25 Best Movies of 2020 (So Far) That You Can Watch Now (2025)

The evils of the gig economy are put under the microscope in brutal and long-overdue fashion in this compelling social drama, which centers on a British family struggling to make ends meet. After years of financial struggle since the 2008 crash, Ricky (Kris Hitchen) finally sees a chance to break out of his cycle of debt by becoming a self-employed delivery driver, but ends up trapped in a different and equally toxic situation.

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A group of soldiers, who call themselves the Bloods, discover gold while in Vietnam. They decide to bury it and come back for it later, however, unexpected events lead to them not only losing it, but also their beloved squad leader. They return to the country years later in search for the remains of their friend and the gold. The action-packed movie touches on history, racism, greed, and brotherhood in a way only director Spike Lee could articulate.

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There’s no shortage of great big-screen Jane Austen adaptations, but Autumn de Wilde’s vivid reimagining of Emma plays by a different set of rules than most. The movie has big shoes to fill – after all, Emma already got a near-perfect and radical reinvention in 1995’s Clueless – and it succeeds, creating a sharply drawn and romantically engaging story that works both as a modern-minded satire and a timeless love story.

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Earning a nearly perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, Miss Juneteenth follows Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie) and her daughter Kai (Alexis Chikaeze), on their journey to helping Kai be crowned Miss Juneteenth, a pageant title her mother had earned at her age. Throughout the film, the mother and daughter face a lot of ups and downs, but they do so together.

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Not one performance is lacking in this heartwarming film. The late Brian Dennehy plays Del, a Korean War veteran whose recluse next door neighbor has recently died. When her sister Kathy (Hong Chau) and nephew Cody (Lucas Jaye) come to clean out her home, Del befriends them both, and all three start to reexamine their lives.

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This much-anticipated documentary debuted at Sundance this year, and focuses on the hip hop mogul Russell Simmons – specifically the multitude of sexual assault and harassment allegations against him, which were first reported by The New York Times. Centering on harrowing first-person testimony from music executive Drew Dixon, and featuring many of Simmons' other accusers, the doc explores the too-often-neglected impact that coming forward has on victims, and the unique challenges faced by women of color who choose to speak out.

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A fascinating and harrowing true crime story, Netflix’s Lost Girls chronicles the 2010 disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker in upstate New York, and her mother Mari’s relentless search for answers and justice. Faced with apathy from the local police department – who took Shannon’s case less seriously because of her profession – Mari, played by Amy Ryan, sets out to solve the case herself, and in the process uncovers a sinister pattern of unsolved murders in her area.

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Ben Affleck was widely acclaimed for his performance in this sports drama, where he stars as a former high school basketball legend who chose to walk away from the game, and has regretted it ever since. Decades later, struggling with alcoholism and the weight of his abandoned dreams, he’s given the chance to reckon with his demons and redeem himself by coaching the struggling basketball team at his alma mater.

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This comic thriller made a splash when it debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, and is now finally available on VOD courtesy of Amazon. Reeling from the loss of their mother, sisters Mary Beth and Priscilla (Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe) are drawn into the seedy underbelly of their seemingly sleepy Maine fishing village, after a chance encounter with a mysterious and dangerous man ends in violence.

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Despite being one of the best reviewed movies at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, Bad Education never had a theatrical release, and was instead snapped up by HBO and went straight to home streaming. The film is both supremely entertaining and an eye-opening examination of a broken school system, telling the true story of a mid-2000s scandal in which New York school superintendent Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) embezzled millions of dollars from the school district he worked for. Co-starring Allison Janney as a school administrator who becomes Tassone’s accomplice, this is a smart, gleefully strange chronicle of the largest school embezzlement scandal in US history.

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Netflix has really stepped up to revive the romantic comedy over recent years, and this tender and sharply written coming-of-age story is one of their very best so far. The classic teen movie premise – an introverted straight-A student, Ellie (Leah Lewis) is hired by a jock who needs help winning over the girl of his dreams – gets a refreshing twist when Ellie ends up falling for the same girl.

