Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987)

IMDb plot summary: Writer, ex-con and 40-something bottle-baby Tim Madden, who is prone to black-outs, awakens from a two-week bender to discover a pool of blood in his car.

Directed by Norman Mailer. Stars Ryan O'Neal, Isabella Rossellini, and Debra Stipe.

Tough Guys Don’t Dance stars Ryan O'Neal as someone who life begins to spiral after his wife leaves him, up to and including a murder investigation. The one thing I knew about this movie before watching it was the viral clip of Ryan O'Neal getting bad news and saying "oh god, oh man" over and over again in a hilarious show of bad dialogue and bad acting. Turns out it's just the perfect example of what the entire movie is like, although that is the most amusing piece. Mostly it's just a meandering melodrama with a thoroughly uninteresting protagonist. It's so pretentious but at the same so silly, and none of it works well together. It takes itself so seriously that at first maybe I thought it was a spoof, playing it deadpan, but, nope. It's just bad. Occasionally enjoyably so, but bad.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)

📊 Ranked #3772/4153 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 9

lost to Fahrenheit 451 (held at #2075)

lost to The Disappearance of Alice Creed (held at #3113)

lost to The Right Stuff (held at #3632)

beat Gidget (#3891 → #3892)

lost to Medium Cool (held at #3761)

beat Bee Season (#3826 → #3827)

beat Shrek the Third (#3793 → #3794)

beat The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (#3777 → #3778)

lost to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (held at #3769)

beat Oklahoma! (#3773 → #3774)

lost to Monkey Business (held at #3771)

beat How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (#3772 → #3773)

Carry-On (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A mysterious traveler blackmails a young TSA agent into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Eve flight.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Stars Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, and Sofia Carson.

Carry-On is a thriller starring Taron Egerton as a TSA officer and Jason Bateman as the terrorist who is forcing him to allow a dangerous item through the checkpoint, or terrible things will happen. This is a fun premise for a movie -- the problem is, it goes on too long. I'm firmly of the belief that the best one-location thrillers come in around 90 minutes, as it's very hard to carry that energy beyond that. This one stretches to two hours, and the final 40 minutes feel tedious. The first two thirds are a good ride, though, and Jason Bateman is a lot of fun as the heartless terrorist. That deadpan delivery of his turns out to be kind of terrifying when it's being applied to widespread destruction. If this is a genre that you're already drawn to, you might not feel the length, but if not, this isn't the one that is going to draw you in.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Carry-On (2024)

📊 Ranked #1649/4152 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 60

beat Hamlet (#2074 → #2075)

lost to 20th Century Women (held at #1037)

lost to The Virtuous Sin (held at #1555)

beat The Wicker Man (#1814 → #1815)

beat Cinema Paradiso (#1684 → #1685)

lost to I'm Still Here (held at #1619)

beat Unpregnant (#1651 → #1652)

lost to Newsies (held at #1635)

lost to The Thin Man (held at #1643)

lost to Battle Royale (held at #1647)

beat Allegiance (#1649 → #1650)

lost to Hit Man (held at #1648)

The Quiet Girl (2022)

IMDb plot summary: In rural Ireland, a quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer where she blossoms and learns what it is to be loved.

Directed by Colm Bairéad. Stars Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, and Catherine Clinch.

The Quiet Girl follows a young girl who is sent away from home to live with relatives while her mother has a new baby and deals with that. It's clear that the young girl is a nuisance to her biological family, but she slowly finds her place with her new temporary guardians, and they coax her out of her shell. This is a quiet movie, matching the slow patience of the guardians to the pace of the film as we watch this child slowly gain confidence. Because of that, I did sometimes feel myself getting antsy for something to *happen*, but the gentleness of the story worked for me most of the time. The final scene in particular does a great job of bringing home the emotion of the whole story. I feel like this is a film that is just on the edge of being one of my favorites, but I'd have to watch it at the right moment in time. Maybe one of those movies I go back to when I need to be reminded that good people exist. It's good to have a collection of those, and this is definitely one to add to the list, even if it felt a little slow to me on this first watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Quiet Girl (2022)

📊 Ranked #874/4149 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 79

beat Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (#2073 → #2074)

beat The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (#1036 → #1037)

lost to Crimes and Misdemeanors (held at #518)

lost to Colossal (held at #777)

beat Music and Lyrics (#906 → #907)

lost to Margin Call (held at #841)

lost to The Fantasticks (held at #873)

beat Upside Down (#889 → #890)

beat Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (#881 → #882)

beat Titanic (#877 → #878)

beat Holiday (#875 → #876)

beat Saturday Night (#874 → #875)

The Castle (1997)

IMDb plot summary: A working-class family from Melbourne, Australia fights city hall after being told they must vacate their beloved family home to allow for infrastructural expansion.

Directed by Rob Sitch. Stars Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, and Stephen Curry.

The Castle is a story about a family who discovers their house has been sold out from under them to make way for an airport expansion. The father isn't going to take this lying down, and he sets out to fight the acquisition in court. I stumbled upon this one but hadn't ever heard of it before, and it turned out to be a delightful surprise. While these characters are way out of their depth when it comes to legal matters, the film never looks down on them for their lack of knowledge or paints them as lesser-than. There's such love for the characters and the community they build around them. The film gives its narrator and the world he's building a very distinct voice that makes it easy to instantly relate to these people. Overall, it was a wonderful discovery, and I'm glad I got a chance to see it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Here's how The Castle first ranked at #538 on my Flickchart...

The Castle beat Happythankyoumoreplease (2011)

The Castle beat The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

The Castle lost to Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

The Castle beat Colossal (2017)

The Castle beat Much Ado About Nothing (2013)

The Castle beat The Big Sick (2017)

The Castle beat Argo (2012)

The Castle lost to Short Term 12 (2013)

The Castle beat Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

The Castle beat Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

The Castle lost to The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

The Castle lost to A Face in the Crowd (1957)

The Life of Chuck (2025)

IMDb plot summary: A life-affirming, genre-bending story about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.

Directed by Mike Flanagan. Stars Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, and Benjamin Pajak.

The Life of Chuck tells its story in three reverse-chronological acts, each revealing a new layer of an ordinary man whose life turns out to have cosmic significance. The result is almost epic in emotional ambition. The structure is one of the film’s greatest strengths, unraveling piece by piece in ways that constantly reframe what you think you’re watching. I'm not as convinced as I'd like that all the pieces fully cohere, though I do suspect this is one of those films that will need time to settle before it fully clicks. It does feature one of the most existentially terrifying sequences I've seen on film, at the end of the first third. I also love a non-musical movie bold enough to devote real time to full-on dance scenes. Even if I’m unsure about the whole, each individual section is impactful and absorbing, and I was never bored watching. I’ll need to sit with it, but it’s definitely a ride worth taking, and I suspect it might resonate more deeply the longer I let it linger.

