This year saw a surprisingly low number of theatrical releases. What started off with a cavalcade of new cinema at Sundance quickly stifled into a drip-drip of streaming content. The majority of what I saw in theaters ended up being re-releases of classic movies instead of new films. I still managed to see quite a bit between streaming releases and the occassional theatrical release, but this was a much smaller year for me in terms of new releases.
However, things have a way of balancing out. The shutdown months of March, April, and May, in combination with a nearly empty theatrical release schedule gave me the opportunity to catch up on some classics. While I saw few 2020 releases, I managed to watch a plethora of “New-to-Me” films released in years passed.
So, I decided to rank my top ten here. These are all movies released before 2020 that I had never seen until this year.
Runners Up
I saw a ton of new to me movies this year. Many of them were garbage, many okay, and quite a few were fantastic. Unfortunately, however, my Top Ten list can only hold ten movies. But these runners-up impressed me enough that I can’t just not mention them.
There Will be Blood (2007)
Just brilliant. Paul Thomas Anderson makes a killer script incredibly tense and introspective through an incredible performance from Daniel Day Lewis.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Pure adventure. This is an incredibly satisfy hour and a half that’s filled with nothing but swashbuckling fun.
The Great Escape (1963)
Terrific chase sequences and truly iconic performances from Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough.
The Untouchables (1987)
I don’t need to say anything, the staircase sequence says it all.
Seven Samurai (1954)
Brilliantly written and choreographed. Kirosawa truly is a director above the likes of everyone else. He balances an ensemble cast of very dynamic characters with unbelievably put together action pieces.
Metropolis (1927)
I understand science fiction so much more now.
Cinderella (1950)
Pure heart. There is nothing in here that is not magical.
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Weird, but I dig it.
Nightcrawler (2014)
We do live in a society.
Casablanca (1942)
Worthy of all the hype and recognition.
Top Ten
10. The Player (1992)
I’d never seen a Robert Altman film before 2020, but The Player turned me into an Altman stan and Secret Honor cemented that adoration. This is Altman’s middle-finger towards the studio system, particularly as it has treated him as both writer and director. The Player is for Hollywood what The Wolf of Wall Street was for the yuppy world of business, a cautionary tale that pulls no punches and lets fly many a scathing remark.
The script is tight, cynical, and perfectly brought to life. Tim Robbins gives a dazzling performance as a man slowly slipping into his worst self.
9. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Few movies bring tears to my eyes, but this one weirdly did. There’s Christmas magic in every frame of this movie. Dickens novel is given a new life under the watchful hands of Brian Henson and Co. Michael Caine delivers a very strong performance for a children’s movie, playing Scrooge with the same authenticity you might expect from a fully live action adaptation. There aren’t many movies I’d consider genuinely perfect, but this might be one of them.
8. Shane (1953)
Shane feels like the antithesis to a well-known Middle Eastern epic that will make this list a bit later on. The commentary that Alan Ladd’s Shane offers on the glorification of violence and recklessness of hero-worship feels very ahead of its time. The questions that Shane poses are more relevant to today’s pop culture than they were in 1953.
7. Apollo 13 (1995)
The perfect balance between spectacle tension and deep character moments. Ron Howard wows with Apollo 13’s disastrous trip through space, but makes plenty of time to explore Lovell and crew as people as well as living legends.
6. The Departed (2006)
Martin Scorsese’s use of Shipping Up to Boston might be my favorite needle drop of all time. Marty uses his dual antagonists to perfection, as Matt Damon and Leo’s characters circle each other in their ascent to power and as each one’s role as mole becomes more and more dangerous to their mental and physical well-being.
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Brownface aside, this movie is fantastic. This film manages to be an epic without ever losing sight of its protagonist. Lawrence’s thirst for blood and his reveling in power never play second fiddle to the world around him and we get to watch an ego become maniac over the course of an unforgettable three-hour journey. There are few movies this ambitious and those that are hardly ever get this close to pulling it off.
4. Rashomon (1950)
This movie does not follow the rules. It tells far more than it shows, but here is where Kurosawa proves his brilliance. The deceptive framework of Rashomon allows Kurosawa to pull you into the main conflict and glue your eyes to the same scene as it repeats, bending and changing along the way. It’s a fantastic mystery who’s influence can be seen in films decades down the line.
3. The Social Network (2010)
Fincher’s scathing exploration of Mark Zuckerberg feels more relevant now than ever. It’s a warning about the dangers of social media and the calculating figure behind the world’s biggest social media platform. The Social Network tears both Frankenstein and his monster apart.
2. Boogie Nights (1997)
My favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film by far. Though not explicitly mocking and satirizing Hollywood stardom, PTA’s aim is pretty clear. This film is a great dissection of the trappings of fame and fortune and the cost of the unrelenting pursuit of such things. Every performance in this film is iconic, from Marky Mark and Heather Graham, to Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, John C O’Reilly, and the ever-great Alfred Molina. There was nothing about this movie that didn’t either dazzle or captivate me.
1. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
If you only look at this movie from the surface, it’ll appear as nothing but sacrilege, however, it is anything but. Martin Scorsese and Willem Dafoe have crafted the most authentic version of Christ on film. They do so by allowing Christ to be tempted, to feel the siren song of sin through his human self. Yet the film never loses sight of Christ’s divinity and displays his triumphant struggle with more grit than any Pureflix/TV movie will ever do. This film is very open about what it is, and is very genuine to the essence of Christ. So yes, you do see Jesus do things that he never biblically did. However, the film never lets him stray from the divinity and perfection of the biblical Christ.
Closing Role
As of this writing, I have seen 124 “New-to-Me” movies this year. I don’t have time to talk about them all, but below you’ll find a ranked gallery of them in addition to my review links.
Collin Willis 