Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
The Worst Movies of 2020
By Lucas Allen
It’s easy to see 2020 as a terrible year and there’s no doubt that the pandemic had a devastating effect on the film industry. Countless delays and theatrical premieres relegated to streaming and this sudden change is still felt through the new year. Let’s see which of these titles that did get released in 2020, but feel watching them is as bad as the past 12 months have been.
5. Waiting for the Barbarians
Despite some good acting from Mark Rylance and Johnny Depp, this bland adaptation of a well-known book could not muster any excitement when needed. The book’s author J.M. Coetzee wrote the script, but didn’t bother with condensing his story nor add any action scenes to keep the pace from running slow. It’s a perfect example of a failed attempt as Oscar bait when there’s nothing to remember what was good about it other than some fine performances.
4. Monster Hunter
If “Sonic the Hedgehog” set the bar for video game movies higher, then this film sets the bar back to the very low. Director Paul W.S. Anderson put himself on auto-pilot not making any common decisions on character development and proper story structure, but just show everything at a quick and speedy pace. Worse, the fight scenes were shot and edited poorly like you’re watching action figures pounding at each other. It still has the saving grace of Ron Perlman and a giant feline chef since it was based on a JRPG, but everything else makes it look like overly-slick and over-produced garbage.
3. The New Mutants
Delayed for three years, this superhero horror mash-up proved to be the final nail in the coffin of the once successful Fox/Marvel X-Men series. It’s not too scary and the dark atmosphere is replaced with loud noises and cartoonish CGI. Not to mention, none of the main characters are likable enough for us to care about, especially Anya-Taylor Joy delivering a career-worst performance the same year she gave her career-best in Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit.” The good news is that it’ll be a while before the lovable mutants will return to the screen thanks to the good folks at Marvel Studios.
2. Dolittle
No one would’ve predicted that this unfunny mess of a big-budget kids film starring Robert Downey Jr. would be the one to kick off such an unpleasant and awful year. Beyond the questionable Downey casting, the voice acting feels mis-matched, the CGI looked like primitive video game graphics, and the overall storytelling felt rushed and incomplete. But don’t forget the unnecessary modern humor especially the infamous scene of a fire-breathing dragon having an emergency operation to clear the one area of the body not worth mentioning. Lesson learned, never let the Oscar-winning writer of Traffic direct your family film.
1. The War with Grandpa
The other four films are just as bad, but this one gets the top spot because of the baffling number of talented and great actors losing part of their dignity to be in this atrocious comedy. This goes especially for Robert De Niro after the one-two punch of the previous year’s Joker and The Irishman in a movie that’s considerably worse than Dirty Grandpa. Worse, because the whole plot could’ve been solved quicker, the kid characters are annoying, and every family comedy cliché keeps piling on in each successive scene. After this movie, none of the actors should be in a kid’s movie like this ever again. Now that 2020 has finally ended, 2021 will surely pick up the pieces on the road back to normalcy. As for what’s coming to the big screen, expect more blockbuster titles on the way this year than the previous.
