What We Loved In 2020
By: Eitan Rovero-Shein
Tags: Stuck In Development, Media And Entertainment, Top 5, Movies, TV Shows

This. This is what we loved.

Over the last few weeks, my co-host Carl Szmutko and I took time to reflect on the media that got us through this tumultuous year. During our last episode of 2020 (Apple, Spotify), we shared top 5 lists covering our favorite TV, film, and media moments of 2020. We also spotlighted the best things we caught up with this year as well as the 2020 work we want to catch up with.

In addition to our in-depth discussion on this episode, we wanted to publish these lists in a format that’s a bit easier to digest. Carl and I have annotated our lists with our quick thoughts.

Follow us on @stuckindevpod on Twitter and let us know what you think!

Top 2020 TV

What We Do in The Shadows, FX

Eitan:

What We Do In The Shadows: “They would call me Nandor the Relentless, because I would never relent.” This show is as relentless as Nandor. Devs: The one thing this year I made sure to watch in complete silence and with all the lights off. A beautiful, visually striking limited series that captures the ever-conflicted soul of the Bay Area. I May Destroy You: Michaela Coel’s follow up to Chewing Gum is a poignant window into how alone someone can feel after a traumatic experience, even when surrounded by people. Schitt’s Creek: Inclusive, heartwarming, and a little bit Alexis. Enough said. Better Call Saul: Like our friend Kevin Sachs said in our Emmys review episode, it feels like they just grabbed the whole team from the last season of Breaking Bad, which was already firing on all cylinders, and told them “go play.”

How To With John Wilson, HBO

Carl

How To With John Wilson: A droll, sensitive look at the New York experience that unintentionally became a portrait of the collapse of the pre-COVID Before Times. Through his obsessive filming and brilliant editing, Wilson reaches a level of intimacy and vulnerability unmatched by anything else I watched this year. Bad Education: This is admittedly category fraud, but this Emmy winner from Cory Finley builds upon the tragicomic sensibilities he first displayed in his debut film Thoroughbreds. Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney are treasures. Devs: The most Alex Garland thing. It’s a pretentious, over-written, and utterly captivating exploration of the soulless reality of modern Silicon Valley. Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury underline this with the score of the year. The Queen’s Gambit: Honestly, it’s the only Netflix show that I got into this year, and it’s further proof that Anya Taylor-Joy is the most exciting actress of her generation.

Honorable mention: NBC’s dreadful 2020 Upfront Presentation was disguised as an ersatz 30 Rock episode. It is barely an episode of television, but by virtue of looking like a real TV episode and not a Zoom recording, I think it’s the most successful of the pandemic reunion experiments.

Top 2020 Films

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (dir. Céline Sciamma), Lilies Films

Eitan:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: This beautiful film was one of the last things I saw in theaters this year. (Note: Yes, I’m aware it was originally released in 2019, but it didn’t make its way to my local theater till 2020. So here we are.) Palm Springs: A fresh, funny, and honestly better take on the Groundhog Day concept, Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti show us how much fun, love, and pain can exist in a single day. This film now holds the record for the most expensive acquisition in Sundance history, selling for $17.5M to Neon and Hulu. Andy Samberg would like you to know this was 69 cents more than the previous record. Never Rarely Sometimes Always: The most memorable and heartbreaking scene I watched this year involves Sidney Flanigan’s character answering a series of questions from a social worker at a Planned Parenthood clinic. The potential answers: “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, or Always.” A must-watch, now available on HBO Max! Bad Education: I’m a known Jackman fan (my partner, Ariela, took me as a gift to watch his touring show “The Man. The Music. The Show.” and I loved it). This is probably my favorite thing he’s ever done. His performance almost made me forget what a psycho his character is. Da 5 Bloods: Not having grown up in the US, I’ve had limited exposure to the Vietnam war and veterans in general, so I’m usually not drawn to these stories. Spike Lee kept me at the edge of my seat for all 154 minutes.

Honorable mention: I’m No Longer Here

The Assistant (dir. Kitty Green), Bleecker Street

Carl

The Assistant: When I saw this visceral film in early March, it left me questioning the value of an industry that enabled monsters like Harvey Weinstein. A week later, as I watched the industry collapse into a shell of itself, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was some kind of reckoning. Julia Garner carries this film, and in my perfect world she would be carrying an Oscar statuette in April 2021. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: A miracle of a film. This should be Sacha Baron Cohen playing the hits, but he finds new depths to the titular character through the crucial addition of Maria Bakalova. There’s a lot of heart to be found here. Promising Young Woman: Writer/director Emerald Fennell and star Carey Mulligan confidently deliver an over-the-top yet pitch-perfect evisceration of “the nice guy.” Lovers Rock: Steve McQueen’s story of escaping through music, dancing and love now unintentionally plays as a vicarious escapist fantasy. Pure joy. On the Rocks: The characters in this film are so strong that they transcend any wealth porn trappings and deliver a fun caper about marital mistrust.

