The best movies of 2020 included a couple I saw but most people didn’t. They were John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place, Part 2” and Woody Allen’s “Rifkin’s Festival.”
There was actually a premiere screening for “A Quiet Place, Part 2” right before the pandemic began. Then Paramount pulled it back, a couple of times. It’s now lost in the ether. Maybe one day the public will see it. The movie continued the saga of the Abbott family battling those aliens listening for noise. Emily Blunt is superb, so are Cillian Murphy and those kids. It’s a terrific sequel and middle part of a trilogy that will be completed one day. Soon, I hope.
I reviewed Woody Allen’s new “Rifkin’s Festival” in September before it debuted at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. (It also takes place there.) Wallace Shawn and Gina Gershon are classic Woody funny in this comedy that draws on Woody’s past films and themes. Since then, “A Rainy Day in New York” has been released to streaming services and is on DVD. What a shame this one got no acknowledgment. Cherry Jones has an Oscar worthy turn here. The trio of young stars — Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, and Selena Gomez — are a hit.
So, for 2020, here’s a list. This isn’t an Oscar list. Just my personal favorites. It’s soon for the Oscars list because a few films haven’t been seen yet in this odd year, like “Jesus and the Black Messiah.”
1. Nomadland
2. Minari
3. Soul
4. The Father
5. Time (documentary)
6. The Personal History of David Copperfield
7. Mangrove
8. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
9. The Sound of Metal
10. Let Them All Talk
11. The Outpost
12. News of the World
13. Tenet (hard to follow, brilliant to watch)
14. French Exit
15. Da 5 Bloods
16. Greyhound
17. The King of Staten Island
18. Crip Camp (documentary)
19. The Dissident (documentary)
20. Laurel Canyon (documentary)
