Ladies and gentlemen I give you the best films of the past year and beyond.
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So we are back at it again and this time with a list I’ve always wanted to do since last year but unfortunately I just haven’t found the time. Well for one I’m back to typing with my laptop again, yeah I know it’s not something that you really notice but for me it feels surreal, which reminds me, I really need a new laptop so therefore I'm starting my crowd funding campaign here.. I don't know if any of you will answer but if you would like to help me get a new laptop this year you can make that happen by sending some hive or Hbd. Nothing is too small and it would mean a whole lot to me if you all can help me make this happen. I'll keep working hard to make sure I can raise enough money to buy one this year but I'll need all the support I can get from you guys and if you can't support it's still A.Okay as long as you spend sometime reading my posts on the blog and sharing your thoughts is still fine with me and I appreciate you all for that. Now that that's out of the way let’s get back right back too it. For a while I used to have this thing I do every year where I would round off each year by counting down the top ten best and worst films I saw that year and for a while, about three years ago, I stopped not necessarily because anything went wrong, I was just lazy that’s all. This time around I’ve decided to go back to doing my annual top ten countdowns because it’s fun, I enjoy it and you all deserve it, yep, that’s right, you, you, you and you, you all deserve to look through my list and shred it into pieces and call out my bullshit. So with that out of the way, I present to you ladies and gentlemen [drum rolls]….....
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The best of 2020 and 1. That’s right it’s not just films from last year I would be looking at but also films from the year before that's because why not. I mean 2020 in all its fuckery did give us some quality cinematic masterpieces that deserve a shout out or two so I mean it’s only right that we acknowledge some of these films and celebrate them. Therefore instead of having just a top ten list this post is going to be a top nineteen list which would be broken down into two parts, the first part being from number twenty to number eleven and the next part being from number ten to number one. It is important to note however that this list would be a combination of films from both years meaning that instead of just having two separate lists of films this one would be one long comprehensive list containing a mix of films from both years so with all and it will be broken down into two parts. Now with that out of the way, let us begin.
20.The Old guard
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This is a 2020 Netflix film directed by Gina Prince-Bythwood is an adaptation of a comic book written by Greg Rucka who also happens to be the writer of this film. It’s centered on a U.S marine named Nile Freeman who discovers she can regenerate from injuries when her throat heals up after being slashed, she is then discovered by this group of fellow ‘immortals’ who become aware of her ‘awakening’ in a dream and who are also on the run from a group of greedy pharmaceutical industrialists who want to capture, experiment on them and unlock the secrets to their regeneration even it means killing them over and over. So young Nile finds herself absorbed into this new life of hers and this battle and it all happens when she has her first meeting with Andromache who is this centuries old warrior the leader of this lost pack. Together, they all must find a way to save themselves while continuing their work of saving lives the lives of people who leave an impact on history, all while trying to stay alive in a hostile world.
I do admit when I saw the trailer for this film I assumed I was going to be getting into something interesting and that is a lot for me considering how many trailers I have seen and how much unenthusiastic I have been about them. My reaction to this trailer however was nothing like that. I enjoyed this film, not too much, but just enough for me to see it too the end. There was however some cringe moments in the story, yunno moments that felt inorganic and forced and just served no purpose other than to for the sake of propaganda. However the performance of actors like Charlize Theron, Chiwete Ejifor and Kiki Layne made it watchable for me. The villain was easily a forgettable one dimensional character with a silly unexplored motivation which can be best described as pure greed. Like I said it was a good watch none the less and it had some good cinematography and well-choreographed fight scenes at least those two things stood out for me as well as the actor’s performances. Call me whatever but that’s all I have to say about this film do give it a watch if you do have the time and let me know what you think.
