Year-End Lists

Glenn Kenny: Notable Films of 2020, the first ten in order of preference

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2013 • 2012]

• Vitalina Varela
  Pedro Costa
• First Cow
  Kelly Reichardt
• She Dies Tomorrow
  Amy Seimetz
• The Wolf House
  Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña
• Shirley
  Josephine Decker
• Joan of Arc
  Bruno Dumont
• Wasp Network
  Olivier Assayas
• Cut Throat City
  RZA
• Residue
  Merawi Gerima
• Possessor
  Brandon Cronenberg

Remainder, in order that is alphabetical

• The 11th Green
  Christopher Munch
• The Cordillera of Dreams
  Patricio Guzmán
• Da 5 Bloods
  Spike Lee
• The Deeper You Dig
  John Adams and Toby Poser
• F11 and Be There
  Jethro Waters
• Family Romance, LLC
  Werner Herzog
• Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
  Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer
• The Ghost of Peter Sellers
  Peter Medak
• Ghost Tropic
  Bas Devos
• God of the Piano
  Itay Tal
• Let Him Go
  Thomas Bezucha
• Let Them All Talk
  Steven Soderbergh
• Mank
  David Fincher
• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
  George C. Wolfe
• Mr. SOUL!
  Melissa Haizlip & Sam Pollard
• My Psychedelic Love Story
  Errol Morris
• Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
  Werner Herzog
• The Personal History of David Copperfield
  Armando Iannucci
• The State Against Mandela and the Others
  Gilles Porte and Nicolas Champeaux
• Synchronic
  Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
• System K
  Renaud Barret
• Tommaso
  Abel Ferrara
• To the Ends of the Earth
  Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• A White, White Day
  Hlynur Pálmason
• The Wild Goose Lake
  Diao Yinan
• Yourself and Yours
  Hong Sang-soo
• Zappa
  Alex Winter

This list contributes to:

• Village Voice Film Poll: Top 50 Films of 2020

Vogue: The Best Books of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2019 • 2015]

• Open Secrets
  Sheila Kohler
• The Splendid and the Vile

  A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
  Erik Larson
• How to Be a Good Girl
  Jamie Hood
• We Keep the Dead Close

  A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence
  Becky Cooper
• What Kind of Woman
  Kate Baer
• Nobody Will Tell You This But Me

  A true (as told to me) story
  Bess Kalb
• The Bass Rock
  Evie Wyld
• Leave the World Behind
  Rumaan Alam
• Memorial
  Bryan Washington
• Such a Fun Age
  Kiley Reid
• Uncanny Valley
  Anna Wiener
• In the Land of Men
  Adrienne Miller
• Apartment
  Teddy Wayne
• Shuggie Bain
  Douglas Stuart
• A Burning
  Megha Majumdar
• Tender Is the Flesh
  Agustina Bazterrica
• Luster
  Raven Leilani

Vogue: The 15 Best Movies of 2020

[see also 2022 • 2019]

• Emma.
  Autumn de Wilde
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire
  Céline Sciamma
• Kajillionaire
  Miranda July
• On the Rocks
  Sofia Coppola
• Palm Springs
  Max Barbakow
• The Personal History of David Copperfield
  Armando Iannucci
• Saint Frances
  Alex Thompson
• Bacurau
  Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
• Small Axe: Lovers Rock
  Steve McQueen
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always
  Eliza Hittman
• The Nest
  Sean Durkin
• An Easy Girl
  Rebecca Zlotowski
• His House
  Remi Weekes
• Sound of Metal
  Darius Marder
• Let Them All Talk
  Steven Soderbergh

Anthony Fantano: 50 Best Albums of 2020, as aired on The Needle Drop

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

1. What's Your Pleasure?
   Jessie Ware
2. Visions of Bodies Being Burned
   clipping.
3. Peaceful as Hell
   Black Dresses
4. Miles
   Blu & Exile
5. Windswept Adan
   Ichiko Aoba
6. Song for Our Daughter
   Laura Marling
7. True Opera
   Moor Jewelry
8. The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form
   Matmos
9. Un Canto por México, Vol. 1
   Natalia Lafourcade
10. Underneath
    Code Orange
11. Little Dominiques Nosebleed
    The Koreatown Oddity
12. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
    Gorillaz
13. Starting Over
    Chris Stapleton
14. Circles
    Mac Miller
15. God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
    Backxwash
16. Shabrang
    Sevdaliza
17. American Head
    The Flaming Lips
18. how I'm feeling now
    Charli XCX
19. Lianne La Havas
    Lianne La Havas
20. purple moonlight pages
    R.A.P. Ferreira
21. Miss Colombia
    Lido Pimienta
22. West of Eden
    HMLTD
23. Alphaville
    Imperial Triumphant
24. RTJ4
    Run the Jewels
25. Sawayama
    Rina Sawayama
26. 2017 - 2019
    Against All Logic
27. Cumbia Siglo XXI
    Meridian Brothers
28. Punisher
    Phoebe Bridgers
29. NO
    Boris
30. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
31. Innocent Country 2
    Quelle Chris & Chris Keys
32. No Dream
    Jeff Rosenstock
33. songs
    Adrianne Lenker
34. Origin of the Alimonies
    Liturgy
35. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
36. From King to a God
    Conway the Machine
37. My Agenda
    Dorian Electra
38. Ultra Mono
    Idles
39. Alfredo
    Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
40. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
41. Lesions Of A Different Kind
    Undeath
42. I Disagree
    Poppy
43. The Common Task
    Horse Lords
44. Future Teenage Cave Artists
    Deerhoof
45. Ungodly Hour
    Chloe x Halle
46. Mystic Familiar
    Dan Deacon
47. Manger on McNichols
    Boldy James / Sterling Toles
48. Man Alive!
    King Krule
49. Unlocked
    Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats
50. Home Body
    Dope Body

