The Best Films of 2020 So Far

2020 is already half over. Can you believe it? Time flies when you’re trapped in an endless quarantine in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century!

I kid because the first six months of 2020 has been the longest and most challenging 15 years of my life. But I’m still here! And so are the movies, even if movie theaters themselves have seen better days. In years past, I would limit any sort of “best of” list to films that only got theatrical releases. The pandemic may have finally done away with that long-standing rule — and it’s certainly blurred the already flimsy line between film and television. At this point, the only thing those two words describe is length and format. Very few movies are shot on film (and almost none are projected on it), and “television” is increasingly watched on devices other than TVs. Words are weird.

So whether they did screen in theaters, premiere on VOD, or go straight to streaming, here are the ten best “films” I saw in 2020 so far. All in all, it’s been a pretty good year for cinema, even if it’s been a bad year for literally everything else. I can’t wait to see what the remaining 40 months of 2020 hold in store!

Gallery — The Best Films of 2019: