Without a doubt, 2020 was one of the strangest years ever for the film industry. On the one hand, the coronavirus ravished the movie theater industry, closing many doors and skyrocketing older films re-released during the pandemic, like Hocus Pocus and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, into the top 50 earners. Meanwhile, on the flip side, entertainment giants like Warner Bros. have made a serious push into directly releasing for streaming. Sill, more than a few fantastic films made their way into theaters and VOD this year, let’s take a look at them!
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
While 2020 had plenty of sad moments, the loss of actor Chadwick Boseman ranks among the worst. The loss of the star, best known for his turn as superhero Black Panther, at the age of 43, rocked the entertainment world. Thankfully, his memory will live on forever in his performances, including his final role, in the incredible 2020 film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Based on the play of the same name, the Netflix original film tells the story of a recording session of legendary 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey, played by Viola Davis. Boseman plays her trumpeter, Levee Green, who’s looking for his own way up in the blues and jazz world. With “powerhouse performances” from both Davis and Boseman, and a timely story, it’s no wonder this film became one of the most well-reviewed of the year, with a 99% Critics Score and an 80% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Soul
Many of the best films of the year matched the tone of 2020: dark and grim. But not Soul! Like all great Pixar movies, Soul perfectly blended incredible animation, an excellent soundtrack, and a story that will warm your, well, soul! Developing the themes of body-and-soul connection that Pixar started in Cocoa, Soul tells the story of Joe Gardner, a passionate jazz pianist voiced by Jamie Foxx, who needs to reunite his soul and body after they are separated. To match the story, Pixar also enlisted the help of some of the most excellent jazz musicians working today, including Herbie Hancock and Jon Batiste, to work on the soundtrack. The result? A heartwarming tale that’s great for the entire family. “A film as beautiful to contemplate as it is to behold,” the Critical Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads. “Soul proves Pixar’s power to deliver outstanding all-ages entertainment remains undimmed.” If you’re looking to watch, it’s exclusively streaming on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+.
Tenet
One of the most ambitious films ever made, writer and director Christopher Nolan, known for the likes of Inception and the Dark Knight Trilogy, spent five years alone on the writing process for Tenet. As a result, Nolan managed to release one of the most spectacular time travel movies in decades, with Rotten Tomatoes saying it had “all the cerebral spectacle audiences expect from a Christopher Nolan production.” Unfortunately, despite being one of the best movies of 2020 and becoming the fourth-highest-grossing movie of 2020, not even Tenet could defeat the coronavirus. Nolan demanded Warner Bros. open the film, which stars the likes of John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, in theaters. They did, and as a result of the pandemic shutdown and costly marketing and production budget, Tenet failed to break even, losing Warner Bros. “as much as $100 million.” In fact, many experts say that it directly led to the film giant moving all its films to HBO Max for the year 2021. Still, Tenet is undoubtedly worth a watch!
Palm Springs
When Palm Springs launched on Hulu in early 2020, they had no idea how accurate the movie would become. Palm Springs, easily the best comedy film of the year, tells a Groundhog Day-like story where two strangers find themselves in a time loop after meeting at a wedding in the Califonia desert. Of course, at the time, they had no idea we would all be living our own version of Groundhog Day, thanks to the coronavirus. Excellent writing by writer Andy Siara, matched by stellar performances by Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and J.K. Simmons, takes Palm Springs from traditional comedy territory into something truly fantastic. And a great way to end 2020!
Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia.