Call this feature “overlooked films” if you liked, and if you saw them, and yes, there’s some crossover with some of our other Best of 2020 features, like the 25 Best Films Of 2020, the 20 Best Performances Of 2020, etc. but that’s ok!

READ MORE: The Best Cinematography Of 2020

2020 was a year where movie-lovers learned how to watch movies in an entirely different way. Since theaters were shut down across much of America for most of the year and many of the year’s more anticipated offerings were either shuffled off the annual slate until 2021, or relegated to streaming services a la “Wonder Woman 1984,” our regular routine of watching, analyzing, and obsessing over films was more or less completely upended.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 You Didn’t See at The Playlist.

The deck for 2021 film releases was shuffled yet again late last year, adding yet another wrinkle to what has undoubtedly been one of, if not the most tumultuous yearlong period for domestic film distribution in history. Obviously, some of 2021’s bigger blockbusters still have (tentative) release dates (see our massive 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 feature): we’re thinking of Denis Villeneuve’s hotly-anticipated “Dune” adaptation, which was supposed to be in theaters last December, and also Adam Wingard’s long-delayed “Godzilla Vs.

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2021 We’ve Already Seen at The Playlist.

Would it be a brand new year if we didn’t have the unveiling of Steven Soderbergh’s watch list? At this point, if you’re a huge film fan, you probably come to expect the big release of everything the filmmaker watched over the past year, looking over every entry to try to piece together what Soderbergh loved and what he skipped. And in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing him to not make a half dozen films, it appears that Soderbergh did a lot of film and TV watching.

Continue reading Steven Soderbergh’s Most Watched Film Of 2020 Is ‘Mank,’ According To His ‘Seen, Read 2020’ List at The Playlist.

With 2020 finally coming to a close, The Playlist Podcast adds one more Best Of list to the pile. Well, not so much a Best Of, but instead, Charles, Mike, and Brian talk about the only list that “New Mutants” might find itself on this year, the Most Disappointing Films of 2020.

LISTEN: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’: A Bold New Era For The Hero Or A Campy, Ridiculous Mess?

Continue reading The Most Disappointing Films Of 2020 [The Playlist Podcast] at The Playlist.

To say 2020 has been a rough year would be a gross understatement. Sometimes, it helps to pinch one’s self, as a kind of gentle reminder that what we’re living through is not normal, and that it won’t always be this way. Many of us have been put through the wringer this year (again, an understatement), and we can only hope to emerge on the other side with more reluctant hope for what comes next, less time for Donald Trump and his criminal ilk, and dreams of a vaccine reaching the American public sooner rather than later.

Continue reading Nicholas Laskin’s Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

I will spare you the introduction that I am sure you knew would begin this piece. You know it all already, because we lived it together. This year just wouldn’t end. The real world was literally nightmarish for millions of people. If any movies gave you solace, I’m glad to hear it. Here are the top 10 that found their way into my heart. 

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

Click here to follow along with our various Best of 2020 lists.

Continue reading Roxana Hadadi’s Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

There is no way to truly recap the biggest entertainment stories of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the world in ways that will take years to document, whether the public wants to revisit or reflect on this time or not. And it also made some stories, even from a movie or television industry perspective, seem inconsequential. But there were either pop culture events or business dealings that need to be documented. And, you might be surprised by some of them.

Continue reading Biggest Entertainment Stories Of 2020: A Year That Rocked The Industry at The Playlist.

I’ve been holed up in Brooklyn since early March, save a few treks across state lines via rental car, and on each of those trips I’ve been sure to visit a drive-in. That’s how I caught “Jaws” on the Fourth of July, and “Boys State” and “The Rental.” But half of the movies on this, my top 10 favorite movies of 2020 list, are ones that I saw in honest-to-god theaters way back in the spring. 

Continue reading Lena Wilson’s Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Every year, we’re inundated with Best Of lists from all over the place. However, no matter if it’s from Pedro Almodovar, Barack Obama, or even us, there’s one thing that binds them all together—subjectivity. Well, over at review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, the website aims to limit the subjectivity as much as possible by just crunching the numbers for its best films and TV series of the year.

