Veronica's Top New To Me Movies of 2020

There’s no number attached to my “best of” list for 2020. No counting down to one with all the anticipation of New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve or one of the many exciting Eves. This year, I’ll mention as many movies as I can remember seeing and liking well enough because I did not see a whole lot of movies last year. Unlike (I’m learning) a lot of Millenials, I enjoy leaving my house and paying money to sit in the dark. When theaters are open again, I promise you that I’ll have plenty to discuss then.

As for this year:

The Beach House (2019, dir. Jeffrey A. Brown)

A Shudder exclusive, and a solid movie that probably wouldn’t have made the cut in other years. The Beach House is essentially about an alien pathogen invasion – which is a fun thing to watch during a pandemic and I’m not being sarcastic – with some cool visuals and effects, and one really great body horror scene. It gets a little stupid towards the middle (and the lead actor is a little weak as she’s supposed to be this super smart sciencey college student type who I didn’t believe for a second) but overall, I kept watching. That’s the best any movie being screened on a laptop can hope for.

Monster Squad (1987, dir. Fred Dekker)

My friend who gifted me Shudder for Christmas 2019 (thanks, Dan!) also told me to watch Monster Squad. Mainly to see the guy who played Dracula, because this is how said friend realized he was gay. Monster Squad is an eighties movie that does meta humor better than most comedies do nowadays. Like a lot of eighties films, this one features kids on a caper but the kids are actually entertaining as are the monsters they’re trying to defeat. Plus this movie is full of quotable lines and great fast jokes like when the kids try to complete a ceremony using one of their older sisters, and it turns out she’s not a virgin. Even in a normal year, this one probably would have made my list.

Class Action Park (2020, dir. Seth Porges)

While on the whole, I think this documentary stumbled a bit (or perhaps was handicapped by its lack of disclosure) Class Action Park was still interesting enough to warrant a spot here. This is a serviceable documentary that is almost about abuses of power. Mainly, it’s about people from the East Coast having an attitude, and it’s not like we need a documentary to tell us about that. We discuss it more in depth in our upcoming Back Rowsie 2020 podcast, so stay tuned.

Revenge (2017, dir. Coralie Fargeat)

Ok, now we’re getting into movies I loved (and also watched on Shudder). When I first saw the trailers for Revenge and there was a quote from a male reviewer that was like “turns the male gaze in on itself” then there’d be a shot of gorgeous Matilda Lutz in a leather bikini, I was like, “shut up, trailer.”

I held off seeing this film because of that, and really shouldn’t have. That reviewer was right. I shouldn’t have told him to shut up. The central story of an assaulted woman being left for dead then returning to take da da daaaa... REVENGE! on her assailants has been done to death but this one with its peyote sensibility and naked, bloody man finale really stands out from the pack. Good job, everyone. We women finally got what we wanted: good looking naked men being terrorized.

Doctor Sleep (2019, dir. Mike Flanagan)

I saw this on the red-eye flight going to New York for Christmas (because I like to live dangerously as do my senior citizen parents apparently) when I should have been sleeping, and then couldn’t stop watching. As a Stephen King fan, I often wish he would write a book but not publish it, let someone turn it into a movie then he can take the movie structure and rewrite the book to fit it. I know with this one it’s different (look for my Back Row Book Club comparing the two later this year) since the book is a sequel to the book of the Shining, not the movie. But I still think movie Doctor Sleep cleaned up a rambling and bit too self-referential book and turned it into an exciting watch. Plus Ewan Mcgregor’s there in this fitted blue sweater that just makes his eyes pop. Really, really good sweater.

Wrong (2013, dir. Quentin Dupieux)

I love Quentin Dupieux. As far as directors named Quentin go, he’s my favorite. I wrote about Wrong in my Free Comedies on Youtube article, and if you didn’t understand it from that, you won’t find any help here. This is a surreal comedy about malaise and life and wanting something different but not knowing what. I can’t explain it anymore than that.

Slammin’ Salmon (2009, dir. Broken Lizards)

Another from the Free on Youtube category, this time a much more straightforward comedy from the Broken Lizard guys. A busy night in a fancy restaurant, a waitstaff who like each other getting locked into a competition for who can make the most money, and Will Forte keep this from being too formulaic. It’s no Super Troopers but it’s a solid laugh fest with more cameos than you can shake a spliff at.

We’ll call the next one my favorite movie of 2020. Are you ready? You couldn’t possibly be.

Steel Motherfucking Magnolias (1989, dir. Herbert Ross)

Now, did I technically see this for the first time in 2020? Not really, but I hadn’t seen it in so long and hated it with a vocal, angry passion reserved for 13-year-old goth girls that I can’t say I gave it a fair shake until now. I had no idea how funny (genuinely funny, not Untamed Heart funny) Steel Magnolias was, and since I have seen the light, you guys gotta hear about it. This movie’s funny. Everyone in it is great. Shirley Maclaine and Olympia Dukakis are all the woman I wanna be. Not just in the movie but in real life. I’ve read a bunch of Shirley’s books, and that lady is a trip and a half. Anyway, I take back everything I said about this movie when I was a sour-pussed teen thinking she was too cool for female friendships. This movie’s great. But Shelby really should have not had that baby.

Here’s to open theaters and sitting alone in the dark again. How badly I’ve missed it.