Years like this prove why storytelling is really so important. Working on a motion picture may not be an "essential" profession, but just what stories offer us are probably the most effective modes of moral and informative guidance for the average human being, far more so than what the government may try to do to control our lives. When Jesus had to give an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus didn't just say, "Everybody is your neighbor" and call it a day, he did something far more impactful: he gave a parable, a potential scenario that the listener could relate to, so that he could see Jesus' point made in action. It's exactly the same way with the movies and TV shows we watch nowadays. We may watch them primarily for entertainment, but we always consciously pick up on new ways to look at the world and obtain moral guidance on issues we are uncertain about.
That's why your state governor could tell you all he wants that you are required to wear a mask while in a public space. But that alone won't necessarily convince you to do so. Rather, if you heard about someone who wasn't wearing a mask while out shopping and someone s/he came into contact with got Coronavirus and died a few weeks later, that would motivate you in a heartbeat to add a mask into the essential items you must have on you every time you leave the house, along with your phone, keys, wallet, and ID.
Thus, as my custom every year around awards time, I will give my picks for the best out of the films I saw this calendar year. Except I won't be including the January-February 2021 timeframe that the Academy of Motion Pictures added this year to accommodate to the films that suffered from delayed release dates. But don't worry: Nomadland, The Father, Minari, and Judas and the Black Messiah will gladly be in next year's TVOH Awards!
That's why your state governor could tell you all he wants that you are required to wear a mask while in a public space. But that alone won't necessarily convince you to do so. Rather, if you heard about someone who wasn't wearing a mask while out shopping and someone s/he came into contact with got Coronavirus and died a few weeks later, that would motivate you in a heartbeat to add a mask into the essential items you must have on you every time you leave the house, along with your phone, keys, wallet, and ID.
Thus, as my custom every year around awards time, I will give my picks for the best out of the films I saw this calendar year. Except I won't be including the January-February 2021 timeframe that the Academy of Motion Pictures added this year to accommodate to the films that suffered from delayed release dates. But don't worry: Nomadland, The Father, Minari, and Judas and the Black Messiah will gladly be in next year's TVOH Awards!
But first, a few notes on some of these categories:
Movie theaters have sadly been closed for a major portion of the year, so I loosened up what I qualify as a "feature film," which means anything with a runtime of at least forty minutes released straight to a streaming device now qualifies. Expect this trend to stay in future years, since online streaming will continue to grow and the traditional theatrical experience is becoming more obsolete.
In a typical year, I would have 5 nominees in all categories, but since this year I was only able to watch and grade 30 movies released in the calendar year, the tech categories only have three nominees, while the major ones still have 5.
I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.
I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any VFX artists to make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.
I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.
Movie theaters have sadly been closed for a major portion of the year, so I loosened up what I qualify as a "feature film," which means anything with a runtime of at least forty minutes released straight to a streaming device now qualifies. Expect this trend to stay in future years, since online streaming will continue to grow and the traditional theatrical experience is becoming more obsolete.
In a typical year, I would have 5 nominees in all categories, but since this year I was only able to watch and grade 30 movies released in the calendar year, the tech categories only have three nominees, while the major ones still have 5.
I considered the animated films for all the categories except for makeup and costume design, since there are technicians behind the editing, cinematography, and set design that deserve every bit as much recognition as those who work on live action films. So it's virtually free for all in everything.
I also consider all films that feature visual effects shots a chance in Best Visual Effects. I say that it should be the goal of any VFX artists to make the effects invisible, so that's what I've been judging this year.
I'm not following the same judgment as the Oscars, who like to judge based on technical achievement. While that's important to acknowledge to make sure the artistry of filmmaking continues to grow with its discoveries, my focus is on how the practical elements contribute to the film's unique needs, so you may find nominees in some of these categories you'd never expect to find in any other awards show lineup. I'm not saying I'm better than any of them, but rather this is my two cents on what's important in filmmaking.
