I normally just watch whatever I want up until the Oscar noms come out, recklessly confident that there will be enough crossover for me to (mostly) complete my list before the opening montage. But with this whole 2-weeks-earlier situation, I’m really panicking. I gotta bust out the strategery for the next few weeks if I want to come even close to total takedown for 2020, so I’m surveying the Vegas odds for likely candidates and hoping for the best. Fingers crossed that I didn’t watch The Lighthouse for nothing. Here’s the list I’m currently working from – which is a combo of the betting odds + these IndieWire predictions:

Movies I Want to Watch Immediately:

• Uncut Gems
• 1917
• Queen & Slim
• Dolemite is My Name
• The Farewell
• Jojo Rabbit
• Hustlers
• The Two Popes
• Clemency
• Toy Story 4
• Missing Link

Movies I Will Only Begrudgingly Watch (and why):

• The Irishman – Martin Scorsese, stop trying to tell me that this mini-series is a movie, it’s not. Also, I don’t like you much. 
• Marriage Story – Noah Baumbach is a bad director, fight me. 
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – I’m addicted to you (Quentin Tarantino), but I know that you’re Toxic.
• Richard Jewell – Who keeps letting racist grandpa get behind the camera?
• Bombshell – WHY IS THIS MOVIE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY A MAN?
• Judy – Another tepid biopic (see also Rocketman)… Do I have to?
• Joker – I’m done crying over the plight of sad, white, violent men. 
• Pain & Glory – Wow the plot of this seems so boring. 
• Frozen 2 – I did not see Frozen 1. 

Long Shots I Might See, but Probably Not:

• Rocketman
• Ford vs. Ferrari
• The Report
• Waves
• A Beautiful Day in the the Neighborhood
• The Aeronauts
• Dark Waters

Here’s hoping that at least half of these get snubbed! Although I suspect any and all snubbage will be committed only to films that are actually interesting. At least I can take the next two weeks of ignorance and squeak in a few more genuinely good movies. 2020 is already shaping up to be a real slog.