Jimmy the Kid (1982)

IMDb plot summary: Gang of bumbling crooks kidnap a bratty little kid, find out they got more than they bargained for.

Directed by Gary Nelson. Starring Gary Coleman, Paul Le Mat, Ruth Gordon, and Dee Wallace.

This movie is pretty goofy. It's clearly aiming toward a young audience and is filled with silly slapstick gags and cheap one-liners that frequently don't work -- but not always. There are enough jokes in here that even if only a quarter of them land that's enough to make you feel like you're having an okay time. That's what happened with me, anyway. It was hard to get irritated by any of the cringier jokes because they were over pretty quickly. Additionally, I haven't really seen Gary Coleman in anything before this, but his matter-of-fact delivery of some of these lines made them work better than if it had been someone more visibly winking at the camera with their character. I genuinely enjoyed his performance, and it helped to ground the more outlandish acting around him. Not a great movie but any means but I didn't hate it, and if I'd watched this as a kid I'd probably have loved it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Jimmy the Kid < Seasons of the Heart

Jimmy the Kid > Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Jimmy the Kid > Ghostbusters II

Jimmy the Kid > Don Jon

Jimmy the Kid < Trainwreck

Jimmy the Kid > Cape Fear (1991)

Jimmy the Kid < Forbidden Planet

Jimmy the Kid < The Kids Are All Right

Jimmy the Kid < The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Jimmy the Kid > Easy Virtue

Jimmy the Kid > Mystic River

Jimmy the Kid < Heat

Final spot: #1828 out of 3354, or 45%.

Moxie (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Inspired by her mom's rebellious past and a confident new friend, a shy 16-year-old publishes an anonymous zine calling out sexism at her school.

Directed by Amy Poehler. Starring Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Alycia Pascual-Pena, and Nico Hiraga.

I absolutely loved this. Loved, loved, loved it. It made me laugh and made me care about the characters and made me cheer even when the events seemed a little idealistic and unlikely to happen in real life. I love the depth of characters they build in these teenagers, particularly Vivian's best friend, who worries that she lacks the courage to follow her friend on this path, and Vivian's boyfriend, who may be one of the most likable romantic lead protagonists I've ever seen on film. I love the clever dialogue which is funny and interesting without ever seeming too scripted. Sometimes you just want to see good people fighting for the underdog and winning, and that's exactly what this movie offers. This is going to be one I revisit from time to time, for sure.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Moxie > Safety Not Guaranteed

Moxie > The Black Cat

Moxie > He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not

Moxie < This Is Spinal Tap

Moxie > Bells Are Ringing

Moxie > August Rush

Moxie > Some Like It Hot

Moxie > Fright Night (1985)

Moxie > The Adventures of Robin Hood

Moxie > Kes

Moxie < The Orphanage

Final spot: #212 out of 3353, or 94%.

Dodsworth (1936)

IMDb plot summary: A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.

Directed by William Wyler. Starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, and Mary Astor.

This is a difficult movie to figure out what I feel about it. It definitely doesn't go in the directions I expect it to. I'll start with the performances, I suppose: Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton create some truly memorable characters here. Huston plays Sam Dodsworth as a fascinating combination of adventurous and stuck in his ways, and Chatterton's Fran Dodsworth is never fully unsympathetic even when she continues to make terrible decisions. The film maybe meant to take a bit more of a hard stance on who was right and who was wrong, but I found my sympathies flipping between the two every few scenes. I was mildly surprised by how the story ended but it was a satisfying ending. It's not amazing, but it's worth a watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Dodsworth > Safety Not Guaranteed

Dodsworth < Hoop Dreams

Dodsworth < Ramona and Beezus

Dodsworth < Holiday Inn

Dodsworth < Eyes Wide Shut

Dodsworth > My Week With Marilyn

Dodsworth < Bottle Rocket

Dodsworth > Aguirre: The Wrath of God

Dodsworth > Skyfall

Dodsworth > Following

Dodsworth > The Invention of Lying

Dodsworth > Kodachrome

Final spot: #1598 out of 3352, or 52%.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Two teens who live the same day repeatedly, enabling them to create the titular map.

Directed by Ian Samuels. Starring Kathryn Newton, Kyle Allen, Jermaine Harris, and Anna Mikami.

