The Fourth (and possibly annual but probably not because this was fucking exhausting) Dixon Movie Awards

Man, this year sucked. Disease, police brutality, and poverty ravaged the globe while the lucky amongst us were cut off from society, safe from the virus but more vulnerable than ever to loneliness and despair. Along with countless other pillars of our culture, movie theaters shut down, removing one of our more common distractions from life’s daily horrors.

Contrary to popular belief, a lot of great movies came out in 2020. They were a little harder to track down than usual, but they were there nonetheless. In a year filled with tragedy, I needed movies more than ever. Some helped me better understand the calamity around me, some helped me cope with it, some helped me forget it, and others just pissed me off. But we’ll get to Capone later.

All that to say, despite the absence of theaters, movies still had a lot to say about our fucked up world. I’ve done my best to give you my thoughts on which ones are worth listening to.

Before we get started, some quick housekeeping items:

#1: I only ranked movies that actually came out in the year of our Lord 2020. The Oscars are doing some weird shit where anything released through the end of February 2021 is eligible for awards. I’m not doing that. I enjoyed Judas and the Black Messiah, but you won’t find it anywhere on this list.

#2: I instituted a letter grading system this year. Previously, I’ve just ranked every movie without using any sort of tiering mechanism to help people determine how much I liked the 87th ranked film on my list. Hopefully this will help provide a little more context. B- and above is a thumbs up. C+ and below is a thumbs down. I highly recommend anything A- or higher.

And finally…

Every 2020 Movie I Saw, Ranked

A
1. Nomadland
2. Song Without a Name
3. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

A-
4. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
5. Father Soldier Son
6. Marona’s Fantastic Tale
7. Palm Springs
8. Our Time Machine
9. We Are Little Zombies
10. Another Round
11. The Dark and the Wicked
12. Time
13. Wolfwalkers
14. Vitalina Varela
15. Possessor
16. Shithouse
17. Welcome to Chechnya
18. Collective
19. Dick Johnson Is Dead
20. Get Duked!
21. Mangrove
22. Proxima
23. Crip Camp
24. Relic
25. The Infiltrators
26. Saint Frances
27. Capital in the 21st Century
28. Planet of the Humans
29. Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
30. City Hall
31. Sound of Metal

B+
32. The Father
33. Horse Girl
34. Push
35. Boys State
36. The Wolf House
37. Extra Ordinary
38. Banana Split
39. The Half of It
40. And Then We Danced
41. A White, White Day
42. Kabul, City in the Wind
43. Mother’s Little Helpers
44. Color Out of Space
45. The Invisible Man
46. Driveways
47. Minari
48. Promising Young Woman
49. Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
50. A Rainy Day in New York
51. Babyteeth
52. She Dies Tomorrow
53. The Last Tree
54. In My Blood It Runs
55. The Dissident
56. Bad Education
57. Martin Eden
58. First Cow
59. A Shawn the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
60. J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and The Church of the SubGenius

B
61. Sorry We Missed You
62. Slay the Dragon
63. The Mole Agent
64. MLK/FBI
65. The VICE Guide to Bigfoot
66. The Trip to Greece
67. The King of Staten Island
68. Big Time Adolescence
69. The Climb
70. The Phenomenon
71. The Wall of Mexico
72. The Garden Left Behind
73. Soul
74. Onward
75. The Way Back
76. On the Rocks
77. Black Bear
78. The Burnt Orange Heresy
79. I’ve Got Issues
80. Kajillionaire
81. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
82. Guns Akimbo
83. The Vast of Night
84. Les Miserables
85. Drowning
86. Shirley
87. Fourteen
88. The Wolf of Snow Hollow
89. Tigertail
90. The Nest
91. One Night in Miami
92. Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint
93. Human Nature
94. Alice
95. Becoming Leslie
96. The Booksellers
97. The Scheme
98. This Is Not a Movie
99. Class Action Park
100. The Hottest August
101. The Times of Bill Cunningham
102. Disclosure
103. A Secret Love
104. The Painter and the Thief
105. The Wild Goose Lake

