2020 Year in Review

Welcome to my annual ranking of everything I saw in the previous year.  Usually, I would limit the list to 2020 movies I saw in theaters, but that blew up in mid-March along with my list of restaurants I planned to check out, so I’ve ranked everything, and I’m glad I don’t have to decide what’s eligible for an Oscar vs. an Emmy vs. a Golden Globe, and I didn’t see a fraction of the movies I would normally see.  I’ve got a new category too, as I’m determined to see the classics.  I’ve tried to include where the movie can currently be seen, or sometimes where I saw it.  It’s all very confusing.  What isn’t confusing is that my favorite move of the year (Sound of Metal) was unlike anything else I saw or heard.  In TV, Hulu’s High Fidelity (which had the single best episode of the year)  replaced Killing Eve as my guilty pleasure. I realize my rankings of TV shows make no sense because I binge-watched stuff from years ago, but included it due to the uniqueness of this year.  Hope you pick one and watch it, and tell me why I was wrong to rank it so high.  Or so low.  Whatever.

 Movies

1. Sound of Metal – 10 (2020 Amazon Prime)
2. The Old Guard – 10 (2020 Netflix movie) 
3. Hamilton – 10 (2020 Disney Channel movie of the stage production)
4. Wild Tales – 10 (2015 PPV)
5. The Trial of the Chicago 7 – 10 (2020 Netflix)
6. David Byrne’s American Utopia – 10 (HBO film of the stage production)
7. The Invisible Man – 9 (2020 PPV)
8. Borat Subsequent Movie Film – 9 (2020 Neflix)
9. Ma Rainey’s Bottom Blues – 9 (2020 Netflix Movie)-
10. Mank - 9 (Netflix)

Tenet – 9 (2020 PPV)(2020 Amazon)
Vast of Night – 9
Bad Education – 9 (2020 HBO movie)
1917 – 9 (2019 Theater)
Alita, Battle Angel – 9 (2019 HBO)
Another Earth – 8 (2011 PPV)
I’m Your Woman – 8 (2020 Amazon movie)
Blaze – 8 (2018 PPV)
12 Bridges – 8 (2019 HBO)
I Am Woman – 8 (2020 Apple+ TV)
On the Rocks – 8 (2020 Apple+ TV)
Just Mercy – 7 (2020 Theater)
Call of the Wild – 7 (2020 Theater)
Project Power – 7 (2020 Netflix movie)
Midnight Sky – 6 (2020 Netflix movie)
The Assistant – 6 (2020 Hulu)
The Way Back – 6 (2020 Theater)
Extraction – 6 (2020 Netflix Movie)
Bushnick – 6 (Netflix)
Wonder Woman 1984 – 2 (2020 HBO Max)

Documentaries

1. The Pharmacist – 10 (Netflix)
2. The Last Dance – 10 (ESPN series)
3. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark – 10 (HBO series)
4. Totally Under Control – 10 (Hulu)
   
5. The Social Dilemma – 10 (Netflix)
   
6. The Perfect Weapon - 10 (HBO)
   
7. Agents of Chaos – 10 (HB0)
   
8. Letter to You:  Bruce Springsteen (Apple TV+)
   
9. Thou Shalt Not Grow Old - (Netflix)
10. 78/52 Hitchcock's Shower Scene (Hulu)
    

Belushi - 9 (Showtime)
Park Avenue:  Money, Power, and the American Dream – 9 (Netflix)
The Thin Blue Line - 9 (PPV)
Raising Hell – The Life and Times of Molly Ivins – 9 (Hulu)
McMillions – 9 (HBO)
David Foster, Off the Record – 8 (Netflix)
What She Said, The Art of Pauline Kael - 8 (PPV)
Perfect in 76 - 8 (Showtime)
For the Love of Spock –8 (Netflix)
Vernon Florida - 5 (You Tube)

Stand Up
Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby – 9 (Netflix)
Seinfeld – 9 (Netflix)
Jim Jefferies: Intolerant – 8 (Netflix)
John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous -8 (Netflix)

TV

1. The Queen’s Gambit - 10 (Netflix)
   
2. The Good Place – 10 (NBC-Final Season)
3. Breaking Bad – 10 (Binged all seasons - Netflix)
4. Late Night with Seth Meyers – 10 (NBC)
   
5. Real Time with Bill Maher - 10 (HBO)
   
6. The Kominsky Method – 10 (Netflix season 2)
7. The Comey Rules – 10 (Showtime series)
8. Homeland – 9 (Showtime final season)
9. High Fidelity – 9 (Hulu series)
10. Ozark – 9 (Netflix series)

After Life – 9 (Netflix season 2)
Killing Eve – 9 (BBC season 3)
Absentia – 9 (Amazon season 2)
42^nd Street – 9 (Broadway channel play)
Justified – 9 (binged into season 4)
Devs – 9 (USA season 1)
The Sinner – 7 (USA season 3)
Fargo – 6 (FX Season 4)
Utopia – 5 (Netflix)

Classics

City Lights – 10
Citizen Kane – 10
To Be or Not to Be - 10
Metropolis - 10
Rashomon – 10
Modern Times – 10
The Gold Rush - 10
Tokyo Story - 9
The Searchers – 9
The Third Man – 9
The Lady Eve - 9
Night of the Hunter – 8
M - 8
Passion of Joan of Arc - 8
The Rules of the Game – 8
The Magnificent Ambersons - 8
Menilmontant – 6
Man with a Movie Camera - 5
Breathless – 2
Touch of Evil – 1

The Ozzies

Best Picture – Sound of Metal
Best Actor – Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal
Best Actress – Charlize Theron in The Old Guard
Best Supporting Actor – Paul Raci in Sound of Metal
Best Supporting Actress – Viola Davis in Ma Rainey Bottom Blues
Best Director – Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
Best Documentary – The Pharmacist

The Lizzies

Best TV Series – The Queens Gambit
Best Actress – Anya Taylor-Joy in The Queen’s Gambit
Best Actor – Ricky Gervais in After Life
Best Supporting Actor – Alan Arkin in The Kominsky Method
Best Supporting Actress – Jessie Buckley in Fargo

I want to mention Podcasts, which I’m not fanatical about, but “The Rewatchables,” about movies is something to check out if you are a movie fan.

Finally, Best movie in my head:  American Destiny – wherein I predict things like a second impeachment and a 50/50 Senate, as well as a lot that didn’t happen quite the way I thought it would, like a calm post-election: 
https://rickrantsfromthecouch.blogspot.com/2020/06/at-cinema-may-2020.html