My 15 Favorite Movies of 2020

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Saoirse Ronan Deserves an Oscar

12 min readJan 20, 2021

“We’re already sick of each other. It’s the best!”

I had a lot of anticipation for the year in movies for 2020, after the glory that was an Avengers finale, another Greta Gerwig-Saoirse Ronan collaboration, a Rian Johnson murder mystery, a sweet Quentin Tarantino picture, and a dramatic Adam Sandler performance. Could 2019 have been topped? Probably not. But I didn’t think the roll of the good times would stop so soon.

Oh no! That was an immediate thought I had when No Time to Die was pushed to November and the rest of the major movie releases followed suit. I knew there was real trouble when the ninth Fast and Furious installment dipped out to 2021 and The Woman in the Window (still waiting!) was shuttled off to Netflix.

That doesn’t mean the year was a wash, though! That’s what streaming was for. Only three and a half of the movies on this list were released theatrically! I hope streaming won’t be the exclusive future, but for now, I’ll just be thankful that they helped lift 2020 up more than it would have been otherwise. As it is, this list only has fifteen entries I deemed worthwhile (some movies like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The King of Staten Island deserve honorable mentions). But what a great fifteen they were! (For reference, I did not consider Hamilton and David Byrne’s American Utopia, as they are stage recordings.)

Before we get to them, though, I want to make my parameters clear. I’m not following the adjusted Oscars calendar, which will allow for movies to be eligible at the Academy Awards up until the end of February. I’m just going by the plausible notion that the best movies of 2020 should have come out in 2020! Considering Nomadland and Minari, among others, don’t come out in theaters until 2021 (critics’ screeners be damned; we’re not critics!), they’ll be eligible for next year’s list. See ya! This is all about 2021. So let’s celebrate them.

15. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

Typically, I don’t go for the kinds of movies that chronicle the entire history of a singer or a band. Walk Hard pretty much ended the legitimacy of that entire genre like Jon Stewart on Crossfire. But something about this HBO Max-exclusive documentary about the journey of the Bee Gees just struck the right chord for me. Granted, the title is absolutely meaningless, but it does wade into some of the melancholic waters of Barry being the last one standing. And there’s some marked insight that comes in the proclamation that siblings harmonizing is the greatest weapon in music and the juxtaposition between the group’s meteoric rise and the weird counter-clash against disco. Ultimately, the documentary is well worth your time, even if just to hear the instrumentation-less tracks that have defined a generation.

14. Ammonite

We’ve been keeping a close eye on Ammonite over here on Saoirse Ronan Deserves an Oscar. While the tides of the Oscar race have told us it will not likely be the film that finally earns Saoirse her long-deserved Oscar, it’s still a quality film all the same. It details a pseudo-fictionalized relationship between famed nineteenth-century paleontologist Mary Anning, played by Kate Winslet, and tourist Charlotte, played by Saoirse. It moves at the pace of Tom Brady scrambling for a first down, but for me, this was one of its perks. I loved luxuriating in the period detail with two actors for whom I harbor a ton of respect. Plus, Ammonite contains one of my favorite endings of the year! We’re gonna get you that trophy one day, Saoirse.

13. Happiest Season

You know me, I’m always a sucker for a romance movie set at Christmas. Happiest Season, a theatrical casualty of the coronavirus (it bowed on Hulu), was 2020’s entry into the holiday movie hall of fame and what a splendid time it was! Kristen Stewart continued to show her range, diving into explicit rom-com territory (though, Aubrey Plaza makes it a little more complicated at times). It’s a highly affecting movie and it also introduced me to how genuinely charming Dan Levy can be! Clea DuVall and Mary Holland are delightful creative talents behind and in front of the camera; they should be allowed to make more movies, if they’d like to.

12. On the Rocks

Sofia Coppola has made some profound works of art, truly. She journeys to period pieces and lonesome meditations with an aura of deftness befitting few other filmmakers working today. But whenever she re-ups with Bill Murray, as of late, it seems like we’re in store for a fun time, a hangout movie. That’s what A Very Murray Christmas felt like and it’s certainly the vibe being given off by On the Rocks, a hijinks-laden paternity movie that sees Murray as Rashida Jones’ father. Together, they investigate suspicions that her husband is having an affair, but the entire film is much breezier than a real-world playing out of this scenario might be. On the Rocks glides effortlessly on charm — all the way to the top twelve.

