HLS Top Movies of 2020 Part 3! 50-26
Welcome back to part three of HLS Top Movies of 2020! Now only a few people have been too angry at me for a couple spots on my list (Birds of Prey) and I imagine this chunk will anger a few more people. If you are just seeing this and did not get a chance to read Part 1 or Part 2 I would love it if you clicked those links to have the opportunity to do so, just in case so you do not think I might have missed one of your favorite movies of the year! And you know, I like watched the numbers go up so please share with your friends!
Now with every movie I am going to be putting what I personally think is the safest grading scale out there, the IMDB user rating score. Here is a simple breakdown of what there 0.0-10 grading scale means:
0.1-5.0 = Horrible waste of time
5.1-6.4 = Risky might be good might be garbage
6.5-7.4 = Good solid movie
7.5+ = Movie that is widely adored by everyone
Now this is not a gold standard but is a good starting point, on to the movies. On to the movies!
50. Come Play - IMDb Score: 5.7
Oh wow I am stunned at the IMDb Score being 5.7, but honestly that is how scary movies generally go they very rarely get everyone on board loving it. I personally thought Gillian Jacobs and Azhy Robertson did very well in their roles. The Story was pretty straight forward yet absolutely bonkers at the same time which of course is a very delicate balance. the film follows Azhy Robertson's Oliver and his parents (Gillian Jacobs' Sarah and John Gallagher Jr.'s Marty) as Oliver struggles with his daily live dealing with autism and is lonely and disconnected from the world. Oliver's loneliness attracts a Monster named Larry that manifests itself through various mobile devices.
49. Greyhound (AppleTv) - IMDb Score: 7.0
Tom Hanks plays inexperienced United States Naval Commander Captain Ernest Krause as he leads thirty-seven Allied ships during the Battle of the Atlantic. His job is to lead the convoy of ships across the Atlantic safely as possible. The giant convoy is attacked by German Uboats and are picked off one by one, only thing stopping them from decimating the entire convoy is Captain Krause. Simple survival against great odds movie, the realism of the ship and the practical effects used by creating the ship on a sound stage really adds to the realism that carries this movie.
48. Enola Holmes (Netflix) - IMDb Score: 6.6
Enola Holmes is the wise cracking, 4th wall breaking, youngest Holmes sibling played by Millie Bobby Brown. When her mother goes missing Enola sets off to find her but also must outwit her brothers Mycroft and Sherlock (played by Sam Clafin and Henry Cavill respectively). This movie is just a fun lively movie that I kind of hope gets a sequel so they are able to go deeper into Enola's character, we know so much about Sherlock and Mycroft, but the character of Enola was invented for the 2006 young adult novel series so there is so much room for growth. no telling where the story could go.
47. Amulet - IMDb Score: 4.7
Let us talk quickly about the IMDb score, this IS a very well made good move, as I have gone into before horror movies can be hit or miss with scores because just some people will just hate it because it is a scary movie. Going through some of the IMDb user reviews it is very obvious this movie got passed around as some "anti men, feminist propaganda" which, it just isn't. This is just a bonkers horror film that is very well done and has the world's most hateable person in it Dolores Umbridge.
46. Blow the Man Down (Prime) - IMDb Score: 6.4
The movie takes place in the tiny northeastern town of Easter Cove Maine and is about two sisters, Mary Beth and Priscilla Connolly (played by Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe respectively) who after their mother's funeral the whole town seemingly takes a spiral for the darker. Do not watch trailers just watch the movie saying hardly anything of the plot is a spoiler. This movie is a dark comedy "thriller" that I highly recommend. This is also the line of demarcation in this list of movies that are just very well made and most people will find something in them they enjoy.
45. Bad Education (HBO) - IMDb Score: 7.1
Bad Education follows the adored superintendent of Roslyn school district in New York, Frank Tassone played by Hugh Jackman, as he becomes the prime suspect of the largest public school embezzlement scandal in the history of American public school systems. Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney are amazing in this, as well as Geraldine Viswanathan as she plays Rachel Bhargava the student reporter who helped break this entire story.
44. The Way Back - IMDb Score: 6.7
Jack Cunningham, Ben Affleck, is a severe alcoholic construction worker who was an incredible high school basketball player that walked away from the game. He is approached by his alma mater to take over as head coach of the basketball team and is challenged to turn not only them around but himself around as well. This movie was a very personal movie for Ben Affleck because of his own issues with alcohol and his performance in this movie shows, he does an incredible job.
43. The Half of it (Netflix) - IMDb Score: 6.9
Ellie Chu, played by Leah Lewis, is a very smart straight A student that earns money by writing papers for her classmates to help her widower father pay bills, but when she agrees to write a love letter for a classmate her whole life is flipped upside down. This is the prototypical great movie that got lost in the shuffle of the giant catalog of movies that Netflix has and it should have been promoted more.