B-
106. Alabama Snake
107. Synchronic
108. Underwater
109. The Photograph
110. Sea Fever
111. Days of the Whale
112. The Planters
113. The Truth
114. Words on Bathroom Walls
115. A Whisker Away
116. Lovers Rock
117. River City Drumbeat
118. Spaceship Earth
119. Emma.
120. I Used to Go Here
121. Swallow
122. I’m Your Woman
123. Straight Up
124. Red Rover
125. Balloon
126. Dark Suns
127. DC Noir
128. The Whistlers
129. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
130. Happiest Season
131. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
132. Red, White and Blue
133. All Day and a Night
134. David Byrne’s American Utopia
135. My Darling Vivian
136. The Social Dilemma

C+
137. Lost Girls
138. Mank
139. Sibyl
140. The Lovebirds
141. Freaky
142. The Croods: A New Age
143. Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band
144. Ammonite
145. The Fight
146. A Thousand Cuts
147. Bacurau
148. VFW
149. I’m No Longer Here
150. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
151. Tesla
152. The Gentlemen
153. The Forty-Year-Old Version
154. The Personal History of David Copperfield
155. Corpus Christi
156. The Quarry
157. The Assistant
158. Tommaso
159. Hill of Freedom
160. Da 5 Bloods
161. Beanpole

C
162. The Old Guard
163. Cut Throat City
164. Buffaloed
165. The Hunt
166. Education
167. Alex Wheatle
168. Fatman
169. Unhinged
170. A Good Woman Is Hard to Find
171. BookendS
172. How to Build a Girl
173. Irresistible
174. Sylvie’s Love
175. Come to Daddy
176. Jingle Jangle
177. Pahokee
178. Paradise Without People
179. Rebuilding Paradise

C-
180. John Lewis: Good Trouble
181. Save Yourselves!
182. Yourself and Yours
183. Bull
184. Miss Juneteenth
185. The Surrogate
186. Cuties
187. Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly
188. The Trial of the Chicago 7

D+
189. Vivarium
190. Weathering with You
191. Cows With No Name
192. Earth
193. Nothin’ No Better

D
194. Wonder Woman 1984
195. The Devil All the Time
196. An American Pickle
197. The Rental
198. Butt Boy
199. Buddy Games
200. Tenet
201. Sonic the Hedgehog
202. Bloodshot
203. The Lodge

D-
204. Yes, God, Yes
205. The Turning
206. Deerskin
207. Jiu Jitsu
208. TFW NO GF
209. Over the Rainbow
210. Peace
211. Apartment 413
212. Porno

F
213. Capone

Best Picture: Nomadland

In case I haven’t made this clear enough, 2020 was an absolutely awful year. The COVID-19 pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, and it brought the economy to a screeching halt in the process. The K-shaped recovery has left upper middle class people like myself doing better than ever while the poorest in our society suffer the brunt of the economic downturn.

Our government’s response to the crisis is even more depressing given its shocking similarity to the 2008 recession. Millions lost their jobs and their homes, and the Bush and Obama administrations turned a blind eye, instead electing to prop up the wealthy financial institutions that caused the recession in the first place. With the job market crippled, many working class Americans were forced to seek out temporary work wherever they could find it.

Chloé Zhao’s brilliant film Nomadland follows Fern, a woman who is forced to leave her home in Empire, Nevada after the local sheetrock plant closes in early 2011. She travels the country in her van, moving from job to job trying to make ends meet. Along the way, she befriends other nomadic workers and joins a small community of van dwellers in the Arizona desert.

Zhao based the script on a nonfiction book of the same name, and many of the characters appear in the film as fictionalized versions of themselves. The notable exception is Frances McDormand, who gives a career-best performance in the lead role. Her down-to-earth demeanor fits perfectly with a cast of mostly nonactors. Zhao’s empathy for the nomads shines through in every scene as she lets the audience get to know them and understand their struggles.