11. Sylvie’s Love

Speaking of movies that are lighthearted and fun and lovely to fall into, Sylvie’s Love is one of the year’s best pillars of that. I love Sylvie’s Love because it’s content to be somewhat-innocuous, but always-sweet as a love story and it doesn’t reach for elements that would leave the chemical perfection imbalanced irrevocably. Instead, the chemistry between Tessa Thompson (her best performance yet) and Nnamdi Asomugha (who knew?) is enough to carry my affection throughout its duration.

10. The Invisible Man

If Universal insists on crafting a cinematic universe out of its classic horror/monster properties, please let The Invisible Man guide the way forward, instead of more schlock like 2017’s The Mummy (Tom Cruise, Jake Johnson, and Russell Crowe, if you somehow read this, you’re innocent). What The Invisible Man has going for it most prominently is that it tells a singular story and it tells it extremely effectively. This may not sound like much, but in the age of innumerable franchise upstarts and Marvel-wannabes, it meant a whole lot to me. The performances are stellar across the board, but the real standout aspect of The Invisible Man is the camerawork. Leigh Whannell, along with cinematographer Stefan Duscio, make the most of the empty space in scenes, framing any moment as a possible moment when he might show up. It’s in the not-showing that The Invisible Man finds its brilliance; thank goodness it made proper use of the premise.

9. Miss Americana

In recent years, there has usually been one standout documentary that cracks my list of favorites from the year. Jane, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Chasing Happiness. In the corkscrew year that was 2020, though, three documentaries will be breaching the top ten. That’s a first for me! Of course, they’re going to be about musical topics, as is not a first for me. First, Miss Americana naturally tells the tale of Taylor Swift’s 2018–19 period (roughly), in which she rebounded from Grammy snubs for Reputation, wrote Lover (hitherto, her masterwork), and found a political voice for herself on a disillusioning landscape. Yes, the documentary had Swift’s seal of approval, but it actually taught us about her, as opposed to some other musical docs from this year that sucked the life out of any persona the singer might have wanted to display. Not Miss Americana, though. It interrogates why and how Taylor Swift has become the musician of this generation.

8. Onward

Following Toy Story 4, Pixar promised devoted fans that it would be moving away from franchise-based storytelling (at least, for the time being, as we’ve now learned about Chris Evans in Lightyear). The first result of that came in the form of Onward, the long-gestating fantasy story about a community of magical creatures. As most Pixar movies tend to be, though, this elevator pitch premise was threaded through a much narrower story: two elf brothers try to spend one last day with their dad, who is just a pair of legs. It’s silly and much of the movie reflects that, but as Pixar always manages, the film’s denouement reaches for soaring emotions on par with many other stories in the studio’s catalog. Onward is upper-tier Pixar for sure.

7. The Trial of the Chicago 7

I don’t care if I sound basic or nerdy, give me an Aaron Sorkin script any day, baby! I’m such a sucker for Sorkin; his dialogue coats my brain like a blanket of powdered sugar. And putting him back into a courtroom? With Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeremy Strong, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance, and many more of our most venerated character actors? Forget about it. That’s just what movies are all about. Screenplays are so important to me, so it’s no wonder that Sorkin is, too. (Strong’s otherwordly performance is a whole different bag.) I’m just so appreciative that The Trial of the Chicago 7 hit patented Sorkin heights, delivered on the promise of a worthwhile ensemble, and educated me about a pivotal, sadly relevant moment in history.

6. Happiness Continues

Even more than Taylor Swift’s concert documentaries for 1989 and Reputation and the iconic Talking Heads oeuvre, this might just be my favorite concert documentary ever made. For me, it strikes the perfect balance of live performances (I went to their Boston concert!), fun and illuminating behind-the-scenes moments, and the songwriting process. The reunion of the Jonas Brothers in 2019 is going to be a seminal moment in my own personal history with music and the genre of pop. Happiness Continues chronicles the conclusion and meaning of that with expert filmmaking and electrifying energy.

