Favourite Movies of the 2020's
Out of all the slop thats come out since 2020, is there ANYTHING that could be mistaken for an actual movie?
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- DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonKerry CondonTwo lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.10/10 The first (and so far, only) 2020's movie I've seen, that felt like it genuinely deserves a 10/10; A beautifully bleak, uncomprising, black comedy, that's totally free of all the stuff that ruins modern movies. No CGI, no directed-by-commitee vibe, no weird political nonsense, no self-indulgent, butt-numbing runtime. Just a simple but poignant story, beautifully presented
- DirectorDaniel KwanDaniel ScheinertStarsMichelle YeohStephanie HsuJamie Lee CurtisA middle-aged Chinese immigrant is swept up into an insane adventure in which she alone can save existence by exploring other universes and connecting with the lives she could have led.Nice to see a movie take some actual risks, and do something with a bit of originality. In the utterly dismal post-covid movie landscape, this is like a breath of fresh air.
Sadly, like EVERY SINGLE 2020's movie, the runtime is roughly an hour too long... made even worse by [incoming spoiler] a fake-out ending, complete with faux-end credits, right when a reasonable movie SHOULD end... but nope, your butt's going numb for another goddam hour, sucker...it really feels like they're just laughing at us, at this stage...
But it's a fun, engaging, well-made movie, that ISN'T just yet another sequel/reboot/milking an established franchise, with some solid fight scenes, some goofy, dumb jokes that land pretty well, it's not TOO intrusive with the mandated corporate-Hollywood political finger-waggling, and it has a fairly unique premise... all of which puts EEAaO head and shoulders above every other 2020's movie I've seen...
Giving this 10/10 kinda feels like charity; It's a decent movie, but I would have have given it maybe an 8, if it came out in 2019... But we're 4 years deep into the decade, I've watched over a hundred 2020s movies, and I feel like I have to give SOMETHING from this decade a 10, so....
10/10 - DirectorCameron CairnesColin CairnesStarsDavid DastmalchianLaura GordonIan BlissA live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation's living rooms.9/10 Probably another overly charitable score. But at least it feels like it was directed by an actual human being, and not a committee of accountants, and diversity consultants... A genuinely unique, original take on the horror genre
- DirectorDanny PhilippouMichael PhilippouStarsAri McCarthyHamish PhillipsKit Erhart-BruceWhen a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.9/10 These guys seem like talented new directors. They're from a younger generation, raised on the internet and Youtube, but that can be both a positive, and a negative..
On the positive side, they clearly learned a lot from running a successful YT channel; For a first movie, this is pretty outstanding, especially in the more nuts-and-bolts side of filmamking; stuff like editting, how to use different kinds of shots, how to link visuals with music/sound, etc. All that stuff they do pretty impressively..
But on the negative side, a bunch of aspects of this movie seem cynical and grift-y, in a similar way that lot of Youtube is cynical and grift-y; Like they deliberately leave a bunch of major questions vague and unanswered, to (1) bait viewers an inevitable sequel, to answer questions that should have been answered in this movie (who's hand was it? How did Mia's Mum really die? etc) And (2) it feels like a tactic thats becoming more common, especially in horror, where you deliberately make your story vague and ambiguous, to build buzz, by inspiring 363 different Youtube channels to make "Talk To Me, explained" videos, or "Talk To Me theories", where you fill in the gaping holes in the story, with whatever wild speculation seems cool... Leaving unanswered questions is fine. But it's the WAY you do it, that's the difference between "intriguing" vs "annoying an unfinished"... and Talk To Me leans a little too far into "annoying and unfinished"....
But overall, it's definitely one of the decades best horrors - DirectorCharlotte WellsStarsPaul MescalFrankie CorioCelia Rowlson-HallSophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't...9/10 Not really my usual cup of tea, but at least it feels authentic and uncontrived, in a way thats incredibly rare in the current movie landscape.
- DirectorThomas KailStarsLin-Manuel MirandaPhillipa SooLeslie Odom Jr.The real life of one of America's foremost founding fathers and first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Captured live on Broadway from the Richard Rodgers Theater with the original Broadway cast.9/10 Probably the best example of "wokeness, done right";Sure, it's wall-to-wall libtard political preaching, but it actually feels unforced, authentic and like a neccessary part of the story, in Hamilton. And (ironic, for a stage musical) it feels much less fake and perfomative than the pious moral high-horsing, that gets inserted into 99.98% of modern movies. In Hamilton, those politics are communicated with an unmistakably genuine passion, which is infectious, and actually reflects well on leftism... unlike most movies, where just comes across as fake, forced, shallow, cynical pandering, motivated by Hollywood's need to congratulate itself, for it's own (self-identified) moral superiority, and by the belief that audiences are morally bankrupt idiots, who need to be told that "racism is bad" (by people who will constantly, openly, reflexively judge you by your race, and try to enforce different standards, for different races... and then pat themselves on the back for doing it...)
