When The White Stripes pop up on Random Weekends, I never know what I’m going to get. It could be a hard-rocking amp buster, or something delicate like today’s Song of the Day.
This track was a Jack White solo song that kicked around for several years before finding a home on the band’s celebrated 2003 album Elephant. It’s one of the only White Stripes tracks not to feature both Jack and Meg.
Best Films of 2020
#6 – Judas and the Black Messiah
Director and co-writer Shaka King’s stroke of brilliance was his decision to make a biopic into a gritty 70s-style crime film. His Judas and the Black Messiah is an illuminating exploration of Black Panther Fred Hampton’s short, impactful life, but it’s also a tense, riveting nail-biter.
Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons and Dominique Fishback breathe vibrant life into their real-world characters, making decades-old history as immediate at last summer’s protests.
Best Films of 2020
#7 – Bad Education
The pandemic has certainly blurred the lines between movie-movies and TV-movies — after all, I didn’t see a single one of my top ten films on the big screen. I don’t know if Bad Education was ever intended to reach theaters, or if it was always destined to be on HBO, but this year that hardly matters.
What I do know is this was one of the most satisfying movies of the year, a perfect example of great actors breathing life into a well-told dramatic story. Old-fashioned, satisfying adult dramas like this are rarer and rarer these days.
Best Films of 2020
#8 – Boys State
I fit in a few memorable documentaries this year, including Crip Camp, Dick Johnson is Dead and Time. But the one that really blew me away was Boys State, by directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine.
This film focuses on the annual Boys State summer leadership program in Texas. Boys State and Girls State programs are held all over the country and through the years have graduated future presidents, senators and governors. The program separates attendees into two factions and has them form representative governments, with some students campaigning for elected office.
Best Films of 2020
#9 – Let Them All Talk
Steven Soderbergh’s Let Them All Talk is the unlikeliest film on this list. This largely-improvised, thinly plotted, micro-budgeted movie is the sort of thing Soderbergh throws together on a whim when he sees a short opening on his calendar.
But when you cast Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest, Gemma Chan and Lucas Hedges in that movie, the chances of striking gold increase exponentially.