At its core, the film is about grief. In addition to her job, Fern has lost her husband, her town, and her way of life. She’s searching for meaning and connection in a world that has stripped her of everything she once held dear. Even as she begins to grow accustomed to her itinerant routine, there’s a quiet melancholy that stays with Fern as she’s constantly reminded of her previous life.

The film ends with a beautiful, open-ended sequence that left me wondering where we go from here. The ramifications of the 2008 recession are still reverberating through our society, and they’ve only been exacerbated in the past year. More and more people are pushed out of the economy every day as the little wealth they have is transferred up to the top of our cannibalistic economic food chain. At least there’s a band of nomads in the desert ready to accept them when society inevitably lets them fall through the cracks. Nomadland is streaming on Hulu.

Best Director: Chloé Zhao — Nomadland

Chloé Zhao has made a name for herself by creating fictional films about real people and casting those people to play themselves. It’s a unique approach that gives her films a distinctive feel. Her previous movie The Rider was cast exclusively with nonactors. Zhao’s decision to put Frances McDormand at the center of Nomadland grounds the story around a dynamic character and makes the film more approachable to a broader audience.

In addition to directing, Zhao wrote, produced, and edited the film, clearly doing everything she could to translate her exact vision to the screen. The result is the most beautiful film of the year. Nomadland is streaming on Hulu.

Honorable Mentions
Melina León — Song Without a Name
Charlie Kaufman — I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross — Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Leslye Davis and Catrin Einhorn — Father Soldier Son
Anca Damian — Marona’s Fantastic Tale
Max Barbakow — Palm Springs
S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun — Our Time Machine
Makoto Nagahisa — We Are Little Zombies
Thomas Vinterberg — Another Round

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley — I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Jessie Buckley has delivered some great performances in underseen films like Beast and Wild Rose in recent years, so I’m thrilled to see that she’s getting more acclaim for her starring role in Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Credited merely as Young Woman, Buckley plays a physicist hesitantly embarking on a road trip with her boyfriend to meet his parents for the first time. She doesn’t see the relationship lasting much longer, and she’s debating whether to end it. As they leave the comfort of the city and enter the desolate Oklahoma countryside, the Young Woman’s personality, occupation, and backstory begin to shift rapidly with the conversation.

Buckley shows off her range with a performance as mysterious and engrossing as the movie around her. The script requires her character to change multiple times in every scene, and she pulls it off with apparent ease. Kaufman’s latest enigmatic masterpiece is one of my favorite films of the year, and Buckley is a big reason why. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is streaming on Netflix.

Honorable Mentions
Frances McDormand — Nomadland
Pamela Mendoza — Song Without a Name
Eva Green — Proxima
Carrie Mulligan — Promising Young Woman
Aubrey Plaza — Black Bear

Best Supporting Actress: Swankie — Nomadland

Swankie is one of the real nomads documented in the book Nomadland who plays herself in Chloé Zhao’s fictionalized film adaptation. She doesn’t get much screen time, but she really makes it count. Swankie is a crotchety loner who quickly opens up after helping Frances McDormand’s character with a flat tire. Her monologue about her cancer diagnosis, suicidal thoughts, and plans for her remaining months on earth is one of the most touching scenes in any movie this year. Nomadland is streaming on Hulu.

Honorable Mentions
Toni Collette — I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Linda May — Nomadland
Olivia Cooke — Sound of Metal
Essie Davis — Babyteeth

Best Actor: Michael Martin — Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

No, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is not a documentary, though it certainly feels like one. Fraternal directing duo Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross recruited barflies from all across their home city of New Orleans to play fictionalized versions of themselves in this unscripted drama set at a colorful Las Vegas dive. The film takes place on the bar’s final day in existence as its loyal patrons mourn the loss of their favorite hangout by getting royally shit-faced one last time.

