Movie of the Week
Showmax suggests 2020’s best movies
With the strong catalogue Showmax had in 2020, this list is filled with great movies to try out.
In 2020, Showmax released its strongest line-up of movies yet including three of the 10 biggest box office hits of 2020: Sonic the Hedgehog, Dolittle and Invisible Man; three 2020 Oscars winners: 1917, Bombshell and Rocketman; the 2020 Golden Globe Best Drama winner, 1917; and the 2020 Outstanding TV Movie Emmy winner Bad Education.
This was good timing, since lockdown saw a significant shift from South Africans watching movies on Showmax over weekends to during the week. In other words, every night was movie night in 2020. Showmax rounded up 12 of its biggest films of 2020 to provide this list of suggested viewing during the coming New Year long-weekend.
BAD EDUCATION | Best drama movie
HBO’s Bad Education was named Outstanding TV Movie at the 2020 Emmys, beating off the likes of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie.
Based on a true story, Bad Education follows Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman, who was up for Best Actor for the role) and Pam Gluckin (Oscar winner Allison Janney), whose reign over a prestigious school district is threatened by the single largest public school embezzlement scheme in America’s history, which was uncovered by a student journalist.
Bad Education has a 94% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus is, “Anchored by an outstanding Hugh Jackman, Bad Education finds absurd laughs — and a worthy message — in the aftermath of a real-life scandal.”
1917 | Best war movie
Oscar winner Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty) brings his singular vision to his World War I epic, 1917, which won three 2020 Oscars and two 2020 Golden Globes, for Best Drama and Best Director.
At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield (Captain Fantastic’s George MacKay) and Blake (Game of Thrones’ Dean-Charles Chapman), are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers — Blake’s own brother among them. Emmy winner Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock), Oscar winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), and Golden Globe winner Richard Madden (Bodyguard) co-star in the movie.
1917 is IMDb’s 99th highest-rated film of all time, with an 8.3/10 rating; and has an 89% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “Hard-hitting, immersive, and an impressive technical achievement, 1917 captures the trench warfare of World War I with raw, startling immediacy.”
THE INVISIBLE MAN | Best horror movie (shared)
Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) stars in The Invisible Man, which is at number 6 on Empire’s list of the best films of 2020, number 8 on BoxOfficeMojo’s roundup of the highest-grossing films of 2019 globally, and was a 2020 People Choice’s nominee for Favourite Movie.
When Cecilia’s abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turns lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see. Inspired by HG Wells’s novel, The Invisible Man is adapted and directed by award-winning horror aficionado Leigh Whannell, who co-created the Saw franchise. The cast includes Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor); Saturn and Black Reel award nominee Aldis Hodge (Underground, Hidden Figures); and BET and Teen Choice nominee Storm Reid (Euphoria, A Wrinkle in Time).
The Invisible Man won Best Adapted Screenplay and Elisabeth Moss was named Best Actress at the Hollywood Critics Association’s 2020 Midseason Awards. The horror also has a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Rolling Stone saying, “Alive with fresh thinking from Whanell and a dynamite Elisabeth Moss, this socially conscious horrorshow tips the old monster mash into way scarier story about toxic masculinity that’s as timely as #MeToo and Harvey Weinstein in handcuffs.”
Click below to read on about the remaining top 9 movies recommended by Showmax.