42. Arkansas - IMDb Score: 6.0
Watch out for this movie in coming years. This movie was Clark Duke's directorial debut as he wrot, directed and starred in this movie about two men Kyle and Swin, Liam Hemsworth and Clark Duke respectively, who work for a drug kingpin in Arkansas named Frog. Frog, played by Vince Vaughn, is the mysterious looming character that Kyle and Swin have never met and could not even pick him out of a lineup. I say watch out for this movie because it has all the makings of a movie that becomes a cult classic, people are coming around to this movie after for whatever reason bashing it when it first came out. Definitely worth your time watching.
41. Bill and Ted Face the Music - IMDb Score: 6.1
Ah Bill and Ted Face the Music, the triplet completing the breathtaking trilogy about two dudes from San Dimas California that were told by the future they were destined to write the song that would unite the world, well now middle-aged the duo has yet to write the song that unites the world and the future comes calling again with plans of their own. This movie, all three for that matter, should NOT work as a movie that follows up its predecessor from nearly thirty years ago. But somehow it does, the movie does muddle around towards the end but the final climax of the third act is most definitely worth it dudes.
40. Run (Hulu) - IMDb Score: 6.7
This movie is gut wrenching with multiple shocks and twists. Sadly though this is another movie I can not really tell too much about without spoiling the movie but I can brag about how creepy Sarah Paulson is playing Kiera Allen's characters overbearing mother, Kiera by the way puts on a great performance for an actor with so few acting credits to their name I hope to see her in many more films! What I can also do is tell you to click here to watch the trailer.
39. Relic (Hulu) - IMDb Score: 6.0
If you would have asked me before looking up this movies IMDb score what it was I would guess somewhere mid to high sevens, I was SHOCKED at the 6.0 I mean this movie is on certain awards lists for BEST PICTURE. Now I don't think it is that good obviously with my ranking at 39 but I found this movie very creepy and unsettling and just amazingly made. Emily Mortimer is of course wonderful as always.
38. The Night Clerk (Netflix) - IMDb Score: 5.5
I am honestly ready to get past these type of certain movies that obviously the IMDb score is wrong and I am correct, but all jokes aside I feel like some of the low scores might come from Tye Sheridan playing a character that is somewhere on the autism spectrum and being someone who does not know much about the subject but I did not find his portrayal any sort of insensitive. On to the movie itself I found I very entertaining and very well done to the point I read some of the negative reviews to people complaining it was not some phycological thriller they were expecting but the movie is not really made out to be one. I would be lying if I said this movie as not carried by the actors in it, Tye Sheridan and Ana De Armas are two extremely talented actors that will be headlining movies for decades to come.
37. The Rental - IMDb Score: 5.7
Last one with a "bad" IMDb score good ridance. This one is simply another scary/horror movie getting the bad reviews simply for it being that type of movie. This movie is the second Scooby Doo Movie of 2020, read that then come try to argue and tell me it isn't. Honestly I kind of love the idea of taking a breakdown of a cast of a kids show and reworking those characters into a scary/horror movie like this obviously did (on purpose or not). This movie very obviously tried to set itself up to kickoff a new slasher killer franchise and honestly I am down for some new blood in the slasher genre. I am tired of the Jasons and Mike Meyers getting a million movies, let us let this RBnB killer have a few installments.
36. Da 5 Bloods - IMDb Score: 6.5
Spike Lee is one of the most celebrated modern directors for good reason, this is not his best work. I enjoyed the movie very much obviously it is at 36 on my list, but there are too many mistakes in it that it is definitely not deserving of the best picture nominations it is getting. Just quickly every single scene with guns in it (quite a few) has laughably bad sound mixing and just logic issues (Chadwick Boseman's Norman raising a M4 Rifle with a shotgun cocking noise inexplicably added on top). But I am not here to be negative about the movie, it is still an incredible movie with one of my absolute favorite acting performances of the year with Delroy Lindo's Paul (spoiler alert for HLS Movie Awards).
35. Soul (Disney+) - IMDb Score: 8.1
This movie has probably the best animation I have ever scene in anything hard stop, it is absolutely stunningly beautiful and deserve every visual effect award. My one negative note is more of a compliment to previous Pixar movies in that Soul really did not have that emotional gut punch that Pixar movies are known for. The story is great, it is a fun beautiful movie but there just was not a Bing Bong or Mama Coco moment to rip your heart out. And sorry to the fans of this movie but I do not believe it was even the best Pixar movie that was released in 2020.
34. Lost Girls (Netflix) - IMDb Score: 6.1
Amy Ryan, best known for Holly Fax on The Office, puts on a grief filled performance as Mari Gilbert the mother of a girl that has gone missing, and when police inaction drives her to investigate her daughters missing person case herself she discovers a multitude of lost girls who have just slipped through society's cracks. This sad look at the reality of certain parts of the world is both upsetting and angering that cases like this happen all the time.