19.Project Power
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Yes I know, 2020 wasn’t exactly the year of big budget cinema films except you were Wonder Woman 1984 which was just a big budget cinematic flop of a film by Warner Bros and DC and an excuse for a superhero film, boy I could spend two pages trash talking this film just for how bad I thought it was but that’s not why we are here. What I’m saying is Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman’s Project Power is one film that may have gone through under the radar for a lot of people if not for the fact that it was produced and released by Netflix. The premise of the plot is a very simple one and one of the reasons why it stuck with me. It follows Art [Jamie Foxx] who teams up with Frank Shaver [Joseph Gordon-Lewitt] a police officer and Robin a young street drug dealer in order to rescue his daughter from a drug trafficking company responsible for producing and distributing a superpower inducing drug that grants its consumers special abilities for five minutes; which they plan on distributing through-out New Orleans. Art and his crew go on a mission to rescue his daughter from this organization as her genes are used in the production of this drug. I believe this film works because it’s simple and it doesn’t try to overcomplicate itself. I think it works well as a well-rounded story which opens up with a simple set of events, continues as an understandable simple plot and concludes on a climactic satisfactory note and doesn’t try to deviate into a broader or more convoluted storyline. You can easily tell that writer Mattson Tomlin had no real deep intentions of having a sequel to the story even if he left some bits of story arc incase such a project would be green-lit but in the end he chose to keep it safe and write it simple and I respect him for that. It’s not very often that you see new school writers do that and in a time where big studios are all about creating the next big cinematic universe especially when it’s a superpower based film, it felt like a breath of fresh to just see a simple superpower story where all the events started and concluded on its own. It wasn’t the most memorable story but it was a functional story which was executed well.
18.Bad boys for life
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Another stand out film from 2020, this was one movie I was actually looking forward to seeing. I mean I saw the first two bad boys film and I thought they were fantastic. Yunno it was this fast paced, high action sequence shots that got you fixated and engaged on the screen, the classic Michael Bay kind of film making. Yunno over at the office today transformers was playing on mbc 2 and for those of you who don’t know that station then damn I have no idea what your nostalgia days are like. Yeah Transformers was playing in the background and I took some to look at it and it hit all the similarities Michael Bay’s films share, from the slow motion exist from the fast cars to the crazy explosions happening in the action scenes, to the models in bikinis, and the over the top comedic interactions characters have in the middle of intense scenes. All these are tropes that are synonymous with his films and the reason I bring this up here is because of how close of a Michael Bay style production this film was. The directors of this film are the duo Adil and Bilall and it appears that their mission in this film was to keep as close to the original style of production while adding just a little bit of their own flair to it and to be honest, I liked it. Yeah some of you might call it unoriginal and for certain people like me who grew up enjoying the first two films for its fast paced ridiculous comedic story telling style. In a sense it felt like bad boys is Michael Bay and Michael Bay is bad boys and nothing can separate the two of them. In opinion I don’t think that the film can be executed any other way and the best way to do it is to leave it at three films because that’s all the juice they can squeeze out of it, I’m just saying. I’m not going to go into details about the plot of this movie because of my word limit so I’ll end this by saying, it was a great film and it was worth the watch and it was executed well with all the actors acting in their strong suits so yeah..
17.Sonic the Hedgehog
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Alright here we go now we’re talking. I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked this film and from the response we got from studios’ response to the complaints made by the fans about the character design; I suspected that this film was going to be a pleasant surprise and it turned out to be. The way I see it and correct me if I’m wrong because I didn’t really grow up watching sonic the hedgehog or even playing the games so I’m not very conversant with the story of the franchise; the direction the writers decided to take with the story of this film was a sort of an origin story for the blue furry speedster and if I do say myself, it is an approach that clearly worked. In the story, we have sonic who is born in a world where he is under threat and he is teleported to our world in order to be safe but eventually he is still hunted down by the evil doctor Robotnik because his powers have been discovered. This time however it’s not only his life that’s at risk but the lives of the new friends he has made. It’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed this movie, it wasn’t just an action packed cool looking CGI film about sonic, it was a story that was centered on introducing you to the character of sonic and his struggles and victories