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2020 has been an unprecedented and difficult year for cinema (as it has everything else), but there were still some great films released, and here are the best movies of 2020, as voted for by Screen Rant's editorial team. The coronavirus pandemic had a mammoth impact on the entertainment industry, leading to productions shutting down, cinemas being forced to close or, at best, open with limited capacity, and a whole swathe of movies delayed, altering the release calendar for the next few years and irrevocably changing how the industry operates.

It's tempting to think of what the best movies of 2020 could've been if all had released, with major blockbusters such as Dune, No Time To Die, and Black Widow all pushed back alongside new releases from beloved directors such as Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson. But while 2020 was a different year, that doesn't necessarily mean it was a completely bad one for movies. Cinematic releases have been few and far between, but there were still some memorable ones both before and after the world turned upside down. The rise of streaming services and VoD further helped ease the pain of fewer new releases in theaters, albeit with some large implications for the future, not all of which will be positive.

As is the case every year, ******'s editorial and writing staff voted on what they thought were the best movies of 2020, with the numbers tallied and, despite some demands for a recount, finalized. It's a slightly strange list that chooses from a smaller, weirder pool of films, but that's befitting of the year itself. Here are the best movies of 2020.

Honorable Mentions

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With different people having different levels of access to theaters and certain streaming services, then it does mean a fairly wide range of movies received votes. Having whittled it down to a top 10, it meant that there were some films that received multiple votes, but didn't quite make the cut, but nonetheless deserve an honorable mention for being films that were watched and enjoyed during 2020 (and especially lockdown), including:

• Enola Holmes
• The Gentlemen
• Mulan

10. Host

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There may be no movie as of its time than Host, the 2020 horror movie that was conceived, shot, edited, and released during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Host, a group of friends meet up for a weekly Zoom call, for which one of them has hired a medium. The seance inevitably goes wrong, and what follows plunges the Zoomers - and audiences - into a horror that, in under an hour, is exciting, terrifying, and so perfectly captures feelings of being in lockdown. Host's use of Zoom is as inventive as it is zeitgeist-y, but it's also genuinely scary in ways that go far beyond its premise, and never lets that concept become simply a gimmick. Instead, Host mixes its new devices with tried and tested horror movie techniques, expertly utilizing elements such as darkness, isolation, and jump scares alongside characters and a story that draw you in. And, as further testament to the genre awareness that crafted it, Host encourages multiple rewatches for the impressive number of hidden horror movie references smuggled in there. Host is a great horror movie for 2020, but it's also just a great horror movie.

9. Mank

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A black-and-white movie about the making of Citizen Kane, focusing on screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, wasn't the most obvious choice for David Fincher's first movie since 2014, but looking below Mank's period trappings it's easy to see why the director has spent so long trying to get the movie made (it was initially supposed to happen in the 1990s, with the late Jack Fincher, David's father, writing the script). While the production does lovingly recreate the Golden Age of Hollywood, right down to the cigarette burns on the film reel, Mank is as cynical as you'd expect from the maker of Fight Club. The director uses Mank to voice frustrations with everything from politics to the studio system squashing auteurial vision; much like Citizen Kane itself, it rings true now as much as it does the time it's set in. It may not be a masterpiece on that level (but then, few films are), but carried by another transformative performance from Gary Oldman in the title role, and a career-best turn from Amanda Seyfried as Mario Davies, Mank is dark, funny, and more than a little tragic.

8. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

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The sequel to 2006's cult comedy that nobody knew they needed or, until just a few weeks before release, was even happening, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm somehow managed to be as surprising, hilarious, and challenging as the first movie, if not quite as groundbreaking. Borat 2 has several big moments designed to court controversy and shock viewers, including an infiltration of Mike Pence's CPAC speech and the infamous sequence of Rudy Giuliani "tucking in his shirt." In doing these things and many more, Borat 2 provides an insightful and open look at America under Donald Trump and America during COVID-19, and how those two things collided. Perhaps most surprising of all, though, is not that Sacha Baron Cohen managed to pull this off again, or the coronavirus twist at the end, but that Borat 2 has a sweet, loving theme of the bond and love between a father and daughter running through it, lending some emotion to the absurd comedy. Is nice.