2020-1 Favorite Movies

Since a lot of my friends do their “top movies” lists, I’ll put out my own ad-hoc, Diet Mt. Dew-infused list here.  Please check out my Letterboxd for more!  https://letterboxd.com/danport/

The Kid Detective (dir. Evan Morgan)
2020 was pretty fucked up so what the hell- I’m declaring THE KID DETECTIVE as my favorite movie of the year.  Is it the BEST movie of the year?  Not really, but a pitch-perfect performance by Adam Brody leads this all-around solid neo noir dark comedy from first-time feature filmmaker Evan Morgan.  The third act features a surprising but well-seeded twist and also finishes with the best final shot I’ve seen in a film since Portrait of a Lady on Fire (for very different reasons, granted).  Brody’s acting career after his teen/early 20s roles in the Fox drama “The OC” has mainly been in supporting roles where he’s a rapid-fire sarcasm machine, but I think he’s honed his skills into some excellent deadpan stuff that can work in larger doses, as it does here and in some more recent stuff like Ready or Not.  I have no idea if he or director Morgan have more winners in the pipeline, but I loved this one.
Palm Springs (dir. Max Barbakow)I thought this managed to hit all the right notes for silliness and goofiness, which I was honestly concerned about as I am not the hugest fan of Lonely Island or their previous film projects (I like Hot Rod ok, not a big fan of Popstar, hated Bash Brothers, and am lukewarm on the rest). This is by far my favorite of their films and I hope they continue to do work in this direction, forgoing extreme silliness in favor of deeper emotional and even philosophical elements.  And that’s really what I clung to most on this (other than a dynamite emotional rollercoaster performance by Cristin Milioti, who by all accounts should be far more well-known than she is and always does great work, see: Wolf of Wall Street, USS Callister, and lots of TV work). The idea of “feeling” something, anything, is an issue we all deal with, as we’re fearful to get hurt but also fearful of becoming numb and seeing life as a day in / day out repeat without any discernible payoff (this isn’t far off of David Foster Wallace’s “This Is Water” speech, which is something I come back to a lot). Nyles and Sarah are left to grapple with this in a very literal way, and it’s relatable as hyperbole for what we’re all experiencing in one way or another.

Another Round (dir. Thomas Vinterberg)This multi-faceted but overall positive drinking movie ranks pretty highly now on my list of boozy features, along with The World’s End, Withnail & I, and the first 2/3 of Lost Weekend.  Anyway, so there’s this lovely Mitchell & Webb sketch where they experiment by constantly operating on a pint and a half of lager (no more) and of course we see that indeed one can achieve great things.  Of course, if one decides to finish the second pint as celebration for declaring world peace, and naturally one blacks out and awakens to see the world destroyed.  So this is kinda like that, except it deals with some quite heavy issues and it’s far more of a mid-life crisis kind of vibe.  It doesn’t get particularly preachy about the dangers of alcohol and in the end it’s really more about enjoying your living moments since the end will be lingering regardless, but realize that your actions have consequences too.  That’s a tidy theme, for sure, but in the context of a story that tells pretty elaborate tales of several main characters, having it land so crisply is very welcome.  I’m not the biggest Mads Mikkelsen fan but I really love his subdued masculine performance here- it (oddly) felt very “American” to me, with the idea of putting on a good face and soldiering forward.  It’s not overall what I’d characterize as a “fun” movie, but there are fun elements certainly and I think it presents its story with very little pretention.  

Possessor (dir. Brandon Cronenberg)At a certain point this feels like a really good episode of Black Mirror, and I mean that in a very complimentary way.  It’s a unique sci-fi concept (in the details, anyway) and I think the wild visuals of this really sell the surreal aspects of literally living in someone else’s head.  The assassination plot and the nuts and bolts of the “possession” machine is far less interesting than the battle for control and the main character’s complete loss of normalcy and self, but we spend so, so much time wrapped up in these ultimately just window-dressing kind of things that it left me honestly a bit bored at times.  The characters themselves are pretty ill-defined but I think it mostly works for where things go, but I think more time in our main character’s life would’ve been stabilizing a bit, as I was left a bit hollow regarding any of her outcomes. 

Judas and the Black Messiah (dir. Shaka King) I could not tell you a thing about writer/director Shaka King, but he presents a compelling, character-driven, stylistically dynamic film in this one.  It’s not a perfect movie, as I think some of the more blustery speech scenes and even parts of action stick out as jagged edges on an otherwise sharpened narrative, but it hardly mattered for me.  The two lead Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield cement what we already suspected- that these two young black actors are performing at their highest levels right now.  Stanfield in particular handles the nuances of his character Bill O’Neil with perfect balance, as O’Neil’s motivations drift throughout the story, but in a fully-formed and not confusing or vague way.  The overly-long epilogue text at the end is honestly something that I fear is becoming a trend in historical feature films, and this film has one, though it’s thankfully not too excessive.  I did appreciate the closure regarding O’Neil, though, morbid as it is.

