Film of every kind.
Promising Young Woman is a 2020 black comedy thriller film directed, written, and produced by Emerald Fennell, in her feature directorial debut. Fennell is perhaps best known as the writer of the second season of the critically acclaimed Killing Eve TV series. Promising Young Woman stars Carey Milligan in the lead role.
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The Best Movies of 2020. Well, I daresay even though I visited the cinemas less than 5 times (for obvious reasons) in 2020, I certainly watched many films this year. With each passing year, I find myself less attached to the idea of assessing life on a yearly basis, so I wanted to be circumspect with this Best Movies of 2020 list.
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Crimson Peak is a 2015 gothic romance horror drama directed by Guillermo Del Toro. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain in the lead roles with Charlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver as support.
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Wonder Woman 1984 is a superhero action-adventure drama based on the DC character of the same name. Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot as the titular character, Wonder Woman 1984 is the sequel to the successful 2017 eponymous film.
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Soul is a 2020 Pixar animated movie directed by Pete Doctor and co-directed by Kemp Powers. Doctor is best known for directing the well-received Up and Inside Out. The premise of Soul involves a middle school music teacher named Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), who dies just before his big break as a jazz musician, but attempts to return to life with the aid of an ‘infant’ soul (voiced by Tina Fey).
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2020 has been a good year for actress Anya Taylor-Joy. Her performance in The Queen’s Gambit, a Netflix breakout hit sensation has enhanced the profile of Anya Taylor-Joy worldwide. She was starred in the period drama Emma. and appeared as Magik in the chronically delayed The New Mutants.
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Small Axe S01E05 is part of the Small Axe anthology film series directed by the award-winning director Steve McQueen. The anthology consists of five films which tell distinct stories about the lives of Black immigrants in London. Entitled “Education”, Small Axe S01E05 focuses on young Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy) as he struggles with school in the 1970s.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 2003 historical drama film directed by Peter Webber. The film is an adaptation of the 1999 novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier. Chevalier’s inspiration for the novel was a poster of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” painting.
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Belle is a historical drama set in late 18th century England. The movie is directed by Amma Asante and stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the title role. The character of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay is based on a real life person but most of the plot in Belle is fictionalised. In fact, the screenplay – written by Misan Sagay – was primarily based on a painting which portrayed the real life Lindsay and her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon).
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Freaky is a 2020 comedy horror drama film based loosely on the classic 1978 Freaky Friday movie which has been remade several times over the years since. The twist in Freaky is that this time, the protagonist switches bodies – not with her mother – but with a serial killer!
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Druk aka Another Round is a 2020 Danish drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Druk aka Another Round examines drinking culture that is prevalent worldwide and its impact on the characters in the film. In particular, four teaching colleagues/close friends viz. Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen), Peter (Lars Rathe) and Nickolaj (Magnus Millag).
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The Bee Gees : How Can You Mend A Broken Heart is a music documentary directed by Frank Marshall about the Gibb Brothers viz. Barry, Robin and Maurice. The documentary basically focuses on the two main eras in which the trio were at their most successful i.e. the late 1960s and a decade later in the late 1970s. There are also cursory examinations of their fallow periods in between and after these phenomenal heights but nothing much in depth.
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Let Them All Talk is a HBO Max comedy-drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen. The premise of Let Them All Talk revolves around author Alice Hughes (Streep) and her cruise to the United Kingdom (on the Queen Mary 2) to be presented with a prestigious book award. Alice invites two old friends Susan (Wiest) and Roberta (Bergen) along with her favourite nephew Tyler (Lucas Hedges) to accompany her.
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Small Axe S01E03 is part of the Small Axe anthology film series directed by the award-winning director Steve McQueen. The anthology consists of five films which tell distinct stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London. Entitled “Red, White and Blue”, Small Axe S01E03 tells the true story of Leroy Logan, one of the first police constables of West Indian descent, back in the 1980s.
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Small Axe S01E01 is part of the Small Axe anthology film series directed by the award-winning director Steve McQueen. The anthology consists of five films which tell distinct stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London during the 1960s and 1970s. Entitled “Mangrove”, Small Axe S01E01 tells the story of the Mangrove Nine, a group of West Indian immigrants who were charged with riot and affray in the early 70s.
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Ammonite is a historical romance drama written and directed by Francis Lee. Ammonite stars Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan in the lead romantic roles. The movie concerns itself with real-life 19th century British palaeontologist Mary Anning (Winslet) and a fictionalised romantic relationship between Anning and Charlotte Murchison (Ronan).
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Black Bear is a drama thriller written and directed by Lawrence Michael Levine. Black Bear stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbot and Sarah Gadon. The movie adopts a unique meta-storytelling device that offers an interesting take of the film making process. The film actually consists of two storylines revolving around the principal actors.
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Mank is a biographical drama about screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldham) and the historical background behind Mankiewicz’s writing of the screenplay for Orson Welles’ legendary film, Citizen Kane. Mank is directed by David Fincher from a screenplay written by Jack Fincher.
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Tenet is a scifi action thriller written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The movie stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh. The story of Tenet involves a secret agent (Washington) who has to save the world from a nefarious plan involving time manipulation executed by the villain of the piece viz. Branagh.
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Hillbilly Elegy is a 2020 American family drama film directed by Ron Howard, based on the 2016 memoir of the same name by J. D. Vance. Presumably Hillbilly Elegy was made for the entire family to enjoy, targeted primarily at the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S.A.
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The Devils is a 1971 British historical drama film written and directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. The Devils is probably one of the best socio-political commentaries, a biting satire of the excesses of religion and politics. While presented in a disturbing, visceral, sexually graphic manner that sometimes overshadows the message underneath, the power of its narrative remains undiminished almost half a century later.
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Run is a psychological horror drama starring Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen. The premise of Run is very Stephen King-inspired as it involves a protagonist being kept captive by an antagonist, that happens to be a caregiver. Quite similar to King’s Misery except that instead of author and psychotic fan, we get daughter and psychotic mother.
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The Entity is a supernatural horror drama that bears all the hallmarks of classic 1970s horror though it was ultimately released in 1982/1983. The best reference point for The Entity is probably The Exorcist for its viscerally serious exploration of its subject matter and also for its connection with a real-life incident.
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The Sentinel is a 1977 supernatural horror drama based on the novel of the same name by Jeffrey Konvitz. Directed by Michael Winner, The Sentinel is about a young model (Cristina Raines) who moves into a historic Brooklyn brownstone that has been sectioned into apartments, only to find that the building is owned by the Catholic diocese and is a gateway to Hell.
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Archive is a British indie scifi drama written and directed by Gavin Rothery. Although Archive is Rothery’s debut feature, Rothery had collaborated – contributed design work – with Duncan Jones on Moon. Thus, there is a similar low budget sensibility about Archive but with the same attention to detail and first rate quality witnessed on Moon.
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