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The top 50 first watches of 2020.  Ranked purely on how much it impacted me personally and/or how much I enjoyed it.
2020_top_50.png
 

The Scribbling Man

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Paths of Glory and Apocalypse Now are fast becoming 2 of my favourite movies. Panic in The Streets is also great. I watched that quite recently as well.

I was pretty busy through a lot of lockdown, ironically. Last year I apparently watched 148 movies though, which is still an average of one every few days. Some shorts are definitely included. Total hours is 263.4

It seems I only gave out five 5-star ratings in 2020, and all to rewatches! I did dish out 4.5 stars to the following first-time watches though:

The Shop Around The Corner
A Few Good Men
Tampopo
The Man In The Moon
Night and The City (1950)
(500) Days of Summer



And 4 stars to these (excluding shorts):

Soul
The Cube (1969)
Jojo Rabbit
The Innocents
The Haunting (1963)
The Elephant Man
The Intruder (1962)
The Salesman
True Grit (1969)
Parallel Love: The Story of a Band Called Luxury
A Seperation
This Is England
High and Low
The Old Dark House
Duel
Brick
Blood Simple
The Double Life of Veronique
The Duellists
Night and The City (1950) different cut
Knives Out
Fight Club
 

TM2YC

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With 'Viridiana' watched, that's my 5 Directors, 5 Films part 9 list complete, time for part 10. I've disliked most of Luis Bunuel's movies before but those 5 were excellent. Steve McQueen's Small Axe series was all good but I adored 'Lovers Rock'. The 5 by David Fincher were uneven, I didn't love them but I'd didn't dislike them either. Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antionette' is a forgotten masterpiece and her new one 'One the Rocks' is brilliant too. I didn't really care for Hayao Miyazaki's first movie but the other films by both Miyazaki are delightful.

I'm going with these 25 films next: 5 Directors, 5 Films (Part X)

Isao Takahata - His 5 Studio Ghibli films are the last I've yet to see.
- Grave of the Fireflies 1988
- Only Yesterday 1991
- Pom Poko 1994
- My Neighbors the Yamadas 1999
- The Tale of the Princess Kaguya 2013

Sylvester Stallone - I've seen some but not all of the Rocky franchise. Complete the set time, plus the latest Rambo.
- Rocky II 1979
- Rocky III 1982
- Rocky IV 1985
- Rocky Balboa 2006
- Rambo 2008

William Friedkin - Just tidying up a few Friedkin films I've yet to see (plus a sequel and a doc on the man)
- The Boys in the Band 1970
- The French Connection 1971
- French Connection II 1975
- Rampage 1987
- Friedkin Uncut 2018

Spike Lee - I'm not the biggest Spike Lee fan but lets have another go with 5 more I've not seen yet.
- Clockers 1995
- Inside Man (2006)
- Oldboy 2013
- Da 5 Bloods 2020
- David Byrne’s American Utopia 2020

Wim Wenders - Never seen anything by Wenders before, high time I started.
- The American Friend 1977
- Room 666 1982
- Paris, Texas 1984
- Tokyo-Ga 1985
- Wings of Desire 1987

...and I'll have a watch of the new Netflix 'The Boys in the Band' too and maybe rewatch the rest of the Rocky/Creed films.
 
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mnkykungfu

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^I'm a fan of every Rocky film but for me the lesser ones in the series have always been III and V. As you've got most in your list, I'd highly recommend incorporating LastSurvivor's "80's Remix" fanedit of Rocky V. It's not perfect, but it turns a very flawed film into one that I'd rank higher than Rocky III (which I've always viewed as nearly all one long montage, with some unfortunate Black Panic elements). Plus, Rocky V is key to setting up important story elements in Rocky Balboa and themes which are further developed there.  Here's the edit page: https://ifdb.fanedit.org/rocky-v-the-80-s-remix/
 

TM2YC

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With the last two Isao Takahata films watched (reviews here), I've done a Studio Ghibli Ranked list:


(Not including Miyazaki's first two non-Ghibli films ('The Castle of Cagliostro' & 'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind') and they are currently working on ('How Do You Live?'). Also not including short films, music video, collaborations with other studios etc etc and I've personally choose to omit the one new CGI feature 'Earwig and the Witch' because boooooo! ;))
 
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Hal9000

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Here’s me:
 

TM2YC

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I got a like from the real Charles de Lauzirika for my positive review of his making of doc 'Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens'' over on Letterboxd, which was nice (I did compare him to Spielberg :D). There are some professional people on there but the downside is they might read your negative reviews. I did get what sounded like a hurt comment from the director of another DVD doc before when I posted a mildly critical review.
 

TM2YC

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That's my 5 Directors, 5 Films (Part X) list complete. I really enjoyed watching through the whole Rocky saga, so I'm looking forward to Stallone's forthcoming recut of Rocky 4. Isao Takahata's 'Grave of the Fireflies' and 'The Tale of the Princess Kaguya' are masterpieces but I doubt I'll ever watch his other three films again. William Friedkin's 'The French Connection' was as good as I expected but 'The Boys in the Band' impressed me too. 'David Byrne’s American Utopia' from Spike Lee is a contender for my film of the year and I liked 'Clockers' a lot. The five Wim Wenders films I watched were so varied it's difficult to choose between them but I probably enjoyed 'The American Friend' the most.

