2020 End-of-Year Ranking -- 98 Films

Hindsight will not save 2020. It will always be known for pain. When you had a once-in-a-century pandemic and moral decay that seemed to grow worse by the day, it's inevitable.

It feels wrong, though, to end on that. I need to focus on the positive, starting with 20 people that got me through it. 1: Hark. 2: Brody. 3: Delmy, Brody's ally at daycare. 4: Danny, Brody's ally in Oaxaca. 5-8: Katie, Kevin, Nadine, and Paul, our NY saviors. 9: Mandy, our hope for the future. [Fingers crossed, because of her, at this time next year, Brody could have a sister.] 10-20: Family and friends I can't list because I can't narrow them down. [Seriously -- ten does not come close to covering them.]

The other major thing that got me through 2020 was movies. Being able to escape from the real world to reel ones made a difference. Knowing that I would eventually be able to share them with people helped as well. On that note, here's a ranking of the 98 films I saw this year...

[Note: Any film without a year listed after it came out in 2020.]

F+: The Doors: Break on Thru

 

D+: Tom Jones [1963], The Seven-Year Itch [1955]

 

C-: Emma, Buffy the Vampire Slayer [1992]

 

C: Father of the Bride [1950], Around the World in 80 Days [1956], 7 Plus Seven [1970], Irresistible

 

C+: Wonder Woman 1984, Gigi [1958]

B-: The Way Back, The Sting [1973], Stalag 17 [1953], Mrs. Miniver [1942]

 

B: 28 Up [1984], Hamlet [1948], Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? [2019], How Green Was My Valley [1941], Easy Rider [1969], Oliver! [1968], The Greatest Show on Earth [1952], News of the World, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [1969], The Lost Weekend [1945], The Godfather: Part 3 [1990]

 

B+: The Cabin in the Woods [2011], An American In Paris [1951], Sabrina [1954], Breakfast at Tiffany's [1961], 21 Up [1977], 35 Up [1991], 42 Up [1998], 56 Up [2012], Female Pleasure, All the King's Men [1949], Rebecca [1940], From Here to Eternity [1953], Ordinary People [2016], Going My Way [1944], Patton [1970], Midnight Cowboy [1969], The French Connection [1971], Safety, Da Five Bloods, Seven Samurai [1954], Citizen Kane [1941]

 

A-: A Streetcar Named Desire [1951], Saint Frances, Onward, 49 Up [2005], My Fair Lady [1964], The Third Man [1949], The Godfather [1972], Marty [1955], Singin' in the Rain [1952], Sunset Boulevard [1950], Ace in the Hole [1951], The Apartment [1960], Palm Springs, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner [1967], To Sir With Love [1967], Soul, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, West Side Stories [1996]

 

A: The Lives of Others [2006], The Interrupters [2011], Ip Man [2008], Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Ben-Hur [1959], The Sound of Music [1965], Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles, The Trial of Chicago 7, Corpus Christi, The Godfather: Part Two [1974], Some Like It Hot [1959], 7 Up! [1964], 63 Up [2019], High Noon [1952], Dating Amber, The Half of It, Lilies of the Field [1963], The Night of the Hunter [1955], Mank, Crip Camp

 

A+: Witness for the Prosecution [1957], Fiddler on the Roof [1971], Gentleman's Agreement [1947], Roman Holiday [1953], The Best Years of Our Lives [1946], Come As You Are, Sound of Metal, Promising Young Woman, On the Waterfront [1954], A Man for All Seasons [1966], In the Heat of the Night [1967], All About Eve [1950], Casablanca [1943], West Side Story [1961]