Remember when 2020 was shaping up to be an awesome year for
films? Remember when this was going to be the year where we’d witness the likes
of Daniel Craig’s last hurrah as James Bond and the start of the next era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Well, as we all know, all that potential for a
great cinematic year was thoroughly thrown to the wayside once the COVID-19
pandemic reared its ugly head this past March and drastically changed our way
of life. And sure enough, the film industry was heavily impacted by all this as
movie theaters all over the world were forced to shut down until further
notice. Because of this, almost all the major blockbusters that were slated to
come out this past year, from No Time to Die and Black Widow to Fast
and Furious 9 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, were pushed back to a
later date. However, this doesn’t mean that there weren’t any new releases in
2020 as many of the non-blockbuster films that were supposed to come out ended
up abandoning their theatrical releases in favor of a digital debut on the
current crop of streaming services; Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime,
etc. Still, there’s no denying how utterly terrible of a year 2020 was on all
counts because of COVID, and in the case of film fandom, this was only made worse
by the increasingly hostile state that the film fan community has been in these
past few years. On one side, you’ve got the deplorable racists/misogynists who can’t
fathom the possibility of films that are headlined by characters who aren’t
white, heterosexual males. And on the other side, you’ve got the utterly frustrating
group known as ‘stans’ who mercilessly crucify certain films and the filmmakers
who make them for not being politically correct enough regardless of their good
intentions.
But I’ve already gone over this crap plenty of times in the
past, so I’ll try my best not to repeat myself when it comes to my grievances
towards certain parts of internet fandom, nor will I ramble on about anything
non-film related from this past year because… well, let’s face it, the less
said about the awful parts of last year, the better. So instead, I’ll simply do
what I’ve always done whenever a new year rolls around and present my favorite
films from the past 365 days of the year. That said, though, the significantly decreased
selection of new releases in 2020 ended up causing a unique dilemma on my end
in that I’m unable to do my usual Top 12 list this year. For those who are new
to this site, the process of me doing a Top 12 instead of the more traditional
Top 10 began simply as a joke to tie into the year that I started Rhode Island
Movie Corner, 2012. And yet, it ultimately became the norm for my ‘End of the
Year’ list as I found that doing a Top 12 allowed me to cover even more of the
great films that I saw in any given year. But when it comes to 2020… well, I’m
afraid to say that I didn’t see enough films to do that big of a list. So
instead, this year’s list will be your standard Top 10, which means that
instead of it being a massive 4-part retrospective, it will be a more
straight-forward two-parter. Hopefully, 2021 will pave the way for things to
start returning to normal so that I can go back to doing Top 12 lists since I do
consider them to be one of my trademarks as a film critic.
But before we begin, I need to lay down the ground rules
that I always set for this end-of-the-year list. First off, be forewarned that
I will be addressing the biggest spoilers from the following 10 films. If you
haven’t seen any of these films, then I suggest that you check out my
non-spoiler reviews of them first; in fact, I’ll even provide the links to those
reviews via the following headers that precede my spoiler-filled writeups.
Secondly, as is the case in any given year, I haven’t seen every new release
that came out in 2020… yes, even in a year where I could’ve easily accessed certain
films by way of the streaming services that they debuted on, I still wasn’t
able to see everything. Plus, when it comes to these posts, I usually try to
stick to the films that I saw during the year proper so that I won’t be bogged
down with the process of catching up on anything that I missed, especially
seeing how this undoubtedly resulted in my last two ‘Favorite Films of the
Year’ lists taking so long to produce that they weren’t published until as late
as April. And so, with that in mind, don’t expect to see films like Leigh
Whannell’s remake of The Invisible Man or some of the year’s big Oscar
contenders such as Nomadland and Promising Young Woman show up
here. Obviously, this is nothing against those films; I just haven’t seen them
yet. And yes, for those who’ve been following this site for a while, my
end-of-the-year lists are largely made up of blockbuster-type releases that
usually aren’t on critics’ ‘Best of the Year’ lists. Simply put, these are the
films that I’m most likely to watch and I’m not in the mood to get criticized
for liking the kind of films that others may deem as being ‘creatively bankrupt’.
