works despite the evil worm at the centre of the story talking like Michigan J. Frog.
91. The Prowler (1981)
92. Sharpe’s Honour (1994)
93. Castle Freak (1995)
► The dedication to the family drama is admirable, but goddamn it should have been abridged a bit. Still a pretty quality and grotesque horror movie (loses points for cat murder).
94. God’s Own Country (2017)
95. Emma. (2020)
96. Blue Valentine (2010)
97. Sharpe's Gold (1995)
98. Sharpe's Battle (1995)
99. The Invisible Man (2020)
100. Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)
101. The Quick and the Dead (1995)
► What a cast! If Sam Raimi had taken this like 10% more seriously this would be a classic.
102. Sharpe's Sword (1995)
103. Maniac (2012)
104. Sharpe’s Regiment (1996)
105. A Touch of Sin (2013)
► Grim, brilliant, and angry.
106. Byzantium (2012)
► Very cool. A great and different take on the vampire story.
107. The Turin Horse (2011)
108. Incendies (2010)
► This is a 'Canadian classic' and Denis Villeneuve's first international hit. There is a song that is used a few times that does not fit the theme or energy of the film, and it knocks it down quite a bit. It just kills the immersion when Denis's favourite rock song pops on at a bad time that doesn't fit the setting or story. I still don't know if the reveal is good or a tad too much, but Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin's overall excellent performance really sells it. There are sections that are immensely powerful, and some that are bungled by a young and learning director.
109. Big Bad Wolves (2013)
► One of the main characters looks like Christian Bale as Dick Cheney. Not Christian Bale, not Dick Cheney, but Christian Bale as Dick Cheney. Good movie though.
110. Marc Maron: The End Times (2020)
111. The Age of Shadows (2016)
112. Tammy & The T-Rex (1994)
113. The Childhood of a Leader (2015)
► There is a lot here and so much of it is excellent, but it doesn't quite come together like you'd hope. The historical detachment and lack of specificity kneecaps it the same way it does with Martin Eden. Still very good. That opening theme is *chef's kiss*.
114. Cats (2019)
115. American Dharma (2019)
► Morris doesn't give in to the desire of so many to just go at Bannon hard, but he kind of lets him expose himself a bit. Still a frustrating watch.
116. Onward (2020)
117. Sharpe's Siege (1996)
118. The Wailing (2016)
119. Street Trash (1987)
120. The Highwaymen (2019)
121. The Mechanic: Resurrection (2016)
► Not good. But the fun and somewhat clever actions sequences make up for the painfully bad scenes between Statham and Alba.
122. The Beyond (1981)
123. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
► Watched this because of it's clear impact on First Reformed, and it just didn't grab me until very late in the film. When it does pick up with a particular visit of a mother to the priest, it is as good as anything ever committed to film. But it is a slog to get there.
124. Avengement (2019)
► Fun neat British gangster movie.
125. Wyrmwood (2014)
► Fun neat Aussie zombie movie.
126. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
► Very well done, but so incredibly painful.
127. The Legacy of Dear Zachary (2008)
128. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
► One off the classic horror checklist. It still holds up. Grim. But doesn't fall into the trap The Lodge and other 'transgressive' horror movies do. I knows it's genre and its purpose.
129. The House Bunny (2008)
130. The Toxic Avenger (1984)
131. Wake in Fright (1971)
132. Our Daily Bread (1934)
► SOCIALISM. NOW. It's really good, surprising to see even get made in the 30s. The digging of the trench near the end is enthralling.
133. Brother (2014)
134. Sharpe's Mission (1996)
135. Water Lillies (2007)
136. Sharpe's Revenge (1997)
137. Child's Play 3 (1991)
138. God Told Me To (1976)
► Really cool movie. Scarier than I expected. Gets a little too out there towards the end but it's quite the trip there.
139. Sharpe's Justice (1997)
140. VFW (2020)
► Goofy fun with some good character actors.
141. Greener Grass (2019)
142. Shakes the Clown (1991)
143. Sharpe's Waterloo (1997)
144. Holidays (2016)
► Very hit and miss like most horror anthologies. It doesn't reach the highs that others do.
145. Would You Rather (2012)
► Harebrained fun with Geoffrey Coombs.
146. The Bone Collector (1999)
147. It's Alive! (1974)
148. Frankenhooker (1990)
149. Fury (1936)
►This was wild and really good. The final act gets a little shaggy, but overall excellent.
150. Pontypool (2008)
151. Drag me to Hell (2009)
► As good as everyone said it was. The VFX are a little goofy, but it doesn't really hurt the film. Not sure about the ending (issue alluded to in The Lodge blurb above).
