Best Films of 2017-2023 (2020)

Best of 2020

1. Nomadland (115) - A simple film, but beautiful.  A good exploration on human behavior--people that won't let you in, living with isolation, the kindness and wisdom of strangers.  I loved the camerawork on a lot of the shots in this film.  Especially the scene where she's walking in the Arizona desert with her boots crunching the gravel as the harsh morning sun rises over the aluminum hoods of the vans.  
2. Tenet (12) - Recent news about a Peloton instructor griping that this movie was a 2.5hr piece of sh*t waste of time notwithstanding, this was a fun movie to have been able to watch during the pandemic.  My brother-in-law and I had to try our best to enjoy it throughout our wives' incessant protestations about how the movie tries to hard and how we just pretend to like it so we can look smart.  I do agree that this one got a little too into itself trying to be brainy and puzzle-like.  I found myself liking the lead actor's, John David Washington's, performance but also not caring so much for his character--probably due to his low-key emotions--that I didn't really feel motivated enough to try to work out the timeline puzzle of the movie either during or after.  (Something I definitely wanted to study for films like Inception and Interstellar.)  So, this movie is pretty low on my Nolan list, but it was a bright spot in an otherwise down year for the movie industry IMO.  
3. Soul (10) - Captured some of the magic of "Inside Out" (Pixar's best) by using animation in clever ways to make me reconceptualize something foundational (the afterlife in this case; human psychology in the case of "Inside Out").  
4. Minari (94) - A well-crafted film about Korean immigrants.  It had all the right international / indie feels.  
5. Emma. (40) - Not super memorable, except that I liked it.  It's a good date-night flick.  
6. The Father (108) - Good acting performances by Anthony Hopkins and the supporting cast.  It's a good portrayal of the horrors of dementia.  You just have to be in the mood to be sad, which I usually am not.  Having already seen (and liked / preferred) "Still Alice", I didn't really need this movie in my life.  
7. Onward (11) - Fun.  Not life-altering.  

Movies I Didn't Much Care For

1. Wonder Woman 1984 (45) - Pretty terrible movie.  Some of the worst parts of what too much CGI does to a movie.  The opening sequence was laughably bad.