This movie dances RIGHT along the line of being too cute, too simplistic, too Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but it ultimately manages to avoid most of those traps and create a really charming rom com and coming-of-age drama. It shifts focus in the final act of the film in a way I deeply appreciate, which pulls it right out of those Manic Pixie Dream Girl tropes for me and set it back in the real world among real characters. The two actors playing the leads are charming and funny and likable kids, maybe a little self-absorbed but never just jerks for no reason. Suspend disbelief a bit and it's a delightful watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > Jumanji

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > The Black Cat

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things < He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > Muppets Most Wanted

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > Cloud Atlas

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > The Big Sick

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > Grease

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things < Six Degrees of Separation

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things < Chariots of Fire

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > The Grapes of Wrath

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things > Kramer vs. Kramer

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things < Short Term 12

Final spot: #440 out of 3351, or 87%.

The Dig (2021)

IMDb plot summary: An archaeologist embarks on the historically important excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938.

Directed by Simon Stone. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, Johnny Flynn, and Lily James.

This is an unexpectedly artsy film -- by which I mean more attention was drawn to the film's cinematic techniques than I'd have expected from a period piece. There are several scenes where we watch footage of one person while hearing dialogue from an entirely different scene, which gives the movie an odd dreamy quality, as if we're not ever fully in one place. On the whole, it works, aside from a few scenes that step just a bit too far into precocious portrayals of childhood. Both leads turn in really tremendous performances, as does Lily James in a smaller side role. The movie didn't amaze me on any level but it's well-acted, well-directed, and well-written.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Dig > Jumanji

The Dig < The Black Cat

The Dig < Ramona and Beezus

The Dig < Holiday Inn

The Dig < Eyes Wide Shut

The Dig > The Cable Guy

The Dig > Kodachrome

The Dig > A Song Is Born

The Dig > It's Kind of a Funny Story

The Dig > Hans Christian Andersen

The Dig < Memphis Belle

Final spot: #1573 out of 3350, or 53%.

Saludos Amigos (1942)

IMDb plot summary: Disney animators tour South America and present four animated shorts inspired by their trip.

Directed by Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, and 3 others. Starring Fred Shields and José Oliveira.

This is a decently entertaining piece of educational film, but educational film is most definitely what it is. The cartoon gags fit around the facts about each country and their culture, not vice versa, which is kind of a cool thing to do, just not what I was expecting from this and not something I'd sit down to rewatch. Several of these shorts are framed with some words about the cartoonists' perspective -- what about this country inspired this kind of story, how character types in one country reminded them of character types in their own, and so on, which gives it a kind of "behind the scenes" feel. It's an interesting one to watch once but definitely isn't one I want to revisit.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Saludos Amigos < Jumanji

Saludos Amigos > Adam's Rib

Saludos Amigos < The Woman in Black

Saludos Amigos > The Devil is a Woman

Saludos Amigos < The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Saludos Amigos < Labor Day

Saludos Amigos > Despicable Me

Saludos Amigos > The Milagro Beanfield War

Saludos Amigos > The Fugitive

Saludos Amigos < State Fair

Saludos Amigos > Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Final spot: #2253 out of 3349, or 33%.

The White Tiger (2021)

IMDb plot summary: An ambitious Indian driver uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise to the top. An epic journey based on the New York Times bestseller.

Directed by Ramin Bahrani. Starring Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra, and Vedant Sinha.

I had such a great time watching this film -- it's funny and dark and sad and intense at all the right moments. Additionally, it's one that prompted a ton of thinking for me. The upper-class family here brings to mind stories like Native Son, Knives Out, and, to a less extreme extent, Get Out, where people are willing to be charitable and kind to those less privileged than themselves... until it becomes inconvenient. I was also struck by the final shot of this movie more than any I can think of in the past. It lingers just a little too long and ends up communicating rather a chilling message. That's a lot of varied, scattered thoughts, but in summation, I loved this.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The White Tiger > Jumanji

The White Tiger > The Black Cat

The White Tiger < He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not

The White Tiger > Muppets Most Wanted

The White Tiger > Cloud Atlas

The White Tiger > The Big Sick

The White Tiger > Grease

The White Tiger < Castle in the Sky

The White Tiger > Chariots of Fire

The White Tiger > The Legend of 1900

The White Tiger < Secretary

Final spot: #434 out of 3348, or 87%.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

IMDb plot summary: An animated adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows" followed by an adaptation of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Directed by James Algar and Clyde Geronimi. Starring Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone, Eric Blore, and J. Pat O'Malley.

