It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times, but there were still some really great movies released in 2020
Whatever the future holds both for theatrical distribution and for at-home streaming,2020 will no doubt mark the pivot point in which the destinies of both would forever change. But where and how one sees films will inevitably be less important than the films themselves, and even in this year of turmoil, there was always something to recommend, wherever it was available to be seen. « Da 5 Bloods » / Netflix Notable Runners-Up: “The 40-Year-Old Version,” “Ammonite,” “And Then We Danced” “The August Virgin,” “Birds of Prey,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Emma.,” “The Half of It,” “Happiest Season,” “House of Hummingbird,” “I’m No Longer Here,” “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “The Invisible Man,” “Kajillionaire,” “Let Them All Talk,” “Lingua Franca,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Madre,” “Miss Juneteenth,” “Nomadland,” “One Night in Miami,” “The Photograph,” “The Secret Garden,” “She Dies Tomorrow,” “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” “Shirley,” “Sorry We Missed You,” “Tigertail,” “The Truth,” “The Whistlers,” “A White Day,” “Wolfwalkers” Special Commendations: “Small Axe” and “The Human Voice”: The latest works from Steve McQueen and Pedro Almodóvar are undeniably among the year’s most vital and important creations. But a five-part anthology series (which I am treating collectively as one title) and a half-hour short film don’t nestle easily with feature films, so I’m giving each their due without making them compete with works of different length. 10. “On the Rocks”: Sofia Coppola shows her sprightliest side yet as a filmmaker in this knowing and deeply felt father-daughter comedy starring Bill Murray as a womanizing charmer and Rashida Jones as his adult child, who realizes she has to come to terms with her dad and his ways before she can make sense of her own marriage.
