Bonus Slide: Hamilton
Dont let anyone tell you differently: The streaming event of the year was Hamilton on Disney+.
Sadly, its also the hardest to categorize. Was it a Broadway documentary? A TV special? A stand-alone film? Its a little bit of all three, so it belongs on its own bonus slide.
Below are some other honorable mentions:
Honorable Mentions:
10. The Invisible Man
Director: Leigh Whannell
One of my biggest gripes is seeing year-end best lists that include only Oscar bait from late December that most folks havent seen yet. Instead, lets kick off my Top 10 by reaching all the way back to February for a horror remake that actually rivaled the original.
Written and directed by Saw creator Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man featured a powerful performance byElisabeth Moss, who believes her abusive boyfriend is stalking her as an invisible man. Is she just going crazy? Or is something supernatural actually at play? Boasting #MeToo themes and juicy plot twists, it was one of the few actual blockbusters that we had this year.
9. Palm Springs
Director: Max Barbakow
Imagine a screenwriter entering a room to pitch Groundhog Day meets Wedding Crashers. Thats the basic premise of Palm Springs, which wowed the Sundance Film Festival before streaming on Hulu.
Set in Palm Springs, California, this rom-com fantasy follows a carefree wedding guest (Andy Samberg) and a reluctant maid of honor (Cristin Milioti), who meet at her sisters wedding. Thanks to a magical force in the desert, they cant escape the venue and are forced to relive the chaotic wedding day over and over again.
Equally heartwarming and hilarious, its an inventive take on a gimmick that you thought was played out.
8. Bad Education
Director: Cory Finley
Produced by HBO Films, Bad Education should be competing for the Oscars this year instead submitting for the Emmys in the TV Movie category. Quarantine has shown us that such labels are outdated, as Bad Education isnt episodic content but rather a stand-alone film that should compete against other streamers.
Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney are in top form as Long Island Superintendent Frank Tassone and Assistant Superintendent Pamela Gluckin, who carried out the largest public school embezzlement scandal in American history from 1992 to 2004. In a year where Hollywood stars went to prison for the college admissions scandal, Bad Education is as much a zeitgeist flick as any movie made this year.
7. Mank
Director: David Fincher
Is there a film whose merits have been argued about more this award season than Mank? David Finchers nostalgic biopic to Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) is not for casual moviegoers, but rather a black-and-white love note to cinephiles who appreciate the significance of Orson Welles masterpiece not only to cinema history, but for its commentary on egomaniacal media moguls.
Mank is not really a making of film at all; its a collection of puzzle pieces in the life of a man on the ground floor of a booming industry who sabotaged his own career with booze and shame for his creative vocation.
6. Da 5 Bloods
Director: Spike Lee
Tied for the No. 6 slot are a pair of movies featuring the final roles of the late Chadwick Boseman.
First isSpike Lees war joint Da 5 Bloods, the much anticipated follow-up to his long overdue Academy Award win for BlacKkKlansman (2018). The June release starred Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Norm Lewis as Vietnam vets searching for the remains of their fallen officer, played in flashbacks by Boseman.
Little did we know that he would pass away just months later, making his role eerily prescient as he returns from the dead in rays of angelic light to say, I forgive you. God is love. Love is God. I died for you, blood.
6. Ma Raineys Black Bottom
Director: George C. Wolfe
Also tied for our No. 6 slot is Chadwick Bosemans posthumous Netflix release, Ma Raineys Black Bottom.
Based on the second of 10 plays in August Wilsons renowned Century Cycle, the story is set on a hot day in 1920s Chicago, where the so-called Mother of the Blues Ma Rainey records her newest album.
Viola Davis is a tour de force as the impossible diva demanding Coca Cola, while showing empathy toward her stuttering nephew. Still, its Boseman who steals the show as brash trumpeter Levee, who carries a chip on his emaciated shoulders. Its hard to watch this beloved man dying before our very eyes, lending a transcendent power to monologues challenging God as if Boseman himself is shouting, Why me? on deaths door.
Just as Troys baseball dreams were stolen in Fences (2018), Levees hopes are dashed here, but Bosemans greatness is forever frozen in time on screen in a final performance that deserves to win a posthumous Oscar.