And with that in mind, this brings us to the most important reminder
of them all; above all else, please be respectful of differing film-related
opinions regardless of how frustrating some of them may be. There’s a good
reason why I keep stressing this last beat every year because if you ask me,
film fandom has only gotten worse these past few years. Obviously, a lot of
this has to do with the ‘racist misogynist’ and ‘stan’ crowds that I mentioned
earlier, who have effectively made film-related discussions far more political
than they have ever been before. And because of this, 2020 ended up being a
firm reminder as to why I usually don’t like to talk about politics when it
comes to my reviews. As such, I’m adding a new addendum to my usual
ground-rules in that, while there will be instances where I’m going to have to
address some of the political-based controversies surrounding some of these
films, I won’t be going into too much detail about them simply because I don’t
want any of that stuff to dominate this conversation. To be clear, this doesn’t
mean that I’m against the film industry’s efforts to better reflect our
increasingly diverse world because, if anything, I hope that a considerable
amount of the content that I’ve published on this site over the past decade has
proven otherwise. Instead, this is simply my way of highlighting the fact that,
at the end of the day, talking about politics has always been an emotionally
and mentally taxing process that ultimately yields ugly results. And so, as we
come to the end of this incredibly long intro, the time has finally come for
the main event. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to present
Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Top 10 Favorite Films of 2020. This is Part 1 of 2,
and in today’s post, we’ll be covering Films #10-6.
But before we get
into those films, I wanted to include at least one Honorable Mention. For those
who are new to this site, my ‘Favorite Films of the Year’ lists usually include
around 5-6 Honorable Mentions. Obviously, 2020 didn’t give me the chance to do
a full set for this year’s list, but the one that will make the cut does happen
to be one of the few genuine success stories from the months before the
COVID-19 pandemic fully went into effect.
HONORABLE MENTION:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
At this point, much has been said about the major hurdles
that the first feature film adaptation of Sega’s iconic video game protagonist
Sonic the Hedgehog had to overcome. Simply put, the initial attempts to create
a more humanoid-looking version of the character were so poorly received that the
filmmakers redid the bulk of the film’s visual effects so that Sonic’s design
would be more accurate to the games. And because of this, the film was legitimately
able to redeem itself in the eyes of internet fandom, thus resulting in it
becoming a solid critical and commercial hit upon its release. Not only is it
one of the rare video-game based films to do decently with critics (coming out
just a little less than a year after the equally successful Pokémon:
Detective Pikachu), but it even managed to be the highest-grossing
superhero film of 2020 as it earned over $313 million worldwide. Yes, because
Sonic can technically be classified as a superhero given his super-speed
abilities (that and the pandemic resulted in no new MCU films getting released last
year), Sonic the Hedgehog became the first non-Marvel film since 2008
(and the first non-MCU film since 2009) to hold the honor of being the genre’s
highest-grossing release. Once again, it’s genuinely impressive that this film
managed to pull all this off considering how it was this close to
being a full-blown disaster. And while most folks will probably attribute this
to Sonic’s pivotal redesign, I’d argue that another key factor behind this
film’s success was that, at the end of the day, it was a solidly entertaining
family flick.
Now admittedly, Sonic’s first live-action film has a rather
basic plot (although to be fair, that’s sort of the norm with this franchise).
In other words, it’s your average buddy road-trip comedy that goes exactly the
way you think it’s going to go. And yet, despite its inherently predictable
nature, the film manages to overcome this by having a surprisingly heartfelt
tone. Yes, because a key aspect of the story is Sonic’s desire to find friends (which
he ultimately manages to find in Tom Wachowski, the sheriff of Green Hills,
Montana) after spending many years isolated from the rest of the world, this
film has a good heart to its proceedings. That said, though, it does make me
wonder if any of what I just said would’ve even remotely worked as well as it
did if Sonic’s original design had been kept. Anyway, aside from that, the film
does a nice job of showcasing Sonic’s super-speed abilities even if we don’t
get a lot of the traditional elements of the Sonic franchise (e.g. his
home-world, other characters from the franchise, etc.). And it’s all bolstered
by an excellent trio of performances from Ben Schwartz as Sonic, James Marsden
as Tom, and Jim Carrey in a wonderful return to form as the hilariously crazy
Dr. Robotnik. With all this in mind, Sonic the Hedgehog is the very
definition of a crowd-pleaser. It’s by no means a masterpiece, but its wholly
inoffensive nature makes it a solid watch for younger audiences.