Mank (dir. David Fincher)I’m not sure I’ve ever been so underwhelmed by a movie that I wanted to like so much.  I still liked it, though.  My one-sentence encapsulation of this is that it’s the best Coen Brothers movie that David Fincher ever made.  I mean that in the most positive way possible, as I love the atmosphere and whirlwind aspects of this, even if there are some flaws here or there.  Like a drunken jaunt through a ballroom, the movie covers Hollywood politics but also the tie to real-world politics, as Hearst uses his reach to attempt to manipulate world events, even bleeding into Hollywood.  There are lots of plot threads in Mank but it feels more cohesive on that than another movie about movies that I really love in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.  The political storyline is woven into all the Hearst stuff but honestly it just didn’t read as nearly as interesting as it should’ve been.  The Orson Welles and at the house stuff was just more fascinating than the election/party stuff in flashback, and that’s not just because of my love for Kane and Welles.  I didn’t need this to be like the very good Liev Schreiber-led HBO movie from 1999 “RKO 281” (a blow by blow account of making Citizen Kane), but I hoped for something a bit closer.  Still, I really enjoy Fincher’s visual filmmaking and I think that (along with the score) is where this film shines the most.  Even filler-type conversations can carry lots of tension, and that’s such a big asset in a movie.

Da 5 Bloods (dir. Spike Lee)
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.  I won’t set out all the various issues being dealt with in the movie Da 5 Bloods because they are numerous and I’m sure I’ll miss some, but everything from BLM to Vietnam vet aftermath to father-son relationships is tackled pretty expertly and entertainingly here, with plenty of humor tossed into what still boils out to something of a war retribution movie.  What starts out as a jokey “one last vacation hoorah” kind of vibe becomes a 3 Kings kind of soldier treasure hunt (with some Treasure of Sierra Madre references tossed in for good measure), then descends into chaos as things go wrong and others vie for the gold.  Like that’s the basic stuff, but there’s so much in here.  The plight of black American soldiers.  Fathers and sons.  BLM.  Where we left things with Vietnam.  It’s a lot, and it’s a long movie, but only rarely do things get muddled or dull (just a few stretches of long musical walking parts really).  Some incredible performances here too, most notably Delroy Lindo, who I always remember as Satchel Paige in the HBO movie Soul of the Game because it was my first education in Negro League baseball.  The rest of the cast fills out nicely too, with a couple of The Wire cast members thrown in for good measure.  I can see this being very rewatchable, as there are some pretty dense visual scenes and complex ensemble scenes that I likely didn’t drink in as much as I should’ve.  I would’ve liked to see this on the big screen I think- the jungle landscapes in particular.  Easily among my favorites of the year.

Soul (dir. Pete Docter)This hits all of the expected Pixar beats and has a strong emotional theme, even if it takes a bit of time to get there and the journey doesn’t hit the highs of something like Inside Out, which I think is the best parallel for this with the non-corporeal events and the reflection about what really makes up life and being a person.  But damn if this isn’t an otherwise very enjoyable and well-made movie, with some spot-on casting (Foxx and Fey shine, sure, but so do all of the supporting characters, particularly Phylicia Rashad as Joe’s mom).  The layer of difficulty in their relationship is ultra relatable and would, I think, hang with anyone who’s had that tough conversation about passion vs. profession with their parent(s).  Pixar films are full of these moments and this is no exception.
PG: Psycho Goreman (dir. Steven Kostanski)Yes- this is one of my top movies of the year.  Somehow this manages to be an exciting sci-fi story with lots of characters and moving parts, a thrilling action movie, a gory killfest horror movie, and a tender family drama (yeah, right?) all at once, and it still works because although there are a lot of silly elements, it handles its serious moments with real care.  Kid actors are overall mostly terrible, but in this, the brother/sister team (especially the girl playing Mimi) are pretty great and manage to pull off the contentious sibling relationship well.  Mimi is an absolute bad bitch, and I’m all for it as she commands a space monster to do her bidding.  That’s a fine enough movie idea there, but her minion (who she and her brother Luke dub “Psycho Goreman” because of course they do) is being pursued by those who imprisoned him to start with.  But those pursuers aren’t all good either…. Like, this has LAYERS.  It’s a silly monster movie, but it’s also not.