📊 Ranked #810/4147 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 80

How it entered my Flickchart:

beat Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)

beat The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

lost to Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

lost to Colossal (2017)

beat Music and Lyrics (2007)

beat Margin Call (2011)

lost to A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

beat 9 (2009)

beat Rise of the Guardians (2012)

beat Megamind (2010)

beat New York, New York (1977)

beat Ninotchka (1939)

Heart Eyes (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When two coworkers have to survive the Heart Eyes Killer on Valentine's Day, the two have to find out who it is.

Directed by Josh Ruben. Stars Mason Gooding, Olivia Holt, and Gigi Zumbado.

Heart Eyes follows a young pair of colleagues whose business relationship takes a turn for the nightmarish when a serial killer who only targets couples mistakes them for a romantic pair and starts stalking them. I had pretty high hopes going in, since I'm a big fan of Josh Ruben’s comedy work and his film Werewolves Within, and while this leans less into the comedy and more into a horror/romance blend, it’s still a pretty enjoyable ride. I doubt it’ll stick with me long-term, but it’s not boring, and it hits the beats it aims for with confidence. The killer reveal is a highlight, giving the movie an excuse to unleash some big, unhinged, wonderfully over-the-top moments that energized the whole finale. The film balances sincerity and slasher fun well enough that I walked away satisfied. Not a new favorite, but a fun watch—and it definitely makes me want to see more from Ruben as he continues playing with genre.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Heart Eyes (2025)

📊 Ranked #2007/4146 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 52

beat Happythankyoumoreplease (#2071 → #2072)

lost to Robin Hood (held at #1035)

lost to Mrs. Miniver (held at #1553)

lost to Splice (held at #1812)

lost to A Patch of Blue (held at #1941)

lost to The Forest (held at #2006)

beat I Am Legend (#2038 → #2039)

beat The Wrestler (#2022 → #2023)

beat Spy Game (#2014 → #2015)

beat John Carter (#2010 → #2011)

beat The Last Castle (#2008 → #2009)

beat The Prestige (#2007 → #2008)

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

IMDb plot summary: A New Yorker's life is thrown into a tailspin when his younger cousin surprise-visits him, starting a strange, unpredictable adventure.

Directed by Jim Jarmusch. Stars John Lurie, Eszter Balint, and Richard Edson.

Stranger Than Paradise follows a hip immigrant New Yorker, his visiting cousin from Hungary, and his equally detached friend as they travel from New York to Cleveland to Florida. And oh my gosh, this is so boring. The film is clearly aiming for a sort of Americanized French New Wave sensibility with static shots, minimalist storytelling, ironic detachment, and I haven't enjoyed that in other OG New Wave films either. These characters just wander around with no goal, no urgency, and nothing to draw me to them, and the movie seems content to let them meander indefinitely. I truly couldn't tell you what the point is or what it's trying to say. If it had a point, I couldn't see it. I know that many people find this kind of deadpan minimalism profound or charming, but it's very much not for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

📊 Ranked #3301/4145 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 20

lost to Happythankyoumoreplease (held at #2071)

lost to The Dinner Game (held at #3107)

beat Little Italy (#3625 → #3626)

beat Teacher's Pet (#3366 → #3367)

lost to One 2 Ka 4 (held at #3236)

beat Big Fat Liar (#3301 → #3302)

lost to Barry (held at #3268)

lost to Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square (held at #3284)

lost to Funny Face (held at #3292)

lost to Madeline (held at #3296)

lost to Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (held at #3298)

lost to My Friend Irma (held at #3299)

lost to Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (held at #3300)

The Naked Gun (2025)

IMDb plot summary: Following in his father's footsteps, a detective works to solve a murder case and save his police department from closure.

Directed by Akiva Schaffer. Stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, and Paul Walter Hauser.

The Naked Gun stars Liam Neeson as a police officer who stumbles into a new conspiracy plot filled with criminal masterminds and wildly escalating set pieces. I've actually never seen the original Naked Gun, so I can't compare this specifically to that, but this does feel very much in the spirit of other older ZAZ movies. It was way more fun than I expected. The jokes are a great mix of sharp wordplay, absurd misunderstandings, and delightfully stupid physical gags, and they come so quickly that you don't have time to roll your eyes at a bad joke before a better one comes along. I've very rarely seen Neeson do comedy, but he turns out to be a perfect fit here because of how dead serious he plays it; he's the perfect impassable idiot who never acknowledges the chaos happening around him. I really appreciate comedies that commit to being unapologetically silly, and this scratches that itch perfectly. It’s a fast, goofy, good-natured reboot that understands the assignment.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Naked Gun (2025)

📊 Ranked #1045/4144 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat How I Live Now (#2070 → #2071)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1035)

beat Panic Room (#1552 → #1553)

beat The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (#1293 → #1294)

beat The River (#1164 → #1165)

beat National Lampoon's Vacation (#1099 → #1100)

beat La La Land (#1067 → #1068)

beat Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (#1051 → #1052)

lost to The Pirates of Penzance (held at #1043)

beat Hot Millions (#1047 → #1048)

beat Ocean's Eleven (#1045 → #1046)

lost to Fruitvale Station (held at #1044)

One of Them Days (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa discover Alyssa's boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.

Directed by Lawrence Lamont. Stars Keke Palmer, SZA, and Vanessa Bell Calloway.

One of Them Days follows two best friends, played by Keke Palmer and SZA, whose quest to pay their rent spirals into a chaotic series of misadventures. This is such a classic trope story which depends entirely on how enjoyable the actual adventures are, and this one was an absolute blast from start to finish. Palmer and SZA have fantastic chemistry together. They’re so dynamic and funny as a pair, I could watch those characters interact for hours. I laughed out loud a lot, which is pretty rare for me, and the movie always keeps things fresh with sharp jokes, unexpected twists, and a brisk pace that keeps the energy moving. Alongside that, there's a sense of such warmth and community running through the whole thing that makes it all even stronger. This one is bright, bold, fun, and a girl-buddy comedy movie to put up there with the likes of Plan B and Bottoms.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 One of Them Days (2025)

📊 Ranked #396/4143 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 90

beat Deep Impact (#2070 → #2071)

beat Robin Hood (#1035 → #1036)

beat Soapdish (#517 → #518)

lost to A Woman Under the Influence (held at #258)

lost to Knock at the Cabin (held at #387)

beat Citizen Kane (#452 → #453)

beat Contagion (#419 → #420)

beat Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#403 → #404)

lost to Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (held at #395)

beat Nativity! (#399 → #400)

beat The Producers (#397 → #398)

beat Wings of Desire (#396 → #397)

The Horse Whisperer (1998)

IMDb plot summary: The mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.

