Our critics pick their favorite movies, performances, and scripts of the year so far

The year is about halfway over, and though no new movies have hit theaters in months, plenty of very good ones have made their way to streaming platforms, video-on-demand, and virtual cinemas since everything shut down in March. Which got us thinking: If next year’s Oscars honored only the current crop of 2020 releases, which ones would be most worthy of consideration? On the first new episode of Film Club since June, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife offer their picks for the best movies, performances, and scripts of the year so far, in what we’re calling The Midyear Awards. Don’t worry: Our “ceremony” is much shorter than the real one. And there are no montages.

Because The A.V. Club office is closed for the time being, and everyone on staff is social distancing, we’ve recorded episode remotely. Listen to the podcast above, subscribe on iTunes, and give us a five-star rating to help other listeners find us.