As 2020 comes to an end, one thing is clear: streaming services have overtaken movie theaters as the dominant form of entertainment this year. Thanks to the historically bad pandemic we are currently going through, theaters are still closed, which means that smaller films released on streaming services got most of the attention in 2020. Disney+, HBO Max and Hulu saw user growth as films like Hamilton, Wonder Woman 1984 and Happiest Season made streaming even more popular. Plus Prime Video had Borat, Apple TV+ had Wolfwalkers and Netflix had films like Da 5 Bloods, Mank and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom while traditional blockbusters like Black Widow, No Time to Die and Raya and the Last Dragon were pushed back to 2021.
The shakeup of the distribution model may have a lasting impact on the film industry, but I’m sure I will have plenty to say about that this time next year because right now the future is still cloudy.
In the meantime, here is a list of all the movies from 2020 that received the most positive reviews, followed by my personal favorite film of the year. Just for transparency I haven’t watched all of these. This list is just based on critical consensus. Documentaries and foreign-language films are excluded (although I am thinking of changing that foreign-language rule. Films all around the world deserve a spotlight). I hope this list shines a light on some forgotten gems from the past year.
January
Bad Boys for Life
The Night House
February
Birds of Prey
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made
Sonic the Hedgehog
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Emma
Standing Up, Falling Down
The Invisible Man
March
Onward
The Way Back
First Cow
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Big Time Adolescence
Blow the Man Down
Uncorked
April
Selah and the Spades
The Willoughbys
Bad Education
May
The Half of It
Z
How to Build a Girl
The Vast of Night
June
Shirley
Da 5 Bloods
The King of Staten Island
July
Hamilton
The Outpost
Family Romance, LLC
The Old Guard
Palm Springs
Psych 2: Lassie Come Home
Yes, God, Yes
I Used to Go Here
August
An American Pickle
She Dies Tomorrow
Spinster
Max Reload and the Nether Blasters
Watch List
The 24th
Words on Bathroom Walls
Lingua Franca
The Courier
Bill & Ted Face the Music
The Personal History of David Copperfield
All Together Now
Get Duked!
The Garden Left Behind
Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe
September
Critical Thinking
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Unpregnant
Residue
The Nest
The Dark Divide
Alone
The Swerve
Enola Holmes
Kajillionaire
Misbehavior
The Boys in the Band
October
Possessor
On the Rocks
Spontaneous
A Call to Spy
Vampires vs. the Bronx
Save Yourselves!
Faith Based
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Yellow Rose
The Wolf of Snow Hollow
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Love and Monsters
The Opening Act
Clouds
Shithouse
Synchronic
Coming Home Again
Ham on Rye
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Over the Moon
The True Adventures of Wolf Boy
His House
November
Acute Misfortune
Let Him Go
The Dark and the Wicked
Proxima
Dating Amber
Mank
Freaky
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Monsoon
Make Up
Wolfwalkers
Sound of Metal
The Twentieth Century
Run
Hearts and Bones
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The Croods: A New Age
Happiest Season
Princess of the Row
December
Nomadland
Minor Premise
Black Bear
Luxor
The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone
Let Them All Talk
I’m Your Woman
Minari
Farewell Amor
Hunter Hunter
Happy Face
Sylvie’s Love
News of the World
Promising Young Woman
One Night in Miami
Soul
Herself
I Blame Society
Eli’s Favorite Movie of 2020
Sonic the Hedgehog
This is the only movie I watched in a theater all year because it was released right before the month when lockdowns started, but it truly did not disappoint. I have seen decent television adaptations of video games like Castlevania and I can think of good film adaptations from Japan, but since video game-based shows and movies first showed up in the eighties, Sonic the Hedgehog marked the first time I ever saw Hollywood make a live-action adaptation of a video game and not suffocate the life out of it like with Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter.
Detective Pikachu was the closest they ever got, but not even Ryan Reynolds could help that movie be funny. Sonic the Hedgehog was actually a funny and heartwarming family film made by filmmakers who respect the source material and know how to entertain mainstream audiences and Sonic fans at the same time, much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe appealed to both mainstream audiences and comic book fans at the same time, marking what might be an important turning point for video game movies.
Credit to director Jeff Fowler and writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller for bringing so much more witty humor and passion into the storytelling than usual for these kinds of movies, and the Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook-like chemistry of its main cast Ben Schwartz, James Marsden and Jim Carrey (in wacky Ace Ventura mode) was like lightning in a bottle with all actors getting a chance to shine. As someone who has been a Sonic fan since the nineties, this film made me feel like a kid again.
I love that you picked Sonic! What a sweet enjoyable little movie. It’s one I’ve found myself putting on from time to time just to cheer me up
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I really really loved that movie. Every character is great and it just makes me feel good.
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