2020 Q1: Bottom Three Films (4/4/2020)
- Heather German
- Jun 27, 2020
- 2 min read
So far, 2020 has been quite the tumultuous year. Only a single quarter has passed and already the way new films are released is changing faster than ever before due to the ongoing pandemic crisis. Countless films are getting delayed and rescheduled, and the future of small, independent theaters is hanging in the balance.
In the midst of all that chaos and uncertainty, though, it can be easy to forget about the actual films that have been released this year. The first quarter is generally the weakest of any given year, but most of the films I saw were decent to good. There were even a couple of great ones thrown in there. Sure, there were a couple of stinkers, and I tended to avoid the ones that TRULY looked like trash (Dolittle, The Grudge, etc.), and a lot of the quality ones were leftovers from 2019 film festivals, but there were still plenty of unique and interesting experiences to be had in theaters this year so far.
As we go into the second quarter of what is shaping up to be an unpredictable and frightening year, it’s a good time to look back on what’s already come as we head into the unknown, and hope that at the very least good film won’t go down without a fight. Today, I'll be posting bottom three and top five films of the first quarter of 2020 lists. I hope you all read and enjoy!
3. A Hidden Life
I’m not sure that Terrence Malick’s latest really deserves this dishonor, but it’s not nearly as good as it wants – or thinks – itself to be, and it's managed to get itself a placement here by default. It’s almost an hour and a half too long and while its message is important and its craft beautiful, it wears out its welcome only a third of the way into its three hour runtime. By the time it slogs across the finish line, I found myself longing to just get out of that theater and go think about anything else.
2. Sonic the Hedgehog
A lot of people might argue that I’m being too hard on this as for its target audience this movie is probably fine. After seeing a number of family oriented films in the last decade that not only succeed at catering to children but are legitimately good as films that anybody can experience, I don’t really buy that excuse anymore. Sonic the Hedgehog is an aggravating, unfunny mess of annoying characters, boring storylines, unbearably bad one liners and forced meme references. Not even Jim Carrey’s decently funny performance can save it.
1. The Hunt
The only truly awful film I've seen so far this year. The Hunt is a weak, spineless excuse of a satire that takes bland Twitter-fueled strawmen and uses them to toss around pure buzzwords to resemble “jokes.” It’s a smug, pretentious film that revels in its own lack of a stance on anything, and it’s not even good as a generic battle royale b movie. It’ll be tough to beat this one out in the coming months for worst film of the year.
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