2020 Movie Year in Review with Bonus Streaming Action
In 2020, I saw 8 movies in the theater before the theaters were shut down by the pandemic right before the CIFF was about to get going. Unsurprisingly, that is by far the fewest movies I have seen in a theater since I started keeping lists. If I had kept that pace up for a full year I would have seen 64 movies, which after low totals for 2018 and 2019 would have gotten back in the range of 2017. And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. As such, if I was just going to write about those 8 movies this would be a lot shorter than the 2002 summary I just wrote a few weeks ago. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), I have some other stuff to talk about, but first, here are the eight films I saw in the theater.
Frozen 2- RR, W 1/01
Fantastic Fungi: The Mushroom Movie - CN, S 1/04
Little Women - RR, Su 1/05
Uncut Gems - WL, T 1/21
Point Blank (1991) - CN, S 2/08
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - RR, Su 2/23
Emma (2020) - RR, F 3/06
Onward (3D) - RR, Su 3/08
Cinematheque - 2
Rocky River AMC - 5
Westlake Regal - 1
Of these movies, there's pretty much no question that either Little Women or Uncut Gems was the best film. I had neither read the book nor seen any of the prior movies, but this version of Little Women was enthralling to me. And while I find Adam Sandler's comedies to be garbage, his portrayal of a gambling addict who is constantly moving on to the next scheme to get above water was really interesting.
On the other end of the scale, Emma was utter dreck, and I say that as someone who normally really enjoys Jane Austen adaptations (go watch Bride & Prejudice some time). Onward wasn't a bad film, per se, but it was so far below Pixar's normal standards that it felt bad in comparison.
As far as the other movies go:
- Birds of Prey definitely suffered from the "too many characters" problem that seems to crop up when studio executives get nervous about whether anyone cares about the lead. This is too bad, because the bones of the movie were pretty solid, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is comic book movie gold. On the plus side, the film versions of Black Canary and Renee Montoya were good, and mostly made up for the forgettableness of Black Mask and Zsasz.
- Frozen 2 was a big step down from the original, which was more because of how great the original was than any defect in this film. It was fine. I liked the cheesy 80s power ballad sequence.
- M and I went to see Fantastic Fungi at the Cinematheque because of the promised stop lapse photography of mushrooms growing. We bought advance tickets because somewhat inexplicably people were buying them up quickly. We ended up seeing the first of many sold out showings of the film at the Cinematheque, plus untold more virtual screenings after the pandemic started. Somehow it became one of the most successful movies in Cinematheque history. I don't understand it myself. It was a pretty standard issue documentary about mushrooms and the possible medicinal values of getting high. Enjoyable, certainly, but sell out material? I'm confused. The chief mushroom advocate's story about getting high on shrooms while climbing a tree in a lightning storm was something though.
- I had somehow never seen Point Break. Now I have, and I'm glad I did. It was great stupid fun with beautiful action sequences.
After those eight movies came the pandemic. Although there were many options to watch streaming movies to support theaters, we didn't take those options. Instead, we watched movies via assorted mainstream streaming sources. We watched 14 films this way over the year. 11 were films I had not seen before.
In years past, I never counted movies I had watched at home, not that there were very many of them since I never had a television in my house until M moved in. Here's the list, with MTV meaning "M's TV" very literally.
National Treasure - MTV, F 5/22
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - MTV, F 5/29
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - MTV, F 6/05
South Pacific - MTV, F 6/12
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - MTV, F 6/19
Raiders of the Lost Ark - MTV, F 6/26
Hamilton - MTV, F 7/03
The Iron Giant - MTV, S 7/25
Feels Good Man - MTV, Su 8/13
The Avengers - MTV, Su 8/20
Idiocracy - MTV, T 11/03
The Holiday - MTV, R 11/26
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas - MTV, F 12/25
The Muppet Christmas Carol - MTV, Su 12/27
The only three of these films that I had seen were obviously the two Indiana Jones movies and The Avengers. Everything else was new to me, although I had seen Hamilton on stage. M watched all of them with me aside from The Avengers.
The only actual new movie on this list was Feels Good Man, a documentary about Pepe the Frog and his creator's efforts to rescue him from being an alt-right symbol. As it happens, M actually knew said creator in high school and recognized a few of the other people interviewed in the film. It's an interesting documentary with a lot of implications about copyright, trademarks and free speech, as well as a lot of interesting information about memes. I recommend it.
As far as the other not new but new to me movies, every good thing I had ever heard about The Iron Giant was true and then some. O Brother, Where Art Thou? was excellent and gave me a new appreciation for the soundtrack album. Idiocracy may not be a perfect movie but it really ran with the scenario, and I can completely understand why it became a cult hit. Angie who was aiela is right, The Muppet Christmas Carol may well be the best film version of the Christmas Carol. And lastly, The Holiday is possibly the worst holiday movie I have ever seen.
By month:
January - 4
February - 2
March - 2
April - 0
May - 2 Streaming
June - 4 Streaming
July - 2 Streaming
August - 2 Streaming
September - 0
October - 0 Streaming
November - 2 Streaming
December - 2 Streaming
So if I add that all together I get 8 movies in theaters + 14 movies at home for 22 total movies. This is still lower than all of 2019, but such is life. So many movies were held back or released on streaming services that we aren't subscribed to that I didn't really miss all that much with regards to new movies. I feel that if 2021 ever gets past the pandemic, it will be movie binge heaven for a few months straight.