5. Soul

Sign me up for Pete Docter forever. One of the founding minds between Pixar’s brilliance has focused his attention on Monsters, Inc., Up, Inside Out, and now, Soul, over the years, in addition to producing credits and screenplay work on some of the studio’s finest. He’s not just one of the most thoughtful and introspective directors working in Disney or in animation; he’s one of the best the entire film industry has to offer. While Soul never quite hit the unimpeachable heights of Inside Out, for me, it’s still a massive achievement and a towering work of art in 2020. Soul is more than happy to hang out in the abstract with some of Pixar’s most inventive ideas and characters — perhaps ever. It has a string of beautiful, soaring moments and while it’s too bad it was relegated to the Plooos on Christmas, I did love sharing in its brilliance with so many. Life is special and Soul helps remind us of that, especially in its quieter moments.

4. Palm Springs

Sign me up for Pete Docter forever? Sign me up for Andy Samberg forever! I mean, this guy turns everything to gold; he’s really challenging Bill Hader for the true MVP of that mid-2000s SNL cast. Palm Springs was his latest play at the movie industry and it was an unadulterated gem. Combining this best of more modern rom-coms (like The Five-Year Engagement and Sleeping with Other People) with one of the most classic sci-fi tropes (think Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow), Palm Springs is considered, nuanced, and a whole lot of fun. It wound up speaking to our “current moment” (whatever that means) than anyone who crafted it could have imagined, but that was beside the point. Samberg and Cristin Milioti were so delightful together, they could’ve just floated on pool tubes for two hours and made it on the list. Support stories like Palm Springs!

3. One Night in Miami

Malcolm X. Sam Cooke. Muhammad Ali. Jim Brown. As screenwriter Kemp Powers described One Night in Miami when he wrote it as a play in the early 2010s, it’s like “The Black Avengers.” They’re heavyweights in their respective fields (racial justice, music, boxing, football), but the actors Regina King (making a remarkable debut behind the camera here) cast in the awards darling are towering all the same. Respectively, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom, Jr., Eli Goree, and Aldis Hodge take on the weighty roles and never buckle under the sheer enormity of them. Instead, they lightly dance through them, waxing and challenging one another about their influence in society. The one-night conversation between the quartet culminates in a moment that shook my cinematic expectations and immediately skyrocketed to the top of the “Scenes of the Year” list. This one’s special; you owe it to yourself to check it out.

2. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Look, man, I’m just as surprised as you are. I didn’t know what Eurovision Song Contest was when it was announced that Will Ferrell would be making a movie about it for Netflix. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch it when it eventually dropped on the streamer back in June. But I eventually clicked play and, like the child version of Ferrell’s character in the film, I was instantly hooked by the glitz and glitter of the contest, marked by camp, pizzazz, and the catchiest songs you’ve ever heard in your life. Eurovision compounds that by delivering on a half-dozen catchy songs all its own! If we’re talking “Scene of the Year,” Eurovision has a melodic contender all its own. Nay, it has two! Look, I know this is a silly comedy, but I like silly comedies, especially when they arrive in 2020. It was earnest and reverent and authentic and loving. It’s a musical that deserves the fervent cult following it’s since developed, due to some stellar heat checks, some genuine laughs, killer bangers, and a flawless Rachel McAdams performance. Few movies made me as happy as Eurovision did in 2020 and it deserves this spot!

1. Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions

Hey, I mentioned three documentaries made the list. And for the first time, a documentary is my number one movie of the year! It’s a well-deserved honor, though. After all, Folklore (and, by 1B-flavored extension, Evermore) is one of the greatest artistic achievements in the history of humankind. It should be no surprise that a (loose) “film adaptation” of the album, in which Taylor Swift performs and discusses the meaning of her songs with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff at Long Pond, would rank highly on the movies list, too. When it comes to jaw-shattering announcements, this documentary moved me to tears while the albums left me awed and chilled when I rolled over in bed and checked Instagram. But the movie delivered just as much as the albums did, probing deep into her art and investigating what it means to make beautiful things (and make them in a pandemic, no less). Cutting to a masked Justin Vernon, gleefully observing Antonoff waiting for the final drop on “August,” Taylor’s look to the camera in “The Lakes.” This Disney Plooos exclusive is emblematic of the year, but also transcendent of it. It’s going to stand the test of time forever and even though it’s not a traditional movie, this isn’t a traditional list. It deserves to be commended and I’ll love it forever. Thank you, Taylor Swift, for directing, writing, singing in, producing, and starring in the best movie of the year. One that I never knew could have existed otherwise!

Some statistics on representation in this list:

Disney, Netflix, Amazon (3)

Neon, Universal, Apple, Sony, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate (1)

My 15 Favorite Movies of 2020

Written by Dave Wheelroute