10s of 2020 (pt. 5)

I'm a little late on this update, but here we go.

 10. Mank

As a fan of David Fincher and film history, this was a huge disappointment to me. Insanely boring, aimless, and the audio is pure garbage. Not at all worthy of the praise.

9. The Personal History of David Copperfield

Similarly, I'm a fan of Iannucci (Death of Stalin being one of my favorite movies of the past 5 years), but this one was too bland and trying too hard to be wacky and generally appealing to everybody to be at all appealing to me. 

8. The Painted Bird

Beautifully shot misery porn. The plot repeats itself again and again without any deviation from the very basic formula that guides it along. It's so ridiculously long and repetitive.

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Tackling tricky subjects in a subtle way is hard, and this movie is evidence of that. It was so subtle that it just wound up being very dull. 

6. Horse Girl

Pretty good in ways, but only works thanks to Alison Brie, who does tend to overdo it in her role, but she's at least trying. Not good, not bad, just fine. 

5. Sound Of Metal

Unanimously praised, but something about this one just felt hollow to me. I had no real connection to the characters, but the performances and sound design were strong.

4. Zappa

Frank Zappa is an endlessly fascinating guy, and a focused documentary series on his life and cultural impact could be great, but this was just way too rushed and glossed over too much to be what I was hoping for.

3. Why Don't You Just Die?

An insanely stylized and in-your-face movie that seems to borrow filmmaking aspects from everyone from Tarantino to Guy Ritchie, this is one of the most wholly entertaining movies I've seen all year. 

2. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

I'm a big fan of blues music and play-based chamber dramas, so I was bound to enjoy this one. But I was still quite pleased with Chadwick Boseman's performance and the overall look and feel of the movie. Not a masterpiece, but very good.

1. Deerskin

An absolutely absurd and wicked movie that knows just how far to push it's idiotic concept without breaking. Dujardin and Haenel are terrific together, and there's really nothing else out there quite like it. One of my favorites of the year.