Michael Martin, the only trained actor in the cast, plays an out-of-work thespian who spends his days drinking to forget. The film opens with Martin passed out on the bar from the night before and then follows him to the bathroom where he shaves, throws some water on his face, and gets right back to drinking. As the day goes on, customers come and go, but Martin remains, grieving the impending loss of his bar and his friends the only way he knows how.

This is one of the most raw, honest films of the year, even if it’s not technically a true story. It’s an intimate look at people on the outskirts of society and the manufactured families they create. It’s full of memorable characters including standout Bruce Hadnot, who gives a heartbreaking performance as a depressed Vietnam veteran. As Hadnot considers life without his neighborhood bar, he sums up the major theme of the film by remarking, “This a place where you can go when nobody else don’t want your ass. Don’t nobody want my ass, so that’s why I’m in here.” Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is available to rent through most major streaming services.

Honorable Mentions
Jessie Plemons — I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Riz Ahmed — Sound of Metal
Shaun Parkes — Small Axe: Mangrove
Mads Mikkelsen — Another Round

Best Supporting Actor: Ben Mendelsohn — Babyteeth

Director Shannon Murphy’s feature debut tells the story of a teenage girl with terminal cancer as she develops a romantic relationship with an older drug dealer. Mendelsohn creates a stirring portrayal of a father torn between his instinct to protect his daughter and his desire for her to enjoy her last few months on earth. The film is an emotional roller coaster, and not everything works, but the ending is incredible, in large part due to Mendelsohn’s gripping performance. Babyteeth is streaming on Hulu.

Honorable Mentions
Brian Dennehy — Driveways
Bruce Hadnot — Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
David Thewlis — I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Tommy Párraga — Song Without a Name

Best Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman — I’m Thinking of Ending Things

“That’s why I like road trips. It’s good to remind yourself that the world’s larger than the inside of your own head.”

The above quote is uttered by Charlie Kaufman’s lead character Jake toward the beginning of the film as he sets off on a road trip through Oklahoma farmland to introduce his girlfriend to his parents for the first time. The irony is obvious to those familiar with Kaufman’s work. His singular perspective and melancholy tone are derived directly from his obsession with his darkest insecurities. Kaufman’s lead characters are seldom able to escape their own thoughts and appreciate the world around them, and Jake is no exception.

The story begins as an insightful analysis of the awkwardness and stress involved in meeting your significant other’s parents, told through the lens of a tense horror film. Things get weird from there, and it evolves into something much larger. Kaufman dives into universal concepts such as regret, depression, humanity’s capacity for original thought, and whether life is worth living. It’s an incredibly honest, vulnerable meditation on the quest for happiness in modern America, and it comes to a very bleak solution. I love this movie, but I hope Charlie Kaufman’s okay. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is streaming on Netflix.

Honorable Mentions
Andy Siara — Palm Springs
Chloe Zhao — Nomadland
Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm — Another Round
Makoto Nagahisa — We Are Little Zombies

Best Cinematography: Leonardo Simoes — Vitalina Varela

I wasn’t prepared for this film the first time I saw it. Director Pedro Costa moves at his own pace and urges viewers to get on the unhurried wavelength of the poor Lisbon neighborhood where the story is set. I appreciated what the movie was trying to do, but I had trouble getting into that headspace. Recently I decided to give it another watch, knowing what I was getting myself into. I’m really glad I did.

The experience of Vitalina Varela is more like staring at a series of oil paintings than watching a movie. Leonardo Simoes’ stunning cinematography pulls from the styles of Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Almost every scene takes place at night or in a dark room. Just enough light is used to show the characters in the foreground while the background remains shrouded in darkness. It’s a uniquely beautiful aesthetic that sets this movie apart from anything I’ve ever seen.

