It’s not often that we like to make declarative statements on behalf of PEDESTRIAN.TV as a whole. Our editorial team consists of a number of different people, each with their own set of opinions, ranging from demonstrably wrong to too arcane to possibly be held by other people. Attempting to gather a unified list of our favourite films from a bunch of people who watch and enjoy different things was not easy (and not just because half the movies that I thought were from this year were actually from last year), but we got there.
Here they are, P.TV’s top ten, absolute best movies of this, the year of our Lord 2020.
10. MANDY (2018)
Director Panos Cosmatos‘ follow-up to 2010’s powerfully psychotropic Beyond the Black Rainbow, Mandy (2018) sees Nicolas Cage as a man who undertakes a quest of bloody revenge after tragedy befalls his quiet and idyllic life in America’s Pacific Northwest.
Mandy (2018) is ambitious in scope, supremely visually interesting, emotionally compelling, and played completely straight. Mandy (2018) is not a movie that feels too embarrassed about taking its somewhat ridiculous subject matter too seriously, it loves being the movie that it is. Which it should, because that movie rules.
9. MANDY (2018)
That’s right, it’s Mandy (2018) again. Let me talk you through this: Nicolas Cage goes insane with grief and forges a giant, insane axe to hunt down S&M bikers from hell and unhinged hippie cultists while doing a series of powerful, arcane psychedelic drugs. Every scene is either a blood-soaked hell or a neon fever dream awash in a haze of 1960s acid-flashback film grain. If it’s not one of those two things, it’s both.
8. MANDY (2018)
Surprise, dickhead: It’s Mandy (2018) again.
I really cannot stress enough how good this movie is. A lot of films want to show you snapshots and depictions of real life. Fuck that, you can look at real life any time you like, by choosing not to watch a movie. While ostensibly set in America in the 80s, every single frame of Mandy (2018) is grounded in a completely different reality to ours. Stylised colours, geometric shapes, altered voices, and a droning soundtrack make for something that is closer to a dream than an action movie.
7. MANDY (2018)
Thought that I’d maybe abandon this and move onto something else? Not a chance, fucker.
I’m not saying that this is a movie that you have to be high to enjoy — because it’s not — BUT if you are high, you really could not pick a better movie. Whenever I find my brain has been ground into a pulp by the drug known as weed, all I want to watch is something that presents an all-encompassing audiovisual experience. Mandy (2018) feels like watching a feature-length music video, ebbing and flowing through different levels of intensity but maintaining a driving beat throughout. While the movie might slow way down at points, it never comes to a halt.
6. MANDY (2018)
A lot of people tend to think of Nic Cage as a bad actor because of, well, some of the acting he’s done, but if you judged him solely by his ability to play someone who is visibly unhinged, the man is a genius. His role as Red Miller in Mandy (2018) is no exception to this. Faced with the loss of the love of his life, Miller becomes a manic whirlwind of violent, tragic energy. Cage screams, laughs, murders, and cries his way through this movie relentlessly. His tortured psyche is visible behind his eyes for the entire film, granted only a moment of reprieve in the film’s conclusion.
There is a scene in the movie that is just a pantsless Nic Cage screaming in a bathroom. If any other actor did it, it would just be funny. With Cage doing it, it’s somehow heart-wrenching (and also quite funny).
5. MANDY (2018)
You guessed it. You could save us both some time by closing this article, getting in your car, and fishtailing off to your nearest retailer to purchase this film on Bluray. (Streaming it in HD would also make me happy, if you’re not a physical media person.)
4. MANDY (2018)
Did you know Nic Cage got this movie because of a dream? Panos Cosmatos was going to cast him in the role of the villain, while Cage was more interested in playing the lead role. Cosmatos was ready to pack in the whole thing when he had a dream about Cage playing Red, which completely changed his mind. How lucky was that!
3. TENET
Just kidding. Number 3 is, of course, Mandy (2018).
2. MANDY (2018)
Did you know that Bill Duke from Predator is in this? Bill Duke was also in Commando, another great Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie. Remember the bit in Commando where Bill Duke’s character drives the Cadillac out of that car dealership? Ah, what a memory.
1. MANDY (2018)
Please, for the love of God: watch Mandy (2018).