33.Shirley (Hulu) - IMDb Score: 6.2
Elizabeth Moss had one hell of a 2020 between Shirley, working on season four of Handmaids Tale and another movie on this list, she really is one of the best actors working right now and deserves to be celebrated as such. In this movie she plays a horror genre novelist that is trying to write her next novel and finds inspiration in the young couple that comes to live with them. This isn't some gorey mess of a movie it is just an unsettling movie and all of the creepiness just emanates from Elizabeth Moss' acting it is amazing how unnerving she can be. We should call this section the "My one issue" section because each of the past few movies just had a hang-up for me to stop them from being ranked higher, and this movie is no different, the damn stupid wig she wears in this movie is one of the worst I have ever seen. To the point I thought it was part of the movie that the character was going to be bald but wears a wig but no, just a bad prop.
32. Onward - IMDb Score: 7.4
Well here is the answer for what I thought the best Pixar movie of the year was, didn't have to wait long. It is not like I believed this movie is miles ahead of Soul, it isn't, this movie just had a better story with (admittedly worse than Soul's) great animation. Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are just gold together as well we need more movies with them together, I was about to say a buddy cop or road trip movie but this movie is essentially a movie about two brothers going on a road trip/mission to bring back their dad for a day. Beautiful movie about family, brothers specifically that has the twist of existing in a fantasy world that has been modernized where Orcs, Elves, Manticores, Fairies, Centaurs etc. all live in harmony together but magic has all but disappeared from the world due to technological advancements.
31. Emma - IMDb Score: 6.7
Emma is obviously another adaptation of the beloved Jane Austin novel about a young girl named Emma, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, in the 1800's and how she meddles with the love lives of those around her. Anya Taylor-Joy is going to be one of the biggest movie stars in the world very soon, she just has whatever IT is keep an eye out for her upcoming movies. This was a movie that is just so excellently crafted across the board but the story just doe not connect with me so it fell down my list.
30. On The Rocks (AppleTv) - IMDb Score: 6.5
Sofia Coppola + Bill Murray + story about someone feeling lost and less than = another great movie, this time Bill Murray is not the focus of the film that honor goes to Rashida Jones and her character of Laura. This movie is about how Laura feels like she is sort of a rut with her life and comes to believe her husband, played by Marlon Wayans, is cheating on her. What does Laura do? Call up her playboy estranged father, Bill Murray, and follow her husband trying to get to the bottom of what is going on.
29. Extraction (Netflix) - IMDb Score: 6.7
Director Sam Hargrave's directorial debut for a major full length film was a gigantic success. Extraction has some of the best stunt work and action scenes we have seen in most movies not called John Wick or The Raid, and we expect nothing less from the mind of the man who has being doing stunts and running second unit stunt shoots for years. Hargrave cut his teeth in the film industry getting thrown and kicked around doing amazing stunt work, I am so excited to see his career move forward as the main person behind the camera. Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake a Mercenary hired to locate and rescue the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. Having a simple straight forward story keeps this movie from being elevated higher up the list up it is still just an action filled fun movie. I hope for multiple sequels.
28. Happiest Season (Hulu) - IMDb Score: 6.7
I guess I have been burnt out on just horrible romantic comedies that get pumped out by the dozen at Netflix each year that I was just shocked with how much I loved this movie. This cast also mike that the cake for having the most "Oh I know them from ___" seems like cherry picking actors that people like and putting them with a sweet and charming but real script equals a good movie, who would've known.
27. The Personal History of David Copperfield - IMDb Score: 6.4
Dev Patel stars as David Copperfield in this modern retelling of the classic Charles Dickens tale about a young orphan who fights tooth and nail to climb above his birth and to join the ranks of the Lords and Ladies and Gentlemen of Society. Dev Patel is heart warming as always in this story of the trails and tribulations that young David goes through as he learns more about himself and the world around him. This movie is also in the running for top "Oh I know them from ___" award.
26. His House (Netflix) - IMDb Score: 6.5
His House is a haunting movie about a couple who are refugees from South Sudan who are going through the hardships of adjusting to their new life in England and doing their best to fit in and be allowed to stay in their new home, meanwhile a cursed evil haunts the very walls they live in. This movie is about the past and the future about having to reap what you sow and about how things might not always be what you expect them to be. Man I love it when I am shocked by a horror/scary movie by how much I enjoy it, 2020 really might have been the year of the horror genre. We went through hell in the real world and on the screen.
Thank you so much for reading part 3! 25-11 will be coming up shortly for part 4, which might be the most motley bunch of them all. Please hit subscribe at top to keep updated every time I make a post! And be sure follow me on twitter where you can come yell at me how I am wrong about your favorite movie or just to chat about which are your favorites!