Directed by Robert Redford. Stars Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Sam Neill.

The Horse Whisperer follows a teenage girl (played by a young Scarlett Johansson) who loses her leg in a car accident with her horse. She and the horse are both traumatized, and her mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) determines to meet up with renowned horse trainer Robert Redford who specializes in rehabilitation for horses. I usually dislike this kind of sweeping rural drama, but this one was more engaging than I expected. The film is far more focused on the slow-burn potential romance between Redford and Thomas than on the horse itself, which gives it a more relational, human-centered tone than its marketing suggested to me. The acting is strong across the board, and Johansson is fascinating to watch in an early role as a newly disabled teen. Still, the movie is undeniably long and slow, taking its time in ways that it can't always justified. But despite its length, it held my attention decently well, and the emotional nuance worked more often than not. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Horse Whisperer (1998)

📊 Ranked #2071/4142 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 50

lost to How I Live Now (held at #2069)

beat Chinatown (#3105 → #3106)

beat Life of Pi (#2587 → #2588)

beat Pete's Dragon (#2328 → #2329)

beat Spaceballs (#2198 → #2199)

beat Airborne (#2133 → #2134)

beat Phantom of the Opera (#2101 → #2102)

beat 2046 (#2085 → #2086)

beat Connie and Carla (#2077 → #2078)

beat Hamlet (#2073 → #2074)

beat Happythankyoumoreplease (#2071 → #2072)

lost to Deep Impact (held at #2070)

An Innocent Man (1989)

IMDb plot summary: After airline mechanic James Rainwood is framed by two corrupt police officers, he begins plotting his revenge against them.

Directed by Peter Yates. Stars Tom Selleck, F. Murray Abraham, and Laila Robins.

An Innocent Man follows an ordinary everyman played by Tom Selleck who’s wrongfully convicted by corrupt cops trying to cover up their own mistakes. He is sent to prison where he must toughen up to survive and eventually seek justice once he’s released. This sounds like it should be a tense, gripping thriller, but it turns out to be a pretty boring prison drama. Peter Yates made sharp, energetic films in his earlier years but at this point in his career he seems to have drifted into pure dullness in his later years, and this is another example of that. I genuinely struggled to remember most of it even moments after the credits rolled. The characters are all broad stereotypes: the hardened inmate, the cartoonishly evil guards, the unconvincing villains, the stoic hero. There’s no compelling character arc, nothing to elevate it above dozens of similar but better movies. Disappointingly flat and forgettable.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 An Innocent Man (1989)

📊 Ranked #3214/4083 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 21

lost to Fail Safe (#2027 → #839)

lost to My Darling Clementine (#3047 → #3043)

beat Johnny Tremain (#3571 → #3572)

beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (#3317 → #3377)

lost to Multiplicity (#3189 → #3186)

lost to State Fair (#3256 → #2940)

lost to What Lies Beneath (#3284 → #3263)

lost to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (#3299 → #3245)

beat Kinsey (#3303 → #3311)

beat That Darn Cat! (#3301 → #3316)

lost to ParaNorman (#3300 → #3201)

beat Zorba the Greek (#3302 → #3303)

Two Lovers (2008)

IMDb plot summary: A Brooklyn-set romantic drama about a bachelor torn between the family friend his parents wish he would marry and his beautiful but volatile new neighbor.

Directed by James Gray. Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Vinessa Shaw.

Two Lovers follows Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix), a depressed man living with his parents, who becomes torn between two women: a beautiful but troubled neighbor and the kind, steady family friend his parents hope he’ll choose. I can see what the film is trying to do here. It's aiming to capture the emotional drift of this man caught between uncertain excitement and warm stability, but the execution ends up feeling mostly blah. Phoenix’s character is so muted that it’s hard to connect with him, and the film’s emotional beats land with a thud because there’s so little personality driving them. The ending aims for ambiguity but feels like it just gives up and lapses into a boring shrug rather than anything thought-provoking. The movie also meanders throughout, treading very familiar indie-drama ground without offering much new insight. By the time it wraps up, the whole thing has fizzled into nothing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Two Lovers (2008)

📊 Ranked #3270/4082 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 20

lost to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (#2037 → #2048)

lost to Bully (#3057 → #2690)

beat Johnny Tremain (held at #3570)

beat The Pagemaster (#3313 → #3308)

lost to Multiplicity (#3185 → #3174)

beat The Dark Side of the Moon (#3249 → #3484)

beat Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (#3217 → #3271)

beat Thoroughly Modern Millie (#3200 → #3208)

beat Roman J. Israel, Esq. (#3192 → #3194)

beat The Bishop Murder Case (#3188 → #3187)

beat Shane (held at #3186)

Country Strong (2010)

IMDb plot summary: A rising country-music songwriter works with a fallen star to work their way to fame, causing romantic complications along the way.

Directed by Shana Feste. Stars Garrett Hedlund, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Leighton Meester.

Country Strong stars Gwyneth Paltrow as a troubled country music star attempting a comeback. She's also caught up in some sort of tangled love quadrangle with her husband/manager, played by Tim McGraw, and two up-and-coming singers, played by Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester. The film is such a boring, messy, weirdly pretentious slog that it’s hard to care about any of it. Somehow Tim McGraw ends up being the best actor in the cast, which I did NOT see coming, and says a lot for the fact that he's in a movie with many more seasoned actors. The plot mostly consists of everyone cheating on everyone else and making pretentious statement about what "real music" is, and the script is asking too much of us to stay emotionally invested in that. The movie wants to be a raw, soulful drama, but it’s ultimately just a messy, boring film that takes itself far more seriously than it should.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Country Strong (2010)

📊 Ranked #3484/4081 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 15

lost to De-Lovely (#2038 → #2035)

lost to Spider-Man: Homecoming (#3057 → #2836)

lost to Johnny Tremain (#3569 → #3570)

beat Duane Hopwood (#3823 → #3825)

beat Road to Morocco (held at #3696)

beat White Comanche (#3632 → #3633)

beat I, Robot (#3600 → #3601)

beat You Were Never Really Here (#3584 → #3589)

beat Hangman's Curse (#3576 → #3578)

beat Madigan (#3572 → #3575)

lost to The Importance of Being Earnest (#3570 → #3349)

lost to My Family (#3571 → #3572)

It's What's Inside (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A group of friends gather for a pre-wedding party that descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend arrives with a mysterious game that awakens long-hidden secrets, desires and grudges.

