NotThePars Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 2020 might well be the death knell for cinema as Warner Bros appear to be moving their entire 2021 releases on to streaming services. The last big blockbuster to hit the movies, Tenet, utterly bombed and the general lack of releases must surely put the Sonic the Hedgehog in with an outsider's punt of winning a major award. That said, there were some movies even if all I can recall to my head is the Borat sequel. TV, or should I say streaming services, seemed to have a much better year of it even if everyone briefly psyop'd themselves into caring about Tiger King for a month when we collectively lost our minds from being locked indoors. Netflix had a pretty strong year by itself. The final season of Bojack was miraculously this year (I had to check this five times to be sure) while The Last Dance was a compelling and entertaining portrait about a larger than life athlete in Michael Jordan. The Crown meanwhile sees Netflix dominate the water-cooler discussions at the end of the year as I, and everyone else, has a ton of confusing thoughts around Gillian Anderson's portrayal of Maggie Thatcher. On Sky there was the return of Paolo Sorrentino's captivating The New Pope series starring John Malkovich and Jude Law while there was the debut of new series such as the Lovecraft Country adaptation and the modern-day Game of Thrones Gangs of London. The BBC had some successes with their adaptation of Sally Rooney's Normal People and the second seasons of What We Do In the Shadows and His Dark Materials. Amazon meanwhile made superheroes cool and edgy again with season two of The Boys and created compelling fly on the wall documentaries such as All or Nothing ostensibly about Tottenham but really starring Jose Mourinho. Finally, Disney+ finally launched in the UK and brought with it their mammoth back catalogue of movies and television with the undisputed major success being The Mandalorian which has maybe single-handedly restored all that goodwill and finally accomplished the impossible: a Star Wars product that Star Wars fans enjoy. Once again, I've likely missed a ton so roast me in your years in review. What were you watching in 2020? Were there any unexpected gems you discovered and think everyone else has slept on? What promised big and delivered? Did anything bomb as hard for as the last season of Game of Thrones? Is cinema dead? What are you looking forward to in 2021? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I'm pretty sure I only made it to the cinema once this year before lockdown and I saw 1917. A superb film that I really enjoyed. TV wise, the only new series i watched was The Hunters, a decent series, albeit with a rather disappointing finale. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Connolly Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Checking back through my unlimited tickets, I saw: Bad Boys for Life Bombshell Birds of Prey A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood* Dark Waters Onward Onward was probablt the most disappointing, it just wasn't up to the usual Pixar standard. A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood was probably the best. *I'm aware I've spelt the name of this film incorrectly twice, but I'll be cold in the ground before I recognise Missouri American spelling. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Shandrix Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Favourite British tv series of 2020 - Normal People Favourite US series - Barry 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint dave Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 TV mostly for me this shitty year : Norsemen (Netflix) if Vikings met The Office and Monty Python I think this would be the result. Off the wall comedy from Norway with some brilliant characters. The Mandalorian : for me closer to the original trilogy than any of the follow on films , except perhaps , Rogue One. A bounty hunter and his young friend Grogu fly all over the galaxy helping people and generally having adventures in very western looking settings. Some nice cameos and a good amount of interaction with the other Star wars franchises. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo Fife Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Best movie, probably The Invisible Man. Best series (Netflix) The Queens Gambit which was outstanding. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.A.F.C Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Save me too Gangs of London Dracula bbc The last dance Also watched breaking bad and better call Saul for the first time as well as ozark. Rate breaking bad up there with sopranos. Haven’t seen any 2020 made films. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 My top five films rn this year would be:1. The Lighthouse2. Why Don't You Just Die?3. The Assistant4. Waves5. ParasiteBut I'll probably do a top 10 at the end of the year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honestly united Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Best Movie - the trial of the Chicago 7 Tv - Mandalorian 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanFan Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 (edited) 8 hours ago, D.A.F.C said: Save me too Gangs of London Dracula bbc The last dance Also watched breaking bad and better call Saul for the first time as well as ozark. Rate breaking bad up there with sopranos. Haven’t seen any 2020 made films. The first episode of Ozark might be the single best TV episode I've ever witnessed. Also, having grown up some of the Lake of the Ozarks, it was fun watching and recognizing the places they talked about and some of the places (in the first episode only, the rest was filmed in Georgia). Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are both fantastic, as was The Last Dance. Some of the crap Jordan had to deal with was unreal. I'll have to look up what Save me too and Gangs of London are. I'll probably get grief for this, but I've enjoyed watching The Crown. I know it isn't historically accurate, but learning about some of the events that happened the first 3 seasons was pretty interesting. I'm also almost through the first season of Outlander, which I'm under the impression did some filming in Scotland. Edited December 10, 2020 by AmericanFan more 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmericanFan Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 10 hours ago, Mark Connolly said: Checking back through my unlimited tickets, I saw: Bad Boys for Life Bombshell Birds of Prey A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood* Dark Waters Onward Onward was probablt the most disappointing, it just wasn't up to the usual Pixar standard. A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood was probably the best. *I'm aware I've spelt the name of this film incorrectly twice, but I'll be cold in the ground before I recognise