2020 Movies

This post is coming out long after when I should have posted it because I have been so busy with work that movie watching has been the last thing on my list. It will be updated as I actually see things.

Movies I Still Need To See:
Transit: seems debately 2018
First Love: gotta get my hands on it
Dolemite Is My Name: waiting on Adam

Movies I'm Not Interested In:
The Irishman: This movie is so long.
Ford Vs. Ferrari: This movie is so male.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: I'd actually watch this if someone I trust wanted to watch it, but no one has expressed this desire to me yet.

Not marking the movies not nominated for Oscars because screw the Oscars. That's where I'm at right now.

Previous Years: 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011



Movies I Loved:

Midsommar: Similar to Cold War last year, this movie broke into my house and killed me but for totally different reasons. I love this movie. I was completely scarred by it after the first watch, rewatched it because I genuinely thought it was so good but hid under a blanket a lot, and then watched it a third time but this time as the director's cut. My favorite of the year by far.

Parasite: I need to rewatch this honestly. It was very good, but I think I need to see it again to adequately enjoy it. Either way, it's the year of eating the rich and I am down for it.

Little Women: This movie was very good: strong acting, strong screenplay, strong cinematography. strong everything. I cried like seven times and related way too hard to some parts in a way I don't remember relating when I read this book at 12.

Pain And Glory: A lot of the time with Almodovar films I walk away underwhelmed (Talk To Her) or a bit confused as to the point (Tie Me Up! but moreso Woman On The Verge) and the ones I remember liking have kind of faded from memory (Volver & Skin I Live In) so I went into this one hesitent. No need. This movie was great. The themes were perfectly displayed and the story was completely engaging.

Knives Out: Eat the rich: the crime comedy. I love a movie full of unique characters, the momentum of the plot was engaging, and the production design was a consistently interesting work of art.

The Farewell: I really loved the directing, the symbolism, the way the themes were portrayed, and the acting. I cried just a little off and on throughout and I loved the way it weaves together the ideas of culture, the immigrant experience, and family.

Portrait of a Woman On Fire: This movie was so tightly constructed it was unreal. I love how the visuals resemble paintings, I love the little connections to the Orpheus myth and that music piece, I love that I just read "Ways of Seeing" and it was the perfect prelude to the expectly displayed themes of the film.

Us: It's not as good as Get Out but it's still really dang good. It's more of a horror movie with a social commentary that sneaks up on you in the latter half, but of course it's solid. It's the year of class commentary, like I said.

Honeyland: I think this documentary is the clear winner for prettiest doc of the year. I occasionally found the story itself a bit hard to follow (possibly because it was shot over five years so time was strange) but every shot was a work of art.

For Sama: Ah yes, the documentary that made me cry the most. I loved the format of the film maker talking to her daughter and the amount of priceless footage was astonding. I was utterly shook by the scene where they brought a newborn baby back to life and the scene of just her husband's face as he cried, thinking of having to leave.

American Factory: I see this documentary as two parts: one about how manufacturing in America can only return in a distorted form after what was done to it and one about unions and why we need them. Classism again! This one made me think a lot.

The Edge of Democracy: When I think of this movie I most distinctly remember all the scenes of Brasilia as a monument to democracy that is not as strong as its buildings. Powerful imagery and a really timely documentary to watch as an American who is feeling the same crumble even with over 200 years of democracy. A reminder of how fragile structures are.

Hail Satan: What a charming movie documenting the rise of the Satanic Temple! I love the way the story was told and all the little interviews.

Fyre: I think I have watched this documentary four or five times. It's so engaging.

Fyre Fraud: I find this to be the lesser of the two Fyre festival documentaries but it was interesting for actually interviewing Billy MacFarland. I think the reason this one didn't resonate with me as much as the other was because it was less of a story and more of a commentary on millennials, which I didn't feel was always on point.

Knock Down The House: Keep on eating the rich by throwing them out of office! I was really sad to see only AOC winning but let's hope that starts a trend.


Movies I Really Liked:

1917: I think this is one of the most consistently stressful movies I've seen since Whiplash.  I've always preferred the bleak hopelessness of World War I movies to the optimism of World War II movies, and I think the simple plot works in this movie's favor. Do all the thematic lifting on your own and enjoy the technical achievements.

Jojo Rabbit: Is cute an acceptable word for this movie when a lot of bad stuff happens? I loved the satirical elements and it was fun.

The Two Popes: I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I watched it on a wim while sick after Marriage Story and I found it really delightful. I really like friendship movies in general and the interactions of opposite personalities (plus the interesting morality dicatomy) so this was a win.

Uncut Gems: This movie was very stressful and is a great example of an unlikeable main character done well. This might be strange to say but I also just loved the vibe of the movie created by the soundtrack and the cinematography. 

The Lighthouse: Like The VVitch, I wanted to like this more than I did. I mean, it's got two characters in a room going nuts, beautiful cinematography, and a lot of sea scenes so it's right up my alley. I think my issue with it is the same as The VVitch where I felt like there was some kind of theme that wasn't as developed as it could have been. Still good though.

