Watching: TOP 10 FILMS OF 2020!

Every year for thirteen years, as of 2020, I have been tracking my movie watching, making sure to see at LEAST 50 new (to me, at least) films every year. I missed in 2020, big-time, watching only 31 new films (thanks, COVID); there were lots of changes to my personal life in 2020, and I found myself falling more into the world of books, finding even sitting down to watch a film difficult as I would suddenly have all the attention span of a goldfish. This, combined with the fact I saw a fair share of middling/mediocre films this year, made it easier than the books to narrow down to a Top 10 - though I still managed to include a couple of re-watches on the list, just because they are such personal favorites of mine. 

Again, these are films I WATCHED in 2020 - not that were necessarily RELEASED in 2020 - and the list is, again, in NO particular order; my opinions my own. Hopefully you've seen all of these; if not, you should. Each, in its way, is pretty terrific!

#10 - Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020/PG-13, directed by Osmany Rodriguez). A teenage boy from the Bronx fights to save his neighborhood from gentrification when he and his friends discover their entire borough is quickly being bought up by nothing short of a pack of vampires. This low-budget gem is decent on story, terrific on performances, and is in places so funny I found myself laughing out loud at the awesome "Stranger Things"/Lost Boys mash-up. Loved it!

#9 - Jojo Rabbit (2019/PG-13, directed by Taika Waititi). Waititi, of What We Do in the Shadows fame, takes his place both behind and in front of the camera (playing Hitler, no less), giving heart and soul to this WWII drama about a young boy, recruited into Hitler's army, who finds his blind loyalty tested when he learns his own mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home. What will Hitler, his imaginary friend, say? With equal doses of pathos and dark humor, this brilliant, moving film is one of those few that can make you shed both happy and sad tears in its 108-minute runtime. Oscar winner for Waititi's Best Adapted Screenplay; deservedly so.

#8 - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018/PG, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman). Miles Morales is a street-savvy teen (and pretty awesome graffiti artist) in New York City who, like Peter Parker, is bitten by a spider that imbues him with super-spider-like abilities. This, however, is only the beginning of Miles's troubles, when a villain to end all villains makes it necessary for Miles to join forces with five other Spideys, each from a dfferent dimension, to stop a machine that could destroy all their realities at once. Great script, voice performances, action, story, and popping animation - it's all here, and it's all incredible to watch. Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature Film, and boy did Oscar get it right. 

#7 - Good Boys (2019/R, directed by Gene Stupnitsky). IMDb sums this one up best, I think: "Three 6th-grade boys ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally-stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls, and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party." It's foul-mouthed and hilarious and probably not for everyone, but I laughed until I almost wet myself. 

#6 - Charlie Chan in Rio (1941/Not Rated, directed by Harry Lachman). REWATCH. I grew up enamored of the alternating Sherlock Holmes/Charlie Chan classic films that WGN would show on Sundays at noon, and while I know the Chan films aren't exactly politically correct (what was, in 1941, movie-wise?), to this day the nostalgia they bring and light, comedic mysteries most of them contain still keep me watching over and over. This is a personal favorite, largely due to the on-screen relationship/banter between Charlie and #2 son Jimmy, in a story where Chan goes to Rio de Janeiro to arrest nightclub chanteuse Lola Dean, who murdered a man in Honolulu ... only to find the beautiful singer stabbed to death in a houseful of suspects when he arrives with the local police in tow. One of the best in the series, and watching these always feels like going home again.

#5 - 1917 (2019/R, directed by Sam Mendes). It takes a lot for me to love a war film, and this one's a masterpiece of direction and acting, the camera following along in what Mendes was going for as a continuous-loop feel (as Hitchcock attempted in Rope), sucking viewers into the story as we watch a pair of young British soldiers at the western front on April 6, 1917, as they are tasked with the duty of taking an urgent message to another regiment - literally crossing through enemy territory at the height of the fighting - that will, if delivered, save 1600 soldiers from walking into a trap that will otherwise mean their deaths. And suck  you in the film will; not one frame is wasted as we follow the inexperienced, scared-out-of-their wits young men into the fray, feeling like we're right behind them getting a cinematic taste of the horrors of war through their eyes. Amazing, at times heartbreaking, film. Three-time Oscar winner for Best Achievement in Cinematograhy, Visual Effects, and Sound Mixing - and it shows in every minute on the screen.