in this new found world. It did a solid job of introducing the character to us as the viewers and letting us understand what he was all about. It was an adventure origin story with character and soul and that’s what made it stand out for me. It wasn’t just centered on the plot but more on the characters and their struggles. Speaking of characters, Jim Carey as Doctor Robotnik completely killed this role. He was genuinely funny and a real joy to watch, like I really can’t remember the last time a comedic villain made me laugh like that, it was like watching and enjoying dumb and dumber all over again. He was charismatic, beautiful, funny and most importantly he was genuine while playing the character. Another thing that I believe made it work is the fact that the story was written for adult viewers in mind but also something that was safe enough for children to see and enjoy, kind of like the perfect pg13 film and hey.. I think it worked just fine
16.Wrath of Man
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Yes another stand out. There are so many movies that could make this list but sadly there wasn’t just enough space for all of them. With this film however, that was not the case. I mean c’mon what did you expect, a film by Guy Ritche starring Jason Statham is a going to an absolute banger whether or not you think Statham is stereotypically cast or not. The moment I saw the trailer for this film and that new signature Guy Ritche color texture I knew I needed to see this film, irrespective of some people might think of it. I was eager to see what story guy would tell this time especially after the ones he had told previously one of which is makes this list. I mean he is one of my favorite Directors and one of those few directors who’s also an adept screenwriter and boy was I impressed with this story. It wasn’t just a simple story executed perfectly; it was the fact that it had the right amount of plot twists to wow the audience. Talking about the story what initial appeared to be a simple revenge story turned out to have a bank heist finale with some painful deaths along the way. I’ve always love stories like John Wick were the protagonist is displayed as the threat to the other characters in the story and almost all the time he/she is in control and that’s exactly the stereotype character Jason Statham plays most of the time and he does it so well. In this film we see more of that but the way the story is executed, now that’s what I love most about this film. The story is told in as three separate acts, the first two acts showing the events that lead to the inciting incident of the story from two different perspectives. The third and final act is the one containing the plot twist with the unexpected fight of a finale. I love what this story turned out to be, I love the characters and most importantly the character motivations. No one in this film was just a three dimensional character; all of them had their own stories and various reasons for their actions that at least appeared realistic and understandable, not justifiable but understandable. The entire second act was dedicated to showing how lethal and competent of a character our protagonist was. Like the bad guys and the opposition that had to be put in his way to stop him from getting revenge had to be some equally lethal characters themselves and, our protagonist had to finally confront them having a disadvantage. I don’t want to go into too much detail about the plot because I really don’t want to spoil most of these movies for you guys but please people go check this movie out, I believe it will be worth your time.
15.Extraction
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Is that Chris Hemsworth I see over there? Yes it is. This was another surprise banger of an action film that came out in the year of the pandemic. This film was fire and I don’t care what anyone of you says, this film was fire. It had everything it needed to make it right from beautifully choreographed fight scenes and a simple amazing story and strong character portrayals. It was a film that got everything right. Genuinely I don’t know what to criticize in this film, it was that good. The fact that it had mostly Indian and Bangladeshi actors as its main cast helped make the film more thrilling I my opinion. It meant that a lot of people would not be caught up by a star-studded performance and they would have enough time to focus on the plot. Beyond being a visual spectacle of cutting edge fight choreography directed by Avengers; Infinity war stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave, it was also film containing well written characters who cared the soul and the essence of the plot. Tyler Rake [Chris Hemsworth] wasn’t just a big brawly punching man fueled by mindless testosterone; instead he was a big strong kickass man who used violence as a way to cope with the grief and depression he feels from the loss of his child who he abandoned to die from lymphoma. It made his journey, his actions and his sacrifices all the more meaningful and justified. Some critiques have argued that the film suffers from a white savior stereotype because it has Chris Hemsworth playing the main character but the truth is that has nothing to do with plot or the main theme of the film. All that that affects is simply the marketing of the film and I know this because like I said Chris Hemsworth was the only big name white actor in the film all other main characters where either Indians or Bangladeshi and that’s why I believe this story worked well. Alright enough said about that; I’m running out of words to us and I still have five four films to go.
