Summer Jam 2020 Week 12: A Cool Week in the Mountains

I can feel Summer winding down already. Winter is coming, people. And guaranteed, we will go from 90 degree days straight to negative twenty. It's the way of the horrible world now. But we still have some sizzling hot jams to get through! We have a few hot new ones this week along with some old favourites. Let's get to it!

Hot Jam of the Week: "Snowchild" by The Weeknd

All these Weeknd songs seem to be following some coherent storyline, or at least have him dressed the same. I haven't really watched them. This is a lot chiller than his earlier bops this summer, and like the next hot jam this week, doesn't seem like much of a summer track. It's also another one of the growing list of 2020 animated music videos - it's nice to see folks innovating during the age of Corona. I like it, it's not quite "Blinding Lights" but it's fine.

Second Hot Jam of the Week: "cardigan" by Taylor Swift

We were all set with The Weeknd, then Tay Sway decided to drop a surprise album. It's okay. This song is more her longfull ballad style, which she's maybe weaker at than her effervescent witty pop artistry. In terms of upbeat summer jams this is lacking, but its mournful tone perhaps suits 2020 better than bippier tracks. There is a lot coming out of this album, and we'll see if she has any late surge or domination. She's capable.

"Supalonely" by BENEE ft. Gus Dapperton

The lyrics to this jam really hit me this week. It's an incredibly dark and depressing song. But it's such a bop! I enjoyed jamming out to it this week but damn, it's such a monument to relationship despair and self-assessment. It's a marvel, and truly a completely 2020 song. It's doing okay chart-wise and I'm far from sick of it so far.

"Rockstar" by DaBaby ft. Roddy Rich

Speaking of longevity - it has been a very long time since we had a week without "Rockstar." Consistency in Summer 2020 is exceedingly rare. I'd be surprised if this manages to have a successful August - there is getting to be quite a bit of competition. I almost left it off this week, but it came on some Google playlists of mine, and I reflected how it was the #1 song in the country for so long, without real widespread recognition. It'll keep trucking.

"Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion

This is another song that has been on and off, and I'm maybe giving it a lot of late credit. Megan Thee Stallion was also shot at this week, which is crazy. It's more of a Summer 2020 soundtrack jam than I've given it credit for and Beyonce certainly elevates any song she's attached to. I like the flow here more than the beat. It's probably a little out of style at this point, but we'll see if it hangs on any more.

"Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles

What do we do with "Watermelon Sugar" at this point? It's maybe making a good case for itself, and doesn't really show any sign of going away, despite me predicting that a few weeks ago. It's really one of the only explicitly summer songs we've had this year, even if Summer 2020 has produced a handful of specific Summer 2020 songs. We'll see how everything eventually shakes out.

"death bed (coffee for your head)" by Powfu

I feel like I've known this song for years. This entered my purview a few weeks ago and it didn't even strike me as a new song. It's an awfully cute song with some Kanye-style vocals-as-beats. But it's so darn sweet. I think it's popular. Anyway, despite it sounding old, it's certainly fresh this week and I'd like to see it surge for a while.

"Wishing Well" by Juice WRLD

Juice WRLD has had a lot of charting songs this summer, particularly with a surging album over the last few weeks. The echoes of addiciton, depression, and refrain of "I can't breathe" resound in 2020. It doesn't even seem to explicitly be in reaction to George Floyd, but that's an inexporable link at this point. The track's been around for a time, but this week I realized that I had both listened to this a ton so far this summer and it's also hella relevant. This is a depressing week.

Next week...

I almost threw Dua Lipa on this again, but she just missed the cut. I'm curious if Taylor hangs on, although no track off folklore is traditional pop. Surely her getting back to some folk roots can be a good thing. And "exile" is tight as hell. There's a path there, but we'll see if Summer 2020 wants stripped down Taylor Swift music. Also her F-bomb on "betty." Yes, I listened to this whole album. Stay tuned, folks!

Summer Jam 2020 Week 11: Vacation from Crap

We are barreling through the chaos now. I don't even know where to begin anymore. Everything is pretty bad all the time. I guess we can just listen to some hot summer jams to get funky fresh but what's the point? What's the point of any of this! Cataloging the Summer 2020 Summer Jam List has unearthed heady bits of existential drama over here. Let's dive in!