To kick off this
year’s Top 10 list, we have the most recent film that I reviewed on this site.
Not only is it a top-notch adaptation of a classic play from one of the most
famous playwrights of all-time, but it also serves as a premier showcase for a
fallen star’s indisputable screen presence.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the second major film
adaptation of playwright August Wilson’s The Pittsburgh Cycle, a series
of ten plays tied together by their central themes that explored the
experiences of African Americans throughout the 20th century, with
each play set in a different decade and all but one set in Wilson’s hometown of
Pittsburgh. The first of these was the 2016 adaptation of Fences, which
starred Denzel Washington and Viola Davis and was notably directed by the
former. As it turns out, Washington would end up being the catalyst behind the
process of adapting Wilson’s work to the big screen as he secured a deal with
HBO in 2013 (which would later transition over to Netflix) to develop other Pittsburgh
Cycle adaptations. Unlike Fences, however, he’s only listed
as a producer on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which was directed by George
C. Wolfe, a veteran stage director whose work in theater includes projects such
as The Normal Heart and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. And
given Washington’s own background in theater, it’s clear that he’s been making
all the right moves when it comes to these adaptations. In fact, I’d even go as
far as to say that while it may not be a Pulitzer Prize-winning play like Fences
was, Ma Rainey’s is the best August Wilson adaptation yet.
Now as I mentioned in my review for this film, that previous
statement ultimately comes down to personal preferences and isn’t meant to be a
dig against Fences. With Fences, Denzel effectively brought
Wilson’s emotionally hard-hitting drama to life in a film that was fully
bolstered by strong performances from himself and Viola Davis. Really, the only
thing that held that film back was its length, and because the strict adherence
to the nature of Wilson’s script resulted in the film having a ‘stage-like’
quality to its proceedings, you did often feel the brunt of its 139-minute
runtime. Ma Rainey’s admittedly has the same ‘stage-y’ feel as well, but
in this instance, we have a film that’s only an hour and a half long. Because
of this, I feel that the narrative themes of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom flow
a lot better by comparison, especially through the script’s handling of its
conflict of black performers struggling to deal with how they’re being
exploited by their white managers. This is something that the titular and
real-life blues icon Ma Rainey succinctly points out at one point as she’s
well-aware that her superiors will just move on to their next star when she’s
of no further use to them. And as for her overly ambitious trumpet player Levee,
his dreams of starting his own band are permanently dashed when, after a long
and strenuous recording session, he kills Ma’s pianist Toledo simply because he
stepped on Levee’s new shoes. To add insult to injury, the last scene of the
film sees the songs that Levee was writing being performed by a band that’s made
up entirely of white men.
Moments like these and the various stories that the band
members tell from time to time, from Levee’s disturbing tale about how a gang
of white men raped his mom and killed his dad to Cutler’s story about a black
priest being hounded by white men, are what arguably makes Ma Rainey’s a
more relevant story than Fences was. Again, that’s not to say that Fences
didn’t deliver on its themes (e.g. the struggle to properly provide for
one’s family) but given all the race-related tragedies that happened this past
year, I’d say that Ma Rainey’s hits harder as a result. And just like Fences,
this film’s biggest strength is its cast headlined by Viola Davis and Chadwick
Boseman. Davis is great as usual as she brings her trademark fierceness to the role
of Ma Rainey. However, it’s safe to say that the most talked-about aspect of
this film is Chadwick Boseman’s performance as Levee, especially since, sadly,
this was the last film of his career in the wake of his tragic passing back in
August due to colon cancer. On the bright side, though, Boseman’s last
performance is easily one of the best of his career as he manages to bring a
sympathetic angle to a character that, on paper, is an incredibly arrogant
schemer. And if that weren’t enough, many have speculated that he’s one of this
year’s biggest frontrunners for Best Actor which, if you ask me, would be a
fitting way to honor a cinematic superstar. In just a few years, Chadwick
Boseman portrayed multiple real-life icons such as Jackie Robinson, James
Brown, and Thurgood Marshall. And in 2016, his legacy grew even stronger when
he was cast as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther, the king of
Wakanda, whose 2018 solo film would go on to become one of the superhero
genre’s biggest cultural landmarks. Simply put, Chadwick Boseman was one of the
best… and it goes without saying that he will be missed.