Best Film Editing
| The Nominees: #2. Les Misérables #3. The Invisible Man The Winner: Weathering With You Its sense of montage is designed to mess with your own senses, yet still smoothly transitions between cuts that are intentionally chosen to reveal the cost of sacrificing for love. But what really makes the editing of Weathering With You so brilliant is what it chooses to linger the longest at, which is almost always on nature. The result is an experience that smacks you in the face, then gently padders at you, then brightens your day, just like walking through a familiar storm. |  |
Best Sound
| The Nominees: #2. Black Is King #3. Hamilton The Winner: Weathering With You The dialogue always sounds like it’s either drowned out or echoed by the weather, which in turn is mixed in a way so it subtly connects to other objects in the ambience, be it the footsteps and the puddles. To bring all these elements together is the voiceover narration that is utilized to feel almost like you are the one narrating; the result is an audio experience that makes you consider what cost you have to pay for whatever is soothing to the ears. |  |
Best Cinematography
| The Nominees: #2. Weathering With You #3. Promising Young Woman The Winner: Les Misérables The imagery always looks like it’s filmed on a drone, so its use of cropping closes in on the corruption of crime and anti-crime to strongly emphasize whether someone is good or bad at scattering seed. When pulled back, the camerawork utilizes the lights to expose what’s broken in the field these characters are gardening in, only using the colors of France sparingly to enhance the use of blander hues. It results in an experience that makes you notice what the direction closes in on- the bad seeds. |  |
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
| The Nominees: #2. Sound of Metal #3. Les Misérables The Winner: Black Is King The makeup design is true to Africa’s past beauty trends, yet still is brave enough to adapt that meaning to what it means to Americans today. That could mean reimagining the white powder worn on men during ceremonies to represent how a Black child becoming a man in America takes on new meaning… for they’ll have to endure different horrors that involve the attempted erasing of their dark-skinned identity. This counters that toxic attitude of White Americans by showing how much gorgeous variety there is in Black skin and hair. |  |
Best Costume Design
| The Nominees: #2. Les Misérables #3. Mank The Winner: Black Is King The mesmerizing, almost unworldly costumes worn by Beyoncé and all her backup dancers are intentionally designed to bring Africa’s history into the future of the world, to the extent where there’s a full narrative in the masterful use of color that symbolizes what it’s like to be a representative of Blackness in a White society. This also is a fine showcase of the beauty and wonder that is a Black woman’s body, which in turn translates to the beauty and wonder that is Africa’s landscapes and culture. |  |
Best Production Design
| The Nominees: #2. Black Is King #3. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom The Winner: Les Misérables Every set piece in Les Misérables is designed to point out who the cultivator of each scene is, while simultaneously showing the scope of where the criminal and the victim’s actions take them. It all looks broken just like how the world is broken, all seemingly blending into each other in a way where you can no longer tell who the hero of the story is. The sets always contribute to the action and the drama as it either enables them all the space to move in or cages them into a lion’s den. |  |
Best Music
| The Nominees: #2. I'm Thinking of Ending Things #3. The Lovebirds The Winner: Black Is King It's such a remarkable achievement how the music, both the songs and instrumentals, celebrate the pure essence of Africa while still embracing the future. It’s all treated like a sacred ritual of a boy becoming a man, while also featuring a grand showcase of how timeless and gorgeous African history really is, as interpreted by Beyoncé’s uplifting and powerful pop songs. In a time when Black history is still in danger of being forgotten, passionate music from such a passionate artist is needed now more than ever. |  |
Best Visual Effects
| The Nominees: #2. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom #3. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon The Winner: The Lovebirds Chaos always erupts around this couple as the shenanigans erupt in a single evening. Whether it’s hitting a guy with their car, getting kicked in the chest by a horse, or smashing through windows, the attention is never drawn onto these ridiculous pratfalls. Rather, you stay focused on the poor predicament of these two losers in love, the special effects never being flashy enough to be noticeable, nor badly composed enough to take you out of it. Not to say it makes this movie any good, but the stunt work is worth a praise. |  |
Worst Picture
| The Nominees: #2. Dolittle #3. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon #4. Sonic the Hedgehog #5. Tenet The "Winner:" Artemis Fowl There’s nothing whimsical, mesmerizing, or exciting about this movie that rips off every fantasy teen film ever made, as Artemis Fowl feels made specifically to piss off fans of the book series. But even for those completely unfamiliar with the source material, it’s impossible to buy into this magical reality that beautifies a criminal lifestyle. The awful CGI, editing, and acting could not be more out of touch from how humanity actually works, providing a boring world that looks completely indistinct from a Disney Channel original movie. |  |
Best Supporting Actor