Hot Jam of the Week: "For the Night" by Pop Smoke ft. Lil Baby, DaBaby



Pop Smoke dropped an album and got like six songs in the Billboard Hot 100 this week. None are particularly good, maybe "The Woo." Juice WRLD is lighting up Spotify, but they aren't all that great, either. So, I'm sure I'll eat my words when these become big bangers, but I'm also struck by the fact that we're so decentralized that entire albums get charted because people are just streaming and listening to whatever they feel like listening to. It's amazing and democratizing and fantastic. Hell for distilling into a weekly list, but great for pop culture consumption.

"The Bigger Picture" by Lil Baby

This song found its way on a playlist of mine this week and although it's not really charting, streaming, or getting radio play, it also feels very much like a song of our time and I enjoy it quite a bit. It's a good jam, too. We're at such a point where we don't know how to react anymore and the art that emerges from quarantine and racial struggle ought to get some more recognition. The way Lil Baby says "We've had a hell of a year" sums it up. We certainly have.

"Say So" by Doja Cat

We're doing a hardcore "Remember the Summer" edition this week, not in small part because we seemed to hear a little bit of everything over the last few days. In the life of a pop song I think we're beyond the initial freshness, beyond the initial staleness, and then into the "Oh yeah, this jam is a jam" part of jam life. "Say So" is all in that. It's still a very funky song that we enjoy.

"Blinding Lights"by The Weeknd

Surely we are forming some kind of Summer 2020 with some of the jams this week. I still don't really believe Summer 2020 will be known for its music, but these are all emblematic of the Soundtrack to Living in Our Homes. I also generally like all these songs. With a gap of anything really ubiquitous, this is the default. Funky 80s style with some fresh rivets.

"Rain on Me" by Lady GaGa ft. Ariana Grande

I heard this this week and kind of didn't hate it, even longed for it a little bit. It still seems like an underperformance considering the talent invovled but it's maybe not totally terrible. I don't know where Lady GaGa finds herself. I am an obvi stan but she seems inexorably tied to her early 2009 pop success and daring fashion statements rather than the lasting diva she should be. Maybe I'm way off base, especially for a fan. I'm saying I wanted this song to be better rather than a clubthumper that could have been done by any starlet out there.

"ROCKSTAR" by DaBaby ft. Roddy Rich

This is maybe pretty much over, but it still earns a place here. I'm not tooootally sick of it, just getting there. It's still doing well chart-wise and at this point, has done well to cement itself as a strong contender. At least at this point I don't feel like any other song really sums up 2020. At the same time, it feels so small, right? No one is singing "Rockstar" in the streets. We'll see how we keep progressing.

"Break My Heart" by Dua Lipa

After a few weeks off, Dua Lipa is back with a song we heard a ton a while ago but not much since. I dig this track a lot, it might be my favorite Dua Lipa to be honest. She has splintered her jams this summer, though, and I worry that she won't contend for the crown since no one song has been dominant. This apparently still has some life in it, though. Could be something.

"Toosie Slide" by Drake

Drake is just the default of like, the decade. I don't think he's especially great - he's definitely good, but should he dominate the way he does? Not really. Like Dua Lipa, after a few weeks in the shadows, this track came back in a big way this week, and I found myself humming it quite a bit. It's fine. It's a fine song.

Next week...

I'm not sure "Toosie Slide" should be #1. But this is where we're at. I'm curious about the track Kanye dropped as he dropped out of the Presidential race. Perhaps he realized it's actually a hard job that requires geopolitical knowledge? Or not, who cares. Any of those Juice WRLD or Pop Smoke tracks might catch on. But the same as Dua Lipa's multiple hits, when you have five or six contenders, it's hard for any one song to stand out and become THE notable song. Keep truckin!

Summer Jam 2020 Week 10: Mid-July Blues

We are in the thick of it now, folks. It's the true heart of summer. All the May and June getting reacquainted with the sun nonsense is behind us and we're finally past the all the major High Holidays of Cinco de Mayo, the End of School, and the Fourth of Julio. Now it's just pure summer. Beaches and waterparks ahoy! Well, let's pretend a magnificent disease is not currently ravaging the planet.

Hot Jam of the Week: "Hallucinate" by Dua Lipa



We have two hot jams this week. Who cares, it's summer, it's hot out. Also this first one isn't very good. I struggle with Dua Lipa. Sometimes her tracks are straight bangers, others like this just sound very forgettable and replaceable. I do love this big wave of animated music videos folks are having to do in quarantine. Or maybe this was a real artistic choice. It's not totally compelling.