Continue reading Rotten Tomatoes Reveals Best TV/Films Of 2020: ‘His House,’ ‘Host,’ ‘Babysitter’s Club’ & More at The Playlist.

As we end a truly extraordinary year of movie-going (or movie-staying, maybe), and to add to our comprehensive array of Best of 2020 coverage, Be Reel assesses which directors broke through their indie roots to become household names, distinct voices, and burgeoning auteurs in 2020. 

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

In order, we look back on these breakout directors, some of whom have arguably already broken out before (Sean Durkin being the most obvious), but are also re-emerging after a long time in the wilderness.

Continue reading The Breakthrough Directors Of 2020 [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

When you want to hear recommendations for the Best Films of 2020, you could listen to critics, outlets, or even your friends and family. However, sometimes you can just take the word of one of the best filmmakers on the planet, like Pedro Almodóvar.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

As seen at El Deseo, Almodóvar released his favorite films of 2020. And while there are some that will be near the top of most every list you’re bound to read this time of year, such as “First Cow,” “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always,” and “Another Round,” the filmmaker does also bring up a few features that are actually pretty surprising.

Continue reading Pedro Almodóvar Names ‘First Cow,’ ‘Little Joe’ & More As His Favorite Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

It was admittedly hard to express a lot of interest in new films when my brain was just that gif of Dorinda from “Real Housewives of New York” spitting, “I’ll tell you how I’m doing! Not well, bitch!” playing on a loop. Film felt frivolous, with the collapse of many industries, the rise in homelessness, the lack of leadership, the absence of infrastructure to support and protect people, and continued racial injustice waking people up to systems and paradigms of inequity.

Continue reading Kyle Turner’s Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Edgar Wright is known for many things, but perhaps his best skill as a filmmaker is being able to put an iconic needle drop at exactly the right moment. Between the “Don’t Stop Me Now” scene in “Shaun of the Dead,” or basically the entire “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “Baby Driver,” the filmmaker knows how to blend music and film in the most fun way possible.

Continue reading Edgar Wright Releases His Top 100 Songs Of 2020 Playlist at The Playlist.

“If only I had time,” I remember sighing at some point in late 2019, probably in a pub or a restaurant among a cluster of friends separated by <1 ft of space, lipstick doubtless boozily smeared across my maskless face. “If only I somehow had the time to do nothing but stay in and catch up on all the non-fiction releases I’ve missed through the year!” Little did I know that at that exact moment, the Ministry of Be Careful What You Wish For was listening in.

Continue reading The 20 Best Documentaries Of 2020 at The Playlist.

It’s the time of Top 10s. Every December, critics, publications, celebrities, and basically anyone with social media reveal their favorite films and TV series of the year. Some people tend to go more mainstream with their picks, while others love to showcase how deep their love of cinema goes. But every year, it seems that one of the most reasonable people who share their Best of 2020 list is none other than Former POTUS, Barack Obama.

Continue reading Barack Obama’s Best Films Of 2020 List Includes ‘Mank,’ ‘Soul,’ ‘Selah & The Spades’ & More at The Playlist.

What’s most notable about 2020’s slate of great performances is the element of surprise. Sure, most anybody betting on Frances McDormand being heaped with praise at year-end will likely win their bets. But 2020’s best films range so far in terms of their “stuff”—themes, style, genre, atmosphere—that it stands to reason the best performances should range, too, in terms of gravity and veterancy. The Playlist’s picks for 2020’s best performances oscillate from bubbly to brooding, effervescent to angry, calm to utterly petrified; the actors responsible for these performances range from newcomers to old stalwarts, talents developing their careers and legends at the peak of theirs. 

Continue reading The 20 Best Performances Of 2020 at The Playlist.

In spite of the general state of the world, 2020 ended up being a pretty great year for films – expectations for long-awaited auteur projects that were supposed to come out this year obviously being exempt from that conversation – and what’s more, it was a great year for film scores and soundtracks.

READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2020

All of the films featured on this list are films that have drastically less of an impact without music, and there is a wide, rather dizzying array of talent here: seasoned professionals who’ve been doing this a long while, young up-and-comers who are interested in muddying the definition of what a traditional movie soundtrack is supposed to sound like, plus that dude from Phoenix writing new music for his wife’s movie (which is really just another way of saying if you haven’t checked out the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s “On The Rocks” yet, do so immediately). 

