A Best of 2020 countdown in the middle of May 2021? Yeah, there truly are no excuses for this excessive tardiness. The Academy Awards ceremony, my usual cut-off point for finalizing these annual cumulative rankings, was nearly three weeks ago, and last year’s argument that I was waiting for the final stragglers from other critics’ lists to hit screens in Asheville’s mid-tier market has likewise expired this go-round.

Regardless, I’ll seek a “Get Out of Jail Free” card by noting that, with the extended awards season to accommodate the, er, challenges posted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to draw the line between a 2020 and 2021 release. While films like Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, The Dig, Locked Down, and Saint Maud were released prior to the mid-February cutoff date for Oscar consideration, the absence of an awards campaign from their respective distributors says to me that they’re true 2021 releases, not strategically placed 2020 holdovers like eventual Oscar champs The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, and Minari.

Though I haven’t seen a new release in a theater in 14 months, and a good number of major studio films that I would have caught over that span have been delayed until later this year, indie and mainstream distributors’ commitment to getting films to critics via screening links resulted in me seeing 226 of what I’ve deemed “2020 releases” — up seven from last year. They’re split into five groups, sorted chronologically from worst to best, and will be rolled out one installment per day this week until we reach #1. As always, your comments telling me how right or wrong I am are welcome.

226. The Tax Collector

225. Color Out of Space

224. Fantasy Island

223. You Should Have Left

222. The Grudge

221. Underwater

220. Wendy

219. Artemis Fowl

218. Bad Boys for Life

217. Capone

216. The Jesus Rolls

215. The Devil All the Time

214. Hillbilly Elegy

213. The Assistant

212. News of the World

211. The Mole Agent

210. Shirley

209. Sonic the Hedgehog

208. Birds of Prey

207. Bloodshot

206. Love and Monsters

205. All My Life

204. Seberg

203. Dreamland

202. Project Power

201. Fatman

(Photo: RLJE Films)