Top 10 Movies of 2020

The Year Cinema Came Home

6 min readDec 31, 2020

What a crazy year for movies, yada, yada, yada. 2020 sped up the slow downward trend of the theatrical experience, and its effects will cause theaters to rethink and innovate as they compete with the comfort of our homes and availability (and price) of awesome home entertainment.

This year’s list contains mostly smaller scale movies with the exception of 2 (maybe 3) spectacle experiences. The theatre is still king for those capital W Widescreen movies, while at home, I was more interested in thoughtful and comfortable stories.

While democratizing the availability of movies is a huge boon, studios are learning a lot about what people even want to watch at home. Netflix is spending tons of money making and marketing its Oscar contenders (The Irishman, Roma, Mank), but judging by the new Netflix Top 10, people just want to watch low budget comfort flicks at home (no judgement).

Apart from huge IP blockbusters, the line between TV and movies will close as more films expand into mini-series and vice versa (ie. SnyderCut, Small Axe, Queens Gambit).

Honorable Mentions: I’m Thinking of Ending Things, First Cow, Hamilton, Trial of the Chicago 7

10 — On the Rocks

Sofia Coppola makes another hang movie with quirky old Bill Murray and charming as hell Rashida Jones. It’s a relaxing watch that has a muted color palette, is hazy from the amount of drinks onscreen, and captures that slice of wealthy NYC life to chill to.

9 — Palm Springs

Groundhog Day has birthed a repeating day genre of sorts, and Palm Springs is a worthy successor to carry the baton. While the story is solid, the chemistry of the two leads is what elevates the film. It’s a sun-drenched pool-side hang with a good-heart and a few twists and turns along the way.

8 — Never Rarely Sometimes Always

This day-in-the-life film follows Autumn during a harrowing and emotionally painful experience. She handles it with certainty, resolve at the numerous challenges, and a maturity beyond her years. The relationship between Autumn and her cousin is touching.

7 — Greyhound

This movie brags that not a drop of water was sprayed on set, and it really is an incredible thing. The spectacle of Greyhound despite being filmed with all sets and tons of CGI is absolutely palpable. Navy war films tend to be more on the cold and boring side, but Greyhound is utterly gripping. Please more short war movies!

6 — The Half of It

Only explained to me later as a loose adaptation of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” The Half of It is one of those rare rom-coms that surprises you at how much depth it has. It’s charming all while exploring a complex protagonist who is navigating the high school romance.

5 — Boys State

When a group of high school boys descend on the Capital building to play Government for a weekend, the leadership, backstabbing, and wheeling and dealing begin. This documentary manages to follow the most interesting people at Boys State, who reveal both the virtues and vices of American government in real time.

4 — Mank

David Fincher delivers a unique gem that is so utterly a film-fans movie, that I’ve had virtually no-one to talk with it about. His recreation of 30’s Hollywood is dark and surprisingly prescient with its political commentary. While Fincher captures the movie in digital and a modern aspect ratio, all the quirks and nuances of old-school Hollywood filmmaking are there. Gary Oldman gives another performance of a lifetime as he just goes so hard into such a strange and outsider of a character.

3 — Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Technically, Portrait of a Lady on Fire came out in 2019, but because most film-goers couldn’t see it until February of 2020 (like Nomadland and Minari of this year), I’m including it on my list. This French drama is an entrancing depiction of forbidden love between two women. The lead actresses are transfixing and are able to deliver so much with cautious glances and off-hand dialogue. The location, costumes, and sets are beautiful and are all captured by the masterful cinematography.

2 — TENET

TENET the kind of movie that has you in awe of the audacious on-screen spectacle and pumping your fist at the deep techno-influenced score.

The cast is what sets TENET apart from Nolan’s other trippy films and how hard they commit to the goofy dialogue with utter swagger. They seemingly know the absurdity of what they are making and lean into it. TENET is a stunning piece of filmmaking that still makes no sense on a second watch. The practical effects put modern CGI fanfare to utter shame.

1 — American Utopia

American Utopia is a masterpiece of music, light, visuals, spoken word, and dance. David Byrne is a master of his craft, and paired with Spike Lee who captures it all with beauty and intimacy, makes this the best movie of the year.

The camera does wonders capturing the musician’s formations overhead and pushes close on Byrne as he belts out the hits. Even the songs I had never heard before kept me enrapt as I marveled at the stage direction, colors, and grooves of this incredible show.

The only thing more fun than watching American Utopia is playing American Utopia as made abundantly clear by the bandmates who are having the time of their life. Each member of this ensemble band has such a unique personality that the camera captures to make them as important to the show as Byrne.

Stunning film that I’ll be revisiting again and again.

For more movie reviews, check out my Letterboxd page to see what I am watching now.

Read my previous years’ Top 10 movie lists:

See my other 2020 lists:

Thanks for reading :)