Favorite Media Moments

Beyond the stories on film and TV, we wanted to highlight the stories in the media world that we enjoyed the most during this ridiculous year. Some made us happy, some made us laugh. Some warmed our hearts, and others had their own segment on our weekly podcast.

Bong Joon-ho said it best: “”Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films”. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Eitan

Breaking the language barrier with Parasite’s Best Picture win: This one hits close to home. Seeing diverse, global stories and creators succeeding in the biggest stages fills me with alegría. The evolution of the movie theater experience: From Universal’s deal with AMC to Warner Brother’s day-and-date announcement, this will be the year we look back and say “everything changed.” I love the theatrical experience (though maybe not as much as Carl…), and I’m very curious to see what it evolves into. Tenet and Christopher Nolan’s ego: What a sweet irony that Nolan’s relentless Tenet push into theaters — and its failure to produce the desired results because we were in the middle of a pandemic — might have been what pushed Warner Media executives into deciding to move the whole 2021 slate directly to streaming. Justice League #SnyderCut: The brassiest marketing move of 2020 was trying to make Justice League happen (it’s not going to happen). Will people, mostly dedicated fans, talk about it for 2 weeks? Sure. But if HBO wanted to get more subscribers they would have just launched with support for Amazon Fire and Roku. Having said that, I can’t wait for Stuck in Development’s special coverage of JL:TSC or whatever we end up calling this unwieldy thing. Quibi (and our Quibi Quibis): Only one ongoing moment of the year was earned a weekly segment in our podcast. Quibi is a tale of historic figures, large egos, and an industry looking for any and every way to get paid for content. I can’t wait for the in-depth documentary.

50 States of Fright: The Golden Arm, Quibi

Carl

Quibi: The MoviePass of 2020, this utter of a failure of a launch captivated Eitan and me every step of the way (hence the weekly Quibi Quibis on our show). It’s proof that clout and money truly can convince smart people to follow you anywhere. Rudy Giuliani’s November: Regardless of your political persuasion, it’s impossible to not find schadenfreude in Mayor Giuliani’s disastrous November. From Borat 2 to Four Seasons Total Landscaping to the black hair dye incident, he had a plot arc so farcical that it would make even Armando Iannucci blush. John Boyega speaks out: On our podcast, we’ve discussed Disney’s management of the Star Wars franchise at length in our “Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Trilogy.” In a righteous GQ interview, Boyega discussed his frustrations with the Disney system and voiced a commitment to fighting for real change. I’m so excited to see what he does next. The Snyder Cut: A dumb meme that went so hard it folded back in on itself. In a year of confounding Warner Brothers decisions, investing this much money in a new version of a deeply mediocre film makes me scratch my head the hardest. I cannot wait to see what lipstick Snyder chooses to put on the Justice League pig. The Podcast: The Ride and Blank Check holiday album drops: These podcasts kept me company brought me more joy than almost anything this year. This climaxed when both of them released albums last week. I cannot wait to throw on Blank Check producer Ben Hosley’s chillwave Christmas jams at a 2021 holiday party. I was even more excited to see P:TR host Mike Carlson honor McGruff the Crime Dog’s storied music career with a brand new McGruff EP.

Top First Watches (Non-2020)

Any time is a perfect time to fall in love with a piece of media. We wanted to share all of our favorite things we watched in 2020, regardless of the year they were created. Listen to our December 23rd episode for more discussion around these films and TV shows.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (dir. Joe Talbot), Plan B Entertainment and Longshot Features

Eitan

The Last Black Man in SF (2019): The most beautiful thing I watched in 2020. Watch the opening scene, listen to one of my favorite scores ever, and start falling in love with it. The Florida Project (2017) Gilmore Girls (2000–2007) The Shawshank Redemption (1994) The Sopranos (1999–2007)

Elephant (dir. Gus Van Sant), Meno Film Company

Carl

Elephant (2003): This Columbine roman à clef should be garish and distatestful, but director Gus Van Sant to style this film as an homage to Alan Clarke’s excellent short Troubles film infuses the story with so much life and empathy. It’s a mesmerizing watch. Original Cast Album: Company (1970) JFK (1991) The Conversation (1974) PlayTime (1973)

Looking forward: 2020 catch-up

We can’t watch everything, even if Carl tried with 236 movies (as of this writing). With only a week left in the year, we still have a lot of things we want to watch as we say “good riddance” to 2020.

Nomadland (dir. Chloé Zhao). Searchlight Pictures

Eitan

Nomadland Minari Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Wolfwalkers How To with John Wilson Promising Young Woman The Assistant On The Rocks

Capone (dir. Josh Trank), Vertical Entertainment

Carl (in no order)