Death to 2020

     A highly sarcastic take on current events around the world with quite a few witty puns.  Death to 2020 is a comedy that tells the story of the dreadful year that was and perhaps still is?  This landmark documentary-style special weaves together some of the world's most (fictitious) renowned voices with real-life archival footage spanning the past 12 months. 

    Producer Charlie Brooker and co-producer Annabel Jones have used their balance of commentary, news footage and spoof to pull together this documentary.  They also made a coronavirus program, the Antiviral wipe for BBC in May 2020.  Earlier, there was a 2016 Wipe that won a Bafta.  Usually Brooker serves as the acerbic, sometimes zany, ringmaster but he is only heard in glimpses behind the camera.  The question is?  It also cannot make up its mind if it is for British or American audiences??   There are funny elements and moments in this film.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

70 min, Comedy TV Special directed by A Campbell, Alice Mathias and written by Charlie Brooker and Anabel Jones with Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Lisa Kudrow, Kumail Nanjiani, Tracey Ullman, Samson Kayo, Leslie Jones, Diane Morgan, Cristin Milioti, Joe Keery.

Note:  Imdb 6.9* out of 10* with 20,501 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 37% with 19 critics 62% with 652 audience scores, cinemaexpress.com 2.5* out of 5*, Decider see 48.4% skip it 41.6% Joel Keller, independent.co.uk 1* out of 5* Ed Cumming, NME 5* out of 5* Dan Stubbs.

Special Note:  Wipe refers to a transitional technique or optical effect/device in which one shot appears to be "pushed off" or "wiped off" the screen by another shot replacing it and moving across the existing image.  Also called a push-over, a flip-over or flip-wipe, this is when one scene rotates or flips-over to the new scene.  Wipes were very commonly used in the 30s.