I think it’s safe to
say that the next film on this list is one that I don’t think a lot of people
were expecting to ever get made given the circumstances. And yet, it managed to
take us all by surprise when it was officially confirmed back in September and
ultimately managed to be a genuinely solid follow-up to one of the biggest
comedies of the early 2000s.
I never saw Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make
Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan when it first came out in 2006 (to be
fair, I was only 11 at the time…). Despite this, however, there’s no denying
that the wildly crude and wholly offensive mockumentary was one of the most
iconic comedies of its time. Not only was it one of that year’s biggest
critical and commercial hits, but it also quickly became one of the most widely
quoted. Yes, it’s safe to say that there was seemingly no end to the number of
folks who were repeatedly saying things like “Jagshemash!”, “Sexy time!”, “Very
Nice!”, “My wife!”, and “Wawaweewa!” back in the late 2000s. As you might have
guessed, this was one of the main reasons why the film’s star and key writer,
Sacha Baron Cohen, ultimately decided to retire the character (who, of course,
had originally debuted on Cohen’s Da Ali G Show) not long after the
film’s release. Given his method of performing his comedic routines on
unsuspecting subjects, Borat’s newfound popularity clearly would’ve made it difficult
to maintain that shtick. And so, because of this, Cohen simply moved on to other
projects, with Borat Sagdiyev only making brief appearances from that point on.
But then, in 2019, Cohen was seen in character as Borat, which would ultimately
lead to the reveal the following year that, yes, a second Borat was on
the way. And against all odds, Cohen strikes gold once again with what is
arguably his most iconic role.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm maintains the same general
structure of its predecessor in which the titular character interacts with both
famous folks and regular civilians, all of whom are promptly weirded out by
Borat’s heavily stereotypical and unabashedly vulgar antics. As noted earlier, the
key sequences of the original film (and, for that matter, Borat’s segments on Da
Ali G Show) were done in a way where those who interact with Borat weren’t
aware that they were being filmed. And yet, given the first film’s popularity,
it wouldn’t be that surprising to learn that some of this film’s sequences were
staged, especially since a key plot-point in the film is Borat realizing that
he’ll often need to don disguises because of how recognizable he is. Still, for
what it’s worth, Cohen and his team manage to deliver another sharply written
satire of the current state of American politics, and if there’s one thing that
this film manages to take advantage of to avoid being nothing more than a
‘carbon copy’ sequel, it’s the radically different political landscape that it
was made in. Whereas the first Borat poked fun at all the fearmongering
brought upon by the Bush Administration and the War on Terror, Borat
Subsequent Moviefilm lampoons the rise of white supremacy and misinformation
tactics that have largely come from the Trump administration and his devoted band
of supporters. And yes, there are even some sequences that address the COVID-19
pandemic, all culminating in a hilarious reveal where Borat learns that his
Kazakhstani superiors purposefully turned him into the virus’ ‘Patient Zero’. Ultimately,
though, this film’s biggest coup is its breakout star, Maria Bakalova as
Borat’s daughter Tutar, who ends up tagging along with him on his latest trip
to America.
Right off the bat, Bakalova immediately proves that she can
easily match Sacha Baron Cohen when it comes to the latter’s trademark wacky
antics and crude sense of humor. But at the same time, Tutar’s inclusion in
this film ends up giving its plot a surprisingly heartfelt tone. Now, of
course, I recognize that this may sound utterly ridiculous to some of you given
that this is Borat we’re talking about, but because Tutar’s role in the
film is based around her aspirations to become a journalist like her father, it
very much establishes her as her father’s equal. Her experiences in America
allow her to gain the confidence to challenge the societal norms in these
films’ version of Kazakhstan to the point where, by the end of the film, she
and her father end up changing their country for the better. And yes, through
it all, this allows Borat, a character whose nonchalant sexism has always been
one of his main running gags, the chance to legitimately grow as he comes to
fully care about his daughter to the point where he rushes to protect her from
the advances of Rudy Giuliani when she goes to interview him. So, in conclusion,
amidst all the gross-out gags that we’ve come to expect from the #4 journalist
in all of Kazakhstan, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s surprising amount of
heart is what ultimately elevates it above its iconic predecessor. But at the
end of the day, the biggest thing to take from this film is that, because of Sacha
Baron Cohen’s insistence on releasing it before the 2020 election, it could very
well be argued that it played some sort of part in this country’s efforts to bring
an end to its darkest era. That is, after all, the reason why he even brought
Borat back in the first place.