152. Sharpe's Challenge (2006)
153. Extraction (2020)
► Empty headed action, but Randeep Hooda is a star.
154. A Border Fence (2018)
155. 4 Little Girls (1997)
156. Atomic Homefront (2007)
157. Erin Brockovich (2000)
158. El Gigante (2014)
► Cool.
159. Cat Calls (2017)
► Cool.
160. Tromeo & Juliet (1996)
► Lemmy as a greek chorus is cool.
161. 47 Meters Down (2017)
► Cool.
162. Sharpe's Peril (2008)
163. Tout va Bien (1972)
164. Silence de la Mer (1949)
165. Ashes of Time (1994)
► From the "Thomas is a Phillistine" files, this was not at all for me.
166. A Human Condition (1974)
167. Supermarket (1974)
168. Spenser Confidential (2020)
► Trash. But trash with Marc Maron.
169. Tomboy (2011)
170. Self Portrait (Short, 2020)
► Brave little doc about an underdiscussed subject. (I know this director!)
171. Into the Mud (Short) (2016)
172. Be My First (Short) (2017)
173. VPotluck (Short) ()
174. The Black Hole (Short, 2008)
175. Otherwise Engaged (Short, 2015)
176. The John (Short, 2016)
177. Surf Nazis Must Die (1987)
178. The Fall (Short, 2020)
179. Frightmare (1974)
►This movie has no excuse to have been as boring as it was. A lot of quality, but just so dull.
180. The Future (2011)
181. Bad Education (2020)
182. The Hunt (2020)
183. The Half of It (2020)
► I don't tend to connect with coming of age movies, but this one clicked with me.
184. Bacurau (2020)
185. Fantasy Island (2020)
186. Swallow (2020)
187. Black and Blue (2020)
188. Da 5 Bloods (2020)
►Excellent, but just a little too amorphous. Also has my pet peeve of graphic gory death of a sympathetic character. It replaces the drama of the moment wish shock and it leaves a bad taste (see most Game of Thrones Deaths).
189. Yesterday (2019)
190. The Command (2018)
191. The Quake (2018)
► This is a super duper disappointing follow-up to the excellent The Wave. The effects are characteristically good, but the story is so inorganic and forced. It's also deeply uncharitable to the mother character. If it weren't for the technical success of the climax, this would be on my worst of the year list.
192. The Natural (1984)
193. The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
►Such a good documentary, so deeply unfortunate the director allegedly stole it from queer filmakers who pitched the idea and structure to him.
194. Sleepaway Camp II (1988)
195. The Beach House (2020)
196. Sorry We Missed You (2020)
197. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
198. Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind (1984)
► Great double feature of long-needed wathing.
199. After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News (2020)
200. The Lodge (2020)
201. Vivarium (2020)
202. Rewind (2020)
203. Sea Fever (2020)
204. Greyhound (2020)
► These are such thinly drawn characters, but the detail and difficulty, and terror, of boat vs submarine combat is fascinating and exciting.
205. Blow the Man Down (2020)
206. Bird Box (2018)
► Didn't see it during it's time in the zeitgeist, but it was quite good.
207. The Outpost (2020)
208. Battle: Los Angeles
209. The Whistlers (2020)
210. Lucky Grandma (2020)
211. The Way Back (2020)
212. Boys State (2020)
213. Tenet (2020)
►All flash and no substance makes Nolan a dull boy. He is so focused on exploring this narrative experiment he loses any sense of character.
214. Them! (1954)
215. Baby teeth (2020)
216. Spree (2020)
217. Fourteen (2020)
218. Mr. Jones (2020)
► I don't know if it will get much talk with my best of the year stuff, but this is a very solid historic drama. The depiction of the Holomodor is shocking and heartbreaking. There are some definite flaws with an unecessary romance, and a weird bookend involving George Orwell, but the real meat of the film is very good. Peter Saarsgard is great in a supporting role.
219. Shirley (2020)
220. Mulan (2020)
221. Class Action Park (2020)
222. Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020)
223. Unhinged (2020)
224. Host (2020)
► Briliant use of limitations.
225. La Llorna (2020)
226. End of Sentence (2020)
227. Take me to Prom (Short, 2019)
► Touching doc from a local boy.
228. Dish Pigs (Short) (2019)
229. Kettle (Short) (2017)
230. WhyFi? (Short) (2016)
231. OK Chloe (Short) (2020)
232. Hot Dog (Short) (2020)
233. Luisa and Anna’s First Fight (Short) (2019)
► This is great.