As Disney's 1940s package films go, this is almost certainly the most engaging throughout. The stories are classics for a reason and are interesting enough to quickly catch the viewer's interest during their short runtime. But what pushed it above the others for me most decisively was the music. The film contains two pretty great songs, one in each segment, that I think could easily hold their own in the Disney song canon were they included more often: "Merrily on Our Way" and "The Headless Horseman." I had maybe heard each of these songs once but I was really struck by how delightfully they capture the tone of their segments. While I haven't fully completed the package films of the decade, this is the only one thus far I could see myself watching again sometime.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > The Beach

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad < The Black Cat

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad < Ramona and Beezus

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad < Holiday Inn

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > 21

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad < 300

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > The Diary of Anne Frank (2009)

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > Gold Diggers of 1933

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > The Wrestler

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad > Heaven Knows What

Final spot: #1518 out of 3347, or 55%.

Mildred Pierce (1945)

IMDb plot summary: A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

Directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden.

Joan Crawford carries herself here with such an air of determined stability, and whether you like or dislike Mildred as a person, there's always a sense that she's going to find a way to come out ahead. The most interesting character dynamic is definitely between her and her oldest daughter, Veda, who develops a sense of snobbish elitism at a very early age, leaving Mildred constantly playing catch-up to meet her child's expectations. The mystery is fine, but it was watching this relationship that really captivated me throughout the film. It's the only part of Mildred's life that feels out of her control, and, without giving too much away, it is what ultimately contributes most to her downfall. This is a solid film and a good character study of a fascinating woman.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Mildred Pierce > The Beach

Mildred Pierce > The Game

Mildred Pierce < Revengers Tragedy

Mildred Pierce < Muppets Most Wanted

Mildred Pierce > Judas and the Black Messiah

Mildred Pierce > The Babadook

Mildred Pierce < Atonement

Mildred Pierce > The Other Side of Sunday

Mildred Pierce < The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Mildred Pierce < Megamind

Mildred Pierce < Rise of the Guardians

Mildred Pierce > Split

Final spot: #665 out of 3346, or 80%.

The Letter (1940)

IMDb plot summary: The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing.

Directed by William Wyler. Starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, and Frieda Inescort.

The first thing I want to bring up about the film is that it has one of the most stunning scores I've ever heard. Max Steiner wrote this music and I was frequently stunned by how beautiful it was -- something I hardly ever notice in movies. Beyond that, this is a satisfying little melodrama. You always have to kind of be willing to lean into Bette Davis' acting style, with her overly expressive eyes and breathy delivery of dramatic lines, but once you do it's pretty rewarding. This one does a good job of unraveling pieces of her character a little at a time and constantly making us question whether or not we're on her side, right up to the end. Solid film, especially if you like the genre or the performers already.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Letter > One, Two, Three

The Letter < The Game

The Letter > The Hidden Fortress

The Letter > Native Son (2019)

The Letter < Gandhi

The Letter > Undercover Blues

The Letter > Smiles of a Summer Night

The Letter < 1917

The Letter < High Strung

The Letter > Nick of Time

The Letter < The Hunt for Red October

Final spot: #962 out of 3345, or 71%.

Make Mine Music (1946)

IMDb plot summary: Animation done to contemporary popular music.

Directed by Robert Cormack, Clyde Geronimi, and 3 others. Starring Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, and The Andrews Sisters.

There are definitely some gems here -- Peter and the Wolf is a nostalgic favorite of mine, and I love the playfulness between the animators and the animated characters on All the Cats Join In -- but there are a lot of segments that are less interesting. There are a handful that are just slow and dreary without a lot of variety to them, and they feel more like music videos than anything else. I admit I have a strong bias for storycentric film and can't quite get into something that's mostly just pretty visuals set to music, so if that is something you don't struggle to connect with, this might be a much more engaging series of shorts for you. I do appreciate the varied styles of animation, from quiet and pastoral to loud and cartoony. It's certainly a good showcase of Disney animator talent. It just often leaves me bored.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Make Mine Music < The Beach

Make Mine Music < Adam's Rib

Make Mine Music > House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Make Mine Music > Shampoo

Make Mine Music > Without a Clue

Make Mine Music < Gypsy (1993)

Make Mine Music < Swiss Family Robinson

Make Mine Music > Quitting

Make Mine Music > The Color of Pomegranates

Make Mine Music > The Rainmaker

Make Mine Music > The Peanut Butter Falcon

Make Mine Music < Sorry, Wrong Number

Final spot: #2588 out of 3344, or 23%.