One of the most
notorious consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was that 2020 was the first
year since 2009 to not see the release of a new MCU film. However, that doesn’t
mean that there won’t be any superhero genre representation on this year’s list
as we did get a pair of DC Extended Universe films… even if, through no fault
of their own, their releases continued to establish the franchise’s fanbase as
one of the internet’s most toxic groups. Case in point…
8. BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)
Over the past few years, I’ve repeatedly mentioned how I
have some major issues with certain parts of the DC Extended Universe fandom;
namely, those who pledge their undying loyalty to the franchise’s original
director, Zack Snyder, and the DCEU films that he directed while simultaneously
attacking anyone who dares to suggest that they weren’t perfect. And because Snyder’s
diehard fans have spent the past few years thinking about nothing but his
original cut of 2017’s Justice League, which will finally be released this
March, I’d go as far as to say that they most likely didn’t give a single crap
about either of the DCEU films that came out in 2020. This was especially
apparent with the first DCEU film of the year, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous
Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Birds of Prey (as I’ll be referring
to it from here on out to avoid having to use that long subtitle) was the first
official spin-off of 2016’s Suicide Squad based around its most popular
character, Harley Quinn. Despite that film’s largely negative reception, Margot
Robbie’s turn as the fan-favorite henchwoman turned antihero was widely
considered to be one of its rare highlights. And so, because of this, several
Harley-centric spin-offs were put into development, from a Harley Quinn/Joker
film to one directed by Suicide Squad director David Ayer based on the Gotham
City Sirens. Ultimately, though, Birds of Prey was the first to see
the light of day thanks in large part to Robbie herself, who served as the
film’s primary producer and was keen on making a female-led, female-directed
superhero film.
And folks, believe me when I say that the diehard members of
the DCEU fandom HATED the fact that this film existed. Bear in
mind that this was all back before this past May when Zack Snyder’s Justice
League was officially confirmed. Thus, I can assure you that it was quite
common to see those DCEU fanboys complaining about a film like this getting
made rather than something like Man of Steel 2. Also, remember what I
said earlier about Birds of Prey being a female-led, female-directed
superhero film? Well, as you might have guessed, this effectively made it the
Captain Marvel of 2020 as it was forced to deal with all those sexist
morons who got vitriolically mad at it for no valid reason, and overall, I do
think that this somewhat affected it once it was released. Despite attracting
solid reviews from critics, the film was a commercial underperformer. It only
grossed around $201.8 million worldwide which, despite being at least double
the total of its budget, still wasn’t enough for it to break-even. There’s been
a lot of reasons thrown out there as to why this occurred, from its R-rating
(even though the previous DC Comics-based film, Joker, grossed over $1
billion worldwide with that same rating) to, of course, COVID-19, which was
starting to come into play around that time in certain countries. Ultimately,
though, I just hope that it’s able to become one of those films that manages to
attract a stronger reputation as time goes on because it’s another one of the
DCEU’s best.
But before we get into why that is, I’ll have to address the
elephant in the room that is the main reason behind some of the more mixed
reactions to this film. Despite being titled Birds of Prey and featuring
several of the superheroine group’s most notable members from the comics, this
is ultimately more of a Harley Quinn film. It’s told entirely from her
perspective and the titular squad doesn’t officially come together until the
finale. And yet, even with this in mind, the film manages to overcome this
potential shortcoming by delivering on the one thing that the early DCEU films
often lacked, character development. As great as Margot Robbie was in Suicide
Squad, there were some who weren’t too big on ‘how’ Harley Quinn was
portrayed in that film, especially the parts where she was clearly being used
for fanservice. Thus, just like what happened with Wonder Woman and Aquaman
when they transitioned to their respective solo films, Harley Quinn benefits
greatly from being the lead in this film rather than being part of a larger
ensemble (even if she was technically the main female lead in Suicide Squad).
