A while back I decided I’d try and keep track of the films I watched during any given year – just to be able to see where the time has gone and whether I’ve put any good stuff between my ears or not. I noticed this year a definite tendency for repeat viewings. I think that’s because I don’t trust the filmmakers of today to tell interesting stories without unnecessary sex, violence, swearing – and I did end up watching a film or two with some of those things. And there are three months where I didn’t seem to watch any films at all but they were summer months and the fact that I watched some films in July tells you something about the weather in Sweden then.

Best thriller

Den skyldige (The Guilty) is a claustrophobic, taut, tense Danish drama. All the action is set in one room yet by the end it’s absolutely edge of your seat stuff.

Best film based on a true story

I watched a lot in this category: The Post; Frost/Nixon; Unbroken: Path to Redemption; First man; Bohemian Rhapsody; Green Book; The Red Sea Diving Resort; The Theory of Everything but my favourite was this gentle and affectionate portrait of two of my favourite cinema characters – Stan & Ollie or better known as Laurel & Hardy. I thought the two lead performances were outstanding.

Best family film

This is tough. We love Paddington, and Harry Potter but they had stiff competition. We enjoyed Swallows & Amazons and I thought the two most recent Pixar films were superb, both Onward & Soul had all the right elements and the music in Soul was wonderful. Shazam & Horrible Histories both had us all laughing a lot. But I think the film that stood out the most was Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Endlessly inventive, creative, dynamic and fun.

Best documentary

I should have watched more of these. I have a lot waiting that I just never seemed to get to but The Work is so powerful. What an emotional wrecking ball, especially if you’re a guy. Fathers, you must watch this.

Worst film

Life off the Grid was, in the end, a very boring documentary and there are a few other forgettable movies in here too, but it turns out I thought The Cannonball Run was the worst film I watched this past year. It has not aged well. It is slow-paced, with not enough action, humour (or at least humour that is still funny) to justify its place in my head as a classic. It is also sexist, and a bit racist in it’s stereotyping. So sorry, Burt & Roger Moore. thumbs down from me.

Favourite film

This is a tough one because any of the films I’ve listed so far could all qualify. They’re all excellent films and I wouldn’t be surprised to watch several of them in 2021. And I watched a few favourites from years past. My runner up is probably 1917 which is an excellent film but I think my favourite is a film that continues to linger and provoke me as a parent and a father and that’s a film rewatched in 2020: Captain Fantastic. It certainly doesn’t present Christianity as anything admirable or praiseworthy and there are values portrayed here that I can’t subscribe to. But, but, but there’s a vision of something here in family life that makes you wonder and dream and that in itself is not such a bad thing.

Here’s the full list.