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panther Party per FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Party Chairman Fred Hampton ascends, falling for a fellow revolutionary en route, a battle wages for O'Neal's soul.

Directed by Shaka King. Starring Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, and Dominique Fishback.

There's a lot of food for thought in this one. Lakeith Stanfield is perfectly cast as Bill O'Neal and brings to the table an improbable combination of languid and restless energy, and Daniel Kaluuya seems unshakeable as the party's young chairman. (Though the real Fred Hampton was only 21 during the events of this film, while Kaluuya is a decade older.) O'Neal is such a fascinating character, especially as he becomes more and more interested in the philosophies Hampton is espousing but finds himself unable to escape his role as informant and must continually justify it to himself again and again. There's also a great subplot between Hampton and his pregnant girlfriend as they struggle with the morality of devoting yourself to a cause at the expense of your life when you have a child on the way. It's a well-done film with lots of layers to dig into.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Judas and the Black Messiah > One, Two, Three

Judas and the Black Messiah > The Game

Judas and the Black Messiah < Revengers Tragedy

Judas and the Black Messiah < Muppets Most Wanted

Judas and the Black Messiah > Is It College Yet?

Judas and the Black Messiah < The Babadook

Judas and the Black Messiah < Il Postino

Judas and the Black Messiah < The Graduate

Judas and the Black Messiah < Ghost Town

Judas and the Black Messiah < We're Not Married!

Judas and the Black Messiah < Kismet

Judas and the Black Messiah < City Lights

Final spot: #731 out of 3343, or 78%.

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

IMDb plot summary: In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon.

Directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada. Starring Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Izaac Wang, and Gemma Chan.

I love that this story makes the primary protagonist, antagonist, and sidekick all female. That hardly ever happens on film, and that was a delight to see her. I also really enjoyed the main lesson of trust and the variety of side characters we get throughout the story. Sisu as a character took me quite awhile to get on board with, as she falls into my least favorite brand of Disney sidekicks -- the wisecracking goofball full of cultural anachronisms that take me out of the story -- but they eventually integrate her nicely with the story, and I really enjoyed her by the end. The designs of these characters and worlds are a fascinating mix of Asian-inspired fairy tale and post-apocalyptic Mad Max steampunk. Overall a familiar plot with some unique takes on character and design.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Raya and the Last Dragon > One, Two, Three

Raya and the Last Dragon > Whip It

Raya and the Last Dragon < Revengers Tragedy

Raya and the Last Dragon < School of Rock

Raya and the Last Dragon > Is It College Yet?

Raya and the Last Dragon > The Babadook

Raya and the Last Dragon > Atonement

Raya and the Last Dragon < Colossal

Raya and the Last Dragon > The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

Raya and the Last Dragon > Big Trouble in Little China

Raya and the Last Dragon < The Farewell

Final spot: #642 out of 3342, or 81%.

The Guard (2011)

IMDb plot summary: An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is partnered with an up-tight F.B.I. agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.

Directed by John Michael McDonagh. Starring Brendan Gleeson, Rory Keenan, Don Cheadle, and Liam Cunningham.

Writer/director John Michael McDonagh is the brother of writer Martin McDonagh, and you can see definite similarities in their subject matter and sense of humor, though John's humor in The Guard is much less obvious than some of Martin's work. This film works best when it latches onto the humor and is least successful when it follows obvious crime film tropes. Brendan Gleeson's character isn't a likable protagonist, per se, but watching him push his way past a corrupt system is often satisfying. There's also a very clever bite to the dialogue which yields some very amusing scenes between Gleeson and the people around him. Take away that sense of humor, and the characters are familiar, the beats are familiar, the stakes are familiar. There's enough to hold my interest, and fans of the crime genre are likely to appreciate it even more, but it does hit its limit for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Guard > To Be or Not to Be

The Guard < Whip It

The Guard < The Hunt (2020)

The Guard < I Love You, Man

The Guard > Hans Christian Andersen

The Guard > The Wrestler

The Guard > Critters

The Guard > Alice (1990)

The Guard < My Favorite Year

The Guard > The Client

The Guard > October Sky

Final spot: #1470 out of 3341, or 56%.