Birds of Prey does a much better job of highlighting Harley’s madcap
personality and, because it revolves around her setting out on her own after
breaking off her infamously toxic relationship with the Joker, ties in nicely
with her newer characterization in the comics where she’s far from being a hero
but works with the good guys more often. In other words, this is where
Margot Robbie truly establishes herself as the definitive live-action Harley
Quinn, but even though this film is admittedly more focused on Harley than the characters
that it’s named after, it still does a great job of setting them up even if
they don’t get as much to work with when compared to Harley.
Jurnee Smollett’s Dinah Lance AKA Black Canary is arguably the
most grounded of the titular group even though she’s the only real ‘metahuman’
among them given her hypersonic scream abilities. While initially hesitant to
partake in any vigilante business because of what happened to her mother AKA
the previous Black Canary, she eventually steps up once she sees how low her
boss, Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask, will go in his efforts to retrieve the
diamond that holds the key to the Bertinelli family fortune. This is then contrasted
nicely with Gotham City Police Detective Renee Montoya, with Rosie Perez
perfectly cast as the no-nonsense cop who never gets any sort of respect from
her fellow officers. However, the biggest standout of the titular group is Mary
Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli AKA Huntress, the sole survivor of the
Bertinelli crime family turned crossbow-wielding vigilante. Huntress’ role in
the film is a perfect mix of badass action beats and excellent comedic bits
that poke fun at her overly serious nature (e.g. her various attempts at
perfecting her ‘pre-kill’ catchphrase to the point where she’s seen practicing
it in front of a mirror). Finally, to close out the main protagonists, we have
Cassandra Cain… who has admittedly been the source of one of the film’s biggest
fan-related controversies since it presents a radically different take on the character
compared to her usual portrayal in the comics. In the comics, Cassandra is a
mute martial artist who ends up becoming one of the most prominent characters
to take on the mantle of Batgirl, but in this film, she’s just a street-smart
pickpocket. Still, for what it’s worth, newcomer Ella Jay Basco does a great
job in the role, especially thanks to the strong camaraderie that she forms
with Margot Robbie.
All these well-developed heroines are then perfectly matched
by a great main antagonist in crime boss Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask. Ewan
McGregor is another one of the film’s biggest standouts as he fully succeeds in
making Roman an utterly vile villain who somehow manages to also get many of
the film’s best comedic moments (e.g. his frustration over not having control of
the ‘Crossbow Killer’ (“I LIKE CROSSBOWS!”)). Granted, those moments are almost
always of the ‘black comedy’ variety (e.g. the moment where he goes back on his
promise to let the lone survivor of a family that he and his henchman Victor
Zsasz just killed go simply because he’s grossed-out by a snot-bubble) but that
doesn’t stop Black Mask from being one of the DCEU’s best villains. And so,
with all this in mind, Birds of Prey is a great addition to both the
superhero genre and the DCEU. Sure, it may have been a bit misleading to call
this a Birds of Prey film since it’s ultimately a Harley Quinn story,
but at the same time, it’s exactly the kind of film that Margot Robbie needed
to fully embrace the role of Harley Quinn, a result that I’m 100% positive will
carry over to her next appearance as the character in James Gunn’s The
Suicide Squad. And as for the Birds of Prey themselves, I’d argue
that, if anything, this film does a fantastic job of setting them up so that
they can potentially become a staple of the DCEU going forward. That said,
though, right now we can only hope that this film’s under-performance at the
box-office doesn’t end up killing one of the DC Extended Universe’s most
promising subseries.