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsSoma SantokiMasaki SudaKô ShibasakiIn the wake of his mother's death and his father's remarriage, a headstrong boy named Mahito ventures into a dreamlike world shared by both the living and the dead.Nice to see that Miyazaki still has the magic in him.
9/10 - DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsEmma StoneMark RuffaloWillem DafoeAn account of the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.The first 3/4ths of this movie is really oustanding; Even at 100 minutes into the 140min runtime, I thought this was going to be the first 2020's movie I'd seen, that genuinely deserved a 10. Up til this point, it had been an engaging, unique, oddball steampunk scifi, with an impressive performance from Stone, which despite a tendency to be embarssingly horny, had also been insightful and thought-provoking, and had even taken some real risks. But most refreshing, for movie that even hinted at issues around sex and gender, til this point it had avoided preachy finger-waggling; Instead just exploring the topic in a generally pretty non-judgemental, open-ended way, largely leaving the viewer to draw their own conclusions...
....UP TIL the the final act, in the movie's last half-hour, where we're subjected to severe tonal whiplash, as suddenly it becomes the MOST preachy, LEAST subtle, MOST safe and predictable, most hand-holding vehicle for the most tired, generic, 2024 socio-political moralizing, that a 14yo fanfic author on Tumblr could think up.
Poor Things is still an impressive, visually-unique movie. But disappinting to see it successfully avoid the lazyest, most annoyingly universal tropes of 2020's cinema for most of it's runtime... only to steer INTO disaster, in the home stretch, defusing any risks previously taken, and destroying any trust or credit it ever gave it's audience..
This movie started off by giving me hope that maybe I was wrong; Maybe it IS still possible to make a genuinely great movie... and ended by re-assuring me that nope... I was right in the first place... - DirectorLin-Manuel MirandaStarsAndrew GarfieldAlexandra ShippRobin de JesusOn the brink of turning 30, a promising theater composer navigates love, friendship and the pressure to create something great before time runs out.9/10 As per usual, a bunch of tacked-on, pointless political finger-waggling, that you could edit out without impacting the actual story at all, and which serves no purpose except to show how morally-righteous and self-satisfied the film-makers are....
But strip that away, and there's a decent, modern musical here. Garfield puts in a solid, passionate performance, and it has a decent, engaging story. - DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsBrad PittMargot RobbieJean SmartA tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.8/10
- DirectorTakashi YamazakiStarsMunetaka AokiMinami HamabeRyunosuke KamikiPost-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.9/10
- DirectorJeff NicholsStarsAustin ButlerJodie ComerTom HardyAfter a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.Like EVERY 2020's movie that I give a decent score, I feel like I'm being overly generous, and the movie really deserves one, maybe even two points less... But I have a soft spot for the world of outlaw "1%er" motorcycle clubs; This is a pretty accurate adaption, of a non-fiction, photobook, by a guy who was a member of the Outlaws M.C, in Illinois, in the mid-60's.
The problem is, although it's a genuinely great book, it just isn't the type of book that you can adapt to a movie; It has no story, no plot, no protagonist, no goals or development or villain. It's just a bunch of "day in the life" photos of a unique, notoriously private subculture, at a unique time in history, along with the trasnscripts of some random interviews with MC members, and their wives, family and friends.
So the movie DOES provide a pretty accurate snapshot of the unique world of the mid-West MC scene just before it's traditionalist, working-class culture would get taken over by younger, wilder bikers, emulating the "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" lifestyle of California MC's like the Hells Angels, who were a huge media controversy at the time...
...But while they did a pretty good job of authentically capturing the culture (which is the stuff I'm intersted in), just as a movie, the story is pretty weak and kinda pointless. I can't see a general audience, or even movie-nerds, caring too much about 'The Bikeriders'. I suspect it will mostly just appeal to people, like myself, who have special interest in the subject matter.