#4 - Knives Out (2019/PG-13, directed by Rian Johnson). Possibly the most talked-about comedy of 2019, this comedy-mystery boasts an all-star cast of familiar faces, each of them deliciously chewing scenery as we follow what happens when the elderly head of a rich and super-eccentric family is found murdered ... and pretty much every member of his whack-job of a family wanted him dead. It's a big job for the pair of detectives sent to investigate the crime, and Knives Out - feeling like a bit of a throwback to something like, say, Neil Simon's Murder by Death - quickly becomes a Clue-like game of lies and deception and ulterior motives, the plot ultimately twisting and turning until you're not exactly sure what's going on - and then sort of gasp when the final twist reveals the solution. Genuinely funny and beautifully written, while I didn't quite gush about this film as much as many of its more rabid fans have, it was still a super-easy, no-brainer of a pick for my Top 10.

#3 - Forgotten (2017/TV-MA directed by Zhang Hang-jun). I love Korean cinema so much it makes my chest ache, and this film is a perfect example of why. Here we follow a young man, Jin-seok, who has just moved into a new home with his parents and older brother, when on one rainy night soon after he witnesses his brother being forced into a van and kidnapped. The police seem to be of no help, even when Jin-Seok can provide a license plate number, and no ransom demand comes ... but nineteen days later Jin-Seok's brother suddenly reappears, perfectly fine and with no memory at all of where he has been or what happened to him. Or maybe not so perfectly fine, as Jin-seok begins to notice small tells, little changes in his brother appearance and behavior, that eventually have him convinced the man who returned home is not really his brother at all. If you've watched any modern Korean thrillers, you know that just when you think you have what's going on figured out ... nope, the film veers onto a different, wholly confusing track, and you realize (more often than not) that what you thought and what's really going on are two entirely diffeernt things. Such twists happen a few times in Forgotten, it's a film you have to sit and watch - no bathroom breaks or trips for food (unless you pause the film) if you don't want to get lost - but man oh man, is it worth it all when the truth is finally revealed. Not the most upbeat film, but a mind-blower worth your attention.

#2 - The Little Foxes (1941/Not Rated, directed by William Wyler). REWATCH. Lillian Hellman's iconic play of a corrupt, money-hungry family in turn-of-the-century deep south has at its apex a career-defining role for none other than Bette Davis as Regina Giddens, formerly Regina Hubbard and proud member of the ridiculously rich Hubbard family, which has been doing their best for years to bleed the local community of whatever wealth they can use to line their own pockets. Regina has a block of ice where her heart should be, never more on display than when she tries to bully her invalid husband - recently returned home after a massive heart attack - into investing in her crooked brother's latest, and even more crooked, scheme. The film doesn't hit a single false note, and while a quiet drama on its surface, watching the story unfold as Regina tries wresting control of both her family and her husband to suit her own narcissistic needs is so brilliant, it's almost painful to watch. Powerful and magnetic, especially whenever Davis is on-screen; you hate her, but can't stop watching her.

#1 - Onward (2020/PG, directed by Dan Scanlon). Pixar's brilliant and beautiful fantasy about two young male elves from the suburbs - brothers - who go on an epic quest to bring back their deceased father for just one day, ranks up there with the studios best, as the brothers encounter dangerous traps, magic spells, and a confusing map on their journey, all the while not knowing that they're completely ticked-off mother is also coming after them the entire time. To say much more wold go into spoiler territory, but both from a writing and animation standpoint this film is nothing short of stunning; a heartwarming, funny, and action-packed film that adults and kids would equally enjoy. Keep a tissue or two handy, as always with Pixar.