Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Jason Woliner, 2020) — A-
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) — A+
All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976) — A
Death Becomes Her (Robert Zemeckis, 1992) — B+
True Grit (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2010) — B+
Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973) — B
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) — A
Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Penny Marshall, 1986) — B
Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990) — B+
Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) – B+
The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) — A+
The Invisible Man (Leigh Wannell, 2020) — B+
Split (M. Night Shyamalan, 2016) — B+
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (Darrell Rooney, Rob LaDuca, 1998) — B
The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2011) — A+
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) — A
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (Eli Craig, 2011) — A-
Bay of Angels (Jacques Demy, 1963) — B-
Boyz n the Hood (John Singleton, 1991) — A-
Poetic Justice (John Singleton, 1993) — B
Glass (M. Night Shyamalan, 2019) — C+
I had plenty of time in the last two weeks to watch some movies, but spent almost no time writing about any of them. I traveled plus there was this kind of important election that I spent all my spare time worrying about or celebrating. Fortunately, I was watching a ton of classics — three Hitchcocks, a couple Coens, some AFI 100 movies, gap-fillers on important directors etc. — and rewatching a bunch of favorite Halloween movies, so I don’t feel like I can write much that hasn’t already been written by people much more capable than I on the former and have much more to say on the latter than what I’ve said in the past. So this really is just a list of the movies I watched over the last two weeks presented with next to no comment. The only movie that doesn’t fit into these categories is the Borat sequel, and I wish I had written down my thoughts prior to the election, because it felt as relevant to 2020 American politics as anything else released this year.
We did finally finish the M. Night Shyamalan movies, so I will put my rankings here for posterity. Even though I found Glass less than spectacular, I am pretty happy with the turn his filmography has taken in the last half-decade — scaling down his productions and retaining his strong authorial voice, almost a return to his roots.
1. The Sixth Sense
2. The Village
3. Signs
4. Split
5. Unbreakable
6. The Visit
7. Glass
8. Lady in the Water
9. After Earth
10. The Happening
11. The Last Airbender