Promising Young Woman (dir. Emerald Fennell)An ambitious and profoundly unsettling feature debut from director Emerald Fennell that doesn’t always stick the landing but is more than happy enough to go try anyway.  There’s a lot to like about this movie, most notably the lead acting performances by Carrie Mulligan and Bo Burnham.  For me, they’re both sort of in the same boat as underrated talents but Mulligan has repeatedly proved herself in great acting performances and Burnham’s most notable accomplishments are as a unique standup comedian and writer/director of the film Eighth Grade.  They both really show a lot here, as there are stark shifts between bubbly rom-com moments and encounters of pure hate and terror.  I think we drag a bit much through establishing Mulligan’s m.o. and how she’s spending her nights (wow, this is gonna be TOUGH without spoilers) and I think the ultimate resolution at the end of the film goes on far too long.  On top of that, there are a couple of long musical montages that eek well into the territory of unnecessary/boring.  These hurt the pace of the film, sure, but there are some interesting twists (one is pretty predictable but how we get there is kind of interesting anyway) that fuel things enough.  I was surprised that Burnham had such a big role in this and I wonder why he hasn’t done more acting of note (though it must be difficult to cast him since he’s apparently 8 feet tall).  Will we see “Bo Burnham, leading man” become a thing?

Additional Top 5:

Nomadland (dir. Chloe Zhao)I’m perpetually cracking wise about how this movie has one of America’s finest actresses Frances McDormand very loudly shitting in a bucket at one point, but I really rather liked this film.  The best picture winner clicked with me as a portrait of a largely unseen section of American culture, and while I wouldn’t give it a 5 star rating (actually none of the nearly 70 “new” movies I ranked on Letterboxd this year got 5 stars), I’d still say it’s a movie worth seeing.  Zhao thrives in showing the claustrophobic nature of wide open spaces which is obviously difficult, and I though the use of mostly non-actors in supporting roles did serve as immersive look at this lifestyle.  Still, it was a bit too understated at times and I don’t think the emotional impacts really linger, but McDormand is fantastic and it’s still among my favorites of the year.

Trial of the Chicago 7 (dir. Aaron Sorkin)I was reluctant to jump in on this after being disappointed with Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Molly’s Game, but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, even if it has its warts.  Sorkin is a talented writer but I think his stuff works best when somewhat restrained by a skilled director (see Moneyball… no really, fucking see it).  Here, I think he learned some things and the movie thrives when it’s trusted to the performances and not the material.  However, Sorkin seemingly can’t help himself and we still get some over-gripped white-knuckle dialogue in that rapid-fire way that just never works as intended.  Furthermore, I think the musical choices here are overproduced- we don’t need those flourishes nearly as much as you think we do.  There’s such a thing as over-polishing a movie and I think that’s an issue here at times.  The audience can tell when it’s not trusted to “get it”.  Buuuuut, I really liked it.  The performances are pretty great across the board and I think the casting is pretty brilliant.  Sacha Baron-Cohen is my standout, though the impressive work by Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Mark Rylance, and the rest cannot be ignored.  And Frank Langella is a real force as the stubborn judge as well.  The only real misfire is Eddie Redmayne, but even he is… fine.  I think he really only has one speed as an actor and in the right role he’s quite good, but the more I see of him the more I think Theory of Everything is his peak.  Overall, I think some of the political statements (this is very much a historical “yeah but this is still happening!” kind of film) are heavyhanded and a lot of the racial stuff with the Black Panther party seems tacked-on and kind of paint-by-numbers, but it works enough and is an engaging enough watch to win me over.

Minari (dir. Lee Isaac Chung)- A lot of up-and-down here for me, as I love some of the themes and the nostalgic elements of childhood in the eighties, but a lot of the family melodrama doesn’t land for me and the story turns feel a bit contrived.  The visuals too are rather flat and while I think this gives the actors room to carry a scene, it is overdone.  The acting is really pretty great, though, and I think particularly the kid playing young boy David shines as particularly relatable and natural.  Just a bit too much “I guess we’re doing this” for my tastes, though.
She Dies Tomorrow (dir. Amy Seimetz)I’m a big fan of Seimetz’s work as an actress and also as a director, particularly her feature debut Sun Don’t Shine.  Beyond that, I think this really hammers home how dynamic yet comfortable she is in drastic shifts in look, tone, sound, and more in her films.  She’s very okay with jarring the audience a bit, and while I think the way this operates in terms of serving the story can be hit or miss, I recognize the efforts so positively that I can’t dislike it.  This is very self-contained and grounded enough in the flatter conventional style that comes up, which contrasts nicely with some of the more intimate moments.  There’s something very real here in that David Foster Wallace “girl eating a bologna sandwich” kind of appeal, and I’m curious to see Seimetz take on some bigger features as a director.