Hustlers: Eat the rich: the crime drama. I was skeptical going into this movie, but I ended up just loving it. I love movies where women band together and do stuff even if that stuff is, you know, crime. J.Lo not going a supporting actress nomination is the real crime.

Her Smell: I passed over this movie a bunch of times before finally deciding to watch it because I was afraid it would feel done to death. It wasn't at all. This is a movie full of things that I love: punk rock, the complication of existing as a woman, witchy stuff, a dirgy cover of a pop song, good cinematography, strange personalities. It's great.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco: This movie was very, very good (and very pretty) but I kind of feel like small pieces of it didn't really come together for me. I loved the ideas of identity and architecture\housing (I mean, my favorite book is Hunchback so architecture as a symbol is important to me) but somewhere around the 3\4 point I started feeling like the plot was muddling a bit. I think some strategic editing could have honestly fixed it for me.

Ready Or Not: Eat the rich: the horror movie #2. This was a great ride. I love all the little symbolism. i could see the ending being a topic of debate but I thought it was perfect so fight me.

Booksmart: Every year seems to have one really solid movie about teenagers and this was that movie. It was really fun and I love when teen movies aren't mean-spirited at all because I just hate that.

Happy Death Day 2 U: I watched both the original one and the sequel this year. I think the first is the stronger film but the second is fun too and more science fiction.


I Lost My Body: This movie was very unique and strange. I'm not totally sure that I get what it was trying to convey but I enjoyed it either way.

One Child Nation: I don't have much to say but it's really good.

Ask Dr. Ruth: I watched this movie almost a year ago at this point so I don't really remember it, but I found her life very interesting.

The Brink: Distrubing and interesting but in a year of really good documentaries this one ranks quite low.


Movies I Liked:

Joker: There was a lot of good cinematic verve to this movie and the acting was great, but there were some definite holes in the writing that someone needed to fix in order to make the movie really come together. Overall, it was good though. I just can't stand the people who really like it.

Marriage Story: I found this movie well made but kind of unpleasent to watch. I have no problems with realism and the acting was very good, but I just didn't enjoy watching this. I can see why people did, but I think for me angry people going through a divorce and having to watch it is kind of a circle of my own personal hell.

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World: I watched this on the plane to San Francisco and it was enjoyable. The first in the series is still the best but they have all been competent.

Downton Abbey: It was exactly what you'd expect. I absolutely love the first three seasons of the show and then it crashed and got kind of middling fine after that. The movie is just more of that. I liked that Branson had more to do than he did for most of the later half of the show and the Barrow subplot about underground gay culture but there were a lot of subplots shoved into here (literally every character had one) and it got a bit overwhelming.

Dark Waters: I thought this was a very interesting movie but it just didn't really grab me in the way that I was hoping, especially because I've really enjoyed a lot of Todd Haynes movies in the past.

Blinded By The Light: This was a really fun film. I was kind of skeptical about the premise but the film really sold me and hell, I think it also really sold me on the significance of Bruce Springsteen overall after years of me just not getting it.

Long Day's Journey Into Night: And in the art house corner, this was a beautiful movie, kind of Lynchian, but a bit too incoherent for me to raise it above "liked."

Captain Marvel: I only watch one Marvel movie a year because I don't care about the Marvel universe so this was my movie of the year. It was fine. I liked the 90s aesthetic and the sapphic undertones.

Always Be My Maybe: This movie was cute and enjoyable. I don't really have much else to say about it.

Aladdin: I watched it on a plane. It was perfect plane watching material. Only thing I strongly objected to was that weird Jasmine song sequence.

Luce: About halfway through the film I remember thinking that it felt like it would be easy to adapt for the stage and sure enough it was a play turned film. This is fine but there's always something a little lacking about plays turned into films. Either way I love a good moral dilemna and complicated feelings without answer.

Frozen II: So this movie was cute and all but the plot either made no sense or was explained poorly.


Movies I Thought Were Okay:

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker: Maybe okay is strong. This movie had a few things I liked and a whole lot of things I didn't like. I'm not sure if time is just making me forget most of the things I did like or if it gets worse the more I think about it so it's in this category very tentatively.

Tolkien: Okay was the best way to describe this. It wasn't bad, it wasn't especially good. It was a bit long and just, well, fine. RIP Chris Tolkien.


Movies I Didn't Like:

Breakthrough: Amusingly enough this movie is Oscar nominated for best original song. We watched it on bad movie night after Adam's sister said she liked it. It has what Sarah, an APRN, described "the worst coding scene she's ever seen in a movie." It also was just bad overall.

After: I watched this after stumbling on a bunch of comical reviews of how bad the book was and the movie was fascinating in the sense that they took a bad, smutty fanfiction and made an incredibly bland romance. It wasn't funny bad, but it was an experience in adapation.

Cats: A bad movie night watch and the only way I was probably going to sit through this honestly.