14.The Gentlemen
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This 2019 action crime dark comedy thriller directed by the master himself Guy Ritche was another classic I had the opportunity of seeing in 2020. Yes I know I said that this list would contain films from 2020 to 2021 but I did say it would contain only films released in this time because to be very honest I only had the opportunity to see some 2019 films in 2020 and they do deserve so proper recognition if I do say so myself. This film was another Guy Ritche production that captured my heart from the first time I saw its trailer. That new signature golden color saturation which he uses for most of his films coupled with the star-studded line up of Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farell, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery and Hugh Grant seized my attention with that beautiful piece of music playing in the background of the trailer. I remembered seeing the trailer and going, ‘Now how is he going to manage all that talent’ and boy was my question answered. I don’t even know which I liked more the actors performances or the story. It’s like I said in the last Guy Ritche filmed I talked about on this list, the man has a way of executing stories in such a compelling interesting manner and recently in his films after King Arthur Legend of the stone, the man has found a niche of storytelling that works for him just like the way Nolan’s best works are Sci-Fi, Matthew Vaugh’s best works are espionage films, Micheal Bay works best with cop-buddy action comedy, I believe Ritche’s style works best with action crime thrillers and if anything his past two films I believe have proved this from my own point of view. I wish I could dive more into the details of this film as it pertains the plot.. heck you know what, I will. The story follows Mickey Pearson [Matthew McConaughey] a highly successful cannabis dealer who seeks to sell of his business to Matthew Berger [Jeremy Strong] an American Billionaire who wants to into the cannabis market. Because of the price Pearson sets on his business Berger decides to stare up some chaos for Pearson unknown to him in order to reduce his selling price and the strings of incidents that his actions cost almost lead to the rape of Rosalind, Pearson’s wife and the death of a notable figure in the Russian Mafia, thereby bring some enemies Pearson wouldn’t like. Eventually Pearson is able to track down Berger’s attempt at stealing his business and he is able to ‘take back his pound of flesh’ as the case happens to be. This mind you is just a short summary of the premise of this film and I do advise everyone to go take a look at this film for themselves because it really is worth it.
13.Demon Slayer: Mugen Train
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Yes I know some of you going to come after me saying attack me now saying. ‘Oh no this wasn’t a movie it was an animation yen yen yen …’ Ehhn be quiet as much as you do have a point, the truth of the matter is that I’m too lazy to do an anime list so therefore I have to put this movie on this list because it does deserve to be on a list. I admit as much as a lot of people were hyped up for this film, I wasn’t and one of the reasons was because I did not read the manga for this anime and so therefore I’m not very conversant with what happens after season one. Even till now I refuse to go read the manga because I want my experience of this anime to be an authentic one where I’m really excited to watch as events unravel before me. So imagine my surprise when I eventually saw the film and boy oh boy was it worth the hype. It was everything perfect, from beautifully designed animations to amazing soundtracks accompanying what my eyes were watching and of course the story was fantastic. The problem a lot of people would have with this movie is the fact that it’s an anime which follows the events of season 1 of Demon slayer meaning that people who aren’t familiar with the anime series won’t be caught on what’s really happening in the film and that’s the reason why it didn’t score higher on this list. It was a really good film which contained, moments of laughter and tears, and triumphs and anguish and all in all great movie vibes. I dunno what to say here guys I’m out of words all I can say though is you should definitely go watch it and if you don’t watch anime the Demon slayer is definitely a good spot to start your shounen anime journey. It’s short, concise, doesn’t have a lot of filler episodes, is funny and tells a compelling tragic story, like imagine harry porter but if it were a shounen anime about sword breath styles and demons.
12.The Conjuring 3
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Many film review boards and movie lovers in general did not rate this film in high regard. I on the other hand think they are all jokers and they don't know what they are talking about because my God did I enjoy this film and yes I do think it deserves a spot on this list. I'm not one to enjoy horror movies more specifically slasher horror films and supernatural horror films but once in a while I stumble on some that take me off my feet and they make me applaud one of them being IT part one and the second one being The Conjuring series. Though it is a part of the broader Conjuring universe where we have the likes of Annabelle, Annabelle creation and all the other films, I believe no of them have ever really been able to capture the richness and depth of story telling that The Conjuring has been able to reach. To me it felt like I wasn't just watching a horror film that wanted me to be nothing but a passive observer to but an active participant in how the protagonists fight back that's the reason why I have been drawn to the story of the Warrens. Unlike slashers like Scream, Saw and Halloween that in essence fantasizes the villan as the central character in a sense by making them the central figures through which one observes the story; the Conjuring has always made the Warrens the figures who fight against the different horror they face.. That's why (how do I say this politely).. that's why I fuck with them. This time their adventures take to the centre of a witches cult who uses her spells to offer human sacrifices to her familiar and completes the rituals by making the people whom she possesses to commit the murders commit suicides and gaining a longer life in return. This time the Warren have to figure out a way to get to her coven, and stop her in order to prove a young man innocent and getting him free on a case of demonic possession. Apparently the story is based on a real life trial Arne Johnson who defence used demonic possession as their alibi. I really loved the trajectory this story took. Instead of going with the regular horror stories they are use too they chose a human villain who was a conduit for the familiar this time and I like how events turned out. In the end this film was a pleasant surprise for me and it was well marketed for what it was, a demonic possession that brought the eye of the public to the existence of evil demonic forces and their influence on people's lives.