Toy Story 4 (2019)

IMDb plot summary: When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.

Directed by Josh Cooley. Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, and Tony Hale.

The problem inherent with this movie is that Toy Story has "concluded" multiple times, with each film drawing the world to a definite close. The ending of Toy Story 3 was SUCH a deliberate farewell to the series that it's hard for me to care about this story at all, really. The story already concluded. This is why I've mostly sworn off franchises -- I only watched this for a very specific project for which I need to complete the series. It's not a BAD movie, it's just mostly a non-entity. It's so busy cramming the movie with new characters that it woefully underutilizes the rich cast of characters it already has, which is a problem the series has had before, but which REALLY works against it here. My overwhelming takeaway is that they decided they had to continue the series and undermine the finality of Toy Story 3... for this?

How it entered my Flickchart:

Toy Story 4 > To Be or Not to Be

Toy Story 4 < The Game

Toy Story 4 < The Hidden Fortress

Toy Story 4 > I Love You, Man

Toy Story 4 < Never a Dull Moment

Toy Story 4 < Munich

Toy Story 4 > Another Earth

Toy Story 4 < Princess Mononoke

Toy Story 4 < Batman

Toy Story 4 > How Do You Know

Toy Story 4 < Sleepy Hollow

Final spot: #1430 out of 3340, or 57%.

The Black Cauldron (1985)

IMDb plot summary: A young boy and a group of misfit friends embark on a quest to find a dark magic item of ultimate power before a diabolical tyrant can.

Directed by Ted Berman and Richard Rich. Starring Grant Bardsley, Susan Sheridan, Freddie Jones, and Nigel Hawthorne.

I'm a big fan of the original book series and tried to approach this without doing too many comparisons -- but wow, this is lackluster compared to its source material! Most notably, the incredibly truncated 79-minute runtime omits virtually any character development, which is what made the series stand out for me as a kid. Some characters have entire character arcs erased, leaving me wondering what purpose they serve in the film narrative at all. Because of this, the dramatic moments do NOT land well. I actually laughed out loud at one character's death because I hadn't been expecting it and it was handled so abruptly. The Horned King is properly terrifying, so that's a plus, and I do think the overall concept still works, but it is an exceptionally trope-y story, and the film makes zero effort to bring characters out of tropedom and into being fleshed out in any way. Very disappointing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Black Cauldron < To Be or Not To Be (1942)

The Black Cauldron < Horton Hears a Who

The Black Cauldron > VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas

The Black Cauldron > Captive State

The Black Cauldron > Arlington Road

The Black Cauldron > The Jazz Singer (1927)

The Black Cauldron > Domestic Disurbance

The Black Cauldron > The Birthday Party

The Black Cauldron < Empire of the Sun

The Black Cauldron < The Spanish Apartment

The Black Cauldron < The Secret of My Success

The Black Cauldron > Bright Young Things

Final spot: #2517 out of 3339, or 25%.

Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

IMDb plot summary: Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: "Bongo," about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and "Mickey and the Beanstalk," a take on the famous fairy tale.

Directed by Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, William Morgan, and Bill Roberts.

While the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment of this is pretty delightful, and those beanstalk animations are really gorgeous, the Bongo segment is interminable, definitely not worth the time it spends on it. The Bergen live-action ventriloquism section is especially grating to watch, with the kinds of cheesy jokes and eye-rolling catch phrases that make this seem like an after-school special instead of an artistic film for kids. (And has the art of ventriloquism come a long way since the 40s, or was Bergen just... kind of bad at it? I don't know enough to make an accurate judgment call!) It's not a surprise to me at all that the Beanstalk segment is the one that still gets referenced. It's got a great combination of silly jokes, good music, and really lovely animation that stands out about the best Disney films. But as a whole this is a mixed bag.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Fun and Fancy Free < One, Two, Three

Fun and Fancy Free > Horton Hears a Who

Fun and Fancy Free > Snatch.

Fun and Fancy Free < Little Norse Prince

Fun and Fancy Free < Max Dugan Returns

Fun and Fancy Free < Come to the Stable

Fun and Fancy Free < Run Lola Run

Fun and Fancy Free > Cinderella (1950)

Fun and Fancy Free < Three Days of the Condor

Fun and Fancy Free < On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Fun and Fancy Free > Moms' Night Out

Fun and Fancy Free > Double Jeopardy

Final spot: #2069 out of 3338, or 38%.