Directed by Greg Jardin. Stars Brittany O'Grady, James Morosini, and Gavin Leatherwood.

It’s What’s Inside is a clever, high-concept sci-fi thriller that takes place in a single location, following a group of college friends who reunite years later and end up testing out a bizarre new technology that allows them to body switch with each other, and things get weird. This is one of the more creative sci-fi films I’ve seen in a while. It's delightfully twisty but all the twists feel organic and earned. It pulls off the small cast and a contained setting and turns it into something surprising and delightful. The characters are sketched out strongly enough that you care about them as things get stranger, making the escalating chaos more gripping than gimmicky. By the end, I was fully won over. It's smart and weird, and I’m so glad I caught it. Definitely recommend this one.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 It's What's Inside (2024)

📊 Ranked #627/4080 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 84

beat The Act of Killing (#2036 → #2043)

beat The Quick and the Dead (#1016 → #1038)

lost to The Matrix (#508 → #488)

beat Destroy All Monsters (#762 → #1201)

beat The Jungle Book (#635 → #641)

beat The Courtship of Eddie's Father (#571 → #572)

lost to Sleeping Beauty (#539 → #531)

beat Brooklyn (#555 → #828)

beat Only Yesterday (#547 → #587)

beat Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (#543 → #633)

lost to The Big Sick (#541 → #570)

lost to Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (#542 → #528)

The Judge (2014)

IMDb plot summary: Big-city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. Hank sets out to discover the truth; along the way he reconnects with his estranged family.

Directed by David Dobkin. Stars Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, and Vera Farmiga.

The Judge stars Robert Downey Jr. as a hotshot lawyer who returns to his small hometown to defend his estranged father, played by Robert Duvall, a respected judge accused of killing a man. Downey Jr. is quite good here. It feels like ages since I've gotten to see him do something outside of Marvel, and he brings just the right mix of sarcasm and vulnerability to the role. The father/son moments are decently written and very well acted, with Downey and Duvall being good foils for each other as their live out their complicated dynamic. The story hits familiar beats, but it hits them with conviction. The romantic subplot, however, feels messy and undercooked, never quite finding a believable rhythm, and it does take up entirely too much space for something so inconsequential. I don’t feel any desire to revisit this film, but I do admire the performances enough to be glad I watched it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Judge (2014)

📊 Ranked #1024/4079 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 77

beat Prometheus (#2036 → #2040)

lost to Jack Goes Boating (#1016 → #1018)

lost to Muppet Treasure Island (#1524 → #1527)

beat Palmer (held at #1781)

lost to Wayne's World (#1652 → #1567)

beat Bottle Rocket (held at #1715)

lost to The Princess Diaries (#1683 → #1630)

beat The Village (#1699 → #1703)

beat Saltburn (#1691 → #1695)

lost to Girl, Interrupted (#1687 → #733)

beat Phantom of the Paradise (#1689 → #2287)

beat Three Thousand Years of Longing (#1688 → #1687)

The Wolf Man (1941)

IMDb plot summary: Upon his return to his father's estate, aristocrat Larry Talbot meets a beautiful woman, attends a mystical carnival and uncovers a horrifying curse.

Directed by George Waggner. Stars Claude Rains, Lon Chaney Jr., and Ralph Bellamy.

The Wolf Man stars Lon Chaney Jr. as a man who returns home after years abroad only to be bitten by a werewolf and cursed to become one. This is a straightforward monster-movie setup within the Universal horror canon for me, it lands as a medium-tier entry. The story and cinematography are atmospheric enough, but not as gripping as some of the other films of the same time. The pacing is oddly uneven, jumping between long stretches where very little happens and sudden bursts of plot that race ahead without any buildup. The highlight for me was seeing Claude Rains pop up in a small role -- he’s always an enjoyable watch, even when the material around him is thin. Beyond that, there’s not a ton to analyze or chew on. The film isn’t bad, just a simple, serviceable slice of early horror. It’s fine, and that’s about it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Wolf Man (1941)

📊 Ranked #1553/4078 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 63

beat Nickel Boys (#2035 → #2043)

lost to Elf (held at #1023)

beat Lady Bird (#1525 → #1537)

lost to Time Bandits (held at #1276)

lost to The Death of Stalin (#1397 → #1400)

beat Glory (#1460 → #1564)

lost to Killing Season (#1428 → #1327)

lost to Joe Versus the Volcano (#1444 → #1446)

lost to Educating Rita (#1452 → #1455)

lost to Beauty and the Beast (#1454 → #1449)

lost to At First Sight (#1458 → #1440)

lost to Corrina, Corrina (#1459 → #1367)

Better Man (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A singular profile of pop superstar Robbie Williams, chronicling his meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence.

Directed by Michael Gracey. Stars Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, and Steve Pemberton.

Better Man tells the story of British pop star Robbie Williams through a creative stylistic choice: Williams is portrayed as a monkey throughout, a gimmick that immediately grabs attention and occasionally goes a little bit deeper. I went in knowing almost nothing about Williams himself, but I’d heard good things about the film and was intrigued enough to try it. The musical numbers are stunningly shot and visually striking, with a wonderful energy -- a pleasant surprise, given how deeply underwhelming I found The Greatest Showman, by the same director. While those musical numbers are strong, the script is less so. It never quite pins down who Williams is supposed to be, jumping back and forth between making him a sympathetic victim of fame and making him overtly unpleasant, and while clearly they intend for both to be present in the character, the two don't reconcile believably for me most of the time. But the plot is also pretty thin, and the movie is definitely trying to make space for the musical numbers to take center stage, as they should. That creativity makes Better Man worth watching, even if it didn’t blow me away the way I hoped.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Better Man (2024)

📊 Ranked #1133/4077 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 74

beat The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#2145 → #2150)

lost to The Shape of Water (#1016 → #993)

beat Skyfall (#1524 → #1731)

beat The Nice Guys (#1270 → #1274)

lost to Leaving Las Vegas (#1143 → #1141)

beat Hoodwinked! (#1205 → #1225)

beat The Song of Lunch (#1173 → #1359)

beat Fargo (#1158 → #1163)

lost to Blink Twice (#1150 → #1146)

lost to Lilo & Stitch (#1154 → #1120)

beat A Chorus Line (#1156 → #1230)

beat Kiss Me, Stupid (#1155 → #1159)

The Commuter (2018)

IMDb plot summary: An insurance salesman/ex-cop is caught up in a life-threatening conspiracy during his daily commute home.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Stars Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, and Patrick Wilson.