I highly recommend this film, but if you decide to watch it, you have to be willing to give it your full attention, turn your phone off, and just sit with the movie for a while. Your patience will be rewarded. Vitalina Varela is streaming on Criterion Channel and is available to rent through most other streaming services.

Honorable Mentions
Inti Briones — Song Without a Name
Joshua James Richards — Nomadland
Lukasz Zal — I’m Thinking of Ending Things
Stil Williams — The Last Tree
Hiroaki Takeda — We Are Little Zombies
Tristan Nyby — The Dark and the Wicked
Shabier Kirchner — Small Axe: Mangrove
Louis Caulfield and Mike Paterson — Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

Best Score: Ludovico Einaudi — Nomadland

I’m kind of cheating here since Ludovico Einaudi didn’t write this music specifically for Nomadland, but I don’t care. His delicate piano sets the perfect tone as Fern grieves the loss of her previous life and searches for connection in her new one. You can listen to the full soundtrack here.

Honorable Mentions
Jim Williams — Possessor
Pauchi Sasaki — Song Without a Name
Tom Schraeder — The Dark and the Wicked
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross — Soul

Best Documentary Feature: Father Soldier Son

Few films are able to achieve the level of intimacy found in the heartbreaking documentary Father Soldier Son. Spanning a period of ten years, the film chronicles the life of Brian Eisch, an American soldier and single father of two boys. Between deployments to Afghanistan, Brian tries to raise his sons the best he can. He puts all his energy into giving them a happy, loving childhood despite the inherent obstacles his profession presents.

Everything changes when Brian loses his leg in a combat mission. As he attempts to recover and learn to live with his disability, he struggles with his identity and feelings of inadequacy. He’s no longer able to serve his country or play with his sons, the two things that brought him the most fulfillment in life, and he sinks into a deep depression. Brian’s sons respond to his personality change in vastly different ways. The oldest wants to go to college and avoid his father’s issues while the youngest becomes obsessed with joining the army.

As time passes, Brian sees news coverage of US troops and the Taliban fighting the same battles that he fought years earlier, and he wonders whether his sacrifice was worth it. America’s longest war still rages on today, victimizing Americans and Afghans alike, for no discernible reason. Father Soldier Son is streaming on Netflix.

Honorable Mentions
Our Time Machine
Time
Welcome to Chechnya
Collective
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Crip Camp
Capital in the 21st Century
Planet of the Humans
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
City Hall

Best Animated Film: Marona’s Fantastic Tale

Marona’s Fantastic Tale follows a dog from birth to death as she passes between three different owners. To put it mildly, I am not a dog person, but I really enjoyed this film. The animation is incredible. The distinctive visual style depicts each character differently to reflect their personality traits. Check out the above trailer to see what I mean.

Marona’s journey from owner to owner feels reflective of the traditional coming of age story told through a new lens. As her relationships come and go, Marona learns to empathize with different types of people and to put their happiness above her own. It’s a sweet story that can be enjoyed by the whole family without talking down to the kids. If you want to give this movie a shot, I recommend watching the French language version with subtitles. The English dub is poorly acted and doesn’t fit with the tone of the film. Marona’s Fantastic Tale is available to rent through most major streaming services.

Honorable Mentions
Wolfwalkers
The Wolf House
A Shawn the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

Best Foreign Language Film: Song Without a Name

The most emotionally powerful cinematic experience of the year is an overlooked Peruvian film from first-time director Melina León. Set in Lima in the late 1980s, the story follows Georgina, a young pregnant woman living in poverty on the outskirts of the city. She and her boyfriend make their living by walking several miles into downtown each day to sell potatoes on a crowded street corner. Upon hearing a radio advertisement for a free pregnancy clinic, Georgina decides to go there to give birth. The nurse takes her new daughter out of the room to run some tests and never brings her back.

