Hello all. Since I started tinkering away at this blog - back in 2017 - I've endeavored to end the year with a post cataloguing all the year's films that I'd seen, in a personalized order. Obviously, this isn't a new idea by any stretch, year-end lists are a dime a dozen, but the majority of the more well-known ones represent the compiled tastes of a group of people or some kind of Metacritic-like aggregate.
My year-ender is always based entirely on a very slippery personal metric that takes the overall quality of a film and marries it to my personal views on its rewatchability. In that regard, an absolutely flawless film could easily rank below a fun trashterpiece bit of popcorn entertainment. The question of Would I Recommend This to People? is also in there as well as my affinity for novelty, appreciation for originality, and of the creative voice... it's a complex system and the goalposts will absolutely change from year to year.
And there are a number of flicks that I could put asterisks next to for one reason or another. Some are short films - one of which I worked on -, one's a mini-series, some were actually made many years ago but were not previously widely available - or still aren't - in the US, so I'm counting them now as this was the year I saw them.
What can I say?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy it and I encourage you to make your own. Drop me a link in the comments and I'll surely read it.
WHAT DID JACK DO?
David Lynch. What else can I say?
COLOR OUT OF SPACE
Worth watching for the alpacas alone.
THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW
Hilarious and emotional and damn, but I like Jim Cummings!
THE IRON MASK
If you can get on this level, you will enjoy yourself.
PIZZAMAN
Peace not pizza.
THE VAST OF NIGHT
Great sci-fi that's 90% listening. Crazy that it works so well.
SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD
One of the best crime flicks I've ever seen (it just has one too many endings).
THE HUNT
The last film I saw in theaters and it was a blast!
DA 5 BLOODS
A filmmaking masterclass from one of the greats.
DANIEL ISN'T REAL
I love good worldbuilding and this flick has it to spare.
HENTAI KAMEN: FORBIDDEN SUPERHERO
This is so good I'm pricing region free Blu-ray players.
SOUL
Instead of another movie for kids that adults can appreciate, Pixar has done the opposite.
BLOOD QUANTUM
This movie rules quite hard.
BIRDS OF PREY: (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)
Fun and colorful. I'll take 4 more just like, please.
RUN
A pretty pedestrian set-up elevated with great performances with a focus on stakes and goals.
POSSESSOR
Brandon Cronenberg has obviously never heard of "sophomore slump".
BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS
Tight and (darkly) funny crime flick with one of the best heavys of recent years.
SCARE ME
The scary story that launched a thousand sweater blogs.
PROJECT POWER
Great direction elevates an average super-story with an excellent message.
HENTAI KAMEN 2: THE ABNORMAL CRISIS
The horniest Spider-Man send-up since my fanfic.
GREENER GRASS
Hilariously absurd.
THE INVISIBLE MAN
Leigh Whannell makes long takes of empty rooms into white knuckle tension.
PRIMAL
Way better than it has any right to be.
BRAHMS: THE BOY 2
A Jason Goes to Hell -level gamechanger for the original The Boy.
THE SECRET: DARE TO DREAM
Glorious trash.
BOOKS OF BLOOD
This dovetails in a really clever, unique way.
THE WRETCHED
Weirdly, a lot like IT.
SYNCHRONIC
A huge step for Moorhead & Benson. You love to see it!
I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS
Jessie Buckley anchors this fantastic surrealist drama.
AFTER MIDNIGHT
Come for the creature feature, stay for the relationship drama.
SEA FEVER
Long live aquatic horror!
HUNTER HUNTER
Bleak and full of fabulous performances though bound to be overshadowed by That Ending.
THE OAK ROOM
A story in a story in a story, about stories.
ONWARD
Guinevere is the V.I.P.
HORSE GIRL
Alison Brie is a fearless actress.
SCARE PACKAGE
Horror anthology with a video store framing device? Perfect!
BILL & TED: FACE THE MUSIC
Be excellent to each other, always.
VEROTIKA
Glenjamin Danzig's passion project. 'Nuff said.
TIGER KING
Reality has never meant less as a concept.
VFW
Great work of genre filmmaking.
SPENSER CONFIDENTIAL
Good if you wanna throw on an action flick and turn your mind off for a while.
ABRAKADABRA
Giallo-inspired mystery about murders and stage magicians. What's not to like?
LA FIESTA SILENCIOSA (THE SILENT PARTY)
The moral ambiguity is incredibly thick here.
WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS
Excellently paced and decently fun!
COME TO DADDY
Kept pulling the rug out from under me, which is always good.
HOST
A clever concept, smartly realized.
THE NEW MUTANTS
Turns out the Fault in Our Stars guy can't direct coherent action.
THE CREEPSHOW ANIMATED SPECIAL
I'd love to see this with more elaborate animation.
THE RHYTHM SECTION
A half-decent start that won't get a follow-up, I imagine.
12 HOUR SHIFT
A supremely campy & creative crime flick
HAPPIEST SEASON
Cast is amazing but their characters lack growth.
FRIED BARRY
Getting so high you're abducted by aliens seems exhausting.
SEEDS
I'd love to see this develop a cult following (...no pun intended).
PALM SPRINGS
More to like here than dislike but nothing really groundbreaking.
KRIYA
Solid, but doesn't explain a lot to those unfamiliar with Hinduism.
SPIRAL
Tackles real-world horror using horror movie-horror and does it pretty well.
SANZARU
Communication breakdown; it's not always the same.
THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME
Well-acted but extremely grim.
THE BABYSITTER 2: KILLER QUEEN
McG needs to stop.
FREAKY
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
MY SPY
Kinda-garten Cop.
HUBIE HALLOWEEN
Shabba-do or shabba-do not, there is no try.
THE PLATFORM
A lot like Cube, but I didn't like it as much.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FIFTH KIND
DREAMLAND
This one is interesting but doesn't really demand much further analysis.
HAVE A GOOD TRIP: ADVENTURES IN PSYCHEDELICS
Added Take Hallucinogens at an Art Museum to my To Do List.
BUTT BOY
Not my kinda thing but I heard David Lynch likes it, so what do I know?
HAIL TO THE DEADITES: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE EVIL DEAD FANS
This is cute and well-made but cringey at points.
THE ROOM
The Tommy Wiseau film has more thorough logic.
THE LODGE
Never put footage from a better movie in your movie, cuz now I just wanna watch The Thing.
HOGZILLA
Watching this with Joe Bob and Darcy is the only way to watch it.
EUROVISION: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA
This mostly made me want to listen top ABBA, which is fine.
VAMPIRE BURT'S SERENADE
Ever get a hankering to watch a Backstreet Boy camp it up as a druggy vampire? Me neither.
RATTLESNAKE
A promising concept with a formless mythology behind it.
TROLLS WORLD TOUR
The ultimate expression of total nihilism.
BATSH*T BRIDE
Pretty toothless for a movie with a swear in the title.
THE OLD GUARD
The pedigree couldn't save this clumsy, awkward misfire.
MAGGIE SIMPSON IN "PLAYDATE WITH DESTINY"
What an ingenious way to not pay your voice actors.
ELVIS FROM OUTER SPACE
No thank you. No thank you very much.
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
I appreciate the tightrope walk between Being Racist and Confronting Racism, but I don't enjoy it.
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Well there we go. I usually like to shoot to see more of the year's movies each year, but 80 is gonna be tough to top. But we shall see I guess.
I always wish anyone reading this a better new year than the previous one, but that wish is exponentially greater as we leave 2020 in the rearview. I hope we all have a better year in 2021, but I also hope that we all can be better.
Best wishes and Long Live the Movies!
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