So far 2020 has been a very interesting year for movies. With the closure of nearly all movie theaters across the country, box office sales have been at an all time low. Without theaters being open, it can be impossibly difficult to find movies that are indeed good and entertaining to watch. As a movie enthusiast, I have compiled a list of some of my thoughts on some of 2020’s movies. It should also be noted that these reviews may contain spoilers, so you have been warned. Whether you enjoy dramas, comedies, thrillers, or even kids movies: this is the list for you.
The Good
Honorable Mentions: The Devil All the Time, I Am Greta, Mulan, Crip Camp, Becoming, The King Of Staten Island.
Drama: The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin portrays this courtroom drama in an exceptionally directed movie that grips viewers’ attention through the entirety of the film. Not only is this movie extremely entertaining and riveting, but it’s also very well written. The story follows the trial of the suspected instigators of protests against the 1968 Democratic Party Convention. The seven are put through an extremely unfair trial by the Nixon administration that proves the government’s discomfort with uprising. With an all-star cast including Sascha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne, this historical tale is a must watch for 2020.
Psychological Thriller: I’m Thinking of Ending Things – Based on the novel by Ian Reid, this captivating thriller follows a young woman named Lucy who visits her new boyfriend’s family at their farm. Lucy and her boyfriend, Jake, get stuck at the farm due to a snowstorm hitting the area. With beautiful cinematography and framing, this film is not only pleasing to the eye but captivating to the mind. The story’s intricate details and unpredictable plot create a surprisingly perfect combination of intriguing suspense that keeps the audience locked in throughout the whole movie.
Thriller: His House – I am not interested in telling many details about this film and its storyline because I want this movie to remain as intriguing and unforeseeable as it was for me. To give you the least amount of spoilers possible, the movie tells the story of a refugee couple seeking a safe place to live in Britain but who instead are met with the terrifying secrets of the town. If you as a reader only choose to watch one single movie off of this list, make sure that movie is this one. With an incredibly unique storyline, Remi Weekes directs a story told like no other. The concept of this movie is fascinating to keep the viewer’s attention but unpredictable enough to keep viewers guessing.
The Bad
Honorable Mentions: Bad Boys for Life, The Babysitter:Killer Queen, To All the Boys: P.S I Still Love You.
Horror: Fantasy Island – Giving the writers the benefit of the doubt, it can sometimes be difficult to create and execute a compelling yet well written horror movie. With that in mind, this movie is pretty bad. Blumhouse has Lucy Hale starring in yet another one of their seemingly plotless movies to attempt to use a good actress to make the whole movie better. While watching Fantasy Island, I found myself much more lost than usual. This movie seems to have more plot holes than the stories I wrote in second grade. The movie feels nearly unfinished. There were some aspects of the movie I grew to enjoy while watching. I found the concept of it to be highly entertaining. Obviously it was corny, but I felt like the one thing they did very well in this movie was using that to their advantage. It can be really effective and enjoyable to watch when a movie is aware of its corniness and plays into it.
Comedy: Sonic the Hedgehog – I was looking forward to watching this movie when I first found out about it. Jim Carrey usually plays witty and entertaining roles, but that was not the case with this movie. I’m aware that it is naïve to think that simply because Carrey is in this movie it will be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. I do think this movie was entertaining in the sense that it brought Sonic the Hedgehog more to life but other than that, it felt boring because of the lack of plot.
The Downright Awful
Honorable Mentions: Holidate, Dangerous Lies, Brahms: The Boy II.
Romance: After We Collided – First of all why is Dylan Sprouse in this movie? Second, this is the WORST example of a relationship to ever be portrayed in a movie. When I say their relationship is an awful example, I mean I have never seen a more toxic relationship being idolized. Besides the fact that Hardin is extremely manipulative and controlling, he also is extremely violent to nearly everyone around him. He tries to fight Trevor (Dylan Sprouse’s character) because he is in the same hotel room as Tessa, even though Tessa and Hardin are not together at this time. Later in the movie, not only does he punch his own dad in the face at his wedding but he punches Tessa’s dad in the face as well. Now of course Hardin has his flaws, but Tessa is equally as bad if not worse. The only personality trait she seems to have is that she can read. That’s it. That is the one thing we get to learn about her. When I say this movie is a rollercoaster, I mean it could replace a ride at Six Flags. This movie had way too many plot points for it to even begin to make sense and it really just seemed like the writers decided to add everything they could think of in an attempt to make the movie “better.”
Romance: The Kissing Booth 2 – A common theme in both of The Kissing Booth movies and After, is the manipulative and misogynistic male main characters. In The Kissing Booth 2 we get to follow Elle and Noah’s love story, which continues even though it was proved multiple times in the previous movie that they should not be together due to Noah’s obsessive feelings towards Elle. Noah is off to college in this movie, which exposes the complete lack of any trust in this relationship. Elle begins to suspect that she is being cheated on, so she decides to cheat on Noah with her newly made friend Marco. This causes all sorts of drama between the couple, so Noah then cheats on Elle. One of my problems with After was its excessive use of different film tropes, which led to the movie feeling too busy. My problem with The Kissing Booth is its lack of these side plots. The only thing that this movie seems to follow is how much Elle or Noah can mess up their distrustful and unhealthy relationship.
Even with all of these films mentioned, it was hard to narrow down my choices for each category. In all honestly there were many good movies that hit streaming platforms this year, and those good ones outweighed the awful ones. As I stated in the beginning, 2020 has proven to be an interesting (yet rough) time for movies. With the year soon coming to an end, I am beginning to look forward to upcoming films set to hit theaters, or home theaters, in 2021. Hopefully this time around we’ll get to see some released in theaters.
