Posted January 3, 2021

Without question, the current and on-going COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the movies as a whole, which began months ago with the closing of thousands of cinemas across a larger part of the world in an effort to curb the tide of daily infections (and it was a decision that I supported).  For the past 16 years I've frequented cinemas 2-4 times per week to screen and review films for this site and occasionally cover them on TV, but this year when local cinemas for me closed in March and remained closed for several months that placed myself - and so many other critics and loving cinephiles - in a real pickle of a situation.  It all begged the question of...what now?! 

I seriously contemplated going on review hiatus and/or putting my site on indefinite hold until movies that were supposed to be released would release.  The more I thought about this the more I had to remind myself that there is indeed a larger movie world beyond high marquee studio blockbusters (some of which were released via streaming, and, yes, I would need a whole other blog to talk about the polarizing subject of releasing movies concurrently in cinemas and on demand).  The more I deeply looked the more movies I discovered, a measure that I think that all true movie devotees should attempt.  Then I noticed that many of the YouTube reviewers that I stood by and watched in previous years all but gave up on covering movies this year...and that felt wrong.  Cinemas closed, but movies remained out there to consume.   

So, how does this bring me to my WORST FILMS of the year blog?  Well, I didn't want to give up on the movies this year, which also meant that I didn't want to give up on this annual tradition either.  All in a all - and despite visiting cinemas just twice since last March - I watched just nine less movies in 2020 than I did in 2019 (which I'm proud of under the circumstances) and some of them were indeed great (which will see the light of day in my upcoming BEST FILMS of the year blog), whereas many others were unmitigated stinkers that deserve their wall of shame inclusion on the list below.  And as I also preach every year as I post these blogs, there are movies that need to be championed and celebrated alongside others that, well, don't.   

I begin with 2020's worst offering, followed by nine other candidates...

If you want to see a movie involving Russell Crowe punch, kick, stab, choke, set on fire, and torture women and children for 90 minutes...then by God, this is your movie. 

For all others...be afraid.  Be very afraid. 

UNHINGED was most certainly not the worst made movie from 2020 on a level of production value.  It was competently helmed.  No, my issues with this nauseating film were much different and vast.  In short, UNHINGED was the kind of mad stalker thriller (which were made a dime a dozen in the industry decades ago to the point of eye rolling saturation) that egregiously wanted to have its cake and eat it to.  On one hand, it desired to be a salaciously blood-soaked road rage thriller on a level of thoughtless, B-grade grindhouse fare.  On the other hand, the makers of UNHINGED also wanted their tale to be a platform as a commentary piece.  That rang so falsely offensive to me.  This film might have worked as a pure camp-filled expose of a madman, but it wanted to say something meaningful about toxic masculinity, road rage violence, violence against women, and the ever thinning line between thinking about violence and actually committing it.  And trust me when I say this, but UNHINGED had nothing meaningful to say about any of these issues.  Like another recent WORST FILM of the year winner for me in 2018's DEATH WISH, UNHINGED thought is was attentively dealing with the mental health of wounded men and the nature of mass societal violence caused by these men, but then it just reveled in showing us scene after scene of senseless slaughter to the point of being emotionally numbing.   

How pathetically sad is it that FANTASY ISLAND was one of the few films that I saw in a cinema in the pandemic scarred year that was? 

Wow.  Just...wow.  

Yes, I sat through this Mel Gibson starring hurricane themed thriller.  And yes, it was a thoroughly traumatizing experience for me. 

Hey, anyone remember this Kevin James as a neo-Nazi film from last year? 

I remember Roger Ebert's review of MAD DOG TIME from years ago, which began with describing it as "the first movie I've seen that does not improve on the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time."  I couldn't think of a finer way to sum up the incessantly terrible workplace comedy LIKE A BOSS, which proved that you can take a trio of likeable and talented actresses like Rose Byrne, Tiffany Haddish, and Salma Hayek and give them virtually nothing to work with that's worthy of their abilities. 

The fact that DOLITTE ended with a dragon massively farting into Robert Downey Jr.s wide open mouth and eyes - followed by the IRON MAN star shoving his hands up the same monster's ass and pulling out a set of bagpipes - was very, very telling. 

This absolutely worthless piece of garbage that was masquerading as a joyous piece of family entertainment cost over $200 million to produce, and it most certainly deserved its box office bomb status even well before the pandemic had its way with box office receipts.  The proverbial writing was on the wall for this dud a long time ago, though.  Just consider: It was a remake of a remake of an adaptation of a book.  It was shot years ago and then was followed up by nearly 30 days of reshoots.  It then had its release changed not once, not twice, but three times.  It was then unceremoniously dumped in pre-COVID cinemas back in January, a month that's routinely acknowledged in the industry as one that you release movies in to die. 

Here's a movie that made so many unpardonable mistakes in front of and behind the camera that I grew dizzy just contemplating it when I screened it back in the summer. 

Wow, but was this movie ever a mess in its released form.   Not only that, but it emerged as one of 2020's most awkwardly rushed would-be franchise starters, and one that barely felt like it even deserved future installments in the first place. 

Who among us wanted a sequel (shot four years ago and released this past year) to one of the most iconic cult comedies of the last twenty-five years that was not written or directed by the Coen Brothers, didn't featuring "The Dude" or bowling (for the most part), and instead involved a very small fringe character that's so insufferable that he barely deserved our rooting interest for a 90-plus minute film in the first place? 

Yeah...didn't think so.  

I love giving directors a second chance for redemption.  Hell, I've given M. Night Shyamalan more chances than I have fingers. 

CrAiGeR's MISSED OPPORTUNITIES of 2020