Based on true events, the script documents a time in Peru when predatory adoption agencies were luring poor pregnant women into free clinics in order to steal their children and sell them to wealthy families abroad. Pamela Mendoza is astounding as Georgina, bringing a raw sorrow to the role that’s unlike anything I’ve seen this year. Her co-star Tommy Párraga also turns in a great performance as an introverted journalist determined to find Georgina’s child.

Cinematographer Inti Briones shoots the film beautifully in black and white and utilizes a 4:3 aspect ratio with blurred edges to add a feeling of intimacy to the delicate script. This movie blew me away, and I came very close to putting it at #1 on my list. I hope more people get a chance to see it. Song Without a Name is available to rent through most major streaming services.

Honorable Mentions
Marona’s Fantastic Tale
Our Time Machine
We Are Little Zombies
Another Round
Vitalina Varela
Welcome to Chechnya
Collective

Best Comedy: Palm Springs

I wrote about Palm Springs when it came out over the summer. No movie this year is more of the moment than Max Barbakow’s insightful directorial debut. I’ve seen it three times now, and I’ve appreciated it more with each watch. It’s rare to find a film that so deftly balances comedy and existential dread while remaining approachable to a large audience. Andy Samberg gives the performance his career, and Cristin Milioti is delightful as his co-star. If you haven’t seen this yet, what are you doing? It’s on Hulu. Go watch it.

Best Horror: The Dark and the Wicked

The best horror film of 2020 flew way under the radar. I had never heard of The Dark and the Wicked until a friend told me to check it out. Its dumb title and relative obscurity gave me pause, but my skepticism was soon forgotten when the film scared the living shit out of me.

The story takes place at a remote farmhouse somewhere in Texas. Adult siblings Louise and Michael travel from out of town to help their aging mother care for their dying father. Upon their arrival, their mother informs them that she does not want their help and asks them to leave. Despite this request, they decide to stay.

Director Bryan Bertino crafts the film around the fear of death and how it can spread through a family like a disease, inspiring irrational behavior that can often make things worse. Cinematographer Tristan Nyby’s patient tracking shots and Tom Schraeder’s unsettling score create an intense sense of dread that stuck with me for days. The Dark and the Wicked is available to rent through most major streaming services.

Best Sci-Fi: Possessor

Possessor is an intense sci-fi thriller directed by Brandon Cronenberg (son of David) about a murder-for-hire firm that plants chips in civilians’ heads and controls them remotely to carry out their assassinations. Andrea Riseborough plays the firm’s top killer who’s tasked with executing a billionaire by taking over his son-in-law’s body. As she prepares to carry out her mission, she struggles to maintain control over the host’s mind.

Cronenberg uses this novel conceit to explore themes of identity and morality in a high tech society that prioritizes ambition over relationships. Christopher Abbott, Sean Bean, and Jennifer Jason Leigh round out a stacked cast. The film looks amazing, and its intense score keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Possessor is available to rent through most major streaming services.

Best Action: Guns Akimbo

This was a bad year for action movies. It’s a genre that is unfortunately dissipating from the movie industry as studios focus on inoffensive PG-13 superhero dreck that appeals to a broader swath of the purchasing populace. Guns Akimbo is pretty stupid, but it’s also pretty fun. Daniel Radcliffe stars as a random loser who wakes up one morning with guns bolted to his hands. Hilarity and over-the-top action ensue as he tries to figure out what’s happening to him and enact revenge upon the perpetrators of this fucked-up crime. It’s like stupid John Wick with some solid physical comedy thrown in. Guns Akimbo is streaming on Amazon Prime and is available to rent through most other streaming services.

Best Romance: Time

Garrett Bradley’s intimate documentary follows Fox Rich, entrepreneur and mother of six, as she fights to obtain parole for her long incarcerated husband. Fox and her husband Rob owned a hip-hop clothing store in a small Louisiana town in the mid 1990s before falling on hard times and electing to take drastic measures. They robbed a local credit union and were quickly captured. Fox took a plea deal of fifteen years and got out of prison in three for good behavior. Rob refused his plea offer and was sentenced to sixty years with no chance of parole.