Hyperallergic: Our Favorite Poetry Books of 2020, compiled by Albert Mobilio and John Yau

• Discipline
  Jane Yeh
• Jump The Clock
  Erica Hunt
• Phone Bells Keep Ringing for Me
  Choi Seungja
• Blood Feather
  Karla Kelsey
• Poetry Against All

  A Diary
  Johannes Goransson
• Collected Poems

  1946-2016
  Harry Mathews
• Now It's Dark
  Peter Gizzi
• Savage Pageant
  Jessica Q. Stark

The Atlantic: The 50 Best Podcasts of 2020, selected by Laura Jane Standley and Eric McQuade

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018]

1. Rumble Strip: Our Show
2. Somebody
3. Reveal: American Rehab
4. The Other Latif
5. The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow
6. Nice White Parents
7. Forgotten: Women of Juárez
8. California Love
9. Rabbit Hole
10. Wind of Change
11. The Heart
12. Canary: The Washington Post Investigates
13. Lost Notes: 1980
14. Blindspot: The Road to 9/11
15. Back Issue
16. Verified
17. Home Cooking
18. Broken: Seeking Justice
19. Grouse
20. The Chronicles of Now
21. Where the Bodies Are Buried
22. Driving the Green Book
23. Tom Brown’s Body
24. Jacked
25. Lies We Tell
26. Dissect
27. The Dream
28. Boomtown
29. Slow Burn: David Duke
30. Boom/Bust: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia
31. Dirty Diana
32. Asking For It
33. No Compromise
34. Crisis: Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church
35. Unfinished
36. The Fault Line
37. Against the Rules
38. Folxlore
39. The Edge: Houston Astros
40. No Dogs in Space
41. Wild Thing
42. Dying For Sex
43. Extra Spicy
44. Two Minutes Past Nine
45. The Cut
46. Bunga Bunga
47. Foundering: We Work
48. The Cam Chronicles
49. Couples Under Lockdown
50. Seen and Not Heard

David Bianculli: Best TV of 2020, as aired on NPR’s Fresh Air

[see also 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

1. Schitt's Creek
2. Better Call Saul
3. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
4. The Good Place
5. Hamilton
6. Lovecraft Country
7. Fargo
8. Curb Your Enthusiasm
9. The Queen's Gambit
10. The Last Dance

Hank Stuever: Best TV of 2020, as published by The Washington Post

[see also 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016]

1. I May Destroy You
2. Normal People
3. The Democratic National Convention
4. Unorthodox
5. The Crown
6. The Vow
7. Mrs. America
8. Perry Mason
9. PEN15
10. This Is Us

Honorable mentions

• Cheer
• Fargo
• The Go-Go's
• P-Valley
• Love Is Blind
• I'll Be Gone in the Dark
• Hillary
• The Baby-Sitters Club
• Hightown
• The Good Place

Steve Erickson: Best Films of 2020, as published by Gay City News along with a list of shorts and a list of older films first seen this year

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014]

• Vitalina Varela
  Pedro Costa
• She Dies Tomorrow
  Amy Seimetz
• Possessor
  Brandon Cronenberg
• Still Processing
  Sophy Romvari
• Cenote
  Oda Kaori
• Small Axe: Lovers Rock
  Steve McQueen
• Never Rarely Sometimes Always
  Eliza Hittman
• First Cow
  Kelly Reichardt
• Time
  Garrett Bradley
• Fourteen
  Dan Sallitt

Runners-up

• The Assistant
  Kitty Green
• The Grand Bizarre
  Jodie Mack
• I May Destroy You
  Michaela Coel & Sam Miller
• I Was at Home, But
  Angela Schanelec
• In Search of a Flat Earth
  Dan Olson
• Labyrinth of Cinema
  Nobuhiko Obayashi
• Mayor
  David Osit
• The Nest
  Sean Durkin
• Notes From a Journey
  Daniel & Clara
• On the Record
  Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering

This list contributes to:

• Village Voice Film Poll: Top 50 Films of 2020

Northern Transmissions: Top 30 Albums of 2020

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017]

1. Punisher
   Phoebe Bridgers
2. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
   Fiona Apple
3. songs
   Adrianne Lenker
4. RTJ4
   Run the Jewels
5. Rough and Rowdy Ways
   Bob Dylan
6. Muzz
   Muzz
7. Saint Cloud
   Waxahatchee
8. The Great Dismal
   Nothing
9. Live Forever
   Bartees Strange
10. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
    Perfume Genius
11. Untitled (Black Is)
    Sault
12. Sawayama
    Rina Sawayama
13. Atlas Vending
    Metz
14. Alfredo
    Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
15. Shore
    Fleet Foxes
16. The Ascension
    Sufjan Stevens
17. Every Bad
    Porridge Radio
18. Inlet
    Hum
19. The Neon Skyline
    Andy Shauf
20. Speed, Sound, Lonely KV
    Kurt Vile
21. The New Abnormal
    The Strokes
22. Women in Music Pt. III
    Haim
23. Folklore
    Taylor Swift
24. color theory
    Soccer Mommy
25. Græ
    Moses Sumney
26. Little Dominiques Nosebleed
    The Koreatown Oddity
27. Heaven to a Tortured Mind
    Yves Tumor
28. Have We Met
    Destroyer
29. A Hero's Death
    Fontaines D.C.
30. Ultra Mono
    Idles