234. I’m OK (Short) (2018)
235. Dig Your Own Grave (Short) (2019)
236. I Love You, I Love You (Short) (2020)
► A very good little short
237. Craig’s Pathetic Freakout (Short) (2018)
238. Creature Comforts (Short) (1989)
239. Finding Uranus (Short) (2019)
240. First Cow (2020)
241. Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always (2020)
242. Undine (2020)
243. Escape from New York (1981)
► Cool, but in a way that doesn't exist anymore.
244. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
245. 9th Compay (2005)
246. The Gentlemen (2020)
247. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
► The call to action is so important and David Attenborough is one of the best humans to have ever lived, but again, refuses to point to the core issues at play. It says we consume too much, but never says why, what changes can be made? I obviously approach things from a political perspective, so I may feel differently than others. It just disappoints me when a call to action doesn't try and point to any specific action.
248. Eurovision: Fire Saga (2020)
249. Dick Johnson is Dead (2020)
250. Cold Hands (Short, 2016)
►*I know the director* Very good, very sad, and one particularly crushing moment.
251. Enola Holmes (2020)
252. Franswa Sharle (Short)
253. Red Penguins (2020)
254. The Wolf House (2020)
255. Colour Out of Space (2020)
256. Hubie Halloween (2020)
► Very close to the worst of list, but halloween movies are so rare, and June Squibb who seems underused really delivers a lot more than you'd expect.
257. Ginger Snaps (2000)
258. Blood Quantum (2020)
259. Capital in the 21st Century
260. Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
►An peppy and rousing bastardization of history. It's sugary and goes down easy, but that makes it easy to swallow the liberal blunting of anarchist and progressive sentiment.
261. Exorcist 2: Heretic(1977)
262. Peninsula (2020)
263. Tag (2015)
264. Desert One (2020)
►The history is facinating and the access is incredible, but it's very tame.
265. A Field in England (2013)
266. Buzzard (2014)
►Joel Petroykus is a fascinating filmaker. Relaxer wasn't quite for me, but I can't help but respect the depravity. Buzzard on the other hand is fascinating. Like the dark future of Kajillionaire where a small-time fraudster and temp-worker tries to break free from his capitalist constraints. Despite how much Petroykus and Joshua Burge try to alienate you from Jackitansky, you can't help but empathise with his plight.
267. Hard to be a God (2013)
►It's such a fascinating technical achievement, but it's completely devoid of any emotion. It's so dizzying and does so little is done to situate us and the main character that you can't really make much of a connection. The big doofus Baron ends up being the only sympathetic character. It becomes an entirely intellectual exercise.
268. Maniac Cop (1988)
269. Borat 2 (2020)
► Lindsay Ellis speaks well on it. It's very good and so much more thoughtful than the first.
270. The Devil All The Time (2020)
271. Leprechaun (1993)
272. Clue (1985)
273. My Octopus Teacher (2020)
274. Pumpkinhead (1988)
275. Feels Good Man (2020)
276. Athlete A (2020)
277. The Silence of Others (2019)
278. The Blob (1988) This one was a huge surprise for me. I saw the original and was not expecting a late 80s remake to be so good. But it was gross, scary at the right times, surprising, and engaging. Just a solid-ass horror movie with first rate special effects.
279. Juan of the Dead (2011)
280. The Vast of Night (2020)
281. The Platform (2019)
282. The Social Dilemma (2020)
283. Two Plains & a Fancy (2018)
284. Immortals (2011)
►Not 'good' but not nearly as bad as made out. You get Tarsem Singh's crazy visuals in an epic story that has some cool action sequences, some absurd gore, and some silly nonsense that keeps it from being great.
285. Afronauts (Short, 2014)
286. Aftermath (Short, )
287. Intercourse (Short, 2017)
288. The Alphabet (Short, 1968)
289. Holiday Fear (Short, 2017)
290. Segundito (Short, 2017)
291. Villains (2020)
292. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
►I time-stamped the animal murders so I could skip past them on Shudder. Minus those sequences this movie is smarter than it's reputation, but still as grotesque.
293. Border (2018)
294. Happy as Lazzaro (2018)
295. A Fantastic Woman (2017)
296. Drug War (2012)
297. A White, White Day (2020)
298. Time (2020)
299. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (2020)
►I really liked this before I found out it was partially staged. Now I'm not as certain. It feels very deceptive to call this a documentary.
300. Driveways (2020)
301. Clown (2014)
►Not a lot to say, just a really good horror movie. Pretty brilliant.
302. Wolf Creek (2005)
303. Smallfoot (2018)
304. Spontaneous (2020)
►This had so much going for it, but it fell apart in the third act. It was a great idea
305. Jimmy Carr: Funny Business (2016)
306. Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliott Spitzer (2010)
307. Little Joe (2019)
► I wanted to like this so much more than I did, I was into the pacing, I was into the low-energy suspense, I dug it all, but there's an element of the score that is basically just electronic screeching, and it is horrible. I checked my speakers a few times before googling to find out it was deliberate. What a baffling mistake. It's still worth checking out, but just an epic error in artistic vision.