For my 11th list of 25 films (https://letterboxd.com/tm2yc/list/5-directors-5-films-part-xi/) I'm going with:

Penelope Spheeris - I've been looking forward to watching my 'Decline' blu-ray boxset and a couple more of her punk films.
The Decline of Western Civilization 1981
Suburbia 1983
The Boys Next Door 1985
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years 1988
The Decline of Western Civilization Part III 1998

Coen Brothers - Catching up on some Coen classics I've missed over the years.
Raising Arizona 1987
Miller’s Crossing 1990
The Ladykillers 2004
No Country for Old Men 2007
Inside Llewyn Davis 2013

Federico Fellini - Some of these films are acclaimed as the greatest ever, I hope that's true.
8½ 1963
Juliet of the Spirits 1965
Fellini Satyricon 1969
Amarcord 1973
Fellini: A Director’s Notebook 1969

Walter Hill - These 5 finish off all his early classics and a couple of 90s movies.
Hard Times 1975
The Long Riders 1980
Streets of Fire 1984
Another 48 Hrs. 1990
Geronimo: An American Legend 1993

Pedro Almodóvar - I've only ever seen his latest film, time to dig into his earlier stuff.
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 1988
All About My Mother 1999
Talk to Her 2002
Broken Embraces 2009
The Skin I Live In 2011
 
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TM2YC

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Yay, I've topped 3K films watched, according to Letterboxd. Not including time spent rewatching films, that's approximately 8-months of my life spent solidly watching movies :LOL:.
 

TM2YC

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The Oscars are usually my cut-off point for a year-end list, so I've had a while longer to see more movies this year but as of 26/04/21 this is my Top-25/Bottom-5, in order (more or less):


My Top-5:

1. David Byrne’s American Utopia
2. Once Upon a Time in Iraq
3. Babyteeth
4. Saint Frances
5. Circus of Books


'Enola Holmes' is easily my least favourite film of the year.

It feels like I've seen waaaay more contemporary films this year than I usually do but have still failed to watch many of the films that got the top Oscars and Baftas this year. Maybe The Father, Black Messiah, Minari, Nomadland and Another Round are better than the films in my list but it's too late now.

It also feels like female "auteur" writer/director/producers are knocking it out of the park right now. 2 out of my top-5, 6 out of my top-10, 11 out of my top-25 and none of my bottom-5 are directed by women... and that's not including the amazing 'Saint Frances' which is written by and starring Kelly O’Sullivan but directed by her partner.

So I decided to make a list of all the films by women I've ever seen (that I can recall anyway), it's only 154 out of the 3K total but it's a start.

 
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SIUse

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@TM2YC you’ve earned yourself a follower on letterboxd. interesting choices, i’ve to watch 40% of them, still.
 

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Got a free trial to one of those Prime Video channels last month, and it ended today. There were probably in total about 50 movies available ‘exclusively’ on there (not on any other service I have access to), and I managed to hit a solid 30 of those:

https://letterboxd.com/macmilln/tag/hollywood-suite/diary/

Highlight has got to be Bunny Lake is Missing, and the low point was probably The Big Chill.

There were a few other films I really wanted to check out, Bonnie and Clyde most namely. Honestly, I'm considering doing a double-dip to round things out, by getting another trial on a family member’s account...
 
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TM2YC

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^ If you have Amazon Prime and you check regularly you can often find channels for free, or at a massive discount. As long as you are careful to unsubscribe at the end of the promotional period, then sign up for something else. I've got 3-months of the BFIplayer channel on Amazon for £2.97 at the moment.
 

TM2YC

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I made a list I've been meaning to for a while: 2002: The worst year (in film) ever

;)

It's surprising how many franchises produced a film so bad in 2002, that it effectively killed off the franchise for a number of years and sometimes sent the series straight-to-video. Some are bad based on my own opinion but some are soooo awful I'd argue they were objectively the worst. In fairness, 2002 also has some of the best films ever made like: 24 Hour Party People, Punch-Drunk Love, Hero, City of God, Whale Rider etc.

Suggestions for more 2002 awfulness are welcome.



I was tempted to make it a 2001&2002 list because that has some stinkers too e.g. The worst John Carpenter film (if you can call it a film) and the worst Planet of the Apes film.
 
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Heavisyde

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Lots of love for Insomnia but it's still the worst Nolan film :LOL: (aka least best).
ahh fair fair. i'd personally go with TDKR, but yh Nolan's films are pretty solid, even the weaker ones.
 

mnkykungfu

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Got a free trial to one of those Prime Video channels last month, and it ended today. There were probably in total about 50 movies available ‘exclusively’ on there (not on any other service I have access to), and I managed to hit a solid 30 of those:

https://letterboxd.com/macmilln/tag/hollywood-suite/diary/

Highlight has got to be Bunny Lake is Missing, and the low point was probably The Big Chill.

There were a few other films I really wanted to check out, Bonnie and Clyde most namely. Honestly, I'm considering doing a double-dip to round things out, by getting another trial on a family member’s account...
Aww...I liked The Big Chill. It's the best film I've yet seen that somewhat answers "What happened to all the hippies and protestors that were going to change the world?" Most other films just toss off a reductive answer, but this one has layers.
 

macmilln

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^ If you have Amazon Prime and you check regularly you can often find channels for free, or at a massive discount. As long as you are careful to unsubscribe at the end of the promotional period, then sign up for something else. I've got 3-months of the BFIplayer channel on Amazon for £2.97 at the moment.
Kept this in the back of my head but wasn't having any luck... until I wanted to watch something last night and I saw a similar deal pop up, once again for Hollywood Suite. $2.50 for three months! I'll make good use out of it for sure.

Aww...I liked The Big Chill. It's the best film I've yet seen that somewhat answers "What happened to all the hippies and protestors that were going to change the world?" Most other films just toss off a reductive answer, but this one has layers.
That might be true, but I guess for me I just don't care too much for a film that answers that question. It was good for the first, I don't know, hour, but then felt like it ran its course. Maybe when I'm a bit older I'll feel differently about it, who knows.
 
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