Top Ten Films of 2020

10. True History of the Kelly Gang
Starring - George MacKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam, Russell Crowe
Director - Justin Kurzel 
With sweeping, stunning visuals and a story about Australia's legendary rebel, True History of the Kelly Gang is a brutal, yet beautiful film.  It has a feel of anarchy surrounding it, and though it is a bit cliché from time to time, the gorgeous filmmaking and killer performances elevate it to something truly worthy of praise.  George MacKay (who broke out in a big way in 1917) carries the entire film on his back, giving a master class in acting.  Essie Davis is impressive (in one of two great performances this year), and Nicholas Hoult manages to somehow always be entertaining (and sexy!).  Violent, beautiful, sexy!  

09. The Assistant
Starring - Julia Garner
Director - Kitty Green
The plot may sound boring.  Let's follow around a pretty, young assistant.  We will watch her leave her house in the morning and watch her make coffee and watch her reheat food in the microwave.  But there is something lurking in the corners of this #metoo era movie.  It's subtle uneasiness that becomes more and more palpable as the movie goes on.  There are hints and rumors and whispered gossip... kind of like what these situations would be like in real life.  It's a quiet movie, but an important one. 

08. The Way Back
Starring - Ben Affleck
Director - Gavin O'Connor
Stop me if you think you've heard this one before - down on his luck, alcoholic, one time golden boy becomes unlikely mentor for struggling teenage sports team with one kid that could be a star, with a little luck and the right coach.  Yes, we've seen movies like The Way Back before, but we haven't seen a performance like the one Affleck gives.  It's real and it's raw and it hurts so much.  O'Connor elevates the material as well (what more do you expect from the guy that gave us the very Shakespearian Warrior?).  This could have been another cliché sports movie, another story of a drunken mess of a man, but it manages to find a new way to tell a familiar story.

07. Swallow
Starring - Haley Bennett, Austin Stowell, Elizabeth Marvel, Denis O'Hare
Director - Carlo Mirabella-Davis
Hunter has it all.  She has a successful, nice guy husband, a gorgeous new house, and a baby on the way.  Her life looks perfect (sort of your like your picture perfect Instagram friends).  But then she develops a disorder where she starts to eat inedible things - batteries, thumb tacks, you name it.  You can't take your eyes off of Bennett in this tale of a woman's struggle to gain control of her life.  It feels like a spiritual sequel to Rosemary's Baby.  

06. Emma. 
Starring - Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Mia Goth, Bill Nighy 
Director - Autumn de Wilde 
We've all seen Gwyneth Paltrow's turn as Emma in the 90s, and we've all seen Clueless which famously updated the story to make it SO VERY 90s, but this latest version of Emma is the feel good romance we didn't know we needed in this dreadful year.  It's colorful, it's fun, it feels fresh and modern.  It's beautiful to look at (those costumes are exquisite) and every character is cast perfectly.  It's comforting and charming and an absolute delight. 

05. Babyteeth 
Starring - Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Essie Davis, Ben Mendelsohn 
Director - Shannon Murphy
A simple love story about a dying teenage girl who falls in love with a boy her parents don't approve of (he is older, and a drug dealer, after all).  This movie is an emotional roller coaster that knocks you off your feet.  The performances are top notch and every moment feels weighted with such a heavy amount of raw sadness.  I could watch these actors play these roles forever. 

04. Saint Frances
Starring - Kelly O'Sullivan, Charin Alvarez, Ramona Edith Williams
Director - Alex Thompson 
Imagine if Hannah from Girls was actually not a completely terrible person and we wanted to root for her to get a happy ending?  O'Sullivan (who also wrote the script) plays a woman who makes a lot of really terrible decisions who ends up taking a job as a nanny to a 6 year old while her lesbian parents struggle with their relationship, post partum depression, their careers and a newborn.  Of course, O'Sullivan's Bridget starts off making every mistake you can imagine, but soon bonds with Frances (and one of her moms).  It's a movie that will have you smiling ear from ear.  Everyone in the movie is so likable, and you really want them all to have a happy ending.  For me, it's the feel good movie of the year.  And kudos, for talking about so many things concerning women that movies usually shy away from.  More movies like Saint Frances, please! 

03. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Starring - Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder
Director - Eliza Hittman 
I watched this movie months and months ago, but it's so quietly powerful that it has stayed with me throughout the year.  The story is simple - a 17 year old girl with an unwanted pregnancy travels with her cousin from rural Pennsylvania (shout out Shamokin!) to New York City to get an abortion.  That's it, that's the plot.  Nothing exciting happens.  There are no big plot twists or reveals.  This is just a very good movie, about a very real situation, with very great performances.  

02. Possessor 
Starring - Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Bean
Director - Brandon Cronenberg 
You know I'm excited that this is one of the most bleak movies of the year!  Possessor is a wild ride and a movie that is certainly not for everyone.  It follows Riseborough as an assassin who enters the mind of an unsuspecting host in order to kill someone close to them.  Her newest host is Abbott's Colin, who starts to struggle for control of his body, when he has to kill his girlfriend and her powerful father.  The plot alone is powerful, but Cronenberg (son of David, obviously!) manages to make this a visceral (violent, and very bloody) experience that is powerful to watch.  The performances are killer (this is one of two great performances from Abbott, who may be one of my new favorite actors) and that ending?  The best of the year. 

01. Black Bear
Starring - Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon
Director - Lawrence Michael Levine
First of all, I want to have sex with all three of the stars of this movie.  Second of all, I didn't know Aubrey Plaza had this sort of performance in her.  Third of all, as soon as I finished watching this mind fuck of a movie, I wanted to watch it again.  It's sexy and it's funny and it's ambitious and it's artistic and it's intriguing and it's just damn good.