"The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady" by Kid Cudi and Eminem

Our second hotness - I dig the title and that's maybe about it. The track takes too long to drop which turns me off instantly. The beat also just feels all over the place. So is Eminem lately, who after so much great output exploring him finding his identity, seems to be struggling with the kind of rapper he wants to be right now. Cudi is reliably solid, though. I got into it by the middle of his verse. In terms of jam-ness, this is probably not too big of a dent.

"Mamacita" by the Black Eyed Peas ft. Ozuna, J. Real Soul

This is kind of a cool song but damn I've never wanted to punch a series of artists in the face like watching this video. Are they cool? They're not cool, right? Everyone is just trying so hard. I always thought of The Black Eyed Peas as reigning pop royalty just because their 2005-2010 was so solid and ubiquitous, but I suppose that is getting to be like ten years ago. Maybe they suck and everyone hates them? Have folks largely forgotten their jams? I don't know, but I kind of like their cross genre 2020 work that has a different flavor.

"Say So" by Doja Cat

This track crept is way back into my ears this week and I suppose it had never really fallen too far off this list. Doja Cat is certainly having a hell of a summer, even if her latest track isn't that great. This song really found a way to emphasize everything she does well in the best way, though. It's the kind of name-making track that could last a while.

"The Box" by Roddy Rich

I was actually trying to think of "Rockstar" and I came up with this one. Whenever a song enters long-term brain function I'm like, "Okay, this can get that TOP status." "The Box" got there this week. It's still a factor on the charts and whatnot, but we've definitely left in the dust for a while now. It's still an earworm. Dig it.

"Rockstar" by DaBaby ft. Roddy Rich

This is still a presence although it may be cresting for my own ears. It's still very good and that little mandolin complements the heavy bass pretty well. It's fun and a song of our time unlike any other major song that's penetrated the charts much so far this summer. At this point the race is still wide open, enough that a late-breaking July or August track could even come in and do its thing. In all reality, Summer 2020 is not going to be remembered for its music, it'll be remembered for everything else going on.

"Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion

I'm not a huuuuge fan of this track, but I heard it a ton this week and it's never really plummeted off the charts, so, good enough. I like the thick ferocity Megan brings to the rap table but I need a more engaging beat or a better use of her talents for her to crossover like Doja Cat to me (see everything said above). This is okay, I guess.

"Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles

Yep, all the way to #1! What a bizarre series of events. I compiled all the contenders this week and thought, yeah, I actually both heard and talked about "Watermelon Sugar" the most. It is truly bizarre - we are in a thorough age of hip-hop so deep that it's genuinely weird for a British White Boy Crooner to gain the top spot right now. It's just so unlike any other song on this list. Summer 2020 has a weird playlist. But I like this.

Next week...

There are a lot of contenders out there. We ignored The Weeknd, but he's not quite done yet. I also personally listed to so much Ava Max, but I don't think that brief spat of Quarantine Songs are really much of a thing anymore. Stay tuned, you really never know this summer. And GaGa / Ari! I think there's something there still. Stay healthy, loyal readers!

Because I Streamed It: Josie and the Pussycats!

That's right. I want to take a minute on your Independence Day Weekend to talk about one of the greatest films of all time. This is visionary directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont's Josie and the Pussycats (2001). This has been burning a hole in my brain for some time now. Are you ready for critical mega-reevaluation? It's time.

And not one hairball!

There are a few films that never quite reach cult status despite me personally loving them to death. My many attempts at propping up The Lone Ranger (2013) come to mind. Or the glory that is A Very Brady Sequel (1996), which I believe completely uncoincidentally also came from the minds of Kaplan and Elfont. Some movies people just seem to form an opinion on and hate from the get go. I try pretty hard at avoiding that. It of course doesn't always hold true and there are surely plenty of great films out there that I never gave a second chance. But, dear readers, I beg all of you, if you haven't already, give Josie and the Pussycats a chance. It will blow your mind.

So, what's the deal, here? Isn't this a random, one-off teen bopper, flash-in-the-plan, trend-chasing dated thoughtless kids' movie? It is absolutely all of those things, but it's also a canny biting critique of consumerism, teen exploitation, and the music industry.

If you're a little behind, let's catch you up on the origins. The 90s for some reason were full of these updated classics, including cartoons. I dug into this a little bit during that A Very Brady Sequel article, and you should check that out for a huge list I compiled. I feel like all of these were popular during their time. Maybe it's just that I was a kid in the 90s and it was all advertised to me. I think when you get a flurry of ads on Nickelodeon in 1995 you think the films are a little bigger than they were.

