Year-End Lists

Ed Gonzalez: Best Films of 2020, as published by Slant Magazine

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2012, 2011]

1. City Hall — Frederick Wiseman
2. To the Ends of the Earth — Kiyoshi Kurosawa
3. Tommaso — Abel Ferrara
4. The Cordillera of Dreams — Patricio Guzmán
5. The Grand Bizarre — Jodie Mack
6. Welcome to Chechnya — David France
7. Space Dogs — Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
8. Ghost Tropic — Bas Devos
9. Time — Garrett Bradley
10. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets — Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross

Honorable Mention

• Another Round — Thomas Vinterberg
• First Cow — Kelly Reichardt
• Fourteen — Dan Sallitt
• I'm Thinking of Ending Things — Charlie Kaufman
• Small Axe: Lovers Rock — Steve McQueen
• Pahokee — Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan
• Possessor — Brandon Cronenberg
• Small Axe: Red, White and Blue — Steve McQueen
• This Is Not a Movie — Yung Chang
• Zombi Child — Bertrand Bonello

Mark Kermode: 10 Best Films of 2020, as published by The Guardian

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014]

1. Saint Maud — Rose Glass
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire — Céline Sciamma
3. Parasite — Bong Joon-ho
4. Relic — Natalie Erika James
5. Clemency — Chinonye Chukwu
6. Never Rarely Sometimes Always — Eliza Hittman
7. Rocks — Sarah Gavron
8. Saint Frances — Alex Thompson
9. Wolfwalkers — Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart
10. The Personal History of David Copperfield — Armando Iannucci

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

[see also 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 — Steve 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

Vogue: The Best Books of 2020

[see also 2019]

• 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 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 — Steve Soderbergh

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

[see also 2019, 2018, 2017]

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

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 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

Steve Erickson: The Best in 2020 Music, as published by Gay City News

[see also 2019]

• Gaika — Seguridad
• Rina Sawayama — Sawayama
• Taylor Swift — Folklore
• Ashley McBryde — Never Will
• Polo G — The Goat
• Fiona Apple — Fetch the Bolt Cutters
• Backxwash — God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
• Menzi — Impazamo
• Ambrose Akinmusire — On the Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment
• Yves Tumor — Heaven to a Tortured Mind

Runners-up

• Julianna Barwick — Healing Is a Miracle
• Black Dresses — Peaceful as Hell
• Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, and Steve Swallow — Life Goes On
• Moses Boyd — Dark Matter
• Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher
• Phoebe Bridgers — Copycat Killer
• Oliver Coates — skins n slime
• Denzel Curry — 13lood 1n + 13lood Out
• Lucrecia Dalt — No era sólida
• Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger — Force Majeure
• Drive-By Truckers — The Unraveling
• Eternal Champion — Ravening Iron
• Feminazgul — No Dawn For Men
• Scúru Fitchádu — Un Kuza Runhu
• Nubya Garcia — SOURCE
• Imperial Triumphant — Alphaville
• Juice WRLD — Legends Never Die
• Kehlani — It Was Good Until It Wasn't
• The Killers — Imploding the Mirage
• LOMA — Don't Shy Away
• Paul Marmota — Zona II
• Carlos Niño & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson — Chicago Waves
• Perfume Genius — Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
• Pongo — UWA
• Poppy — I Disagree
• Run the Jewels — RTJ4
• Pa Salieu — Send Them to Coventry
• Bartees Strange — Live Forever
• U.S. Girls — Heavy Light

Maggie Fremont: The Best TV Shows of 2020, as published by Shondaland

[see also 2010s, 2019]

• The Baby-Sitters Club
• Better Call Saul
• City So Real
• The Crown
• The Good Fight
• Dead to Me
• I May Destroy You
• Insecure
• The Last Dance
• Mrs. America
• Never Have I Ever
• The Queen's Gambit
• Schitt's Creek
• Unorthodox
• What We Do in the Shadows