11.Ford vs Ferrari
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Annnnd we’ve come to the first half of this list today and to top it all off I think it’s only right that I give this spot to this film. Yes I know it wasn’t released in 2020 rather it was released in 2019 but it’s also another movie I got the chance to see in 2020. Now biopics aren’t my favourite genre of movies but this film completely changed my view of Biopic as boring biographies. It tells the story of the time the Ford company participated in the famed Le Mans’66 race with the target of beating Ferrari for the first time in over thirteen years. I love the way Shelby put it
'24 hours Lee.. that means night, Damn half that race is in the night you can’t see shit.. cars coming up on you out if nowhere, drivers stumbling around the track pouring blood, maybe one of ‘em’s your friend, maybe he’s on fire. You’re exhausted, you’re hungry you can’t remember your name what country you are in and then all of a sudden you realize you are doing a 198 on a straight and if anything goes wrong, you blow a gasket or a 5 cent washer that’s it the whole thing’s over Ferrari wins again just like he won last year and the year before that and the year before that….yeah, it’s challenging ’
The story follows the true life events of Caroll Shelby and Ken Miles who together built the Ford GT, Ford’s first ever race car which was to compete in the 24 hours of Le Man in France. In this film, this story is told in such a heartfelt way that it is unlike any racing movie I have ever seen, heck it is the best racing movie I have ever seen. With practically no experience in manufacturing race cars, Ford task Caroll Shelby the only American to ever win the Le mans to build a sports car that would beat Ferrari. When Shelby proposes the idea to Miles he sarcastically asks whether he told them they would need 300 years to be able to beat Ferrari only for Shelby to respond with he told them it will take him 90 days. Eventually the pair begins the build facing all the challenges that came with building the car and having Ken Miles as its driver, from the inner manipulations of Leo Beebe to the technical problems of having to fit a super engine in a small sports car and doing all this while Ken Miles manages moving his family with him. In the end Ford wins Le Mans and beats Ferrari for the first time in history even if it came at a cost to Ken Miles. That basically is a short summary of the premise; now let’s dive into some of the intricacies that stood out for me. The entire story was beautifully executed. Something about it made it so enthralling that there wasn’t one point in time where I felt disconnected or bored with the story.
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Everything, every action, every decision, every character was used maximally to execute the story perfectly. Nothing or no one felt out of place or like a convenient plot device to simple propel the story forward. I mean everybody loved the drama in Logan and I personally did not enjoy it that much because I came in hoping I would get mindless violence in that film but boy oh boy did Director James Mangold win my heart with this film. The dialogue in this movie is one of the best I have ever seen, it was marvelous and funny and empowering and endearing. It was as if it was written to evoke certain emotions when watching them and it went so well with the scenes where they were used. An example of this is in the scene where Ford executives relay Ferrari’s insults to Henry Ford II. During this everything they say doesn’t really get to him until he is told that he isn’t Henry Ford but Henry Ford II. The tension which was already high in this scene builds up to another level when we see the smirk on his face disappear as he walks back to his table to utter those next words. ‘I want the best engineers.. the best drivers.. I don’t care what it cost.. we’re going to build a race car and we’re going to bury that gaddamn greasy wap a 100 feet deep under the finish line in le mans and I will be there to watch it’. The mood is intense, exciting, engaging. It’s everything.
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Ok I’m going to end this post here.. It’s too much words 4539 words and this is the longest I have written so far and I am so tired so this is the end.. I will continue it next week.. Ciao guys.