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This deeply profound documentary brings to light the way transgender people have been portrayed throughout history in media by showcasing over 100 years of footage, as well as personal stories from the transgender community. If you haven't already seen it, you need to add it to your list ASAP.

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Though a quick glance at the title and poster might lead you to assume this is a by-the-book horror movie, look again. The Invisible Man blends sci-fi, thriller, and horror elements to remarkable effect in telling a story about survival and recovery from domestic violence. Elisabeth Moss stars as a woman who is being stalked and tormented by her abusive husband, even after his apparent suicide.

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The latest film from acclaimed director Kelly Reichardt has been widely hailed as one of the best indies of the year, and with good reason. Set in the 19th century Pacific Northwest, First Cow follows the blooming friendship between two outsiders – one a cook working for abusive fur trappers, the other a Chinese immigrant – who see an opportunity to better their lives when the first cow arrives in their region. Gentle, moving, and insightful, this is the kind of movie we could all use more of right now.

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A restrained and quietly horrifying portrait of abuse in Hollywood, The Assistant delves into the daily reality behind the #MeToo headlines. Set at a fictional film studio clearly modeled on The Weinstein Company, the film unfolds over the course of a single day in the life of a newly hired young assistant (Ozark’s Julia Garner), who gradually realizes that she is being co-opted into covering up a pattern of abuse on the part of the studio’s head mogul. It’s a searing exploration of what complicity means, in an industry where low-ranking employees are expected to toe the line at all costs.

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Even if you're not a superhero movie person, even if you've never seen Suicide Squad or any of the related DC movies, and even if you've never heard of Harley Quinn, think twice before overlooking this subversive, outlandish treat of a movie. Margot Robbie gives a full-throttle performance as Harley, who's generally best known as the Joker's love interest/right hand woman, but in this incarnation, she's liberated by her breakup with the iconic villain. Alongside a gang of fellow female vigilantes including Black Canary (Jurnee Smollet-Bell) and Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Harley takes on a crime lord who's targeting a young girl, and the results are outlandish, singular blockbuster fun.

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Whether you’re a die-hard Taylor Swift fan, a casual listener, or a skeptic, you’re bound to learn something new about the singer-songwriter – and about the psychological pitfalls of female fame – from watching this revealing and smartly crafted Netflix documentary. “My entire moral code is a need to be thought of as ‘good,’” Swift says, in one of many self-reflective moments, as filmmaker Lana Wilson carefully chronicles her long road both to self-acceptance and self-awareness, and her political awakening in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. Interspersing concert footage with candid interviews and illuminating glimpses of Swift’s isolated life in the spotlight, Miss Americana makes surprising, compelling viewing.

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Eliza Hittman’s indie drama was one of the hottest debuts at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and is now available on VOD. After becoming unexpectedly pregnant, 17-year-old Autumn discovers that she can’t obtain an abortion in her state without parental consent, so travels with her cousin to a Planned Parenthood clinic in upstate New York to have the procedure. An unflinching but empathetic movie that explores reproductive rights through a slice-of-life character story.

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Alison Brie of GLOW and Community co-wrote and stars in this compelling and haunting exploration of mental illness. The eponymous "horse girl" is Sarah, a socially awkward and lonely woman who is more comfortable around horses than people, and whose life starts coming apart at the seams, as she's tormented by surreal nightmares that seem to bleed into her waking life. Though the film's divisive third act arguably undoes much of its power, it's an unsettling delve into psychosis.

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This is technically a cheat, since Portrait of a Lady on Fire had a limited US release in 2019 following its award-winning Cannes debut. But the film only started gathering serious buzz here in the US when it was released wide in February, and shortly after became available on Hulu. A ravishing, emotionally textured love story, the 18th century-set film follows a young painter (Noémie Merlant) who is hired to do the wedding portrait of a reluctant bride-to-be, and ends up falling deeply in love with her.

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