Live-action cartoons have been a staple for decades at this point, but the 90s mined Hanna-Barbera hard. Looking back, this is clearly the product of older studio executives both interested in the nostalgia from their own youth as well as an ability to appeal to consumers who were now of the age to have children, thus begetting a win-win. They'd pull in dollars from the adults while indoctrinating their small children into the iconography of the by-gone era. If this all seems cynical, that's because it's also exactly what Josie and the Pussycats is all about.

I never read the Archie comics that featured the eponymous band, nor do I really know anything about them. In fact, when the film descends to Riverdale, my first thought was that it was ironic they used the name from Archie. No, that's just the actual town name, man. On the surface this is all the movie is - a shallow cash grab nostalgia trip for baby boomers under a veneer appealing to millennials. But it's so much more!

First, Josie is exceedingly meta in an age well before reflecting on tropes was popular. It all comments on the pointlessness of decisions behind these kinds of movies. At one point one character asks another, "Why are you here?" and she responds, "Because I was in the comic book." She literally doesn't have a function in this movie but is just there hanging around as explicit fan service.

This film is also known for its product placement. It's insanely excessive, the point of distraction. Looking at it with fresh eyes, it's clear that the McDonald's shower curtains, Ray-Ban windshields, and characters lovingly petting the Target dog is satirical commentary on the ubiquity of advertisements in our daily lives, and film promotion in general. They actually say this explicitly in the film as an auxiliary revenue source but it's also known that the filmmakers didn't actually seek permission or get paid for any of the product placement. This is in sharp contrast to a Transformers movie that feels similar but contains none of the self-awareness.

This ties into the main thesis of the film, which centers on a nefarious music record producer infusing subliminal messages into pop albums to decide trends and encourage teenagers to buy things. It ends up being a pithy commentary on the never-ending cycle of capitalism. Characters judge their worth through materials, trends, popularity, and fandom, not any articulate measure of self-worth. This is ultimately unwrought by the film's end, at least for the main characters, although they remain naive towards the shady government agency funding all this mind control.

While it remains an extremely underrated satire, it is also a perfect capsule of 2001 pop culture. We didn't really realize it at the moment, but there was this sincere feeling of pre-9/11 excess and invulnerability. This oral history sums it up well. We were well past grunge and the capitalism of the decade led the music of late 90s / early 2000s to commoditize that punk feeling. Instead of crafting art from authentic pain that spawned dangerous acts like NWA and Nirvana in the early part of the decade, companies cranked out manufactured acts and corporate songs. There was such a fearlessness to all this - people felt very comfortable consuming and pretending to rebel rather than actually articulate a struggle.

Josie expertly demonstrates this industry attempt to wrangle and corporatize popular trends, which also sums up a lot of why 2000s music was terrible. As the oral history notes, this is one reason why current rock and pop artists all feel the same and if their music is good, it's also very non-threatening. Hip-hop is where punk lives in modern times and where the artists are still genuinely fighting authority

Now, this is a side observation, but I have been on a small streak of watching music biopics, which this actually is, even though it's completely fictional. I made the mistake (maybe?) of watching Rocketman (2019) and Walk Hard (2007) back to back. It's just amazing the number of tropes Walk Hard nailed and become very hard to avoid in just about every musical ever. Rocketman wasn't as egregious as Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), but Josie nailed the parody before there was even a glut of biopics to parody.

It brushes by every biopic beat as tropish to the point of admitting the nefarious mind-controlling company manufactured Behind the Music shows to further corporate agendas. It hits the beats but admits artists live a life guided by managers (again...mind-control) in pursuit of the highest popular dollar. None of the biopic melodrama really sticks - sure the group breaks up, but that's because Josie is listening to subliminal messages telling her to go along with what happens to every rock group. The conflict isn't lasting. The film knows it can mine real drama and stakes from the characters and their central conflict with...well, contemporary pop culture I suppose. There is a meta nature here that is so far ahead of anything else that was happening at the time.

This is probably a good reason why the film was so overlooked. Its shiny product placement veneer turned off serious movie-goers, and its basic conceit that all modern pop culture is manufactured mind control turned off its primary demographic. It could quite pull off making fun of the very people who were watching the movie, but looking back now it's easy to laugh at the chaos. It's still earned its cult status, though, and there are true fans like me out there. Probably.

