Favorite Movies Watched in 2020

Book By Book

Notice my title photo for my 2020 movie wrap-up features a television screen instead of a theater screen? Yeah, it was that kind of a year. We watched exactly one movie in a theater before everything shut down, so the rest of our movies were watched on the small screen, at home, and only a few were new releases.

Nonetheless, it was still a good year for movies at our house! 

We watched only 13 movies last year, down from 16 in 2019 and 22 in 2018, as the TV options continue to expand and improve with so many streaming options in addition to cable. Actually, I see from my notes that we watched 19 movies in 2020, but I only reviewed 13 of them. That’s a shame because some of those not reviewed, like The Goldfinch and The Town were quite good. You can see the full list of 2020 movie reviews and genres below, with my favorites marked with *, but I only review movies that I like, so all of the movies listed below are worth watching. I didn’t see any documentaries (second year in a row!) or musical drama (I did watch but didn’t review Hamilton). It was tough to categorize many of the movies, as more and more, movies are blurring the genre lines: funny mysteries, dramas with plenty of humor, action/comedy/romance, etc.

You can see my full list of movie reviews, covering several years at the Movie Reviews tab.

And now, for my top picks (full reviews at the links):

Best Action/Suspense/Thriller

I See You

Unique and super-twisty

(it’s a weird movie poster so don’t judge it by that)

Best Drama

 The Rainmaker

Great courtroom drama with all-star cast based on Grisham novel

Best Comedy & Best Movie of the Year

 Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Warm, funny, action-packed adventure set in New Zealand

Best Sci Fi

The Vast of the Night

Teens in 50′s-era town investigate strange noise

Best Family Movie

The Call of the Wild

Disney remake of classic adventure novel about a man and dog

All Movies Reviewed in 2020:
My favorites are marked with *, but I only review movies I enjoy, so all of these are worth a try: 

Action/Suspense/Thriller

* I See You

The Lovebirds

Rebecca 

* Serenity

* Transsiberian

* We Own the Night

Drama

* The Rainmaker

Comedy

* Enola Holmes

* Happiest Season

Holidate

* Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Sci Fi

* The Vast of the Night

Family & Animated 

The Call of the Wild