The Commuter stars Liam Neeson as an insurance salesman who’s blackmailed during his daily train ride. His task: to identify a mysterious passenger before the last stop. It's a fun high-concept, one-location thriller setup. But it's also one of those generic Neeson action movies that seem to come out every six months, and while the premise got us halfway to being a good movie, the execution never quite gets there. The acting is weak across the board, with even reliable performers like Vera Farmiga feeling stuff, and the plot twists range from implausible to flat-out ludicrous. Still, if you’re willing to turn your brain completely off, there’s some goofy entertainment in watching Neeson problem-solve his way through the train. It’s not good, but it’s not terrible either. It's just a silly, disposable thriller that I will immediately forget I saw.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Commuter (2018)

📊 Ranked #2342/4076 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 42

lost to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (#2034 → #2044)

beat Smokin' Aces (#3053 → #3060)

beat The Parting Glass (#2543 → #2554)

lost to The Worst Person in the World (#2289 → #2220)

lost to Near Dark (#2416 → #2346)

beat Arlo the Alligator Boy (#2479 → #2560)

lost to The Dinner Guest (#2447 → #2394)

beat Focus (#2463 → #2469)

lost to A Christmas Carol (#2455 → #2401)

lost to The Fourth Kind (#2459 → #2461)

lost to Gypsy (#2461 → #2441)

beat Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (#2462 → #2491)

The Chaperone (2018)

IMDb plot summary: In the early 1920s, a Kansas woman finds her life forever changed when she accompanies a young dancer on her fame-seeking journey to New York City.

Directed by Michael Engler. Stars Elizabeth McGovern, Haley Lu Richardson, and Géza Röhrig.

The Chaperone tells the story of a conservative Kansas woman who agrees to accompany teenage Louise Brooks to New York City in the 1920s, just before Brooks becomes a silent film icon. It’s a great premise about an actress I don't know much about, and seeing the two women at the opposite ends of repression and rebellion should have been interesting, but it's more interesting in concept than in execution. Elizabeth McGovern plays the chaperone as oddly wooden and restrained, even for the character, and as a result never quite sells her emotional transformation. Haley Lu Richardson as Brooks, however, has a lively, magnetic presence which keeps the film interesting and does in fact make me want to go watch more films from the actual Louise Brooks. But overall, The Chaperone plays it too safe, muddling its story with awkward side plots and an arc for McGovern that just doesn't work. It tries to make statements about liberation but stays disappointingly restrained.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Chaperone (2019)

📊 Ranked #2969/4075 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 27

lost to Meet John Doe (#2034 → #2044)

beat Unbroken (#3052 → #3069)

lost to Onibaba (#2542 → #2560)

lost to The Good Dinosaur (#2796 → #2494)

lost to Splash (#2923 → #2707)

beat The Illusionist (#2986 → #2995)

beat Luther (#2954 → #3024)

lost to Doctor Zhivago (#2938 → #2854)

lost to Obvious Child (#2946 → #2942)

beat Nightmare Alley (#2950 → #2979)

beat The Double Life of Véronique (#2948 → #2963)

beat Solo: A Star Wars Story (#2947 → #2971)

Unpregnant (2020)

IMDb plot summary: A 17-year old Missouri teen named Veronica discovers she has gotten pregnant, a development that threatens to end her dreams of matriculating at an Ivy League college, and the career that will follow.

Directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg. Stars Haley Lu Richardson, Barbie Ferreira, and Giancarlo Esposito.

Unpregnant follows a teenager girl who discovers she’s pregnant and sets off on a road trip with her former best friend to get an abortion in another state, since she can’t legally do it at home. This is almost an identical plot to Plan B, a personal favorite released a year later. Unpregnant, though, is less funny and more earnest, and its heart is in the right place, even if I feel consciously when its humor doesn’t land. There’s one genuinely hilarious sequence involving a nightmare pro-life family who essentially kidnap the girls to stop them from reaching their destination, but the rest of the film leans heavily on sincerity, and the tonal shift of the wacky middle of the film is interesting but jarring. Our two female leads, Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Ferreira, are charismatic, with Ferreira especially standing out. (After seeing her in this and Bob Trevino Likes It, she’s clearly someone to watch.) Beyond the strong leads, though, Unpregnant is pleasant but ultimately forgettable.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Unpregnant (2020)

📊 Ranked #1778/4074 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 56

beat The King and I (#2033 → #2057)

lost to Steamboy (#1015 → #1014)

lost to Muppet Treasure Island (held at #1522)

beat Another Earth (#1779 → #1792)

lost to Winnie the Pooh (#1650 → #1649)

beat Allegiance (#1713 → #1720)

beat Brick (#1681 → #1718)

beat Cropsey (#1665 → #2078)

beat Pulp Fiction (#1657 → #2340)

lost to Swing Shift (#1653 → #1604)

lost to Bedknobs and Broomsticks (#1655 → #1646)

lost to The Revenant (#1656 → #1655)

Bob Trevino Likes It (2024)

IMDb plot summary: When lonely 20-something Lily Trevino accidentally befriends a stranger online who shares the same name as her own self-centered father, encouragement and support from this new Bob Trevino could change her life.

Directed by Tracie Laymon. Stars Barbie Ferreira, John Leguizamo, and French Stewart.

Bob Trevino Likes It is a heartfelt dramedy about a young woman (played by Barbie Ferreira) who ends up connecting on social media with a man who shares the same name as her neglectful father. This stranger, played by John Leguizamo, is warm and paternal and everything she wants from her own father, and the two develop an unconventional bond. This film was a wonderful, weird surprise. What could have been a quirky gimmick turns into something funny, tender, and deeply human. Ferreira was brand new to me as an actress, but she's fantastic here -- sharp, relatable, and vulnerable in all the right ways. The film isn’t afraid to linger in awkwardness, letting its characters stumble, say the wrong things, and still reach each other, but it never feels like it's reveling in the cringe. The ending will have to sit with me. It didn't go where I thought it would and my first thought is that it's a little unearned, but the strong acting performances might just make it work. Honestly, sometimes you just want to see people heal, and this film gives me that without leaning too hard into sentimentality. It's absolutely worth watching.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Bob Trevino Likes It (2025)

📊 Ranked #310/4073 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 93

beat Space Pirate Captain Harlock (#2039 → #2048)

beat Top Secret! (#1110 → #1111)

beat The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (held at #518)

lost to Frozen (#252 → #250)

beat Adaptation. (#379 → #387)

lost to 50/50 (#315 → #324)

beat Spirited Away (#348 → #341)

beat WarGames (#332 → #339)

lost to Eighth Grade (#324 → #319)

lost to Black Narcissus (#327 → #306)

lost to Requiem for a Dream (#330 → #309)

beat Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#331 → #354)

Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

IMDb plot summary: A young Jewish American man, with the help of an eccentric local, endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village that was ultimately razed by the Nazis.

