With the business of listing the best things from the previous year done, the task of making new lists for a new decade begins in earnest. Why do we do it? Why do we start every year with a ‘most anticipated list’ or a future bucket list? Is it because we humans inherently like a list? Or maybe it’s the afterglow of Christmas, and we’re trying to constantly recapture that moment just before we rip the wrapping off the box.
Which is a bit what these lists look like at the other end of the year. Sometimes you open that box you’ve been looking forward to and it’s a five-star gift. Some are the cinematic equivalent of tube socks: a practical gift, but not all that exciting. When I compare my most anticipated list for 2019 with my ‘best of’ list, only 4 of the 19 rocked my socks. Some of them I’d happily regift to Vinnies while the rest wound up in a big pile of wrapping paper that filled the recycling bins on Boxing Day.
So, keeping that in mind, let’s forge ahead and make grand declarative statements about films that might delight us if we believe hard enough in the magic of the holidays or something. I’ve even broken this listicle down into sub-listicles so you don’t even have to read that much. Welcome to 2020.
The blockbusters | Asia in Focus | Chills and thrills | Dramarama | Animation | The fun and the musical