Missouri American spelling. haha. I pity you for having to sit through Bad Boys for Life 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 21 minutes ago, accies1874 said: 1. The Lighthouse I keep meaning to watch this...not heard many people raving about it though which made me think it was a bit meh. Films - Freaky and Boss Level and Borat were ridiculously fun movies that I've watched recently. Also Run was a great thriller even if it was just a revamped version of Misery TV Shows - The Mandalorian, The Boys, Tacoma FD 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Stewart Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Few programmes I've watched that were released this year (either all or partly) that haven't been mentioned yet: Kidding is possibly the best thing I've watched this year which has gone under the radar a bit. Jim Carrey plays an ultra famous, incredibly positive American kids entertainer (Mr Rodgers is always the comparison) whose family begins to crumble and his sanity along with it. It's fucking brilliant. Very dark, very funny, very engaging. Carrey is exceptional as you'd expect in a role that I assume is basically just him really. Second season was released in March, although sadly looks like it'll be the last as showtime cancelled it. The English Game was this year and I really enjoyed it. Thought it would be a pissy wee period drama with football as merely a background topic, I'd watch 20 minutes and turn it off having confirmed it was indeed shit, but it was actually really good and would have been quite happy to have had an extra couple of episodes. I Know This Much is True is maybe the bleakest thing I've ever watched. Mark Ruffalo plays a set of twins, one of whom has severe paranoid schizophrenia, and he is phenomenal. It's set in the early 90's with them as middle aged men, with flashbacks to their formative years, and centers around Thomas (the mentally ill brother) being sectioned to a hospital not fit for purpose and his brother's attempts to get him out. So, so bleak, but so very, very good. Not one to watch when hungover. The Undoing was a bit formulaic in its story, but the acting from Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant was excellent, making you invest in the characters even with their only being 5 or 6 episodes. Essentially just a murder whodunnit, but pretty enjoyable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 54 minutes ago, J_Stewart said: Kidding is possibly the best thing I've watched this year which has gone under the radar a bit. Jim Carrey plays an ultra famous, incredibly positive American kids entertainer (Mr Rodgers is always the comparison) whose family begins to crumble and his sanity along with it. It's fucking brilliant. Very dark, very funny, very engaging. Carrey is exceptional as you'd expect in a role that I assume is basically just him really. Second season was released in March, although sadly looks like it'll be the last as showtime cancelled it. I forgot to mention that...been a while since I watched it right enough. Brilliantly written show with plenty of heart and humour. Carrey is outstanding in it. The ending of the second season was both a lovely way to end the show but also could have set up another season. I've been trying to persuade the wife to watch it but it doesn't really sell itself. The only reason I watched it was because Jim Carrey was in it and I'm a huge fan of his. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Movies wise... You Should Have Left The Babysitter: Killer Queen Host The Rental Don't Let Them In Shirley 1917 Queen and Slim 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I keep meaning to watch this...not heard many people raving about it though which made me think it was a bit meh. Films - Freaky and Boss Level and Borat were ridiculously fun movies that I've watched recently. Also Run was a great thriller even if it was just a revamped version of Misery TV Shows - The Mandalorian, The Boys, Tacoma FDIt's the best experience I've ever had in the cinema. Absolutely thrilling, looks and sounds incredible, unbelievable performances, and is like a mystery box (f**k off JJ Abrams) in how it presents a location that plants enough seeds to provide different readings depending on the viewer. I've genuinely never felt like I was being snatched away from a world as much as when the credits started rolling. The fact it manages to go from 0 to 100 with just two characters is so impressive too, and the rise in tension is completely earned. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I only saw Parasite at the cinema and it was (obviously) great. I think that cinemas will bounce back strongly initially as people will be choking to get out and do stuff once we get some normality back. I am definitely going to see The Many Saints of Newark, Dune, The Matrix 4 and Top Gun 2. None of which are original concepts but hopefully some good new stuff will pop up. I haven't watched any new TV at all. I'm looking forward to Succession coming back on and apparently David Lynch is doing something for Netflix with Kyle MacLachlan and Sheryl Lee which means that I'll be deluded into thinking I can get some closure on Twin Peaks but instead end up even more traumatised. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G51 Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 2 minutes ago, Detournement said: I only saw Parasite at the cinema and it was (obviously) great. I think that cinemas will bounce back strongly initially as people will be choking to get out and do stuff once we get some normality back. I am definitely going to see The Many Saints of Newark, Dune, The Matrix 4 and Top Gun 2. None of which are original concepts but hopefully some good new stuff will pop up. I haven't watched any new TV at all. I'm looking forward to Succession coming back on and apparently David Lynch is doing something for Netflix with Kyle MacLachlan and Sheryl Lee which means that I'll be deluded into thinking I can get some closure on Twin Peaks but instead end up even more traumatised. Aye I think this'll eventually happen too as more folk get vaccinated. I'm absolutely choking to get out and do something without fear of death. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 1 hour ago, G51 said: Aye I think this'll eventually happen too as more folk get vaccinated. I'm absolutely choking to get out and do something without fear of death. Unless you are old or have a condition then there is nothing to be scared of. It's just a case of getting things started up again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Shandrix Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 On 10/12/2020 at 16:09, Detournement said: Unless you are old or have a condition then there is nothing to be scared of. It's just a case of getting things started up again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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