I think we can all agree that 2020 wasn't a particularly great year for movies, but the guys were able to muster up the courage to choose their top 5 movies and get a discussion going. As most of you will know, UK cinemas were only open for approximately 6 months of the year, and as such it was agreed that streaming service movie releases could be included. As always we think Andrew has watched the most movies, but that isn't what matters here! The top movie wasn't even something that was in everybody's top 5... Let's take a look at what everybody decided, and what movie was the overall winner for the team.
Andrew:
5: Sonic the Hedgehog
4: Birds of Prey
3: Extraction
2: Unhinged
1: Bad Boys For Life
As you might have gathered, Andrew watched all of these movies bar one at his local Cineworld, taking advantage of his Unlimited card where he could! His last pick was Sonic the Hedgehog - a great family friendly movie with a lovable video-game character that everybody seemed to enjoy, with great reviews all round online. In 4th place Andrew chose Birds of Prey, AKA The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, AKA Harley Quinn! Despite confusion over the identity of this movie it was an anti-superhero movie. This was about bad guys fighting bad guys - not the usual storyline you see from DC or Marvel. Extraction was the release that drove Netflix's homegrown movies to the populous, with Chris Hemsworth at the helm it was bound to work! Unhinged was a surprise, as a movie that came out of nowhere with hardly any advertising to be seen prior to cinematic release. Andrew ultimately felt that Bad Boys For Life was the stand out movie - likely due to the nostalgia because he loves this franchise! He did think that the last 30 minutes were not needed and you could have just cut the film short, however still believed that it deserved the top spot.
Bruce:
5: Birds of Prey
4: Trial of the Chicago 7
3: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
2: Uncut Gems
1: Palm Springs
Another team member who enjoyed Birds of Prey, Bruce placed this at the bottom of the top in position 5! Trumping Harley Quinn is another Netflix release - Trial of the Chicago 7. This gritty historical drama was based on real life events surrounding a trial of, you guessed it, seven defendants, stemming from various charges by the federal government including conspiracy. Slap bang in the middle is Borat 2, possibly the most controversial movie of the year which has been harshly reviewed by many due to the racism in some segments, along with the highly publicised post-interview scene with Rudy Giuliani. Uncut Gems came in at number 2 for Bruce. Despite it's initial release being in 2019 it did come to Netflix in January for the UK so we will allow it! Critically acclaimed as being Adam Sandler's best performance to date, this movie is possibly his most serious role in his entire career. Palm Springs takes the top spot for Bruce, although you won't be able to watch this in the UK just yet as it's pegged for Amazon Prime 2021 release but no specifics have been given. So his top two came under a little bit of criticism from Andrew!
Chris:
5: Bad Boys For Life
4: The Gentlemen
3: Sonic The Hedgehog
2: The Willoughbys
1: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Another fan of the action series that saw comedic pairing Martin Lawrence and Will Smith join forces, Chris decided that Bad Boys For Life deserved a spot in his top 5. The Gentlemen was a January 1st release of 2020 in the UK so it just scraped into the mix by a single day. A movie with a star-studded cast about a marijuana kingpin trying to sell his business for a pretty penny and a nice retirement with his wife. Taking the third spot for Chris is Sonic The Hedgehog - a film I would expect to be in the top 5 for a gaming fan and family man! Not quite at the top we have the animated movie The Willoughbys, a Netflix story about four children who think their parents aren't doing a good enough job at raising them, so they decide to try and raise themselves instead. This movie will have to be one I add to my watchlist I think! And in the top spot for Chris we have Borat 2 - unsurprising as Chris is a huge comedy fan, and there are a lot of jokes that are on his level in this particular feature.
So I'm sure you're all trying to do the math now, wondering how we will work out which movie is the best out of everything given, so what we did was give them an amount of points based on their standing within each person's list and then added those numbers together! I can reveal that our top movie for 2020 was...
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
After such a challenging year it does make sense that a comedy movie would win the rankings, despite it's inappropriate humour and somewhat confusing nature. This movie has a speck of a storyline that could be viewed as heart warming, with Borat becoming closer to his daughter thanks to everything else they endure throughout the movie - you could also say it is a great tool to see some of the old-fashioned and outdated views that some Americans still hold to this day.
Thank you for reading and we look forward to hearing which movies made it to your Top 5 in 2020!
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