Directed by Liev Schreiber. Stars Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz, and Boris Lyoskin.

Everything Is Illuminated follows a young American, played by Elijah Wood, who travels to Ukraine in search of some of the characters he has heard about from his family history. He is guided along his journey by an ambitious but eccentric local and his even more eccentric grandfather. The film is exactly what it looks like it's going to be: quirky (maybe too quirky for its own good), and ultimately hopeful and warmhearted despite its frequently dark subject matter. Its stylized visuals, dry humor, and editing choices feel very much like a director emulating Wes Anderson, and it carries with it that same sense of whimsy. Anderson usually takes that whimsy right up to the point of being exhausting but stops, while this one definitely crosses the line a few times. Still, there are moments of genuine beauty and emotional resonance scattered throughout, especially when the film quiets down and lets its story breathe instead of just be weird. It's a sweet, strange little movie, and I think it would have been exactly my jam in my college years, but now it feels dated and uneven, with a few good moments scattered throughout.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

📊 Ranked #1973/4072 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 51

lost to Wonder Man (#2032 → #1283)

beat Stagecoach (#3050 → #3049)

beat Rich and Strange (#2540 → #2984)

beat Planet 51 (#2286 → #2535)

beat In Search of a Midnight Kiss (#2159 → #2172)

beat The Lion in Winter (#2096 → #2161)

beat Liberal Arts (#2063 → #2059)

beat The Suburbans (#2047 → #2046)

beat The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (#2039 → #2092)

lost to The King and I (#2035 → #1971)

beat Meet John Doe (#2037 → #2033)

beat America's Sweethearts (#2036 → #2031)

The Time of Your Life (1976)

IMDb plot summary: William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning play revolves around the denizens of a San Francisco bar in 1939.

Directed by Kirk Browning. Stars Benjamin Hendrickson, Richard Ooms, and Nicolas Surovy.

The Time of Your Life is a TV-filmed version of based on William Saroyan’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play, which unfolds entirely in a San Francisco bar, where a rotating cast of eccentric characters drift in and out, sharing jokes, heartbreaks, and philosophical musings. The script strings together dozens of little plot threads -- some touching, some strange, some funny. It's very episodic, more like an anthology of vaguely connected scenes than a complete story. It’s also unmistakably theatrical, for better or worse. The dialogue is witty and sharp as is familiar from cleverly crafted stage scripts, but the staging often feels static on screen. I find a lot of charm in the familiarity of the staginess, but there are times where I also feel the distance when that staginess is translated to film. It mostly makes me think how much more engaging this would be on a stage.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Time of Your Life (1976)

📊 Ranked #1310/4071 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 70

beat Wristcutters: A Love Story (#2032 → #2034)

lost to My Name is Joe (#1014 → #1013)

beat The Green Knight (#1521 → #1546)

lost to Passing (#1267 → #1257)

beat The Black Phone (#1394 → #1523)

lost to Inland Empire (#1330 → #1326)

lost to Decision to Leave (#1362 → #1361)

lost to Aliens (#1378 → #1375)

beat Bridge of Spies (#1386 → #1620)

lost to I, Tonya (#1382 → #1362)

lost to The Great Mouse Detective (#1384 → #1382)

lost to Pain and Glory (#1385 → #1305)

The Kid Detective (2020)

IMDb plot summary: A once-celebrated kid detective, now 32, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity; until a naive client brings him his first 'adult' case to find out who brutally murdered her boyfriend.

Directed by Evan Morgan. Stars Kaitlyn Chalmers-Rizzato, Adam Brody, and Kaleb Horn.

The Kid Detective is a hypothetical gritty, grown-up sequel to Encyclopedia Brown: what if the boy genius detective grows up, finds the one case he can't solve, and life falls apart. It's a concept that could have been painfully gimmicky, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they pretty much nail the execution. Adam Brody is perfectly cast as the main character, playing just the right mix of weary depression and lingering boyish idealism to make the tone work. The tone is key here, by the way, and it walks a tricky line between dark comedy and genuine tragedy, shifting from absurd humor to moments of real emotional weight without losing its way. By the time the final mystery is wrapped up, was both funnier and sadder than I thought it might be. The Kid Detective turns what could have been a one-joke premise into something both enjoyable and oddly touching. What an interesting surprise.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Kid Detective (2020)

📊 Ranked #820/4070 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 81

beat Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (#2032 → #2033)

beat Pig (#1015 → #1022)

lost to Her (#508 → #521)

beat Winter Light (#761 → #1104)

lost to School of Rock (#634 → #635)

lost to Autumn Sonata (#697 → #703)

lost to The Talented Mr. Ripley (#729 → #698)

beat Super (#745 → #753)

lost to Cats (#737 → #740)

beat Spotlight (#741 → #732)

beat Coherence (#739 → #738)

lost to Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (#738 → #760)

Juror #2 (2024)

IMDb plot summary: While serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, a family man finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict or free the wrong killer.

Directed by Clint Eastwood. Stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, and J.K. Simmons.

Juror #2 has a great premise: A juror (played by Nicholas Hoult) realizes partway through a criminal trial that he himself might be the person responsible. The film leans heavily on talky dialogue scenes, a la 12 Angry Men, which often don't work, and Hoult's tightly wound performance, which always does. He grounds the story, which is needed more often than I'd like -- the script can’t resist waxing a little too poetic about the nobility of the American legal system. It's a topic well worth exploring, but it doesn't explore so much as just seem like vague patriotic propaganda. Still, despite a few eye-rolling dialogue scenes, there are moments of brilliance throughout, and the moral questions it raises are undeniably gripping. Without giving anything away, the ending lands just right for me, leaving me with a final taste of the film as an uneven but intriguing courtroom drama that I'd recommend but wouldn't necessarily rewatch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Juror #2 (2024)

📊 Ranked #1158/4069 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 74

lost to Clueless (#2031 → #1751)

beat Late Night with the Devil (#3048 → #3047)

beat Under the Roofs of Paris (held at #2539)

beat The Worst Person in the World (#2285 → #2341)

beat The Keep (#2158 → #2159)

beat A Night to Remember (#2095 → #2092)

beat X (#2062 → #2134)

beat Brothers (#2046 → #2105)

beat The Suburbans (held at #2038)

lost to Moonrise Kingdom (#2034 → #913)

beat America's Sweethearts (#2036 → #2035)

beat Wind River (#2035 → #2396)

Sophie's Choice (1982)

IMDb plot summary: Sophie is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan, a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol.