The couple had four children at the time of Rob’s incarceration, and Fox was pregnant with twins. The film alternates between old home video footage of the family and Fox’s current struggle to secure Rob’s release. Her positive attitude and relentless efforts in the face of a cruel system completely devoid of empathy are inspiring.

Rob is guilty, but his punishment far exceeds the crime. This is an all too common story in this country. Black men receive sentences that essentially end their lives and remove any chance of successful rehabilitation into society, while their white counterparts are dealt much more reasonable punishments. Fox tries to bring about broader change to the criminal justice system as she speaks in front of activist groups and begs the government to begin addressing a problem larger than her own.

At every turn, Fox’s unbreakable love for her husband shines through. This is a story about broad societal problems, but more than that, it’s a profound look at a love that can’t be extinguished, even with the full weight of the US government against it. Time is streaming on Amazon Prime.

Best Superhero Movie: Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

I typically despise superhero movies that aren’t part of the Fast and Furious franchise, but I was pleasantly surprised by this film. It plays more like a traditional hard R action flick than a modern superhero movie, which is probably why I enjoyed it. The sound design is great, and you can actually feel the impact of the punches, which is a refreshing change of pace for a comic book movie. Margot Robbie is fun as the titular Harley Quinn, and the supporting cast is decent. I’ll probably never watch this movie again, but it was enjoyable. The most laboriously titled film of the year is streaming on HBO Max.

Best Live Action Short Film: Figurant

According to the closing credits, a figurant is a stage performer having no speaking part. Fittingly, the film’s lead character is an older man playing an extra in a war movie who doesn’t utter a single word. The film compares the experience of an extra to that of livestock being herded from place to place or a soldier receiving vague orders barked by an angry general.

Denis Lavant (Holy Motors, Beau Travail) gives an incredible performance as the silent hero, confused at every turn and upset by the fast pace of the production around him. The close-up cinematography and intense orchestral score create a uniquely visceral experience. Figurant is available to rent here.

Best Documentary Short Film: Mizuko

Mizuko is a Japanese word for a fetus that doesn’t survive to birth. Writer/director Kira Dane narrates the film and tells the story of her abortion, comparing the experience to a fleeting childhood memory of a monthlong vacation on the beach. It’s an odd comparison, but it works. It’s a stunningly beautiful, hypnotic film, animated with water colors and photographs, interspersed with pieces of video footage. It’s a personal story of memory and grief that sticks with the audience long after its fifteen-minute runtime comes to a close. Mizuko is not currently available to watch online. You can view the trailer here.

Best Animated Short Film: World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime

Few filmmakers explore the human condition as thoroughly as Don Hertzfeldt, the writer, director, and animator of the fantastic World of Tomorrow series of short films. He specializes in using crudely drawn stick figures atop elaborate backgrounds to tell intimate stories with universal application. Hertzfeldt rose to prominence with his hilarious film Rejected, one of the original viral videos, and has gone on to become one of the most interesting filmmakers working today.

The World of Tomorrow series takes place in a future in which humanity has developed cloning technology. Wealthy members of society transfer their consciousness into younger clones of themselves in order to cheat death. The third installment follows David, a tertiary character in the first episode, as he attempts to master time travel to save his future self.

Episode Three is the funniest of the trilogy while still maintaining the intelligence and emotional depth of the first two. It’s stuck with me as much as anything I’ve watched this year, and it makes more sense than any time travel movie I’ve ever seen. Hertzfeldt has said there will be at least one more episode of World of Tomorrow. I can’t wait to see it. The entire World of Tomorrow series can be accessed through Hertzfeldt’s website bitterfilms.com.