So what do you think? Have I convinced you to give this film another look? It certainly deserves one. It's both indelibly of its time and so far beyond it. I could watch this every day. In addition to all of the above it's consistently funny, has an undercurrent girl power message, and contains some genuine bops. You're in quarantine, just go watch it!

Summer Jam 2020 Week 9: NATION GO BOOM!

What a Fourth of July weekend! Over eighty years ago our founding fathers brought forth this nation devised from the concept that liberty should be extended to all land-owning white males, and boy do we show it today. This is an instrumental part of the Road to Becoming a Summer Jam Champion. No song has ever won without carrying this weekend. That's not actually true at all, but now that we're hyped, let's dive in:

Hot Jam of the Week: "Wash Us In the Blood" by Kanye West ft. Travis Scott

Hahahaha, alright. We had to honor President Kanye this week. I mean, Kanye is fine, I really don't get up in his mental health issues, which he can usually be pretty coherent about through his music. He's also clearly a music and lyrical genius, even if his greatest flaw is probably that he knows it. This song isn't very good, but I like that it's more Yeezus than Ye. He's always just been a fearless contrarian who takes really radical positions all the time. Folks tend to forget that his entire first album's thesis was how great it was to drop out of college and how all degrees are useless. He's really not all that different in 2020. Anyway, I could talk about this forever - I think his Presidential Campaign is a publicity stunt, since he's not actually registered anywhere, or maybe he just sort of thinks he can do it? It just makes me think of declaring bankruptcy. Like, no, there are a few other steps in there.

"The Woo" by Pop Smoke ft 50 Cent and Roddy Rich

Pop Smoke had a big album this week with Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon and most of the songs aren't that good, including this one, but when 50 comes on maaaan I went back to like 2004. He's got some bars left in him yet. It also got a music video and I dunno, probably should have been our hot jam. What?! Kanye beats out 50?! What is this, 2007?

"Intentions" by Bieber ft. Quavo

This is not a huge song right now but has definitely found its way into a lot of ears this summer. On and off this list for sure and I actually dig the wordplay quite a bit here. It's not totally contemporary Bieber beat-wise, which probably makes it a bit more palatable. It's kind of a fun sleak sexy track that I admit I enjoy more than it deserves. It could be gone next week or hang around. That kind of summer song. We've seen our share by this point!

"Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyonce

This track has been on the periphery for some time now, kind of always just on the outside looking in. I don't think it's really a top tier track, but it had some pretty strong performances this week by every metric we look at. It just really doesn't feel like the #2 song in the country, right? It's very stripped down and Megan is fierce af while Beyonce's vocal gymnastics are typically out of this world. I suppose it's all in service to itself, which makes good art, but it hasn't quite hooked my brain this summer.

"Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd

I was kind of done with this to be honest, but it's had a strong presence on radio, Billboard, and Spotify. Yeah, that's pretty much everything. The Weeknd had a good early lead but I'm not sure this track IS Summer 2020. That's also because Summer 2020 is generally devoid of any fun or good news at all. It's weird. Can we all admit this a funked summer? The song is still good.

"Rockstar" by DaBaby ft. Roddy Rich

This song is still crushing everything, but we knocked it back down to earth a bit this week. I still thin the remix is a little stronger than the original and captures so much current anger. I'm realizing more and more how good this song actually is. I'm not sure it will find its way on wedding playlists, but it's fun.

"Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles

Yeah, this was up there this week. I don't think it's actually all that popular, but it's so summery. I also ate a pretty strong quantity of watermelon this week and kept thinking about this track. This track keeps coming back this summer and maybe it's not as done as I think it is. It's actually starting to crush spotify. That's all good, it definitely grows on me.

"Supalonely" by BENEE ft. Gus Dapperton

Yeah, this track actually stuck out the most to me this week. It's kind of a weird pick but I feel like it was in the car every time I hopped in it and it just earwormed its way into my brain all week. The whole point of this list is truly capturing a week by week zeitgeist of pop music, and this was "Supalonely"'s week for sure. Wasn't even close. There you go! America! It's also a hella bop.

Next week...

We had some weird picks this week along with what has become some of our staples. We left out Doja Cat and Dua Lipa, who might still make a comeback. We'll see. Summer is going by very fast. On one hand I can't wait to get out of this terrible summer, but also...it's SUMMER! We love this season! It's just too hot. Damn hot. Damn this hot! Come back next week!