One of the most
iconic comedic duos in film history made their highly anticipated return to the
big-screen this year for the first time since 1991, and while this newest film
may have spent the last decade stuck in development hell, it ended up being one
of the rare bright spots in the grim year that was 2020. Let’s be real, though,
would you expect anything less from the WYLD STALLYNS!? (*Air Guitars*)
1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is easily
one of the most famous cult classics of the ’80s. Case in point, I still
remember the moment when I was first introduced to it during, of all places, my
Eighth Grade World History class, where we watched the first twenty minutes or
so of it before the end of class that day. I then proceeded to watch it in full
when I came across it on cable not long after and it quickly became a favorite
of mine. This, of course, then led to me seeing its 1991 sequel, Bill &
Ted’s Bogus Journey, and while it wasn’t as well-received as Excellent
Adventure, Bogus Journey has legitimately gone on to become a cult
classic itself to the point where some even argue that it’s better than its
predecessor. However, for the longest time, that was it for the cinematic
outings of Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted Theodore Logan, mostly due to
stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter and series creators Ed Solomon and Chris
Matheson moving on to other projects. Thus, the only major instances of the
franchise’s continuation were things like a few TV shows and a stage show at
Universal’s annual Halloween Horror Nights event. Solomon and Matheson did
begin developing a third film in 2010… but, unfortunately, it ended up getting
stuck in development hell for almost a decade, mostly due to the reluctance of
most studios to revive a ‘cult-y’ franchise. And once again, to put this all
into perspective, I still remember when this was first starting to come to
fruition back then only for it to keep getting stuck to the point where it
seemed like it wasn’t going to happen. But then, once Keanu Reeves experienced
one of the best career revivals in recent memory thanks in large part to the John
Wick films, the stage was finally set for the WYLD STALLYNS (!) to make
their most triumphant return with Bill & Ted Face the Music and boy
was it worth the wait!
Really, there’s not much that I can say about this film
other than the fact that it’s another highly entertaining adventure starring
Bill and Ted that’s narratively more in line with Excellent Adventure rather
than the surreal road-trip adventure that was Bogus Journey. However, Face
the Music also makes sure to include several of the things that made that
film such a hit, such as William Sadler as the franchise’s hilariously dorky
take on the Grim Reaper (“I was in the groove!”). And yet, amidst all the
hilarious escapades that the lovable main characters get into, there’s also a
surprising amount of solid emotional beats that do a nice job of addressing how
much time has passed since the previous film, especially when it comes to the ways
in which it pays tribute to the late George Carlin (archival footage, having
Rufus’ daughter be named Kelly after Carlin’s own daughter (who cameos in the
film), etc.). A lot of this also has to do with the introduction of Bill and
Ted’s daughters, Thea and Billie, who share their dads’ passion for music and
embark on their own Excellent Adventure to help their dads write the
song that will bring the world together, which ultimately concludes with the poignant
reveal that they’re the ones who wrote it. Samara Weaving and Brigette
Lundy-Paine are phenomenal in their respective roles, have excellent
camaraderie with each other and, perhaps most notably of all, very much feel
like the natural off-spring of Reeves and Winter. All in all, Bill & Ted
Face the Music is the very definition of a feel-good crowd-pleaser. It’s a
warmly nostalgic love-letter to fans of the franchise that, at the same time,
never tries to be something that it’s not.
If you were to ask me
the two kinds of films that are practically guaranteed to make my End of the
Year lists every year, I would say MCU films… and Pixar films. And while we may
not have gotten an MCU film in 2020, we were blessed with the rare instance of
two new Pixar films, and sure enough, both films will be appearing on this
list. Ergo, we conclude the first half of this year’s list with the second
Pixar release of 2020 and the one that will most likely be the big frontrunner
for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars.
6. SOUL
Pixar has seen a bunch of excellent directors helm their
features over the years, whether they were figures from within their own ranks
like Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich or ‘outsiders’ such as Brad Bird. And while
any of these filmmakers could easily be considered as the studio’s ‘best’
director, I’d argue that this honor might just go to Pete Docter. At the very
least, he’s been responsible for several of the studio’s most critically
acclaimed outings, including the second animated film in history to get
nominated for both Best Animated Feature AND Best Picture, 2009’s Up,
and 2015’s Inside Out which, according to the internet, was Pixar’s ‘return
to form’ after a ‘shaky’ run in the early 2010s. And in 2018, he took on the
position of being Pixar’s new Chief Creative Officer; a fitting choice, if you
ask me, given that he’s been a mainstay of the company ever since he first
joined them in 1990. But before he properly took on his new job, he made it
clear that he was still going to finish his follow-up to Inside Out that
he began developing in 2016 which, of course, would ultimately become Soul.
Now, on the surface, Soul might seem like something of a spiritual
follow-up to Inside Out since both films explore concepts relating to
the things that make us humans tick. But whereas Inside Out focused on
our emotions, Soul is more about our personalities; our likes and
dislikes, our dreams, our fears, etc.
