HLS Movie Awards Nominees: Best Picture
Welcome back to HLS Movie Awards Nominees this weeks installment Best Picture, aka this years final Top Movies of 2020 Part 5 10-1. Though unfortunately the order of 10-1 is not revealed until next week during the HLS Movie Awards. This list like all nominee list is in alphabetical order, not a ranking.
We have ten wonderful movies that we would recommend to everyone to watch, from a variety of genres and tones. We truly believe these are the best movies released IN 2020 bar none. And remember the requirement that the movie has to have come out IN 2020 to be eligible.
Doing these rankings and nominees lists have been a blast again this year and they will be back next to recap 2021 movies again earlier next year. We actually have a new series coming out "The First Period Report", 2021 movie schedule has been broken down into three periods like hockey. The First Period is filled with Oscar nominees among other streaming hits. The Second Period is filled with tons of movies that were supposed to come out in 2020 but were pushed into spring/summer of this year. And The Third Period will be filled with tons of genre films as well as the usual award season releases. 1st Period January-April, 2nd Period May-August, 3rd Period September-December.
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 their 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!
Another Round - IMDb Score: 7.8
Another Round is such a wonderfully crafted movie by director Thomas Vinterberg who has rightfully received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and would be a deserving winner. The honest truth of this movie is Mads Mikkelsen is the primary reason most people saw this movie. Mikkelsen was the pull, the big name in the non English speaking film that the movie grabs that attention and just runs with it gleefully.
The story is about a group of teachers who work at a school together that are just in a rut of life. During a dinner together, the idea is brought up that there is a research study saying human are born with a alcohol level just slightly too low. The reasoning is that that when just barely buzzed our brain is less restricted, more open to new ideas, happier and think more clearly. The group of men decide to hold their own experiment to each be just barely drunk going about their normal day to test the hypothesis. Things escalate, story happens.
Please, please do not be off put by this movie not being in English, it is lovely trust me. If not then you can come back here and yell at me in the comments and I promise to respond.
First Cow - IMDb Score: 7.1
A24 might have the best hit rate of any production company working. While A24 might be known by most as the production company that does more horror / thriller movies like Midsommar and Hereditary, I highly recommend branching out into their filmography they have films that cross many different genres. Like First Cow for example is just a simple story, of what happened when the very first cow reached the Oregon territory.
Otis 'Cookie' Figowitz and King Lu are our two main characters. King Lu is a Chinese immigrant who is on the run and Cookie a skilled cookie who has been traveling with a group of fur trappers. The pair team up and live and work together along the wilderness of the Oregon trail. The pair end up stealing milk from the only cow for probably thousands of miles, to make sweet biscuits to sell at the fort. Plot happens things escalate. But not too swiftly, this movie is a purposefully slow paced film about the friendship and bond between Lu and Cookie. There is no wild twist or reveal so do not expect that, it is just a wonderfully crafted movie about two men lost in the world who find peace in their friendship together. Which is rare to see in a film.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things - IMDb Score: 6.6
Boy oh boy this movie man. Off the top I think you either love Charlie Kaufman movies or you don't, I am not sure if there is much middle ground there to work with. This is one of the most dialogue heavy films I have seen in awhile and I adored it. This entire screenplay is beautifully done. The no reveal reveal of this entire movie is something you either pick up on or have no idea, but it all wonderfully falls in place and is explained very simply in one short sentence. No I am not putting the explanation here I want you to watch the movie and if you did not catch it, or think you did, I will have my Twitter dms open and will happily tell you the sentence.
This entire cast is incredible between our leads, Jesse Buckley and Jesse Plemons, and Plemons parents in the movie Toni Collette and David Thewlis. This movie is about the Jesses returning to Plemons childhood home so Buckley can meet his parents for the first time in their relationship. Simple set up right? The madness continues from there.
Mank - IMDb Score: 7.0
David Fincher is regarded as one of the best directors working and rightfully so, this film using a script his late father wrote in the 90's is a sweet touch to an incredible movie. This movie is about alcoholic writer Herman J. Mankiewicz as he scolded and drank his way through Hollywood in the 30's and how he comes to write the screenplay for the revered Citizen Kane. Quick film lesson for you, what is the best movie of all time? Obviously there is no defined answer for that, but Citizen Kane has been highly regarded as the closest to the truth to that question for the most part of the last 80 years since it was released in 1941.
Most movies to reach this far in the rankings has to have an incredibly talented cast and this movie is no exception. With Gary Oldman in the leading role as Mank, it was so awesome to to Amanda Seyfried not only hold her own but steal scenes from the rest of the cast as she just feels like she was made for old timey Hollywood movies.
