Year in Review: Best Movies of 2020

Hey y’all. Welcome back to the 2020 Year in Review. Today we’re taking a look at movies. It was a somewhat strange list to compile as I realized most movies, I watched last year were not from 2020. There are some that I want to watch but have not been in the right headspace for. Mank is not exactly a movie I can just sit down and watch whenever. That does mean that my list is likely going to be unlike any other you read. Plus, it turned into an accidental Top 5, which is convenient.

Without further ado, let’s take a look!

Honorable Mentions: Sonic The Hedgehog, Wonder Woman 1984

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

Birds of Prey was the last movie I saw in theaters and likely will remain that way for many more months. For that reason, it holds a special place in my heart. As mentioned in my review, it is simply an excellent movie. It sure has some problems, especially with character development. But it is filled to the brim with charming actors, entertaining writing, and great action scenes. Particularly the action scenes, which are the best a superhero movie has seen in quite some time. They are inventive and charming, and don’t have 1000 cuts so I can actually orient myself. All this is done in a version of the Suicide Squad aesthetic that actually looks good (mostly). It is a supremely impressive and interesting movie that deserved more than it got.

BURN THE WITCH

BLEACH is back! Well, a tangentially related spin-off has arrived, anyway. Set in a fantasy London just on the other side of our London, our heroes are witches that fight dragons. In many ways, it is a typical shounen anime, but having TIte Kubo’s art as the basis makes it a clear standout. His strengths in character and world design standout here, possibly even more than in BLEACH. Studio Colorido (Who may or may not be appearing again on one of these lists) does a phenomenal job of transferring those eye catching looks into a gorgeous animation that drips with style. The characters, while interesting, do not have full arcs as this is the first in an ongoing series, but almost every other aspect of film is incredible.

Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna

This is a movie for people that watched Digimon as kids. If that description does not fit you, it is still a very good movie with very good animation, interesting characters, and fun action scenes. If it does fit you, this is an emotionally affecting film that you should watch. It absolutely devastated me. Bawling sitting in the dark as the credits roll kind of devastated.

A large part of said devastation is knowing this is the end of these character’s stories. Yes, there is an ongoing reboot starring versions of them, but they are not the same. I also was going through similar emotions as the dual protagonists at the time I saw it. By this point, they have reached their early 20s and are experiencing that kind of lost feeling that often accompanies that time period. It extremely well done and the Digimon are an obvious but effective metaphor for the changes faced in that time. Despite what my intense knowledge of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie would suggest, I am not far removed from that period of my life and still feel it sometimes.

Tenet

Tenet is, somehow, the first Christopher Nolan film I have seen since The Dark Knight Rises. It is his best since The Prestige, maybe even Batman Begins. It also might be his stupidest. After Clemence Posey’s character explains how the time travel stuff works and John David Washington’s The Protagonist does not understand, she tells him to just not think about it and feel it instead. That is entire case with his movie. If you examine the characters too closely, most of them do not quite work, but on a more surface level, they are fine.

Perhaps most importantly, this movie has incredible action sequences. There are cars driving backwards, planes crashing into buildings, and fights scenes where one person is moving forward through time and one is moving backwards. And it is primarily, if not entirely, practical. It cannot be understated how cool the movie is.

It helps when your movie is populated with stars. John David Washington is not a household name, but he should and will be. He is worked with Spike Lee and Christopher Nolan and will be in the next David O. Russell film. When these are the types of directors you work with, you are doing something right. Washington is a phenomenal presence in this movie, both physical and emotionally. The same can be said of Robert Pattinson, who transformed himself into an outstanding actor over the 2010s. Kenneth Branagh as not-Roman Abramovich seems to be having a ball as the scene-chewing villain. Elizabeth Debicki, who should be more famous than she is, is great.

Go watch Tenet. Just know that it is kind of dumb but will have some of the coolest stuff you will see in movies.

Weathering With You

In my second anniversary celebration, I brought up the Summer of Shinkai series I will be doing this year. This film was the inspiration for that series. Makoto Shinkai’s work has had a profound effect on me and Weathering With You is no different, even if it is not as thematically coherent as some of his other work. It should be noted this is technically a 2019 film but did not release in the US (where I live) until 2020.

This is the story of a boy without a family that finds and creates one. It is also the story of a girl that control the weather and her coming of age. It is, as Shinkai is wont to do, a love story. As those elements come together, the movie becomes something special in a way that is difficult to describe. You should watch it. If not for the characters and story, then for the superb animation. Like most Shinkai’s movies, this is of a Ghibli-esque quality. The backgrounds are unbelievably beautiful. The characters and action have that same clean fluidity. Watch it and look forward to it as the capper of the upcoming Summer of Shinkai.