15. Bill & Ted Face the Music
The delightfully goofy duo of Bill and Ted returned at just the right moment to save the world, or at least our sanity, with a dash of good vibes. The plot of the long-promised and finally delivered third Bill & Ted installment, Bill & Ted Face the Music, is not the most excellent of sci-fi/fantasy adventures, but leads Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are still such an agreeable pair that I could watch them for hours in whatever time-travel or other-worldly scenario they find themselves in. Throw in Anthony Corrigan as a gut-busting, scene-stealing supposed-Terminator robot named Dennis Caleb McCoy and you’ve got an all-around great distraction for this year especially. Available On Demand.
14. Mulan
There’s no improving on the visuals of Disney’s animated Mulan, but this live-action reimagining of the 1998 feature is a surprisingly decent version of the Chinese folk tale “The Ballad of Mulan” with some breathtaking imagery to call its own. Mostly, this Mulan is memorable for its adaptation into a well-choreographed martial arts action movie (one of the best of the year for that genre, too). The best surprise of the redo, though, is where the movie enters greater fantasy territory than the simple fairytale of the animated film: Gong Li plays a witch who starts out as a villainous highlight, sharing one of the most spectacular fight scenes with Liu Yifei in the title role, before being revealed to be a much more complex character with the most interesting narrative arc. Why not give her a Maleficent-style spinoff origin film, Disney? Available on Disney+.
13. Tenet
Christopher Nolan‘s latest will go down as the most talked-about movie, science fiction or otherwise, of 2020, for its release and its business as having been too committed to a theatrical run at a time when most of us weren’t ready to go back to the cinema. Then there’s been criticism about its poor sound mix. Take Tenet out of its controversial contexts, and it’s still definitely one of the filmmaker’s lesser efforts, a confusingly plotted espionage thriller with an unremarkable lead performance from John David Washington. But for its sci-fi elements, I had a blast with its ambitious time-travel ideas and “inversion” special effects and action sequences. Still, the most incredible bit in the movie involves Elizabeth Debicki‘s legs believably operating a car’s front-located safety locks from the back seat. The actress is a marvel of scientific fact. Available On Demand.
12. Save Yourselves!
One of the funniest movies of the year, Save Yourselves! takes an easy premise — a couple of device-addicted millennials from Brooklyn go off the grid in an upstate cabin at the exact time as an alien invasion occurs so they have no idea — and capitalizes on the romantic and comedic chemistry between Sunita Mani and John Reynolds to keep it from ever falling flat. Reynolds, in particular, shines here more than he ever has on the underrated series Search Party (which is sort of like a cousin of this movie), but Save Yourselves! also has the most hilarious alien creatures we’ve seen in cinema in a long time. Available on Hulu.
11. The Old Guard
With respect also to Project Power, which nearly made this list, Netflix was out in full force with unique superhero movies (and potential franchise launchers) this year, and while they’re praised primarily as good action movies, they also stand out for their fantastical side. Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Old Guard, based on the comic book of the same name, follows a group of near-immortal humans who secretly conduct humanitarian missions around the world but now are targeted by a villainous pharmaceutical exec who wishes to use them to research a cure for aging. It’s another showcase for Oscar-winning actress and action star Charlize Theron, but KiKi Layne, as a newcomer to the “Old Guard,” stands out as a rising talent in the same spheres of dramatic performance and kicking ass. Available on Netflix.
Related Topics: 2020 Rewind, Science Fiction