M watched all but 4 of those with me, which is definitely the highest alignment we've had between my list and hers. I probably could have watched more movies, but there's a limit to how long I can sit on the sofa, which is unfortunate, given how long it appears that will remain our only option. I devoutly hope that the pandemic isn't the final straw that makes movie theaters as a concept die altogether. I personally feel that risk is overstated, but it also wouldn't surprise me if we reached a point where only super hero films, action spectaculars or big budget animation were 99% of what played in most theaters, which is nearly as bad as no movies at all.
Frozen 2- RR, W 1/01
Fantastic Fungi: The Mushroom Movie - CN, S 1/04
Little Women - RR, Su 1/05
Uncut Gems - WL, T 1/21
Point Blank (1991) - CN, S 2/08
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - RR, Su 2/23
Emma (2020) - RR, F 3/06
Onward (3D) - RR, Su 3/08
Cinematheque - 2
Rocky River AMC - 5
Westlake Regal - 1
Of these movies, there's pretty much no question that either Little Women or Uncut Gems was the best film. I had neither read the book nor seen any of the prior movies, but this version of Little Women was enthralling to me. And while I find Adam Sandler's comedies to be garbage, his portrayal of a gambling addict who is constantly moving on to the next scheme to get above water was really interesting.
On the other end of the scale, Emma was utter dreck, and I say that as someone who normally really enjoys Jane Austen adaptations (go watch Bride & Prejudice some time). Onward wasn't a bad film, per se, but it was so far below Pixar's normal standards that it felt bad in comparison.
As far as the other movies go:
- Birds of Prey definitely suffered from the "too many characters" problem that seems to crop up when studio executives get nervous about whether anyone cares about the lead. This is too bad, because the bones of the movie were pretty solid, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is comic book movie gold. On the plus side, the film versions of Black Canary and Renee Montoya were good, and mostly made up for the forgettableness of Black Mask and Zsasz.
- Frozen 2 was a big step down from the original, which was more because of how great the original was than any defect in this film. It was fine. I liked the cheesy 80s power ballad sequence.
- M and I went to see Fantastic Fungi at the Cinematheque because of the promised stop lapse photography of mushrooms growing. We bought advance tickets because somewhat inexplicably people were buying them up quickly. We ended up seeing the first of many sold out showings of the film at the Cinematheque, plus untold more virtual screenings after the pandemic started. Somehow it became one of the most successful movies in Cinematheque history. I don't understand it myself. It was a pretty standard issue documentary about mushrooms and the possible medicinal values of getting high. Enjoyable, certainly, but sell out material? I'm confused. The chief mushroom advocate's story about getting high on shrooms while climbing a tree in a lightning storm was something though.
- I had somehow never seen Point Break. Now I have, and I'm glad I did. It was great stupid fun with beautiful action sequences.
After those eight movies came the pandemic. Although there were many options to watch streaming movies to support theaters, we didn't take those options. Instead, we watched movies via assorted mainstream streaming sources. We watched 14 films this way over the year. 11 were films I had not seen before.
In years past, I never counted movies I had watched at home, not that there were very many of them since I never had a television in my house until M moved in. Here's the list, with MTV meaning "M's TV" very literally.
National Treasure - MTV, F 5/22
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - MTV, F 5/29
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - MTV, F 6/05
South Pacific - MTV, F 6/12
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - MTV, F 6/19
Raiders of the Lost Ark - MTV, F 6/26
Hamilton - MTV, F 7/03
The Iron Giant - MTV, S 7/25
Feels Good Man - MTV, Su 8/13
The Avengers - MTV, Su 8/20
Idiocracy - MTV, T 11/03
The Holiday - MTV, R 11/26
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas - MTV, F 12/25
The Muppet Christmas Carol - MTV, Su 12/27
The only three of these films that I had seen were obviously the two Indiana Jones movies and The Avengers. Everything else was new to me, although I had seen Hamilton on stage. M watched all of them with me aside from The Avengers.
The only actual new movie on this list was Feels Good Man, a documentary about Pepe the Frog and his creator's efforts to rescue him from being an alt-right symbol. As it happens, M actually knew said creator in high school and recognized a few of the other people interviewed in the film. It's an interesting documentary with a lot of implications about copyright, trademarks and free speech, as well as a lot of interesting information about memes. I recommend it.
As far as the other not new but new to me movies, every good thing I had ever heard about The Iron Giant was true and then some. O Brother, Where Art Thou? was excellent and gave me a new appreciation for the soundtrack album. Idiocracy may not be a perfect movie but it really ran with the scenario, and I can completely understand why it became a cult hit. Angie who was aiela is right, The Muppet Christmas Carol may well be the best film version of the Christmas Carol. And lastly, The Holiday is possibly the worst holiday movie I have ever seen.
By month:
January - 4
February - 2
March - 2
April - 0
May - 2 Streaming
June - 4 Streaming
July - 2 Streaming
August - 2 Streaming
September - 0
October - 0 Streaming
November - 2 Streaming
December - 2 Streaming
So if I add that all together I get 8 movies in theaters + 14 movies at home for 22 total movies. This is still lower than all of 2019, but such is life. So many movies were held back or released on streaming services that we aren't subscribed to that I didn't really miss all that much with regards to new movies. I feel that if 2021 ever gets past the pandemic, it will be movie binge heaven for a few months straight.
M watched all but 4 of those with me, which is definitely the highest alignment we've had between my list and hers. I probably could have watched more movies, but there's a limit to how long I can sit on the sofa, which is unfortunate, given how long it appears that will remain our only option. I devoutly hope that the pandemic isn't the final straw that makes movie theaters as a concept die altogether. I personally feel that risk is overstated, but it also wouldn't surprise me if we reached a point where only super hero films, action spectaculars or big budget animation were 99% of what played in most theaters, which is nearly as bad as no movies at all.