5. The Trial of the Chicago 7
Director: Aaron Sorkin
In perhaps Netflixs best shot at winning Best Picture, writer/director Aaron Sorkin combines his mastery of politics (The West Wing) and courtroom drama (A Few Good Men) to chornicle thetrue story of seven men arrested during an uprising outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The deep cast boasts Frank Langella as the judge, Mark Rylance as the defense attorney and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the lead prosecutor, but the real standouts areEddie Redmayne as academic Tom Hayden andSacha Baron Cohen as activistAbbie Hoffman, who dropped f-bombs in a flag shirt in Forrest Gump (1994).
Their clash of ideals explodes as Redmayne confronts Cohen: My problem is that, for the next 50 years, when people think of progressive politics, theyre gonna think of you and your idiot followers passing out daisies to soldiers and trying to levitate the Pentagon. Theyre not gonna think of equality or justice, theyre not gonna think of education or poverty or progress, theyre gonna think of a bunch of stoned, lost, disrespectful, foul-mouthed, lawless losers, so well lose elections.
Cohen gets the last laugh as he takes the stand. Do you have contempt for your government? Gordon-Levitt asks, to which Cohen replies, I think the institutions of our democracy are wonderful things that are right now populated by some terrible people.
4. Sound of Metal
Director: Darius Marder
Sound of Metal was my favorite streaming film at this years hybrid Middleburg Film Festival. The film follows a heavy metal drummer and his lead singer girlfriend, who drive from town to town in their mobile home to perform. However, when he begins losing his hearing, they must decide their future as a band and as a couple.
Riz Ahmed brilliantly expresses emotion with his face, Olivia Cooke is believably torn as his girlfriend and Paul Raci is an Oscar dark horse for Best Supporting Actor as the wise operator of a remote home for deaf folks, teaching sign language through tough love and total immersion.
The filmmaker similarly immerses the audience with his masterful use of sound design from ringing ears to distorted voices. The final shot is perfection, reminding us to block out the noise and enjoy the silence, knowing that true peace is the ability to sit with ones self.
3. One Night in Miami
Director: Regina King
It doesnt arrive until Christmas Day, but One Night in Miami has all the makings of a strong Best Picture contender. While it takes place almost entirely inside a Miami hotel room, Kemp Powers screenplay is surprisingly engaging as it imagines the conversation between Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) in their real-life meeting in 1964.
As the four very different men discuss the civil rights movement, their personalities shine and clash as they rib each other, question themselves and break down the state of race relations from various perspectives.
Regina King is on fire after her Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and her Emmy for Watchmen (2019), so it should be no surprise that her directorial debut is dynamite, turning an intimate chamber piece into an electric proving ground for symbolism, foreshadowing our heroes doom by filming them behind wooden bars. In the end, Malcolm X closes his eyes as Cooke sings A Change is Gonna Come on national television for his first public political statement. The song swells with the same smooth voice that Odom brought to Hamilton, proving once again in this Miami hotel, its thrilling to be in the room where it happened.
2. Nomadland
Director: Chlo Zhao
In 2017, Chlo Zhao showed indie promise with her poetic rodeo film The Rider. Now, she returns to her favorite canvas of the modern American West in Nomadland, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Peoples Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival the only film ever to win both.
The film follows Fern, a drifting widow who becomes a van-dwelling nomad after losing her husband, her factory job and her identity during the 2008 Great Recession. Surrounded by real-life nomads, Frances McDormand is utterly vulnerable in a role reminiscent of Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas (1984). She will surely compete for her third Oscar after Fargo (1996) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
As for Zhao, shes an early favorite to win Best Director for capturing the plight of Americans displaced by technology and globalization, as Fern works an assembly line at Amazon and stocks shelves at Walmart. It all builds to a trio of silent scenes at an empty Thanksgiving table, an abandoned factory office and a foreclosed home, giving smart viewers credit to decipher Ferns thoughts: its time to let go of her grief and carry on.
1. First Cow
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Its no coincidence that mytop three movies are helmed by female filmmakers whose unique insights offer wise lessons on the human condition. Kelly Reichardts First Cow competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February and was one of the last films released theatrically in March before the pandemic shut down multiplexes. The rest of us finally got to stream it on-demand in July, quietly discovering a poetic work of art.