| The Nominees: #2. Jonathan Majors, Da 5 Bloods #3. Clarke Peters, Da 5 Bloods #4. Bo Burnham, Promising Young Woman #5. Paul Raci, Sound of Metal The Winner: Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods Delroy Lindo serves his role as a needed voice for Black men everywhere, and fulfills that duty with sincere transparency in whatever personal background he shares in common with his character. He doesn’t just pump his fist in the air, he does it as if holding back in trauma. He doesn’t just walk, he does so as if going toward his own coffin. He’s not just another one of the actors in the ensemble of this picture, he knows how to make his mark on you so that you feel like you’ve personally known him for years. |  |
Best Supporting Actress
| The Nominees: #2. Chelsea Lee, Sound of Metal #3. Taylour Paige, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom #4. Alison Brie, Promising Young Woman #5. Olivia Cooke, Sound of Metal The Winner: Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man Harriet Dryer may not be in it for that long, but her role in the story is so important it only could be done by what she does in her performance. Yet it’s also not the type of acting you’re supposed to notice, because it’s so effective it works: she looks unphased by the sight of men yet terrified by the sight of her sister, she sounds like she knows what she’s talking about, it’s all done so she draws the focus back on the traumatized victim. |  |
Best Actor
| The Nominees: #2. Gary Oldman, Mank #3. Jesse Plemons, I’m Thinking of Ending Things #4. Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom #5. Kotaro Daigo, Weathering With You The Winner: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal Riz Ahmed gives the type of performance that doesn’t need words to be spoken for you to understand him. He plays a character who suddenly develops deafness, and as his character grows over the film, you also see his sign language skills improving. With a leap of curiosity in his step and solid eyes that glitter like metal, Ahmed knows how to pace his performance so that you can somehow hear exactly what he hears even without the aid of the sound design. |  |
Best Actress
| The Nominees: #2. Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man #3. Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman #4. Jessie Buckley, I’m Thinking of Ending Things #5. Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom The Winner: Beyoncé, Black Is King With a singing voice that is like a thousand years’ worth of Africa’s past and eyes that command your submission to her performance, Beyoncé differentiates herself from other pop singers by flaunting the breath only a Black woman could breathe. Every song she sings, dances in, and poses to with her many wardrobe changes allows the spirit of her people to flow directly into your own spirit so that you too would be inspired, like her, to be a progressive thinker who honors the roots of the ancestors. |  |
Best Screenplay
| The Nominees: #2. Da 5 Bloods #3. One Night in Miami #4. I'm Thinking of Ending Things #5. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom The Winner: Hamilton While this may be the exact same script used for the stage production, Hamilton’s masterful writing still translates just as well into the cinematic medium. Its carefully crafted lyrics remain true to these historical real-life people, including how their levels of sin and tolerance went on to affect the course of history. Just look around: we still today discriminate the same way these toxic politicians did with their interpersonal relationships. Thus, “Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes and we keep loving anyway” |  |
Best Director
| The Nominees: #2. Makoto Shinkai, Weathering With You #3. Darius Marder, Sound of Metal #4. Emmanuel Adjei, Blitz Bazawule, Beyoncé, Black Is King #5. Charlie Kaufman, I’m Thinking of Ending Things The Winner: Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods Spike Lee is the only one with the proper vision and personal background experience for a film of this scale, he has complete control over every element in the frame so that you feel sucked into the unholy environment of Vietnam. Every single shot somehow seems to continue past the borders of the screen: each one its own story with a beginning, middle, and end. The result is a load of outside influences that form a tighter connection between these five men who all feel like they really are brothers who would be incomplete without each other. |  |
Best Picture
| The Nominees: #2. Da 5 Bloods #3. Weathering With You #4. Hamilton #5. One Night in Miami The Winner: Black Is King 2020 has been a rough year to be a Black American, so a movie like this was needed to uplift the hopes of everyone, Black or not. The music video approach proves the influence music really has on a culture’s mindset, particularly when it comes to understanding the past to create a better future, so who better to set up that future for Africa’s big comeback than Beyoncé? Her enchanting approach to these songs about Black pride will make you fall in love with African culture, and may even compel you to travel there. It proves that remembering and promoting another’s history, and using that history to progress toward a more exciting future, is what will truly make not just America, not just Africa, but the whole world, great again. |  |
Now, here is every film I watched in 2020, ranked from best to worst:
| 1. Black Is King 2. Da 5 Bloods 3. Weathering With You 4. Hamilton 5. One Night in Miami 6. Les Misérables 7. I’m Thinking of Ending Things 8. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom 9. Promising Young Woman 10. Sound of Metal 11. The Invisible Man 12. The Croods: A New Age 13. Mank 14. Onward 15. The Trial of the Chicago 7 | 16. Let Him Go 17. Soul 18. Birds of Prey 19. Trolls World Tour 20. Enola Holmes 21. The Lovebirds 22. The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special 23. The One and Only Ivan 24. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made 25. My Spy 26. Tenet 27. Sonic the Hedgehog 28. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon 29. Dolittle 30. Artemis Fowl |
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