Year-End Lists

Ela Bittencourt: The Best Films of 2020, as submitted to the Sight & Sound Poll, "some films that made this year less sufferable and more humane"

1. This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
   Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
2. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
3. Days
   Tsai Ming-liang
4. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
   Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
5. The Calming
   Song Fang
6. letter to a friend
   Emily Jacir
7. Sertânia
   Geraldo Sarno
8. The Year of the Discovery
   Luis López Carrasco
9. Never Gonna Snow Again
   Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert
10. Shiva Baby
    Emma Seligman

This list contributes to:

• Sight & Sound Poll: The Best Films of 2020

The Guardian: The 50 Best TV Show of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019]

1. I May Destroy You
2. I Hate Suzie
3. Small Axe
4. Normal People
5. Once Upon a Time in Iraq
6. Quiz
7. The Last Dance
8. This Country
9. The Queen's Gambit
10. Ghosts
11. Unorthodox
12. Mrs. America
13. The Crown
14. Better Call Saul
15. Adult Material
16. Feel Good
17. Schitt's Creek
18. Des
19. Inside No. 9
20. PEN15
21. Lovecraft Country
22. Tiger King
23. Ramy
24. The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty
25. Dracula
26. The Good Place
27. The Deuce
28. BoJack Horseman
29. The Trip to Greece
30. Curb Your Enthusiasm
31. Devs
32. Cheer
33. Industry
34. Gangs of London
35. The Mandalorian
36. Sex Education
37. Race Across the World
38. Antiviral Wipe
39. Dominic Cummings in the Rose Garden
40. The Boys
41. The Undoing
42. My Brilliant Friend
43. The Third Day
44. Insecure
45. In My Skin
46. Us
47. Save Me Too
48. Belsen: Our Story
49. McMillions
50. The Salisbury Poisonings

Kevin Fallon: The 20 Best TV Shows of 2020, as published by The Daily Beast

[see also 2022]

1. I May Destroy You
2. PEN15
3. What We Do in the Shadows
4. How To with John Wilson
5. The Real Housewives of Potomac
6. Unorthodox
7. The Great
8. P-Valley
9. Ted Lasso
10. The Baby-Sitters Club
10. Saved by the Bell
11. The Good Fight
12. Better Things
13. Schitt's Creek
14. Insecure
15. Mrs. America
16. Normal People
17. Jeopardy!
18. The Queen's Gambit
19. Search Party
20. The Crown

Brittany Spanos: Top 13 Albums of 2020, as published by Slate in their 2020 edition of The Music Club

[see also 2022 • 2021]

1. Folklore
   Taylor Swift
2. What's Your Pleasure?
   Jessie Ware
3. City on Lock
   City Girls
4. Sawayama
   Rina Sawayama
5. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
6. Chromatica
   Lady Gaga
7. Manic
   Halsey
8. Future Nostalgia
   Dua Lipa
9. YHLQMDLG
   Bad Bunny
10. Plastic Hearts
    Miley Cyrus
11. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
12. Ho, Why Is You Here?
    Flo Milli
13. how I'm feeling now
    Charli XCX

Barack Obama: Favorite TV Shows of 2020, as posted to Twitter

• Better Call Saul
• The Queen's Gambit
• I May Destroy You
• The Boys
• The Good Lord Bird
• Devs
• The Last Dance
• Mrs. America
• The Good Place
• City So Real

Barack Obama: Favorite Movies of 2020, as posted to Twitter

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018]

• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
  George C. Wolfe
• Beanpole
  Kantemir Balagov
• Bacurau
  Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
• Nomadland
  Chloé Zhao
• Soul
  Pete Docter
• Small Axe: Lovers Rock
  Steve McQueen
• Collective
  Alexander Nanau
• Mank
  David Fincher
• Martin Eden
  Pietro Marcello
• Let Him Go
  Thomas Bezucha
• Time
  Garrett Bradley
• Boys State
  Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
• Selah and the Spades
  Tayarisha Poe
• Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
  Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht

