Despite the government’s best efforts and the guilds’ shameful neglect, 2020 produced some truly stellar visual storytelling. Streaming services, which were already gaining steam, became an essential window to the outside world for those imprisoned inside.
Here are my picks for the ten best films and shows of the year:
1. Pray: The Story of Patrick Peyton – An expertly crafted and compelling documentary about an Irish-American priest who was world famous in the 1950s but is virtually unknown today. Yet his message of family prayer is far more important today than it was back then. Hopefully, his canonization cause will make him a household name again.
2. The Crown, Season 4 – Lavishly produced with some of the greatest living British actors, Peter Morgan’s fourth series on the world’s most famous royal family is probably the best directed story this year. While its themes are many, the primary focus is the rise and fall of Charles and Diana’s marriage, a sad symptom of a society that has forgotten its values.
3. Soul – Pete Doctor’s fourth film (Monster’s Inc, Up, Inside Out) is again a triumph of art and heart. It creates a compelling spiritual life that’s neither childish nor overdramatic and encourages everyone to live their best existence.
4. Wonder Woman 1984 – This was the most fun I had at the movies this year. While sillier than its predecessor, it contains better action and more thrills while still providing lessons for the soul.
5. Upload, Season 1 – Upload is the most innovative story of the year, terrifyingly bridging the digital age with consciousness while exploring complex themes of life and death with humor and suspense.
6. I am Patrick – When people think of the Irish saint, they usually imagine beer, shamrocks, and noisy college students. Yet the real man is so much greater—a missionary for the ages.
7. Cheer, Season 1 – Cheerleading is perhaps America’s most underrated sport. Cheer follows a college team as they navigate difficulties personal and professional with faith and love.
8. Hillbilly Elegy – JD Vance’s bittersweet memoir of his Appalachian past is brought to life with amazing performances by Amy Adams and Glen Close.
9. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story – Forrest Whittaker leads a robust steampunk musical about a disillusioned inventor and the ambitious granddaughter who reignites his creative spark.
10. The Call of the Wild – Chris Sanders gives Jack London’s classic novel an update with beautiful visual effects and impressive scenery.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
I’m not 100% sure that it was solely released in 2020, it may have been released in late 2019, but “The Chosen” (streaming cast) was in my book the absolute #1 series and a must see for any Christian. A second season is nearly complete.
It was released in Dec of 2019, but I’d still nominate season two of the reboot of “Lost in Space.”
The author found room for a movie which starred a computer-generated dog – as in non-existent – but couldn’t find room for either ‘1917’ or ‘A Hidden Life’.
Absurd.
I would not consider Wonder Woman in there. Heard someone else say it was not a good show for Catholics
“Heard someone else say it was not a good show for Catholics.”
Sounds quite authoritative and magisterial in nature. Tell us more.
WW84 in the top 10? Forget about it.
How does a person of limited means even find these films to watch? Or some of the books recommended now and again, without having to fork over $25 each? I find libraries don’t have them, movies not in Red Box, how do people access them? Just wondering.