Sound of Metal (dir. Darius Marder)Alternate Title Idea: “Life After Deaf”.  This was definitely a bit of a paint-by-numbers awardsy film, but I think there’s enough unique stuff to keep it interesting and I was really moved by the journey.  For whatever reason I thought this would be about the music industry and an established musician trying to cope with losing his hearing.  It is not that, thankfully, as I think that movie would be dull and predictable.  Instead this is about a metal drummer just scraping by on a small tour with his girlfriend/lead singer (Olivia Cooke) and he pretty much goes deaf right from the get-go.  I really like the direction that this does in regarding Ruben’s exploration of himself via writing, learning to sign, etc.  I thought him going through with the surgery so soon was disappointing, but the fact that it doesn’t solve his problems is refreshing.  The movie really shines through Ahmed’s performance but also (as has been discussed repeatedly) on the sound design.  I think the way they express what he hears doesn’t feel as gimmicky as it could.

And Another 5 That Didn’t Slot In:

Borat 2 (dir. Jason Woliner)No way I’m putting the whole title.  This was just as outrageous and laugh-out-loud facepalm funny as I’d hoped it would be, but also had a lot of heart and threw a few great curveballs too, making it a perfect late-night watch in these weird times.  Maria Bakalova plays Borat’s daughter Tutar with the same frantic energy as her dad, but with her own unique naive spin to it that keeps it fresh.  Her performance hits a pinnacle for me when she’s giving a speech at a conservative women’s conference and discusses how her vagina didn’t bite her hand off.  It’s… insane.  I liked this a bit more than some of my peers I think, though I agree that the here-and-now of the political satire in the film likely won’t age as well as some of the more universal elements of this film’s predecessor.  To me, the precision of this designed insanity just gets it that extra little bump for me, though I’m honestly not the biggest fan of “cringe humor” generally.

The History of the Seattle Mariners (dir. Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein) (I’m considering this a feature documentary)Writer and video essayist Jon Bois occupies a strange corner of the pop culture landscape where if you’re a certain kind of sports fan you know him very well and if you’re not you likely have no idea who he is.  He started out making youtube videos about essentially “breaking” the statistical boundaries of sports video games and then progressed into furiously researched, mostly sports-based topics (with the occasional video about Kiefer Sutherland on 24 or amateur ballooning between videos about there being a lack of Bobs in pro athletics).  His long-form piece “17776” isn’t a film as much as it’s a multi-media experimental art piece about college football in 15000+ years.  That sounds limiting, and it can be, but I’d align him with Charlie Brooker in terms of finding unique aspects and sharp, minimalist writing to tell stories (“The Cleveland Browns were born ghosts” is still a brilliant phrase).  Anyway, this Mariners documentary / video essay was released in sections but edited into a cohesive 3 1/2 hour-long documentary and may not appeal much to non-sports fans, but Bois’ video style (Google Earth combined with a scrolling calendar, if that makes sense) is perfect for this long difficult history of the M’s, and his John Carpenter-like score at the reveal of Ichiro and the 2001 season is one of my favorite things of the year.

Hopper/Welles (dir. Orson Welles)
A conversation movie between two very interesting men, but large sections of it are just Dennis Hopper trying to defend himself against verbal assumptions from Welles, which gets tiresome. 
Bill & Ted Face the MusicA solid story and fun bits in a fan-servicey package that never quite hits the lofty heights of decades of expectation, but still a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot.  Oddly Alex Winter’s performance outshines Keanu Reeves’.

Gretel & Hansel (dir. Oz Perkins) A disappointing effort from Oz Perkins, who is a very promising horror director now that he’s stopped acting in movies like the Gary Busey dog body-swapping Christian film Quigley.  It’s baffling that there are so many scenes at a dinner table in this, and the slow-burn atmospheric stuff that I loved so much about Perkins’ last film The Blackcoat’s Daughter just doesn’t work here and is dull in large amounts.  Still, the wild and surreal imagery of the last parts are pretty great.

Bad Boys For Life (dir. Bilall Fallah, Adil El Arbi) Oh god- was this my favorite action movie of the year?  Granted, I never saw the new Michael Bay one on Netflix, and a lot of studios held off on releasing action movies when theaters were still closed (superhero movies among them).  Regardless, this is a really solid film that balances the legacy of the franchise with some fresh takes on the buddy cop genre, even if it doesn’t live up to the high bar for recent action favorites of mine.
The Last DanceSomehow not even my favorite sports documentary of the year, but I guess it’s technically a short docu-series and not a film.  Even so, it’s fascinating and very, very thorough, so if you have even a passing interest in Michael Jordan and those Bulls teams, check it out.
HAVE NOT SEEN: Small Axe films, American Utopia, Kajillionaire, One Night in Miami, and many more I’m sure