Ty Burr: Best Movies of 2020, as published by The Boston Globe

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2014 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
   Steve McQueen
2. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
3. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
   Eliza Hittman
4. Palm Springs
   Max Barbakow
5. The Painter and the Thief
   Benjamin Ree
6. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
   Charlie Kaufman
7. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
8. Bacurau
   Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
9. City Hall
   Frederick Wiseman
10. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
    Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross

Runners-up

• The Assistant
  Kitty Green
• Beanpole
  Kantemir Balagov
• Boys State
  Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine
• Collective
  Alexander Nanau
• Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
  Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
• David Byrne's American Utopia
  Spike Lee
• Dick Johnson Is Dead
  Kirsten Johnson
• Driveways
  Andrew Ahn
• The Father
  Florian Zeller
• Ghost Tropic
  Bas Devos
• Gunda
  Viktor Kosakovskiy
• Ham on Rye
  Tyler Taormina
• Mank
  David Fincher
• Martin Eden
  Pietro Marcello
• Minari
  Lee Isaac Chung
• Miss Juneteenth
  Channing Godfrey Peoples
• The Nest
  Sean Durkin
• One Night in Miami
  Regina King
• Possessor
  Brandon Cronenberg
• Promising Young Woman
  Emerald Fennell
• She Dies Tomorrow
  Amy Seimetz
• Shirley
  Josephine Decker
• Sound of Metal
  Darius Marder
• Time
  Garrett Bradley
• The Vast of Night
  Andrew Patterson

Caroline Siede: The Best Films of 2020, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2021 • 2019]

1. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
   Eliza Hittman
2. The Vast of Night
   Andrew Patterson
3. Nomadland
   Chloé Zhao
4. The 40-Year-Old Version
   Radha Blank
5. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
6. Beanpole
   Kantemir Balagov
7. Sound of Metal
   Darius Marder
8. Birds of Prey
   Cathy Yan
9. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
   Charlie Kaufman
10. Minari
    Lee Isaac Chung
11. One Night in Miami
    Regina King
12. Time
    Garrett Bradley
13. Babyteeth
    Shannon Murphy
14. The Personal History of David Copperfield
    Armando Iannucci
15. The Assistant
    Kitty Green

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: Best Films of 2020

Vikram Murthi: The Best Films of 2020, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2021 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
   Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
2. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
3. The Assistant
   Kitty Green
4. A White, White Day
   Hlynur Pálmason
5. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
   Charlie Kaufman
6. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
   Steve McQueen
7. The Grand Bizarre
   Jodie Mack
8. Collective
   Alexander Nanau
9. Tesla
   Michael Almereyda
10. Mank
    David Fincher
11. Fourteen
    Dan Sallitt
12. Martin Eden
    Pietro Marcello
13. City Hall
    Frederick Wiseman
14. Bacurau
    Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
15. Ham on Rye
    Tyler Taormina

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: Best Films of 2020
• Village Voice Film Poll: Top 50 Films of 2020

Noel Murray: The Best Films of 2020, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also The 10 Best Documentaries of 2022 • The 10 (or 11) Best Documentaries of 2021 • The Best Films of 2021 • The Best Films of 2019 • Top 15 Films of 2018 • Best Films of 2017 • The Best Films of 2016 • The Best Films of 2015 • Top 15 Films of 2014 • 15 Best Films of 2012 • Best Films of 2011]

1. First Cow
   Kelly Reichardt
2. Dick Johnson Is Dead
   Kirsten Johnson
3. The Whistlers
   Corneliu Porumboiu
4. Kajillionaire
   Miranda July
5. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
   Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
6. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
   Steve McQueen
7. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
   George C. Wolfe
8. Soul
   Pete Docter
9. Mank
   David Fincher
10. Nomadland
    Chloé Zhao
11. Da 5 Bloods
    Spike Lee
12. Sound of Metal
    Darius Marder
13. The Assistant
    Kitty Green
14. The Invisible Man
    Leigh Whannell
15. The Nest
    Sean Durkin

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: Best Films of 2020
• Village Voice Film Poll: Top 50 Films of 2020