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!

Predicting the 92nd Academy Awards!

Prediction time, baby! The Oscars this year came under fire for not having any female directors represented, and only one person of color among the twenty acting nominations, but there is one major way I think the Oscars will be shaken up in the Best Picture category... read on for my thoughts on that and the rest! Here are my official predictions for this year's Oscars!

BEST PICTURE
1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
Marriage Story
Parasite

I Predict: Parasite

If Parasite wins Best Picture, it will mark the first time a foreign film ever wins the big prize at the Oscars! This is sort of a long-shot pick, but its big win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards shows it has a lot of industry support. As opposed to the other front runners in this race, it doesn't seem to have as many controversies, and with the Academy's preferential voting system (where voters "rank" each movie rather than vote for their single favorite), I think it holds a shot.

The movies to watch out for, I'd say, are 1917, which won the Golden Globe for best drama, the BAFTA for Best Picture, and the Producers Guild Award, and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which won the Golden Globe for best "comedy" and the top prize at the Critics Choice Awards. I think any of these three films are in the running, but I just have that gut feeling about Parasite!

10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2020

It happens every year... there's only so many nominee slots to fill. Certain filmmakers and cast members are bound to be left disappointed. But this year felt particularly snubby. Here are what I consider the most surprising Oscar snubs of 2020!

10. Dolemite is My Name for Best Actor and Best Costume

Eddie Murphy made a wonderful comeback with Dolemite is My Name, about the blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore. His performance as the eccentric comedian-turned-cult figure brought him some awards buzz, but unfortunately wasn't enough to land on the nominee list. Same goes for costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who won the category last year for Black Panther.

Top 20 Most Anticipated Movies for 2020!

Sometimes the build-up is better than the end product, but here are the top 20 films allegedly coming out next year that I am most hyped about! 

20. Macbeth
Director: Joel Coen (Fargo, True Grit, Burn After Reading)
Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins

There have been a ridiculous amount of Macbeth adaptations over the years. Orson Welles has taken a shot at it, Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa took the play to feudal Japan with his Throne of Blood, and just five years ago Michael Fassbender starred in an adaptation. But despite this abundance of dramas featuring the famed King of Scotland, it's impossible not to get excited at the prospect of DENZEL himself playing the leading role, and Frances McDormand playing Lady Macbeth, following up on her Oscar-winning performance in Three Billboards. Joel Coen is a hit-or-miss director for me, but I'm looking forward to his take on this material, especially as an English teacher!

Release Date: TBA (currently in pre-production)

TOP TEN Movies of 2019!

Another year, another list! This year I didn't really keep up with my movie blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing about films this whole time! Due to time constraints, now I pretty much exclusively write reviews on my Letterboxd profile - so please feel free to follow me on there for my up-to-the-minute opinions.

Besides that, 2019 was a great year for movies! Making this list was difficult, and I tried to only pick movies that I have either seen more than once or have tried to convince others to see! I can't detect any overarching themes that apply to all the films, but one that sticks out this year are movies about outsiders. Many of these films reflect the dangers of our current polarized world.

10. Lords of Chaos
Jonas Åkerlund

For those not up to speed on their Norwegian Black Metal history, in the 80s, the band Mayhem quite lived up to their name. At only 17, their lead singer, Euronymous (Rory Culkin), used increasingly shocking publicity stunts to put their name on the map. However, when he started to cross the line - I'm talking breaking some serious laws - some bandmates left while others, like "Dead" (Jack Kilmer), reveled in their newfound notoriety and "evilness." Lords of Chaos does a fantastic job conveying the idea that adolescents will do anything to fit in or seem cool, but deep down they're just trying to cover up their individual insecurities. It's a disturbing film, but totally reflects our current age of disgruntled male youths.

2019: BEST and WORST Superlatives

2019 has been a wild year for movies! Box office records were routinely broken: Avengers Endgame dethroned Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time, Frozen II earned the highest opening weekend for an animated film, Joker became the biggest R-rated film of all time, and 7 films crossed the billion-dollar mark (5 of them from Disney). In an unprecedented merger, Disney also bought out out Fox Studios, bringing the industry ever-closer to a monopoly.

We also said "rest in peace" to a number of film legends. Some directors that left us include French new wave maverick Agnes Varda, Singin in the Rain director Stanley Donen, John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), and b-movie icon Larry Cohen. Actors that passed include singer/actress Doris Day, Rip Torn (Men in Black), Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), German actor Bruno Ganz (aka, the Downfall Hitler meme guy), horror icon Sid Haig (the saddest one for me!), character actor Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), and Chewbacca himself, Peter Mayhew.

But while there's a lot to mourn when it comes to cinema (as Martin Scorsese infamously pointed out in his controversial New York Times piece), there's also a lot to celebrate! This blog post is meant to illuminate aspects of films that really stood out to me this year, both the good and bad!

THE BEST

BEST ACTOR: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Todd Philips' Joker is one of the most controversial movies this year - whether it's concern over its ability to spark violence, or cinephiles complaining that it steals too much from Scorsese. But one thing I hope both fans and naysayers can agree on is that Joaquin Phoenix gives a fantastic performance. His fresh, realistic take on the clown prince of crime makes the character more honest and disturbing than ever before.

The pre-Joker Arthur Fleck is someone who feels a total lack of control over his own life - even that iconic Joker laugh is a painful, involuntary action for him. Fleck's transformation into the Joker feels inevitable - the uncaring world of Gotham allows his demented worldview to fester and grow. The lack of care for the mentally ill resulting in violence is something we still sadly see all the time in the news, and Phoenix brilliantly brings this lonely, tragic character to life.

Album Review: Slipknot's We Are Not Your Kind

I realize this has nothing to do with movies, and that no one asked for this, but because they're one of my favorite metal bands... I decided to write a review of the new Slipknot album: We Are Not Your Kind! I must say, I'm not a musician, just a fan. I don’t actually know much about the technical musicality of what goes into each track, nor do I actually know the true meaning behind the songs/lyrics, but for whatever reason I felt compelled to write my thoughts anyway!