Somehow, we’re already halfway through the 2020s. The world’s on fire, A.I. is replacing critics, people would rather watch a TikTok of someone reacting to a trailer than read a paragraph… and yet, great films keep slipping through the cracks.

While big franchise I.P. garbage continues to dominate the cultural conversation, there’s been a steady stream of bold, bizarre, and beautiful movies that barely made a blip. Here are some that I can’t stop recommending (and yelling into the void about):

• The Beast – my favorite film of last year. Sci-fi time-hopping French existential epic.

• Dinner in America – foul-mouthed punk-rock rom-com with a secret soft center.

• Shithouse – Cooper Raiff’s painfully sincere debut. Feels like Before Sunset if it lived in a dorm.

• The Coffee Table – starts weird, ends deeply upsetting. You’ve been warned.

• Sanctuary – dom/sub hotel room mind games. Qualley and Abbott are unhinged perfection.

• Emergency – part Superbad, part full-blown racial panic spiral.

• Strange Darling – go in blind. Seriously. Don’t look up a thing.

• On the Count of Three – dark, sad, funny as hell. Jerrod Carmichael crushed this.

• The Alpinist – free solo climbing doc about a guy who didn’t want the spotlight — and absolutely deserved it.

• Red Rocket – sleazy charm turned tragic ambition. One of Baker’s best.

• The Innocents – psychic kids, moral ambiguity, and unnerving silence.

• How to Have Sex – feels like the most honest coming-of-age film about consent ever made.

I’ve got a longer list with 25 full blurbs, but I’ll drop that in the comments for anyone interested.

In the meantime —
What are the best 2020s movies you love that no one’s talking about?