Reichardts pacing is blissfully patient as her camera holds for painterly compositions where the natural world exists before and after the humans enter and exit the frame. She opens in present day as a hiker discovers the skeletons of two men side by side in the wilderness, then proceeds to show us how they got there. Set in 1820s Oregon, its a tranquil tale of frontier friendship between a fur-trapping chef (John Magaro) and a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee), who plot to steal milk from the regions first cow to make delicious baked goods to sell.
Will the cows wealthy owner discover their scheme once he tastes the food? Their fate is tragically sealed from the very beginning, but the mens bond endures into eternity. Maybe Im just a sucker for a good Western, or maybe I just love a simple story beautifully told, but I surprised myself to find that this was my favorite of 2020.
WTOP's Jason Fraley salutes the year's best movies (Part 2)
Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
2020 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
See the article here:
- NBC Has a Huge Opportunity with Law & Order: SVU's 25th Season - CBR - Comic Book Resources - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Seeding a gay community in LA, the gay liberation revolution - Los Angeles Blade - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Britney Spears's 'Baby One More Time' music video debuted on ... - Yahoo Entertainment - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- 13 Of The Greatest And Most Famous Britpop Bands - Hello Music Theory - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- The top advertising campaigns of 2023 according to Australian ... - AdNews - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- The 25 Best New Movies Streaming in November 2023 - TheWrap - November 30th, 2023 [November 30th, 2023]
- Jets' Aaron Rodgers 'attacking' rehab, eyes return this season - WABC-TV - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- ESG counteroffensive is missing big guns - POLITICO - POLITICO - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The increasingly radical climate movement, explained - Vox.com - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Imani Winds inspires with recital celebrating composers of color at ... - EarRelevant - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The Super Models Tells the Story of the Original Fashion Influencers - AnOther Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- What constitutes a master? Don't ask Jann Wenner The Daily ... - Daily Free Press - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The Conviviality of Ivan Illich (Part I) | by O.G. Rose | Oct, 2023 ... - Medium - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- SickKids unveils more future-focused VS campaign to match new ... - The Message - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Top 6 Iconic Classic Rock Bands of the '60s - American Songwriter - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Brent Harold: The renaissance of union logic - Arizona Daily Star - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- German bishops conclude tense gathering with all eyes on Synod ... - Catholic World Report - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Slasher Saturdays: The Hills Have Eyes (1977) Vs. The Hills Have ... - Horror Obsessive - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Listen to Scott Drebit Discuss His New Book A CUT BELOW: A ... - Daily Dead - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Whitney Houston Hairstyles: Tribute to Her Unparalleled Elegance - PINKVILLA - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Frosted Lipstick, Chunky Highlights & Thick Eyeliner: Every Beauty ... - New Zealand Herald - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- From Alphas To Betas: Science Says There Are Three Types Of ... - Evie Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Russell Brand is a product of the horrifically misogynistic noughties - Prospect Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- The Enduring Magic of Lorde's Pure Heroine and HAIM's Days Are ... - Paste Magazine - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Climate activists: How far is too far in raising the climate alarm? - Daily Maverick - October 3rd, 2023 [October 3rd, 2023]
- Pride Anthems at WHBPAC June 2nd at 8PM - Hamptons.com - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- The illuminating influence of Eric Huntley - Peoples Dispatch - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Want Sofia Richie Style? Try These Cheap Nordstrom Finds - Who What Wear - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- What will Saudi-Iran rapprochement mean for the Palestinians? - +972 Magazine - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- EU as Arbiter of Ideological Elegance? The European Conservative - The European Conservative - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Catholic theology yesterday and today: A Thomist's response to Dr ... - Catholic World Report - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Andy Warhol exhibition coming to College of DuPage - Chicago Tribune - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- COVER STORY | Arlo Parks Embraces the Intimacy of Aliveness - Paste Magazine - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- The Number Ones: The Black Eyed Peas' Boom Boom Pow - Stereogum - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- 7 First-time ASTRA Exhibitors You Don't Want to Miss This June - Gifts & Decorative Accessories - May 28th, 2023 [May 28th, 2023]
