February 25, 2021 -- Here is my list of the best and worst films, best actors, etc. from the year of 2020.

Below this list of top films, are honorable mentions, followed by lists of my picks for top director, top actor, top foreign film, etc. Those lists are followed by lists of the worst films, overrated films, funniest, saddest, most romantic, etc. I've included a Dubious Distinction award for a film of “bad faith”. My top 10 lists include more comedy and films starring black actors, two varieties of movies absent from most top 10 lists. Drama is easy, but comedy is tough to get right.

Page navigation: Commercial Links,  Honorable mention,  Best of by category,  Funniest movies,   Best Love Stories  Saddest movies,  Scariest villain ,  Overrated movies,   Best movies you haven't heard of,   Most disappointing movies,   Dubious Distinction.

1. Nomadland
This movie is so real it is almost a documentary. That's because a lot of the characters are playing themselves. This unique, inventive film is a hybrid form of cinema verite that I have not seen before. There is a script, and actors, but also authentic characters and stories mixed in with the fabricated characters and stories.
2. Da 5 Bloods
This is another masterpiece from Spike Lee, one of the greatest, and most underappreciated directors of our time. It combines war and family drama with a character-driven, heist movie plot in ways that transcend these genres. Along the way, it manages to examine the history of the Vietnam war in multifaceted ways.
3. Promising Young Woman
This endlessly surprising film has a lot of comic elements and some romantic elements as well, but essentially, this is a dark and tragic revenge story at heart. It is a perfect compliment to the “Me Too” movement.
4. One Night in Miami
This is a dazzling display of talent from the director, Regina King, her dazzling ensemble cast, the inventive screenplay by Kemp Powers (who is also co-director, and a writer of another top 2020 film, “Soul,” by the way) right down to the final song over the credits, “Speak Now” (Written and sung by cast member Leslie Odom, who is also a star of yet another top 2020 film, “Hamilton,” by the way).
5. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
A young woman travels to a distant city for an abortion. She must overcome many obstacles along the way with her cousin's help. Clues to her unhappy past are revealed along the way, but much is revealed when she must answer a series of questions with emotionally devastating responses that range from Never, Rarely, Sometimes, and Always.
6. Wolfwalkers
The best animated film of the year features a story about man's uneasy relationship with his environment in the guise of a supernatural conflict set in the distant past.
7. Hamilton
The play that took Broadway by storm is brought to the big screen in a very effective way. It is like being seated in a theater, but it is more than that, since nobody in a theater would get to see it from so many angles and distances from one seat. Its very entertaining, and it is a good history lesson at the same time.
8. I'm Your Woman
A woman marries a mobster and is willing to put up with the complications that brings her. But one day, her life and the life of her child are put in danger and she must fight dark forces to stay alive. She finds inner strength and new friends along the way.
9. The Invisible Man
An old, oft-told story is updated with an interesting new perspective. An outstanding performance by Elizabeth Moss lifts this film far above the science fiction genre that it occupies. Instead of a story about invisibility, it is a story about abuse, and the strength to fight through it.
10. Palm Springs
The best romantic comedy of the year bears a striking resemblence to a classic film, “Groundhog Day,” and it is just as good. Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti play a man and woman trapped in an endless time loop, who fall in love, but then find that they must break free. J.K. Simmons adds his comic talent to the mix in this funny, poignant story.