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

At times, 2020 seemed like it had made time for every obscure musical subgenre under the sun: dancehall (“Lover’s Rock”), noise-metal (“Sound of Metal”), reggaeton (“Ema”), and Baltimore hip-hop (“Charm City Kings”).

Continue reading The 20 Best Soundtracks & Scores Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Another year comes to a close, another overlong, ahem, thorough most anticipated list from your friends at The Playlist. This time, we’re talking television and yes, there’s a lot of TV to deal with. Frankly, however, with the explosion of streaming, the second age of PeakTV, now known as the Streaming Age, we’re somewhat surprised this list isn’t over 100 picks long. Disney+ and Apple TV+ may have launched in late 2019, but 2020 really brought us the full breadth of both those streaming services wares.

Continue reading The 65 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2021 at The Playlist.

Not to exclude stellar photography all the world over, but there’s a common theme here in The Playlist’s picks for Best Cinematography ‘20: America. The year is littered with movies about the red, white, and blue in one form or another, to one extent or another, movies that capture either a period of time, or an enduring ethos, or tall tales and B.S. we tell ourselves as citizens of the self-styled greatest country in the world.

Continue reading The Best Cinematography Of 2020 at The Playlist.

What a year, right? With people stuck at home more than ever before, television felt even more essential, and the best creators rose to the challenge. While there was concern that pandemic shutdowns would destroy the landscape, there was no dearth of titles to choose from when it was time to pick the best 25 programs of 2020. Great shows missed the cut. And the diversity of genres and networks felt broader than ever.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021

Dramas, comedies, docuseries, mini-series, and genre-benders defined the year.

Continue reading The 25 Best TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2020 at The Playlist.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. Aside from the election result, Trashfire 2020™ was a shitty year. And a weird and disorienting year thanks to COVID-19 and having to shelter-in-place, quarantine, and social distance from one another blah, blah, blah coronavirus f*cked us hard. Movies certainly took it in the teeth this year, and especially the theatrical industrial complex, which feels like it’s on its last legs. But regardless of what happens next for theaters, people are going to continue making and releasing movies.

Continue reading The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2021 at The Playlist.

Greetings, fellow exhausteds, and welcome to The Best Films of 2020, a year that, despite being less than 365 days old, has aged so rapidly that Gary Oldman is circling the biopic. Some, uh, unusual stuff happened this year – I don’t know if you noticed – and it made compiling this collective list even more interesting than usual. A record-breaking 34 regular Playlist contributors submitted top tens (you can find the complete list of those to blame/praise for this ranking at the end of the feature).

Continue reading The 25 Best Films Of 2020 at The Playlist.

We have, it’s safe to say, had a whole lot less to look at this year when it comes to the world of cinema. So many parts of our traditional filmgoing experience have been snatched away, for now, while so many of us wait at home for the whole thing to be done. This has meant a lot of things on a lot of levels, but crucially, for this exercise, it means we’ve been staring at the same four walls of our home for quite some time now.

Continue reading The Best Film Posters Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Reflecting on the best trailers released in 2020 feels at once vital and torturous – would we have reacted differently upon first viewing, had we known we might not actually see these films for months, or even years in some cases? The film industry soldiers on and rides with the blows, so we sit tight at home while we wait to enjoy so many movies on the big screen. Then, all we have are the morsels of footage strung together to whet our appetites months and months ago. 

READ MORE: The Best Horror Films Of 2020 (So Far)

In some instances, these are mini-masterpieces in themselves, a showcase of all the dizzying talent sure to expand and bloom across 90 minutes or more.

Continue reading The Best Trailers Of 2020 at The Playlist.

Even with the global pandemic changing so many aspects of our life this year, some things never change, key among them being top 10 lists. One of our favorite publications to watch this time of year is Cahiers du Cinéma, as their list of Best Films is always worth paying attention to in order to see what European critics look for in a film. Because this is a French publication, some of the titles in the list were released last year in the U.S.

Continue reading Cahiers Du Cinema’s Best Films Of 2020 Includes ‘Uncuts Gems,’ 2 Hong Sang-Soo Films, Frederick Wiseman & More at The Playlist.