Sophie’s Choice is one of those cultural touchstones films I "should have" seen already... but I'm not convinced it quite deserves that title. The film follows a young writer who becomes entangled with Polish Holocaust survivor Sophie, played by Meryl Streep, and her highly volatile lover, played by Kevin Kline. The relationship between the latter two is both magnetic and toxic, filled with love, cruelty, and instability, and the writer becomes an audience insert observer of their dynamic. Streep is extraordinary here. Her acting choices for Sophie are both distinct and completely believable. Kline is also incredible, though, filling his scenes with a terrifying mania, making the pair fascinating but sometimes very difficult to watch. All that praise aside, though, I came away ultimately disappointed. Their relationship goes round and round in circles, peeling away layers and back story, until it culminates in the story of Sophie's titular "choice"... but that scene feels oddly disconnected from the rest of the story. It isn't the smoking gun revelation about Sophie that it's set up to be, it's just one more horrifically tragic piece of her past that then gets jumped past to tie up loose ends. Maybe the novel handles this better. I’m curious to read it and see if it's able to make that connection. As it stands, Sophie’s Choice is beautifully acted and very compelling for much of its runtime, but somehow both too long and not long enough to tie its pieces together.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sophie's Choice (1982)

📊 Ranked #1613/4068 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat Cinderella (#2030 → #3078)

lost to Pig (#1013 → #1018)

lost to Muppet Treasure Island (#1520 → #1519)

beat Spy (#1776 → #2268)

beat Batman Forever (#1647 → #2262)

lost to Spider-Man 2 (#1584 → #1583)

lost to True Romance (#1615 → #1617)

beat Cake (#1631 → #1634)

beat Undercover Blues (#1623 → #1628)

lost to The Slipper and the Rose (held at #1619)

beat Logan (#1621 → #1624)

lost to The Trojan Women (#1620 → #1622)

I'm Still Here (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A woman married to a former politician during the military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

Directed by Walter Salles. Stars Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, and Selton Mello.

I'm Still Here is a Brazilian film based on a true story about a family living through Brazil's military dictatorship of the 60s through the 80s. When the husband, a dissident politician husband, is arrested and disappears, we follow his wife holding her family together and seeking out the truth of what happened to her husband. The film unfolds slowly -- so slowly, in fact, that it took me almost the entire runtime to really get invested in the story. But patience pays off here: the final scene brings everything together beautifully and makes the rest of the story click into place for the first time. This is why I don't give up on movies halfway through if they're not working for me -- sometime you have these endings that flip it around entirely. It makes me want to rewatch it now that I know where it’s heading, because I feel like it would be an entirely different emotional experience for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 I'm Still Here (2024)

📊 Ranked #1617/4067 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat Wristcutters: A Love Story (#2030 → #2031)

lost to Date Night (#1013 → #871)

lost to The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (#1541 → #1525)

beat The Help (#1741 → #1760)

beat The Long Kiss Goodnight (#1648 → #1704)

lost to Metal Lords (#1585 → #1551)

beat Vanya on 42nd Street (#1616 → #2161)

lost to Pushing Tin (#1584 → #1582)

lost to Godzilla (#1607 → #1494)

lost to The Shining (#1612 → #1607)

beat De-Lovely (#1614 → #2043)

beat Marie Antoinette (#1613 → #1658)

Silkwood (1983)

IMDb plot summary: A worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.

Directed by Mike Nichols. Stars Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher.

Silkwood tells the true story of Karen Silkwood, a worker at a plutonium processing plant who becomes a whistleblower when she starts to realize how many serious safety violations her company is allowing. This of course leads to pressure from the company for her to stop talking. Meryl Streep is so down to earth in this movie. I often don't like her playing "regular" people and find her more believable in more extreme characterizations, but she completely disappears into this role. Karen feels authentic, with a quiet strength that makes her feel realistically flawed but easy to root for. The story itself is infuriating -- in a "this should never have happened" way, not a "this is poorly written" way. You really feel the injustice of the big corporation crushing the sole individual speaking out. There is a good chunk of the film devoted to Karen's interpersonal drama with her boyfriend and her best friend roommate, and that's a lot less compelling, but it does offer some more context for her character, so I don't have too much of a complaint about it -- just that it's the least interesting part of the film. Overall, it’s a pretty good film: grounded, angry in all the right ways, and in many ways that's due entirely to Streep's strong performance.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Silkwood (1983)

📊 Ranked #1551/4066 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 63

beat Mame (#2029 → #2031)

lost to The Menu (#1013 → #1019)

lost to Superlopez (#1519 → #1367)

beat Evil (#1775 → #1783)

beat The Help (#1646 → #1779)

beat The Intouchables (#1583 → #1578)

lost to Malcolm X (#1551 → #1543)

beat Pushing Tin (#1567 → #1601)

lost to River's Edge (#1559 → #1550)

beat The Chorus (#1563 → #1723)

beat Blow Dry (#1561 → #1809)

beat mother! (held at #1560)

The Mean Season (1985)

IMDb plot summary: When a teenager is shot at the beach, a journalist from The Miami Journal is sent to cover the story. He's called by the murderer and told there'll be four more.

Directed by Phillip Borsos. Stars Kurt Russell, Mariel Hemingway, and Richard Jordan.

The Mean Season stars Kurt Russell as a journalist investigating a serial killer, when he begins to get phone calls from the killer himself, asking Russell to publicize his story. This one definitely takes a while to get going. The setup drags quite a bit before the thriller elements really kick in, and even then, it keeps dampening the tension so it never feels as sharp as it could. However, there is a kind of pulpy fun to it once things start moving. I see it taking a stab at some statements about fame and media obsession which could be extra interesting through today's social media lens, but unfortunately those ideas get muddled and never quite land. Additionally, while I like Kurt Russell in other roles, he's pretty wooden here, playing his character too detached to hold me. That's a lot of negative tossed at the film, but mostly it's just "fine." Middle-of-the-road, unmemorable, but watchable.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Mean Season (1985)

📊 Ranked #2366/4065 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 41

lost to Girl Shy (#2029 → #1877)

beat Benedetta (#3045 → #3047)

beat Chocolat (#2536 → #2540)

lost to The Wailing (#2283 → #2250)

beat National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art (#2409 → #2418)

lost to Dunkirk (#2346 → #2298)

beat Mudbound (#2377 → #2407)

beat It Comes at Night (#2361 → #2388)

lost to Maverick (#2353 → #2277)

beat Aakrosh (#2357 → #2360)

beat Le Week-End (#2355 → #2359)

beat Jimmy the Kid (#2354 → #2377)

Millennium Actress (2001)

IMDb plot summary: A TV interviewer and his cameraman meet a former actress and travel through her memories and career.