Most Underrated Film: Our Time Machine

Our Time Machine is the touching story of a son trying to connect with his father as he descends into dementia. The documentary follows Maleonn, a puppet maker who has lived his life in the shadow of his father, an acclaimed theater director. Maleonn wants nothing more than to gain his approval, which has always been out of reach. Now that his father is retired and no longer consumed with work, Maleonn sets out to impress him by using his puppetry skills to create a stage play about their relationship.

There were several acclaimed films about dementia this past year including Dick Johnson Is Dead, Relic, and The Father, but this was my favorite. Directors S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun show so much empathy to both father and son, and they present a lens through which children can appreciate their aging parents despite their memory loss. Our Time Machine is available to rent through most streaming services.

Most Overrated Film: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Aaron Sorkin has made a name for himself by writing clever, fast-paced dialogue that gives his films and television shows a distinctive feel. Sorkin was quoted in a 2017 ScreenCraft article as saying, “I consider a plot a necessary intrusion on what I want to do, which is write dialogue, but I can’t write dialogue unless there’s a plot.” In The Trial of the Chicago 7, the dialogue comes at the expense of the plot and every other aspect of the film.

In a blatant attempt to make a movie The Academy will like, he has combined his usual quippy dialogue with the plot of a standard Oscar bait historical drama that pretends that America has evolved beyond its ignominious past. Sorkin shows no interest in his characters, and as a result, they come across as cartoons. Instead of exploring their motivations and letting viewers get to know them, he just has his characters hurl rapid-fire dialogue at each other for the entire script. Everyone has their guard up at all times, lest they be defeated by another character’s snarky insult. This leads to the few emotional moments in the film falling incredibly flat.

The true story of the Chicago Seven is actually interesting, and it could probably be made into a pretty good limited series in the hands of someone who even slightly cares about character development. There are nine or ten main characters in the movie, and two hours isn’t nearly enough time to tell their story. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is streaming on Netflix, but it’s a huge waste of time.

Worst Picture: Capone

Sometimes it seems like Tom Hardy picks his roles exclusively based on whether or not he gets to mumble his lines. Following in the footsteps of The Dark Knight Rises, The Drop, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Dunkirk, and I’m sure many others, Capone is the latest movie in Hardy’s filmography where you can only understand half the words he says.

Hardy stars as a paranoid, syphilitic Alfonse Capone in the last year of his life on a Xanadu-esque compound in Florida. His mental faculties long gone, Capone spends his days drinking bourbon, smoking cigars, and fearing that all his hired goons are actually FBI agents hell-bent on stealing his money and putting him behind bars. Hardy spends the entire film muttering in a gravelly, unintelligible tone that reminded me of a throat cancer patient with a hole in his neck.

Surprisingly, this movie is actually shot really well, and it features a decent score by rapper El-P. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to overcome Josh Trank’s asinine script and Hardy’s putrid acting. I have no idea why Trank thought the final year of Capone’s life would make an interesting movie. Capone did a lot of exciting things aside from sitting around his house waiting to die, but this is the part of his life that interests Josh Trank, so that’s the movie we got.

The only scenes that break up the film’s torturously mundane plot are the ones where Capone shits himself. This happens twice because apparently the first time wasn’t gross enough. Hardy’s expression throughout the film is that of a man in mid shit, so I guess that’s fitting. I normally like Hardy despite his indecipherable dialogue, but this is the worst performance I’ve seen in a long time. Combine that with the dumbest script of the year, and you get the worst movie of 2020. I’m not going to tell you where you can watch it.

That’s a wrap, folks. I’m so tired. As always, thanks for reading. Somehow this post gets longer (and I assume dumber) every year. If you made it this far, I’ll buy you a beer. Here’s to a 2021 filled with vaccinations, large public gatherings, and good fuckin’ movies.

Michael Dixon is a mild mannered accountant by day and a mild mannered movie watcher by night. He will not do your taxes for you. He lives in Austin, Texas with his lovely television and collection of fine whiskies. You can’t purchase his book anywhere because it doesn’t exist.