With that in mind, it should probably go without saying that
Soul is one of the most thought-provoking films that Pixar has ever
made. Obviously, the deep exploration of a film’s themes isn’t anything new to
Pixar, but in this instance, we have a story that truly goes above and beyond
to explore the ways of life in as many ways as it can to the point where it even
has the guts to openly address the subject of death. It shows both optimistic
and cynical views on life and, while obviously leaning more towards the former when
it comes to its own outlook on the matter, doesn’t outright vilify the latter
by showing exactly how someone could end up that way. In other words, Soul is
very much a celebration of life, resulting in all the great emotional beats that
you’ve come to expect from Pixar films, with said moments arguably hitting
harder than expected for reasons that I’ll get into later. And, of course, as
you would also expect from Pixar at this point, it all comes together in a
finely polished animated feature with top-notch animation and a great
soundtrack comprised of both Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score and terrific
jazz tunes from Jon Batiste. But you can’t have a great Pixar film without
great characters and Soul certainly has its fair share of fun
characters, from Graham Norton’s eccentric soul-rescuing Moonwind to Rachel
House’s utterly dedicated soul counter Terry. At the end of the day, though, Soul
properly maintains Pixar’s routine of basing its stories around a lead duo
which, in this instance, consists of music teacher and aspiring musician Joe Gardner
and Soul #22, who’s been stuck in the Great Before for quite some time because she
simply has no desire to go to Earth.
As Joe Gardner, Jamie Foxx does a great job in making Joe a
generally likable audience surrogate as he embarks on this wacky adventure. At
the same time, though, much of Joe’s arc in this film revolves around him
overcoming his biggest character flaw, which is his general short-sightedness.
His lofty aspirations to become a jazz musician just like his late father are what
arguably set this film’s plot into motion as his excitement about being chosen
to perform with legendary jazz performer Dorothea Williams results in him falling
into a manhole after he had already gone through a bunch of near-death
experiences. And after he and 22 begin working on the process of getting him
back into his body, his insistence on getting it done in time for the concert
that he is set to perform in that night results in him going down some selfish
routes since he is generally oblivious towards 22’s personal journey. On that
note, when we first meet 22 (a role that was practically tailor-made for Tina
Fey, who’s just as excellent as Foxx), she’s the very definition of a snarky
cynic who hasn’t found the spark that properly forms a soul’s personality. But
once she travels to Earth with Joe, she finally gets to witness the joys of
life, only for her own chance at life to be taken away from her because of Joe’s
selfish desires, which results in her temporarily becoming a ‘lost soul’.
Thankfully, Joe ends up having the epiphany that he desperately needed when he
realizes that it’s not about what he’s trying to achieve in life but rather
understanding the simple fact that life is something that’s worth living. Thus,
the film ends with 22 finally finding her ‘spark’ and making the pivotal
journey to Earth while Joe is given a second chance by the Great Before
counselors to live his life to the fullest.
Now, admittedly, I am aware that while this film has fared
excellently with critics, it has also garnered some notably mixed reactions
here and there. Namely, there’s been a lot of talk about the fact that while
this is the first Pixar film to be headlined by an African American
protagonist, Joe Gardner spends a good chunk of the film outside of his own
body, including a considerable stretch where 22 ends up inhabiting his body
while he’s stuck as a hospital’s therapy cat. This was something that was also
brought up with Walt Disney Animation’s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog,
which notably featured the studio’s first African American princess… who spent
most of the film as a frog. Ultimately, though, just like that film, I don’t
think that this ends up hurting the film too much in the long run given all the
other things that are great about it. Earlier, I noted that the emotional beats
of Soul ended up hitting harder than anticipated, and the reason why I
say that is because of, as you might have guessed, the circumstances of it
being released right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a time where
life as we know it was forced to be put on hold, Soul (which, like many
of the films that were impacted by COVID-19, was forced to become a streaming
release rather than a theatrical one) is a touching tribute to much of what
we will hopefully get to return to once things start returning to normal. In
other words, the best thing that I can say about Soul is that it’s one
of those films that managed to come out at just the right time, thus making it
one of the most uplifting releases from this crazy year.
And that concludes
Part 1 of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Top 10 Favorite Films of 2020. Thanks for
following along and be sure to check back in tomorrow for Part 2, where we’ll
close out the list and go through my Top 5 of the year.
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