The Outpost - IMDb Score: 6.8
This movie is about the true story about the battle that took place at the US Outpost Keating in Afghanistan back in 2009. This incredible true story about soldiers placed in a losing situation at a based deemed undefendable, this film tells the story of a truly heroic moment in history as Bravo group 36-1 cavalry became the most decorated unit of the Afghanistan War. Including two living soldiers receiving the Medal of Honor for the same battle for the first time in 50 years.
No shock here the cast is incredible but Caleb Landry Jones is really the stand out, in his role as SPC Ty Carter. This is a truly great war film that will be remembered for years to come.
Palm Springs - IMDb Score: 7.4
Palm Springs might be the best comedy we have gotten in so many years. So much pure comedy with a science fiction endless time loop scenario thrown in for giggles. Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti are two wedding guest stuck in an endless time loop that resets every time they fall asleep or die.
This is just a fun romp of a movie that I can not recommend higher when it comes to comedies. I have yet to talk with someone that finished this movie disappointed. JK Simmons getting to act weird and wonky is always a win and as the least serious movie on this list I recommend to use it as a palate cleanser if you plan to marathon a few of these movies.
Promising Young Woman - IMDb Score: 7.5
Writer Director Emerald Fennell does an absolute stunning job in telling this narrative through the writing and visuals as she was nominated for Oscars for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. But the nominations do not stop there as Carey Mulligan is up for Best Actress in a leading role and the film as a whole is up for Best Picture.
This movie follows Carey Mulligan's Cassandra as she goes through life seeking vengeance on the disgusting horrible men who are committing acts of sexual violence and all of those who allow this to happen. Traumatized by what happened in her past Cassandra has spent so much time and effort planning her final revenge amongst spending her nights catching these horrible men.
This movie gets dark in a very real way and it is outstanding.
Sound of Metal - IMDb Score: 7.8
Another movie rightfully up for many Academy Awards (six) Sound of Metal is a heartfelt story about Riz Ahmed's Ruben dealing with hearing loss. This movie steps the audience in multiple new worlds that are unknown to most people unless you or a family member are going through it. Into the world of a touring metal duo, a duo in which both are recovering addicts fighting to stay clean, and into the world of the hearing impaired.
One of the best compliments I can give to this movies writer and director Darius Marder is this movie does such an excellent job of showing Ruben's growth that the audience feels like we are learning with him. I found myself remembering and signing certain things that Ruben learns in ASL. A little reveal behind the curtain, watch the movie with subtitles on (you should be doing that for all movies anyway), before Ruben begins to learn signed conversations do not appear on subtitles but once he does they all do.
The cast of this movie is of course outstanding but especially in our three leads. Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci are both nominated for Oscars for their roles in this movie but Olivia Cooke also deserves to be in that same conversation as she does so much in her more limited screen time in this movie.
Tenet - IMDb Score: 7.5
This science fiction espionage film was not the savior of theaters that Christopher Nolan wanted it to be this past September but it still an excellent film. This movie is so wonderfully and made so well it is rightfully up for both Production Design and Visual Effects Academy Awards. Nolan has had his issues with sound mixing where certain dialogue can be lost in the shuffle, sometimes this in on purpose and people have confused this with bad sound mixing. Just watch all movies with subtitles on and adapt and get over it, it is so much more positive viewing experience never missing a word in a conversation, or the little hints and nods you get through their descriptions.
John David Washington is great as the movies protagonist, so much so that we never really think about never knowing his name the entire film. Robert Pattinson's Neil and Elizabeth Debicki's Kat are both great in their roles but the true stand out is Kenneth Branagh's Sator. Branagh puts on an amazing growling villain performance that I am upset has not received more love.
But what is the plot? That is the confusing part so I will break it down as simply as possible. John David Washington's character is thrust into an espionage mission to stop the world from being destroyed from the future.
Trial of the Chicago 7 - IMDb Score: 7.8
This movie is about the protests and events surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the trial thereafter. This true story shines a light on the governments agenda surrounding these events and highlighting the terrible things that happened.
This films cast is way too star studded to single anyone out as it is incredible from top to bottom. This movie can come off like it just feels as if it was made to be Oscar bait but this movie is so much more. Top to bottom EXCELLENT acting with amazing writing that elevates each scene from what could have been a snooze fest into a thought provoking film about human rights, and what it is to be human, what life entails the good and the bad.
Thank you so much for reading! Especially huge thank you to everyone who had read each nomination list and has been asking when this one was coming. The kind words I have received about them mean so much to me, thank you.
EDIT: Here is the HLS Movie Awards
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