308. Possessor (2020)
309. The Girl in the Spider Web (2020)
310. Next (2007)
►Super dumb, kind of fun, but super dumb.
311. Destroyer (2018)
312. South Mountain (2020)
313. Nimic (2020)
314. Nikki Glaser: Bangin’ (2019)
315. Riddick (2013)
► This series of movies is a lot more goofy fun than it has any right to be. With a phenomenal cast that includes Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Jordi Mollà, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, and a number of quality supporting actors I had never seen before. It's a wacky space actionner that when googling that photo I saw described as "sexist and tasteless", which I can't really argue with, but also it's super fun and entertaining.
316. We Shall Not Grow Old (2019)
317. Lost Girls (2020)
318. Dogman (2018)
319. I Lost My Body (2019)
320. Red, White, and Blue (2020)
321. Bliss (2020)
322. Oulla (2020)
323. Atlantics (Short, 2019)
324. Kajilionaire (2020)
325. Black Bear (2020)
326. The Old Guard (2020)
327. Saint Frances (2020)
328. She Dies Tomorrow (2020)
329. American Utopia (2020)
330. Miss Juneteenth (2020)
331. True History of the Kelly Gang (2020)
332. Beanpole (2020)
333. The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020)
334. Carrots and Peas (Short, 1969)
335. Lemon (Short, 1969)
336. A Manual of Arms (Short, 1966)
337. Maxwell's Demon (Short, 1966)
338. Red Process (Short, 1966)
339. Palm Springs (2020)
340. Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki (2020)
341. So Many Little Deaths (Short, 2020)
342. Bull (2020)
343. Residue (2020)
344. Mank (2020)
345. Tigertail (2020)
346. Alex Wheatle (2020)
347. House of Hummingbird (2020)
348. His House (2020)
349. The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020)
350. Lover's Rock (2020)
351. Martin Eden (2020)
352. Tesla (2020)
353. An Honest Liar (2014)
► The film takes an interesting turn at the end that might elevate it above being a standard, but good, talking head documentary. But even without it this would be very good, mostly because the Amazing Randi is a fascinating character who has accomplished a lot of fascinating things. They should 100% induct James Randi into the Order of Canada.
354. On the Rocks (2020)
355. Bill Burr: Paper Tiger (2019)
356. The Nest (2020)
357. Ammonite (2020)
358. Black Christmas (2020)
359. Rare Exports (2010)
360. Freaky (2020)
► I may not get another chance to talk about this movie. It's really good. It opens rough as it navigates some teen movie cliches, but when the plot kicks in it really picks up. It's such an effective horror mashup, it plays with the cliches and is so inventive. It's a really nice return to form for Vince Vaughan who has been lost in the wilderness for a long time. And trust me it pains me to complement a republican.
361. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
362. Tommaso (2020)
363. Soul (2020)
364. Collective (2020)
365. To The Ends of the Earth (2020)
► I used it above because I loved the review but "I get it, but two hours of it?" is an excellent summation of this movie. It's so damn long, and so languid, it becomes boring for long stretches. There is some heart here that keeps it from being a worst of the year candidate, but they sure tried.
366. About Endlessness (2020)
367. The Climb (2020)
368. The Painter and Thief (2020)
369. The Twentieth Century (2020)
370. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
371. The Rythm Section (2020)
372. Capone (2020)
373. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
374. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
► I was looking forward to this and really wanted to love it. It is miles ahead of last year's Fences, but there's something about these adaptations that just don't work for me. They come off so stagey, so speechy, they hit so many cliched notes of a stage-play. I have to blame the adaptation process. The performances are phenomenal top to bottom, with Davis and Boseman atop the mountain. Even the way Ma Rainey is written and performed comes off more natural than everyone else. The band members' dialogue moves between stagily staccato and stagily speechy. There are moments of transcendence, like Toledo's little diddy, or Ma talking to Cutler. The very end is an absolute knife in the heart too. The film is such a tight 90 minutes, they could have extended that to add some breathing room, or some life beyond the recording session. I imagine there is some reticence to alter Wilson's play, but it's an adaptation, it needs to excel in it's new format. This doesn't.
375. I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
376. The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)
► It took me a bit to warm up to Jim Cummings, but his angry uber-stressed ass-hat of a cop won me over and made this a fun little horror movie.
Stay tuned! Best of 2020 will be coming at some point!
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