Welcome to the fourth annual FANBOYS FILM AWARDS....of sorts. This year has been an absolute mess with the film industry and it's forced a necessary alteration to this segment.
Normally, this is my attempt to counterbalance the Academy Awards bias when it comes to movies that are often ignored due to their genre. What I typically do for the Fanboys Film Awards is focus on the geek culture genres (superhero films, sci-fi, fantasy, etc) and give them their equivalent Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress and so on.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic absolutely putting a halt to movies being released, virtually nothing came out this year. There aren't a lot of movies to pick from, so it wouldn't make for an interesting or worthwhile breakdown with the normal setup.
So here's what we're going to do instead. I'll be listing all the films I watched this year period, whether or not they came out in 2020. Then, rather than go through the same list of awards we normally do, it'll just be a discussion to pinpoint several things.
Hopefully, it'll be an interesting recap and insight into my movie-going habits this year and you'll enjoy it nevertheless, with 2021 being a much better year for a more standard Fanboys Film Awards.
Also, I invite everyone to join in on the fun by leaving their own lists and thoughts in the comments below to tell us what you watched this year!
FILMS THAT CAME OUT IN 2020 THAT I WATCHED:
Antebellum
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Black Box
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons
The Hunt
The Lodge
New Mutants
Nocturne
Onward
Palm Springs
Sonic the Hedgehog
Soul
Superman: Man of Tomorrow
Superman: Red Son
Tenet
Wonder Woman 1984
FILMS THAT CAME OUT BEFORE 2020 THAT I WATCHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2020:
1917
Alien
Aliens
Amadeus
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III
Frozen II
Jacob's Ladder
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jojo Rabbit
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
Parasite
Richard Jewell
Rocketman
Spies in Disguise
Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans
The Rock
This is Spinal Tap
We Need to Talk About Kevin
BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
This is for the film I think is fundamentally the best, as opposed to the one that I necessarily enjoyed the most. For instance, one of my favorite movies of all time is Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but I'll never make the argument that it's on par with The Shawshank Redemption as far as Best Picture material.
If we're counting movies that weren't released in 2020, I'd have to go with Parasite. I was a big fan of it and really happy it won Best Picture.
Shout out to Richard Jewell, Amadeus, Jojo Rabbit and Alien for those pre-2020 movies that were rather good, too.
As far as legitimate 2020 releases, I don't think any of them were spectacular as far as pure quality of cinematic arts.
If I had to pick, Superman: Man of Tomorrow would maybe have to be the pick by default. That's not a particularly strong film, though. This just wasn't a good year for film variety/strength out of the ones I saw.
Addendum: I watched Soul on January 1, 2021. Technically speaking, it came out in 2020 and I had planned on watching it before the year switched over, but holiday stuff got in the way. After watching it, I'm fully comfortable saying this was the best movie to come out in 2020 that I saw. Soul was so good! You're going to see that listed elsewhere on this list, too.
FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
Sonic the Hedgehog was my favorite out of the new films. It was just a genuinely enjoyable movie to watch and hit me in the nostalgia gut.
Soul gives it a run for its money and possibly exceeds it. I'd imagine time will judge this as not quite the rewatch value as Sonic, but it's a better movie, so it's on the list for favorites, for sure.
Back to the Future Part II might be my favorite of the pre-2020 films.
LEAST FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
Antebellum is the only movie on this list that I actually shut off, rather than finishing. That probably takes the cake.
However, New Mutants was awful, Nocturne wasn't good, Birds of Prey was just as bad as I was expecting it to be and I was not AT ALL a fan of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. I don't even know what Kevin Smith was trying to go for with that one.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISES OF THE YEAR
Sonic the Hedgehog, as mentioned, took me by surprise. I didn't expect it to work as well as it did and I've seen it a second time this year.
Parasite was also very surprisingly good. I figured it would be some art house nonsense that is stuck up its own ass, but it's great.
This is Spinal Tap was another movie I thought I'd walk away from thinking "Why do people think this is great?" and I laughed quite a bit.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE YEAR
So many. So, so many.
Antebellum looked great. The concept maybe wasn't even all that bad, but the execution of it was terrible and it made the idea behind it even less interesting once I guessed what the movie was all about from very early on.
Onward was just "meh" and not quite the level of Pixar's best works.
Superman: Red Son was a real let down. I thought that had so much more potential.
Birds of Prey and New Mutants weren't really disappointments after I knew they'd be terrible, but they still lived up to that expectation.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was absolutely terrible, and I LOVE Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. That was a real shame.But above all, I think Tenet might be my biggest disappointment. I had such high hopes for this film. Inception is amazing and I thought this would be even better. It doesn't come close, sadly.
MOVIES I'D RECOMMEND THE MOST
If you're looking for 2020-specific films, go with Soul, Sonic the Hedgehog or Superman: Man of Tomorrow. If I had to narrow that down to one pick, it would be Soul.
Pre-2020, there are more options: Alien, Aliens, Amadeus, Back to the Future 2 and 3 (although 1 is still the best), Jojo Rabbit, Parasite, Richard Jewell and This is Spinal Tap. If I had to pick just one out of that list, it would be Parasite.
TELL US YOUR LIST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
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