But, it definitely is one of the best (maybe even THE best) portrayals of MC life, in movies... not that this is a huge feat; the "biker movie" genre isn't exactly known for it's high quality... The only other serious contenders I can think of is Katherine Bigalow's 'The Loveless' from the early 80's (which is pretty solid, in it's own right), a cheesy crime/action movie called 'Hell Ride' from the 00's, of course 'The Wild Ones' from the 50's. And there's a tiny, low-budget movie called 'Dead in 5 Heartbeats', from about 10 years ago, that was written and produced by (ex-prez of HAMC) Sonny Barger, which was OK. (Apart from that, it's just dozens of no-budget, no-effort exploitation movies, from the late 60's and 70s. Fun, but let's be real- They're all trash)
But despite it's flaws, I feel like 'The Bikeriders' bests all of those. So plot or no plot, I'm gonna give it 9/10, just for services to the genre, and for putting some love into a pet topic of mine... even though I know it kinda REALLY doesn't deserve it... - DirectorWes AndersonStarsBenicio Del ToroAdrien BrodyTilda SwintonA love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional twentieth century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in "The French Dispatch Magazine".8/10
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsTimothée ChalametZendayaRebecca FergusonPaul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.8/10
- DirectorGuy RitchieStarsJake GyllenhaalDar SalimSean SagarDuring the war in Afghanistan, a local interpreter risks his own life to carry an injured sergeant across miles of grueling terrain.9
A solid action/military movie. A bit saccharine and mellodramatic, at times. But by 2023 standards, it's Citizen fucking Kane. (In this era, ANYTHING that isn't a re-boot, a sequel, or milking an already-successful franchise gets points...) - DirectorJustin FolkStarsMatt WalshGert ComfreyMarci BowersPolitical commentator Matt Walsh explores the changing concepts of sex and gender in the digital age, particularly the transgender rights movement, anti-transgender bigotry, and what it means to be a woman.ywnbaw/10
- DirectorMark MylodStarsRalph FiennesAnya Taylor-JoyNicholas HoultA young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.8/10
- DirectorChad StahelskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneGeorge GeorgiouJohn Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.8/10 The only franchise that's reliably decent, in 2023 (even if the once-fun formula is getting pretty goddam tired, by now...)
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsJason SchwartzmanScarlett JohanssonTom HanksFollowing a writer on his world famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever.9/10
- DirectorMatt ReevesStarsRobert PattinsonZoë KravitzJeffrey WrightWhen a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, The Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.8/10
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsBradley CooperCate BlanchettToni ColletteA grifter working his way up from low-ranking carnival worker to lauded psychic medium matches wits with a psychologist bent on exposing him.Mixed feelings on this one; On one hand, it's pretty oustanding by modern standards, and it doesn't feel like a lazy, soul-less re-make; You can tell that Del Toro respected the original, he captured both story and tone competently, casting was excellent, Cooper gave a great performance, as did most of the cast... But on the OTHER hand, why would you even TRY to re-make a near-perfect, classic movie, if you aren't even trying to add anything significant? Why try to "fix" what was never broken? Why turn a basically-perfect 10/10, into a decent but ultimately forgettable 7 or 8/10?
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsDaniel CraigEdward NortonKate HudsonTech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.8/10
- DirectorPotsy PonciroliStarsTim Blake NelsonScott HazeGavin LewisA farmer takes in an injured man with a satchel of cash. When a posse comes for the money, he must decide who to trust. Defending a siege, he reveals a gunslinging talent calling his true identity into question.8/10 Nothing incredibly deep and profound, but a solid, action-focussed Western that could have been made 20, maybe even 40 years ago. Reminiscent of classic contemporary Westerns like Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales, or The Great Silence. I kinda love it (by 2020's standards, at least)
- DirectorIlya NaishullerStarsBob OdenkirkAleksey SerebryakovConnie NielsenA docile family man slowly reveals his true character after his house gets burgled by two petty thieves, which, coincidentally, leads him into a bloody war with a Russian crime boss.8/10 Just a cheesy action movie, but a better than average one (but, as much I love classic Christopher Lloyd, they really should have left his "geriatric tough-guy" scenes on the cutting-room floor. The Rza bits too. Thats stuff just felt tacked-on, and pointless)
- DirectorJoaquim Dos SantosKemp PowersJustin K. ThompsonStarsShameik MooreHailee SteinfeldBrian Tyree HenryMiles Morales catapults across the multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.The animation in this is super-impressive. But as an actual movie, it's the same bland, soul-less dreck as everything else