All of the new releases I saw in 2020 ranked in order from most best to least best:
1. Ema (Pablo Larraín)
Dance, song, and movement
Family broken apart
Flames cleansing all sins
2. Titane (Julia Ducournau)
Passion with a car
The transmission of a life
Slow burn with firemen
3. Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson)
Unexpected child
Family town asunder
Returns to nature
4. Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman)
A tryst made awkward
Strife at morning, while mourning
The circle of life
5. Judas and the Black Messiah (Shaka King)
Fighting for freedom
Puts one at odd with the feds
Who will never stop
6. Nine Days (Edson Oda)
Life before, after
Only the worthy advance
A view through a screen
7. Pig (Michael Sarnoski)
Alone in the woods
Trade truffles for solitude
A man and his pig
8. Red Rocket (Sean Baker)
A user returns
Clawing his way above tide
The wave crests, crashes
9. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
A young schemer schemes
A partner in the Valley
The lost becomes found
10. The Green Knight (David Lowery)
A quest of valor
To meet a patient rival
Reveal what’s within
11. Passing (Rebecca Hall)
Two friends from old times
One remains and one absconds
Across a frayed line
12. Dune (Denis Villeneuve)
Sand and spice and worms
An intergalactic duel
Extremely big worms
13. Soul (Pete Docter)
Life before, after
Breeding ground for the unborn
A view through a screen
14. C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills)
Tumult arises
To hear the world as a lab
Growing together
15. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Destin Daniel Cretton)
Running from his past
A family legacy
Fighting to erase
16. Werewolves Within (Josh Ruben)
Trapped by a snow storm
Murders afoot and apaw
Heavens to Betsy!
17. King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green)
A dad has a plan
For his daughters to be great
Odd but effective
18. No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga)
Back for one last dance
007 rides again
Guess what, saves the day
19. On the Count of Three (Jerrod Carmichael)
Two friends, a death pact
An adventure beforehand
An ending after
20. In The Heights (Jon M. Chu)
Here, community
Social forces overwhelm
But do not defeat
21. Zola (Janicza Bravo)
The world’s worst road trip
A twitter thread, a lifetime
With the world’s worst friend
22. House of Gucci (Ridley Scott)
It’s-a love story
Fashion, power, betrayal
Love of-a money
23. Candyman (Nia DaCosta)
Don’t dare say his name
Actually it’s not that bad
But your head might splat
24. One for the Road (Nattawut Poonpiriya)
A friend’s dying wish
To relive his past regrets
Finish his story
25. Annette (Leos Carax)
A wooden baby
An unbearable comic
And too many songs
26. The Suicide Squad (James Gunn)
The raggest-tag team
On a top secret mission
To save the dumb day
27. Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts)
Some teenage turmoil
Spider-Man causes chaos
Death and destruction
Slam Zuckert is a municipal bureaucrat emeritus. He sees a lot of movies and reads a lot of books and sometimes writes about them. His favorite movie is There Will Be Blood, his favorite mathematician is Georg Cantor, and his least favorite mathematician is Leopold Kronecker.
Keep it Going Louder 