Top Ten Films, Video Games, and Music Albums Of 2020
Time to look back at the movies, games, and music highlights of the year. Thank goodness this year is almost over...what a journey. While the future is unknown and not guaranteed, and it's been a ruckus, there was some great media buried within it..sometimes overwhelmingly so whether in quantity or quality. This was tough to make! Maybe because it was best to stay at home and enjoy.... if next year can truly deliver on what was delayed from this one, oh my. Without further ado:
Top Films Of 2020:
1 and Movie Of The Year.) Da 5 Bloods (for its impeccable mix of Vietnam flashbacks and a twist filled modern day, incredible Spike Lee direction and acting performances, laughs, and actions....RIP Chadwick Boseman truly fits with the plot it will always be hard for us to move on... edge of your seat the whole time)
2.) Soul (For showing Pixar still knows how to make us feel...and trip out , laugh, and dance while thinking of the meaning of life)
3.) I'm Thinking Of Ending Things (As with many on this list, melting our minds with many meta-layers of reality and dark drama with fantastic Jessie Buckley / Jesse Plemmons performances)
4.) Tenet (For attempting to bring back the blockbuster...and being a great one wherever it's viewed with Christopher Nolan at his nolan-est action)
5.) The Devil All The Time (For managing to squeeze together years of timelines of performances effetively with incredible Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan and more what a Southern crossover)
6.) The King Of Staten Island (for making one laugh just as often as it makes one cry with shenangins and surprises along the way with quite a soundtrack...great Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, and Bill Burr who between this and Mandalorian proves he should act in more things)
7.) The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (for having an all star cast lineup and intense drama from Mark Rylance, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Michael Keaton and more)
8.) The Invisible Man (for surprising with the fact that the Universal Monster universe can still have something fresh with scares and electro thrills backed by a stellar Elizabeth Moss take)
9.) Train To Busan (2) Presents: Peninsula (for being almost as good as the first if not quite there with wild ridiclous set-pieces and emotional feels)
10.) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (for bringing a fittingly great two part punch of Chadwick Boseman's final performances as well as those around him in a dark drama with just a bit of music)
Honorable Mentions #'s 11-13:
11.) The Hunt (for mixing action and laughs in that wonderful bloody/funny type of hybrid along with some crisp direction and smart political points)
12.) Palm Springs (for actually making a great spin on the Groundhog Day formula with Andy Samberg / Cristin Miloti laughs as well as a fun sunny vibe and surpriseS)
13.) Borat (2): Subsequent Moviefilm : Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (for existing and the stuns Sacha Baron Cohen was able to pull off with that Tutar daughter haha...timely for the moment)
Overall: In terms of theaters, horrible times so many periods of closing for business or total closures as chains... blockbusters were few and far between. However a paradigm shift occured for the ages with paid home releases or free surprises on Netflix (they make up most this list) , Hulu , Disney Plus, HBO Max etc...it made sense the streaming cold wars went hot. There was so much not listed here that was decent too...at least, if we were bored, we had stuff to watch ...a surprising year indeed.
Top 10 Games Of 2020:
(0 and Game Of The Future Metaphysical Cultural Moment.) Astro's Playroom(this is a free game pre-installed onto every PS5 that's absolutely incredible for being key at showing the future of technology with the haptic feedback of the controller with charming level design, music, playstation history...it represents what the Sony of tomorrow can do across its short burst...its' highlights are heavenly)
1 and basically Game Of The Year>=.) Ghost of Tsushima (for being nearly perfect with its incredible immersive Japanese open world as well as its intense stance combat and sneaking...with a story packed with twists and feels of its own especially in sidequests. The Assassin's creed japan, red dead redemption japan, everything samurai japan we always wanted...accomplishing nearly all of what all the below was trying to do even better...if typical. But its efforts must be commended !)
2 but almost tied for Game Of The Year<=.) The Last Of Us Part II (for justifying that yes there should be a sequel to one of the other best games of all time...for its emotional feels, surprising twists amongst perspectives for really the first time since MGS2, intense action setpieces and crafted moments...the pinnacle of cinematic inspired games even if it had its leak drama around story letdowns...almost perfect also where's multiplayer)
3.) Cyberpunk 2077 (For finally coming out and trying so hard. For its amazing conversations , side quests, and open world options and scope. Yet less so for its bugs on some platforms or some failed expectations...but cant deny its special and distinct...this is for the game it will someday be. )
4.) Spider-Man: Miles Morales (for bringing more of a good thing to the next level . For out-Arkhamming the Arkham series' combat and stealth....for christmas vibes and venomized electro moves that seem its past feel like an infant in comparision to the hype, short but sweet)
5.) Animal Crossing : New Horizons (for giving us an island getwaway in the first dark winter...a place to relax and see friends safely and calmly. For having such a cool live update / holiday plan for its lifetime so far ...and onwards. Endless content the best yet)
6.) Dreams' full release ( For truly having the most endless content of this whole list. For taking the idea of LittleBigPlanet to a next surreal level...for having any game be possible the best fan made creations on a console to date along with a solid but short story)
7.) Paper Mario: The Origami King (For almost bringing back the classic gameplay (hey there's occasional partners!) along with hilarious humor , gorgeous visuals, and unique gameplay ideas that work)
8.) Hades' full release (for getting right to the gameplay point even if it's from 2018. For creating satisfying room-by-room roguelike gameplay with upgrade surprises. For having a distinct aesthetic of its version of Greek myths).
9.) Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (for being free to many people. For mixing royales and 3d platformers / Wipeout obstacle ideas so well. For being addictively simple and bringing fun new content ).
10.) Immortals: Fenyx Rising ( For wonderfully mixing Zelda BOTW, Greek myths, and a family fun cartoony tone. For even improving on ideas of its peers and being funny along the way . For being beautifully colored in vibe).
Honorable Mentions # 11-13:
11.) Gears Tactics (for making turn based Gears XCOM work great in a nice simple way. For having a main game level story and cutscenes)
12.) Star Wars Squadrons (For being the best, and only , Star Wars flight focused game in a long time. For being so immersive in VR even with a short but sweet story)
13.) Final Fantasy VII Remake (For finally coming out , for looking and sounding so amazing. For adding even more than ever and having new possibilities for future parts in terms of storyline)
Top 10 Music Albums Of 2020:
Overall: Amazing one of the best years ever for me at least. Maybe it's because I had more time on my hands to check out the release charts but seriously there was so mcuh... at one point I had a top 56 best out of hundreds more! I think I transformed and matured my music taste this year into a new varied direction...the chiller, the better because we all need to dream. Now if only concerts will return.... for all this there'll be a win.
Enjoy all and may the new year be a better one at some point, it's gotta!