Sweet Crap, It's Only Halfway

We're at the moment, folks. Day 183. The half-way point of the year. How is 2020 halfway over? It feels like we've lived a thousand lifetimes. One weird and inconvenient thing we do around here is keep track of each and every movie we watch. That's right. We have pushed this pretty far over the last few years. Now is the time to examine where we are at the halfway mark, talk about the best and worst that we've seen and dive into some superlatives. Let's get to it!

Total Movies Watched: 89
New Movies Watched: 50 (56%)

By Platform:

Streaming Total: 63 (71%)
DVD Total: 21 (24%)
TV Total: 3 (3.3%)
Theater Total: 2 (2.2%)

I have only watched TWO movies in theaters? Well, we are in a global pandemic. What's more depressing is that those two movies were Rise of Skywalker (2019) and a drive-in viewing of Bloodshot (2020).

I'm always eager to breakdown my streamed movies and see how my tastes in services are changing. I caught 22 on Hulu, although half of those come from splurging on the HBO add-on (does that count as HBO Max now? No one seems to know.). 27 are Netflix, so that's still a good lead, especially if I didn't have the HBO supplement. That leaves quite a few left, the biggest chunk of which is eight from Disney+. The rest are digital downloads and random YouTube and Amazon Prime one-offs.

Of the DVDs I of course have the Netflix Mail model, which supplied 15 out of the 21 movies I watched with the good ol' DVD player. That means Netflix, either streaming or DVD accounts for just under half of the flicks I checked out so far, or 47%.

By Year:

I've only seen six films that came out in 2020. Oof, but c'mon, 2020. Let's go by decade:

2020s: 6 (6.7%)
2010s: 49 (55%)
2000s: 16 (18%)
1990s: 11 (12.3%)
1980s: 4 (4.5%)
1970s: 2 (2.2%)
1960s: 1 (1.1%)

So, that's rough, obviously. My old movies have sincerely fallen by the wayside. I usually get one great '30s or '40s film in there. It's good to see the disaster where I'm at and know to buckle down in the second half. The 2010s are dominating more than I thought they might with the biggest single year understandably being 2019 at 21 films. Notable years I'm missing right now are '98, '02, '08, and '13. We're beyond complaining about the 90s at this point.

Prior Years:

I knew this was going to be a down year, but here's where we are when comparing to other midpoints. Note that in 2015 I did not keep track of first-time viewings.

2019: 112 total / 72 new (65%)
2018: 127 total / 83 new (65%)
2017: 112 total / 58 new (52%)
2016: 114 total / 62 new (54%)
2015: 92 total

We are below 2015 levels, which is certainly rough, but this has also admittedly not been a priority this year. We'll see if we can reach that fabled 200 mark, but I may be hesitant to set sights that high at this point. Our percentage of new films seen is also down, although marginally higher than 2017 and 2016.

Best Films Seen So Far:

This includes all first-time viewings, regardless of which year they came out. I actually struggled with this list. I had eight no-brainers and then had to pull to get to ten. It's rough. I've seen...I've seen an inordinate amount of bad movies this year. Anyway,

#1: The Lighthouse (2019)
#2: Da 5 Bloods (2020)
#3: Portait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
#4: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
#5: Mandy (2018)
#6: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
#7: Ford v Ferrari (2019)
#8: The Platform (2020)
#9: The Howling (1981)
#10: The Frighteners (1996)

The Top Seven or so I think will be very strong contenders on our end-of-year list, as I really loved all those movies. We'll see what, if any, 2020 film can come out to challenge, but otherwise Da 5 Bloods is far and away the best film of 2020 so far. Godzilla vs. Kong (2020) coming out hopefully though.

Worst Films Seen So Far

I feel like there's so many. Again, first time viewings:

#5: Frozen II (2019)
#4: Undercover Brother 2 (2019)
#3: Killing Gunther (2017)
#2: Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
#1: American Ultra (2015)

I'd love to get into this more. Bottom Three were very hard to pick. Killing Gunther was saved by Schwarzenegger, though. IX is mostly trolling here, but I'm pretty serious about how much of a colossal letdown that was. But really, American Ultra was the most boring movie ever made with no idea what kind of tone it was going for. I couldn't maintain interest at all.

That's the halfway point, people! How many more movies will we get up to! Stay tuned here to keep tracking: http://www.norwegianmorningwood.com/p/movies-and-tv-in-2020.html