Top Ten Movies of 2020!

2020 has almost come to an end. It's been a crap-tastic year for sure, with COVID making a ruckus and all the political unrest and whatnot. But with all that quaran-time on my hands, I did manage to see a bunch of fantastic movies despite theaters being closed for the majority of the year. I whittled down my top ten of the year based on the following subjective criteria: how likely I'd be to recommend it, how strong of an emotional reaction it gave me, and how it well it captures that 'X' factor in the cultural zeitgeist right now. 

10. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

Directed By: Jason Woliner

Written By: Sacha Baron Cohen, et al.

I had to put Borat 2 on the list, because no other film this year made me laugh as much, or made so many headlines! Yes, the scene in which Maria Bakalova, playing Borat's daughter, interviews Rudy Guliani leading to an awkward hands-down-pants encounter in a hotel room, is one for the history books! But that alone isn't what makes this a "top ten" film - it also hilariously exposes the problems in our country in that special way only Sacha Baron Cohen can do. 

Cohen puts his life on the line for his comedy - like in the scene where he performs a "Wuhan Flu" song at a conservative rally and he almost literally gets attacked, or stays in character for days and days while living with a couple of old gents deep into QAnon conspiracy theories. Few comedians have that mix of societal insights and balls of steel as Cohen, and I'm so happy that he's able to constantly push the boundaries!

BEST and WORST 2020 Superlatives!

Welcome to my annual movie superlatives for 2020! Although I focus my reviewing skills more on my Letterboxd page nowadays than my blog, I have to at least compile my best-of lists at the end of the year! And what a crazy year it's been. Despite the fact that movie theaters were shut down for the majority of the year due to COVID, there were still a bunch of great movies released, mostly to streaming platforms, that deserve to be lauded.

But before I reveal my official top ten list of the year, I want to spotlight a number of movies that were the best of the best (or the worst) of 2020 in certain categories. Each category features a main winner, a runner-up, and five honorable mentions in order of best to next-best. I've also created a YouTube playlist for the music sections. So without further delay, here are my 2020 Movie Superlatives! 

BEST ACTOR - Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Riz Ahmed first came onto my radar in 2014 acting opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (my #2 movie that year), and he was also magnificent in the HBO miniseries The Night Of as an innocent college student sent to prison. His career is only going up, and Sound of Metal is his first major breakout leading role. 

Here he plays punk-metal drummer Ruben Stone, who is starting to lose his hearing. Thinking his music career and life is over, Ruben's girlfriend convinces the ex-heroin addict to check into a farmhouse rehab for the deaf community. Ahmed's performance is wonderfully complex as Ruben navigates his new, unwanted situation that transforms who he is. It's an incredibly emotional and physical performance, and not to mention he took six months of drum lessons to prepare for the role. Easily one of the best of the year - hopefully he earns his first Oscar nomination!