- Curator Lesley Lokko on the Venice Architecture Biennale: 'It's about ... - Financial Times - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- German revolution of 1848: A precursor to today's democracy - DW (English) - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Hoxton, Lloyd Amsterdam to open 21st August 2023 - Hospitality Net - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Ruin America? Joe Manchin is just getting started. | Will Bunch ... - The Philadelphia Inquirer - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How the MTV logo captured the creative spirit of the 1980s - Creative Bloq - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- I give up I cant do that: The song that made David Crosby want to quit music - Far Out Magazine - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- How We Loved and Lost the Hot Girl Summer - The Swaddle - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 5 Laid Back Essentials From Faherty Prove The Hype - Fatherly - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline' director Daniel Goldhaber explains the ... - The Real News Network - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- The Totally Rockin' History of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - Collider - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Was The Hunger Games Renaissance Planned All Along? - GameRant - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Michael J. Fox Looks Back on Hollywood Triumphs, Setbacks and Why Parkinsons Is the Gift That Keeps on Taking - Variety - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- It's Raining Ramen! A Brief History of Jewish Asian Fusion - Aish - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Ted Weber's Wesleyan Political Theology - Juicy Ecumenism - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- What do the British Royals and Cleopatra have in common? - Firstpost - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Pakistan Army won't bounce back easily this time. Imran Khan ... - ThePrint - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Five years since #MeToo, Tarana Burke is looking beyond the hashtag - Yahoo News - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- After Florence Pugh Freed The Nipple, Olivia Wilde Supported The Movement On New Magazine Cover - CinemaBlend - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Barbara Kay: The Movement to Normalize Pedophilia Hits a Roadblock, but We Mustn't Let Our Guard Down - The Epoch Times - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Is it Time to Decolonize Global Health Data? - Research Blog - Duke University - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Claire Foy Doesnt Think Women Talking Could Have Been Made Before #MeToo - Yahoo Entertainment - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Can the Congress rewrite its chronicle of a death foretold? - Scroll.in - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- We need a strong nationalist as a president - Daily Sun - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- The 19th Century Movement to Canonize Columbus - Catholic Exchange - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Audemars Piguet toasts 50 years of Royal Oak with new watches, book - New York Post - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Claire Foy Doesn't Think 'Women Talking' Could Have Been Made Before #MeToo - Yahoo! Voices - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Best Bets: 6 nights of live music at Wussow's and more - Duluth News Tribune - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Five Burning Questions: Bad Bunny Spends a 13th Week at No. 1 With Un Verano Sin Ti - Billboard - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- San Diego artist uses creativity to uplift Black culture and 'determine how we are seen' - The San Diego Union-Tribune - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Premier League at thirty - what should it sound like next? - Broadcast - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Steve Braunias on Peter Ellis case: 'Moral panic, contaminated evidence and an innocent ghost' - New Zealand Herald - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Constituency Statutes: The Overlooked Predecessor to the ESG Movement - JD Supra - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- 10 books to add to your reading list in October 2022 - Los Angeles Times - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The Multiple Religions Coexisting Within the Catholic Church - Crisis Magazine - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- 2023 Oscar Predictions The Rules of the Game - Awards Daily - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Kathy Sheridan: Brace yourselves for where Giorgia Meloni and Italy end up - The Irish Times - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The rise and fall of Sir Philip Green, the retail king who fell from grace - Evening Standard - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- The lying flat movement standing in the way of China ... - Brookings - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Namwali Serpell Distills the Disorienting Experience of Grief in 'The Furrows' - Shondaland.com - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- Dance & House Music Ruled the Summer. What Now? - Complex - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- It is time to back a new party in the elections - Morning Star Online - September 29th, 2022 [September 29th, 2022]
- The empty feminism of Dont Worry Darling - The Guardian - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Sunburn The morning read of what's hot in Florida politics 9.26.22 - Florida Politics - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- GOP candidate Trevor Lee ran a secret Twitter account that attacked LGBTQ people and Utah Gov. Cox. Now he's been rebuked by Republican leadership. -... - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Peeling Back the Slasher-Inspired Look of HBO Maxs Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin with Cinematographer Anka Malatynska - Dread Central - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]