The 50 Best Movies of 2020

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – January 6, 2021

Here is Metacritic's final list of the 50 best-reviewed movies of 2020, ranked by Metascore. This list only includes films receiving at least 7 reviews from professional critics.

All films released between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 in at least one U.S. theater or directly to streaming or VOD/digital services were eligible for inclusion. Titles are ranked by Metascore (a weighted average of scores from top professional critics) prior to rounding based on scores as of January 3, 2021.

14 of 25 photo by A24

89 First Cow

(#10) Perhaps the best film yet from acclaimed director Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff), First Cow returns the indie filmmaker to the Oregon frontier with a loose adaptation of regular collaborator Jonathan Raymond's novel The Half-Life. Set in 1820, this modest, affecting drama follows a cook (John Magaro) and a Chinese immigrant (Orion Lee) who start a successful business thanks to the clandestine milking of a prized cow. Reichardt’s first film since 2016’s Certain Women saw its March theatrical rollout halted prematurely during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, but you can find it now at digital outlets.

Watch it at Showtime or rent or buy from Amazon

“First Cow is a masterwork of indie cinema—a tale that’s both charming and unsparing, suffused with equal measures of wonder and dread.” —David Sims, The Atlantic

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