Collective
A great example of newspaper journalists in action. Faced with massive corruption on all fronts, a handful of journalists, whistleblowers and government reformers fight corruption. This is a truly inspirational story, and it shows how people can fight back against corruption. Unfortunately, this is an endless battle.
Spaceship Earth
This documentary shines a light on a remarkable group of people and how they accomplished astonishing things. It also shows how Steve Bannon helped to screw up their greatest project, a vast closed ecosystem meant to show how people could survive in space, or on an alien world.
The Painter and the Thief
A documentary film crew stumbles upon a fantastic story about a painter and the thief who stole paintings from her, and how somehow, the two of them became good friends despite that. This story is so strange, with so many twists and turns, you could not make it up.
The Social Dilemma
Maybe not the best documentary film of the year, but certainly the most important one. This is not just about how the Russians influenced the 2016 election, it is about how Facebook and other social media platforms are tearing this country apart. In a way, it predicted the events of January 6, 2021, and it predicts far scarier things in our future.
Athlete A
I thought I knew all about this story, and probably you do too, but there is a lot more to it and this film plumbs the depth of the terrible people who preyed upon too many young women in USA Gymnastics. This story of physical, mental and sexual abuse is still unfolding, even now, as evidenced by the Feb. 25, 2021 suicide of USA Gymnastics coach John Geddert (not mentioned in the film) who faced multiple charges of abusing young female gymnasts.
Born to Be
This powerful and revealing documentary follows the career of a pioneering New York doctor in the relatively new field of transgender medicine. This remarkable doctor operates on an even more remarkable group of patients. It is a hard film to watch, but very enlightening about transgender surgery and why patients want it.
Welcome to Chechnya
This is a powerful documentary about attempts to rescue people from torture and death in Chechnya. Those in need of rescue are targeted by authorities because of their sexual preferences. The identities of witnesses and those rescued are protected by the use of a new digital facial replacement technique developed for this film.
Crip Camp
This documentary film highlights a groundbreaking camp for handicapped people. Some of these campers became so empowered by their experiences that they went on to become important activists in advancing opportunities for handicapped people.
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life
The last hurrah of famed neurologist and science historian Oliver Sacks, based on his autobiography, is given a thorough and moving treatment by documentary filmmaker Ric Burns. Filmed near the end of Sacks' life, it covers his life from beginning to end, depicting a brilliant, but troubled mind, which finally found peace late in life.
Time
This documentary, composed of some home video material, as well as footage filmed especially for this movie, tells a remarkable story of a family on the verge of success, plunged into dire straits, then fighting back to success again, against long odds. It is mostly about the determination of one woman, Sibil Fox Richardson, a real tower of strength.

Links to reviews of all the films on this page are indexed in the following web pages:

A through B   C through D   E through G   H through L
M through Q   R through S   T through Z

All of these films have won awards or have been highly rated by some critics groups, but I found them disappointing. Not bad, just not as good as I thought they would be. There are also historical inaccuracies in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank. These are listed alphabetically. Another Round
First Cow
Mank
The Reason I Jump
The Trial of the Chicago 7

While I saw most of the best films 2020, I purposefully missed nearly all of the reportedly bad films, including Dolittle – The Last Thing He Wanted – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – Guest of Honour – The Painted Bird – 365 Days/After We Collided – Artemis Fowl – The Roads Not Taken – Capone – Superintelligence – “Hubie Halloween – The Wrong Missy – Antebellum – Fantasy Island – Songbird – Tyler Perry’s A Fall From Grace and Weddings and Other Disasters, among many others. I also missed most of the bad limited release bad films, so this is not in any way a list of the worst of the worst films, just the worst of the films I saw. I did see Ava, Irresistible, Bloodshot, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and The Call of the Wild, and they did not make my “worst of” list. I saw Sonic the Hedgehog and Wild Mountain Thyme and liked them more than most critics did.
The Lodge
This movie got good reviews, but then it seems many critics like horror films more than I do. The plot is similar to that of The Shining, but it is not nearly that good, and it lacks the supernatural elements that made the latter film more effective. I could not wait for this movie to end.
The Prom
I was in no hurry to watch this, but I felt duty bound to see it. It does have one good dramatic scene and one good dance number, but that is about it. I do hope that James Corden gets a chance to do another good musical, like Begin Again he is talented, but after this and Cats he may not get another chance.
Shirley
This is a very literary film, with another great performance by Elizabeth Moss (to go with her performance in The Invisible Man) and a matching one by Michael Stuhlbarg, together with arresting cinematography. Unfortunately, all this talent is trapped in a flaccid, stagnant, bookish story peopled by annoying characters who are constantly squabbling.
Tommaso
I could not make much sense of this film, since the main character, Tommaso, brilliantly played by Willem Dafoe, seems to be very unstable and is sometimes given to hallucinations. So what's real and what's not real? I would not mind following this crazed character down this rabbit hole of a story if he was more relatable.

The liberalized version of Mankiewicz in this film is not the real Mankiewicz. These detours don't really fit the main story all that well, and most of these plot details never happened in real life anyway. Now I'd like to think these historically inaccurate details were not added to the story just to appeal to many of Hollywood's awards voters to make them feel better about themselves, but it does seem suspicious.

Page navigation: Commercial Links,    Honorable mention,  Best of by category,  Funniest movie,   Best Love Stories  Saddest movie,  Scariest villain ,  Overrated movies,   Best movies you haven't heard of,   Most disappointing movies,   Dubious Distinctions.

Commercial link — Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. It doesn't cost any extra money to use these links, but it does help offset my expenses a little bit. I suggest you shop at least two places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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