Tugg's Top 20 Movies of The First Half of 2020s (2020-2024)
 

Have not seen yet:
Nosferatu
A Complete Unknown

Honorable mentions:
Scream 5 (2022)
Ambulance (2022)

20. Prey (2022) (Horror)
Naru (by Amber Midthunder) capable tracker and a wannabe huntress, in a beautiful nature encounters something alien and dangerous, a predator.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/pr...fV1M4nAK4-_5EK

19. Talk to Me (2022-2023) (Horror)
Very good horror flick, but the final 15 minutes makes it great. Sophie Wilde did a good performance as main character Mia. The ending blew me away.
https://filmparadiset.se/wp-content/...e-Featured.jpg

18. Abigail (2024) (Horror)
I like the chemistry among kidnappers and some of their humorous reactions to their predicament.
https://subversiverabbit.com/wp-cont...ie-Scene-3.jpg

17. Promising Young Woman (2020) (Thriller)
Promising Young Woman is ironic title:- she is no longer that young and she has long forgotten about career ambitions (not that it's a bad thing). Compulsion she indulges herself in is dangerous and kinda psychotic. I wouldn't say I'm 100% behind her, but what matters is entertainment contained in her deranged exploits. If one plays with fire, one shouldn't be surprised if they get burnt.
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/202...00&c=85&f=jpeg

16. Palm Springs (2020) (Sci-Fi)
Movie about time loop, hedonism, meaninglessness and romance. It's just light entertainment.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c...e84065~mv2.jpg

15. The Killer (2023) (Thriller)
The Killer has his own philosophy and he tells us and himself how he sees it. But things are not exactly going by his plan.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/static/...ne-750x563.jpg

14. Barbie (2023) (Fantasy)
The movie is creative and entertaining. It's ridiculously hilarious when Barbie and Ken go to real world. Ken's learned patriarchy and his Mojo Dojo Casa house were cool ideas. I liked songs in Barbie such as Dua Lipa's Dance The Night, Ryan Gosling's I'm Just Ken, Billie Eilish'es What Was I Made For?. There's some preaching, but I can overlook that.
https://williammcginn.com/wp-content...om.webp?w=1024

13. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (2023) (Action)
The stakes have never been higher. The mission, should they choose to accept it, has never been less possible. There's more heart than ever. Will the Impossible Mission Force succeed as all governments of the world and clandestine organizations ruthlessly seek to acquire and use Artificial Intelligence Entity. That last hour on train is peak Mission Impossible- beautiful Alps, crazy intrigue and action.
https://imusic.b-cdn.net/images/item...d&v=1699051276

12. Bullet Train (2022) (Action)
It takes 30 minutes before plot pieces start falling into place. From then on the movie becomes very entertaining. Lots of curve balls happen and it's never clear if what just happened is good or bad for any sides. There's lots of interesting characters with their agendas. But Ladybug (by Brad Pitt) is the anchor character around whome the movie is centered. I enjoyed unpredictable nature of the plot and not too serious vibe of the movie.
https://joethemnmovieman.com/wp-cont...1645780860.jpg

11. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) (Action)
Training for the mission was fun, but the mission itself was on another level of entertainment.
https://flaszonfilm.com/wp-content/u...hut.jpg?w=1024

10. Land of Bad (2024) (War)
Yes, there's war, yes there's good action, but the best thing about the movie is suspense and twists and turns of the mission.
https://lk-aps.bmscdn.com/events/mob...4-11-27-12.jpg

9. Eileen (2023) (Thriller)
Eileen (by Thomasin McKenzie) meets Rebecca (by Anne Hathaway) and they click from first sight. Other relationship is between Eileen and her alcoholic father Jim (by Shea Whigham). Exquisite shots, including Eileen's frequent fantasies about her desires and urges, sharp screenplay and immersive music make it one of my favorite movies of 2020's.
https://i0.wp.com/vaguevisages.com/w...90%2C593&ssl=1

8. Dune: Part 2 (2024) (Sci-Fi)
Dune is either blasphemy or a movie about a fake prophet, kind of like Muhammad is or fusion of Brian from Life of Brian and Muhammad from Quran. Though my favorite character is played by Rebecca Ferguson, but all cast do their parts well. Great epic story, beautiful visuals, inspiring score, minimalist, but extremely on point screenplay, the movie deserves to be classic.
https://reason.com/wp-content/upload...une-Part-2.jpg

7. Hit Man (2023-2024) (Comedy)
Gary (by Glen Powell) is a Philosophy and Psychology Professor whose lectures at University of New Orleans make a great commentary on his own adventures as presumed hit man. It gets objectively dark, but the tone remains light throughout. not without help by smart screenplay. The movie indulges female fantasy to date a killer, lol.
https://www.pilar.id/wp-content/uplo...7-768x512.webp

Re: Tugg's Top 20 Movies of The First Half of 2020s (2020-2024)
 

Boooooooooooooooo, this is harsh.

6. The Way Back (2020) (Drama)
Jack (by Ben Affleck) is an alcoholic who is offered to coach Christian school basketball team. Basketball side of this flick is engaging, but his relation with alcohol is more compelling to me personally. It captures the behavior and condition of alcohol consumption well at least in instances where he functions reasonably. I can't relate to drinking until you can't walk on your own though. Drama encapsulates basketball, alcohol and personal trauma. Also, I liked the piano score, which was very calming.
https://8flix.com/wp-content/uploads...60x540-moz.jpg

Re: Tugg's Top 20 Movies of The First Half of 2020s (2020-2024)
 

Your top 5 is the same as my top 6 then, but just without Palm Springs.
Cool.

Whitney Houston: A Concert for a New South Africa (documentary) 2024 USA
Fire of Love (documentary) 2022 France
Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio 2022 USA
Aftersun 2020 UK
The Zone of Interest 2023 UK

5. The Last Duel (2021) (Drama)
The central theme of The Last Duel is rape. The movie takes place during late middle ages and consists of three chapters of truths according to Jean de Carrouges (by Matt Damon), Jacques Le Gris (by Adam Driver) and Marguerite de Carrouges (by Jodie Comer). All three actors do exellent job in their roles. It takes time to get going. Basically first chapter is a bit dragging, but when second chapter starts and discrepancies between views manifest thus giving new meaning to the first chapter at the same time, the movie draws viewers in. At the end we get the titular duel.

It is one of the best movies by director Ridley Scott.

All three views were slightly different, but at the same time plausible with slightly different emphasis. The structure of the movie and great screenplay allows us to see not just what happened, but more interestingly how each main character sees the world individually and how they see themselves as being righteous and having injustice bestowed upon them.
https://www.framerated.co.uk/frwpcon...1-978x652.jpeg

4. Sissy (2022) (Horror)
Cecilia (by Aisha Dee) has social media channel Sincerely Cecilia where she chants self affirmations to her audience. She uses the same self affirmations when dealing with adversity in her own life. She struggles to keep her sanity as she haphazardly is killing one party attendee after another. It's almost like deaths happen around her, rather than being perpetrated by her. At some point killing is a humane thing to do. I like that grey area of events.
https://itsastampede.com/wp-content/...vie-review.jpg