President Barack Obama, like the rest of us, appears to have spent a good portion of his year binging TV shows and watching movies to pass time during the coronavirus pandemic.
In keeping with his annual tradition, on Friday he shared his favorite films and television series of 2020. Obama’s movie list includes “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” David Fincher’s “Mank,” Pixar’s animated adventure “Soul” and the acclaimed documentary “Time.” He also settled the argument that yes, Steve McQueen’s five-part anthology series “Small Axe” are indeed films — Obama’s No. 1 being “Lovers Rock.”
While in 2019, the former commander-in-chief only named three television shows (“Fleabag” Season 2, “Watchmen” and “Unbelievable”), this year he expanded his top picks of the small screen.
“With streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I’ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I’ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format,” he wrote on Twitter.
Among the TV series that captivated Obama include the Michael Jordan docu-series “The Last Dance,” Netflix’s water-cooler hit “The Queen’s Gambit” and Michaela Coel’s transcendent drama “I May Destroy You.”
Other picks were Amazon’s superhero adaptation “The Boys,” the historical miniseries “Mrs. America,” Frances McDormand’s sweeping drama “Nomadland” and “Crip Camp,” a Netflix doc produced by the Obamas.
Like everyone else, we were stuck inside a lot this year, and with streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I’ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I’ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format. pic.twitter.com/a8BS8jDkSs
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 18, 2020
Earlier in the week, Obama unveiled his favorite books of the year — “The Vanishing Half,” “Caste” and “Twilight of Democracy,” among others. Admirably, he omitted his own, “A Promised Land,” though he joked his memoir is still “a pretty good book.”
As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to share my annual lists of favorites. I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year, deliberately omitting what I think is a pretty good book – A Promised Land – by a certain 44th president. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did. pic.twitter.com/UHk4RA9dow
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 17, 2020
Here’s a full list of Obama’s favorite movies:
- “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
- “Beanpole”
- “Bacurau”
- “Nomadland”
- “Soul”
- “Lovers Rock”
- “Collective”
- “Mank”
- “Martin Eden”
- “Let Him Go”
- “Time”
- “Boys State”
- “Selah And The Spades”
- “Crip Camp” (produced by the Obama’s company Higher Ground)
Here’s a full list of Obama’s favorite TV series:
- “Better Call Saul”
- “The Queen’s Gambit”
- “I May Destroy You”
- “The Boys”
- “The Good Lord Bird”
- “Devs”
- “The Last Dance”
- “Mrs. America”
- “The Good Place”
- “City So Real”