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

IMDb plot summary: A drifter and a faded film star, both traumatized by Hollywood, arrive to the guy's hometown, where the old bitter memories revive again.

Directed by Richard Brooks. Starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, and Ed Begley.

This film version has Paul Newman and Geraldine Page reprise their Broadway roles as the young actor and older actress, and they're both fantastic in it. Like so many of Williams' characters, these two are trapped and suffocating under society's expectations of them, and trying to rise above those expectations just seems to result in disaster. I'd just read the original play and was a little startled to see the film tack on an unexpected happy ending, which definitely doesn't serve the story as well as the original, darker ending. But, again like much of Williams' work, this story rises and falls on the strength of the actors, and I could watch Newman and Page play off each other all day. They bring so much more to these roles than meets the eye, and just when I think I've gotten them figured out, they reveal another side of the character. They make this worth the watch for sure.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Sweet Bird of Youth > To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Sweet Bird of Youth < The Game

Sweet Bird of Youth < Ramona and Beezus

Sweet Bird of Youth > I Love You, Man

Sweet Bird of Youth > Never a Dull Moment

Sweet Bird of Youth < VeggieTales: Esther, the Girl Who Became Queen

Sweet Bird of Youth < Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Sweet Bird of Youth > The Fly (1986)

Sweet Bird of Youth > Police Story

Sweet Bird of Youth < Clueless

Sweet Bird of Youth > The Speed Cubers

Final spot: #1333 out of 3337, or 60%.

Silk Stockings (1957)

IMDb plot summary: A musical remake of Ninotchka: After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell with the help of Steve Canfield, an American movie producer.

Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, and Peter Lorre.

It's been awhile since I watched the original Ninotchka but I remember finding it irresistibly charming despite a silly premise. Silk Stockings... isn't. I don't know if it's the script or the fact that I personally have a very difficult time finding Fred Astaire likable or, more likely, some combination of both, but I mostly found myself wanting to just go rewatch Ninotchka instead. Most upsetting is how the couple breaks up due to a fairly serious disagreement that then just... doesn't exist at the end. And since I wasn't swept away by the couple's chemistry to begin with, I found it even more difficult to care about them steamrolling over reasons they shouldn't get together. The songs are OK, though they definitely fall into the Cole Porter trap of being too long and too repetitive (I'm never getting "glorious technicolor, breathtaking cinemascope, and stereophonic sound" out of my mind), and of course there are some good dance numbers, but it's disappointing overall.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Silk Stockings < One, Two, Three

Silk Stockings > Horton Hears a Who

Silk Stockings < The Hurt Locker

Silk Stockings > So I Married an Axe Murderer

Silk Stockings > Frida

Silk Stockings > Happy Christmas

Silk Stockings > Stephen King's The Stand

Silk Stockings < The Cat in the Hat (1971)

Silk Stockings > Grace of Monaco

Silk Stockings < Holiday

Silk Stockings < Anchors Aweigh

Silk Stockings < Another Thin Man

Final spot: #2104 out of 3336, or 37%.

Secret Admirer (1985)

IMDb plot summary: An anonymous love letter left in Michael Ryan's locker on the last day of school wreaks havoc on his life and the lives of everyone who come in contact with it.

Directed by David Greenwalt. Starring C. Thomas Howell, Lori Loughlin, Kelly Preston, and Dee Wallace.

This is a spectacularly unfunny comedy and a spectacularly unromantic romance, basically hitting none of the marks at all. I attribute that largely to the characters being obnoxious -- about half the mistaken identity comedy depends heavily on married couples being ready at the drop of a hat to cheat on their partners, and it's OK because the love letters weren't for them in the first place! What a great happy ending! The only person I can empathize with is the girl writing the love letters in the first place, and mostly I just think she deserves way better than the goofball protagonist she likes. It's just a messy, sloppy, ugly film trying to be something much lighter and sillier, but there's not much to get from this.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Secret Admirer < One, Two, Three

Secret Admirer < Horton Hears a Who

Secret Admirer < VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas

Secret Admirer > Love Wrecked

Secret Admirer < Stand Up and Cheer!

Secret Admirer > Avalanche

Secret Admirer < Pokemon: The First Movie

Secret Admirer < Detour

Secret Admirer < Yes Man

Secret Admirer < Breach

Secret Admirer > Song of the South

Secret Admirer < Little Miss Marker (1934)

Final spot: #3073 out of 3335, or 8%.

Melody Time (1948)

IMDb plot summary: An anthology of animated vignettes set to contemporary music.

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, and Hamilton Luske.

As with most films made up of a series of shorts, there's a wide variety of quality here. There are a few gems and a lot more mediocre pieces. I think pushing toward a more narrative focus for a lot of these is actually a mistake, as the best bits (Bumble Boogie, Once Upon a Wintertime, Rhythm of the Samba) are the ones that play out with the fewest words describing the plot. The Johnny Appleseed and Li'l Toot segments seem endless, and Pecos Bill is also exceptionally long, though the final few minutes make it worth the wait. There's a reason this doesn't endure the way Disney's single-story features have, or even Fantasia, which allowed the music to really drive the show. It's a mixed bag for sure, and I'd really only recommend it for diehard Disney fans.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Melody Time < The Beach

Melody Time > Horton Hears a Who

Melody Time > The Hurt Locker

Melody Time > Little Norse Prince

Melody Time > Wallace & Gromit in A Close Shave

Melody Time > Paper Moon

Melody Time > Smokin' Aces

Melody Time < The Chalk Garden

Melody Time > Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmelites

Melody Time > Pitch Perfect 2

Melody Time > Wreck-It Ralph

Melody Time > Dogtooth

Final spot: #1681 out of 3334, or 50%.

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

IMDb plot summary: Seven gunfighters are hired by Mexican peasants to liberate their village from oppressive bandits.

Directed by John Sturges. Starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, and Horst Buchholz.

I found Seven Samurai far more captivating than I expected to, and to my delight, that was my reaction to The Magnificent Seven as well. The film gives us just enough information about our main characters to keep us interested throughout, and watching them interact with the villagers they were protecting was captivating. After all that buildup, the final scenes are mostly typical western shoot-out and are less interesting than everything before, but fortunately that is only a small piece of the story. It also makes space for some thoughtful philosophical discussions of what it means for these men to be in this profession, and what they gain by it and sacrifice for it. Overall a very carefully- and intelligently-crafted film and worth a watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Magnificent Seven > One, Two, Three

The Magnificent Seven < The Black Cat

The Magnificent Seven > Ramona and Beezus

The Magnificent Seven > Native Son (2019)

The Magnificent Seven < Frankenweenie (2012)

The Magnificent Seven > Undercover Blues

The Magnificent Seven > Smiles of a Summer Night

The Magnificent Seven > 1917

The Magnificent Seven < Thor

The Magnificent Seven < Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

The Magnificent Seven < The Lady Vanishes

The Magnificent Seven < Hell in the Pacific

Final spot: #950 out of 3333, or 71%.

A Week Away (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Nowhere left to go, Will Hawkins finds himself at camp for the first time. His instinct is to run, but he finds a friend, a father figure and even a girl who awakens his heart. Most of all, he finally finds a home.

Directed by Roman White. Starring Kevin Quinn, Bailee Madison, Jahbril Cook, and Kat Conner Sterling.

This is a surprisingly nonspecific and nonpreachy Christian movie, which does make it an easier watch but also makes it very difficult to track a character arc, since it hints at Christian epiphanies but won't actually say any of them out loud. The CCM musical numbers are everything I wanted them to be -- enormous and cheesy and awkwardly choreographed and full of nostalgia for me. I wanted more of them, though. The few newer songs and original tunes we got didn't fit the vibe nearly as well, and since I was really only watching this for the nostalgia, I missed having more. Besides, how do you do a 90s CCM jukebox musical set at a youth group camp and not include "Friends" by Michael W. Smith? Overall, neither as bad nor as fun as I wanted it to be -- more knockoff Camp Rock than Facing the Giants.

How it entered my Flickchart:

A Week Away < The Beach

A Week Away > Horton Hears a Who

A Week Away < The Hurt Locker

A Week Away > So I Married an Axe Murderer

A Week Away > Frida

A Week Away < The American President

A Week Away > Sunshine (2007)

A Week Away < The Autopsy of Jane Doe

A Week Away > Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A Week Away < Genius

A Week Away < The Trouble With Angels

A Week Away < Dear Frankie

Final spot: #2153 out of 3332, or 35%.