Directed by Satoshi Kon. Stars Miyoko Shôji, Mami Koyama, and Fumiko Orikasa.

Millennium Actress is an anime film about an aging actress giving a rare interview about her decades of work. The film jumps back and forth in time, showing us the memories she’s sharing with her audience. I had high hopes for this one because I loved Perfect Blue, but I just didn’t quite gel with Millennium Actress. It took me a long time to really grasp the concept -- what was memory, what was movie, what was metaphor -- and by the time it locked in, I felt a bit distanced from the story. As a result, it never quite carried the emotional weight I think it was supposed to. That said, I can see how it might play out better on a rewatch, knowing where it’s going and what it’s trying to say. Overall, it’s interesting, and it looks gorgeous, but it didn’t quite hook me on this first viewing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Millennium Actress (2002)

📊 Ranked #1544/4064 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 63

beat The Inspector General (#2032 → #2310)

lost to The Substance (#1016 → #1017)

lost to The Wolf of Wall Street (#1511 → #1512)

lost to The Mummy (#1781 → #1766)

lost to American Teen (#1902 → #1538)

beat Natural Born Killers (held at #1977)

beat 21 (#1897 → #1898)

beat Hans Christian Andersen (#1917 → #1983)

beat Miss Europe (#1911 → #1918)

beat Swing Girls (#1903 → #1911)

beat Krull (#1856 → #1861)

Romero (1989)

IMDb plot summary: The life and work of Archbishop Oscar Romero who opposed, at great personal risk, the tyrannical repression in El Salvador.

Directed by John Duigan. Stars Raul Julia, Richard Jordan, and Ana Alicia.

Romero stars Raul Julia as real-life El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who encouraged the church to take a stand against government corruption, despite the danger it put his life in. This is a slow burn, but I'd say the story is worth it in the end. I'm always drawn to stories about people of faith standing up for justice, and this one handles that theme with nuance. Julia does a great job playing this character. He is not flashy, but he brings quiet conviction to the role, making him feel very human -- extremely important for a film that could lean into sappy adoration. By the time the credits rolled, I found myself wanting to learn more about Romero himself. While the film is often very dry, I suspect its final effect is that it will linger with me for awhile.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Romero (1989)

📊 Ranked #1973/4063 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 51

beat How I Live Now (#2030 → #2032)

lost to The Impostors (#981 → #983)

lost to Kajaki (#1521 → #1533)

lost to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (#1776 → #1767)

beat Sweet Charity (#1902 → #1929)

lost to A Warm Corner (#1837 → #1795)

lost to Orgazmo (#1870 → #1578)

lost to Kanal (#1886 → #1677)

beat The Ladykillers (#1894 → #1921)

beat Roma (#1890 → #1898)

beat King Kong (#1888 → #2139)

lost to To Be or Not to Be (#1887 → #1862)

Kneecap (2024)

IMDb plot summary: When fate brings Belfast teacher JJ into the orbit of self-confessed "low life scum" Naoise and Liam Óg, the needle drops on a hip hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish, they lead a movement to save their mother tongue.

Directed by Rich Peppiat. Stars Móglaí Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Próvaí.

Kneecap is a fictional biography of the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, starring all the members as themselves. It tells the story of how they got together and rose to fame despite pressure from multiple sides to quit. This movie is such a strange surprise, made all the more so when I discovered this was a real group and not just a fully made-up story. How much of the story is true? Who knows, but it doesn't matter much because the story and the songs within it are so good. The music is really the emotional core here -- hip-hop is a great musical genre to pair with a story about the fight for Irish identity, and it works all the way through. I loved getting to hear them rap in both English and Irish. It becomes such a powerful statement about rebelling and being counterculture, and it gives extra impact to the story. Overall, this film is very enjoyable, and it also left me wanting to check out Kneecap's music afterward. Definitely worth watching!

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Kneecap (2024)

📊 Ranked #1179/4062 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 72

beat Earth (#2031 → #2748)

lost to Pariah (#1017 → #989)

beat Flora and Son (#1521 → #1520)

beat Glory (#1269 → #1444)

lost to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (#1158 → #1118)

lost to Marjorie Prime (#1206 → #1099)

beat Garbo Talks (#1234 → #1340)

beat Wag the Dog (#1225 → #1226)

beat VeggieTales: Where's God When I'm S-Scared? (#1212 → #1352)

beat The Bells of St. Mary's (#1171 → #1172)

beat Going My Way (#1169 → #1170)

beat Time Bandits (#1209 → #1238)

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)

IMDb plot summary: After marrying a poor woman, rich Rahul is disowned by his father and moves to London to build a new life. Years later, his now-grown younger brother Rohan embarks on a mission to bring Rahul back home and reunite the family.

Directed by Karan Johar. Stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, and Shah Rukh Khan.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is a Bollywood film about a family who exiles their oldest son for marrying outside of the father’s will. A decade later, the younger son sets out to try to reunite them all. One of the things I often really enjoy about Bollywood films is their willingness to tell giant sprawling stories across generations, and that really pays off here. There's a great swooping narrative demonstrating all the actions from the past shaping the present. That sense of generational tension gives the story emotional weight, even when it veers into melodrama. The musical numbers are also excellent -- colorful, energetic, fully worth stopping the story to focus on every time. It's a great balance of spectacle and heart, and the ending is truly satisfying. One I can see myself coming back to.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001)

📊 Ranked #1258/4061 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 71

beat Hotel Rwanda (#2028 → #2030)

lost to Targets (#1012 → #1005)

beat The Tragedy of Macbeth (#1520 → #1493)

beat The Pianist (#1266 → #1484)

lost to Spellbound (#1138 → #1135)

beat Nine to Five (#1201 → #1386)

lost to Good Will Hunting (#1169 → #773)

beat If Beale Street Could Talk (#1185 → #1535)

beat VeggieTales: Josh and the Big Wall (#1177 → #1783)

beat Ghostbusters II (#1173 → #1211)

beat Hoodwinked! (#1171 → #1259)

lost to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (#1170 → #1147)

Presumed Innocent (1990)

IMDb plot summary: As a lawyer investigates the murder of a colleague, he finds himself more connected to the crime than anyone else.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Stars Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, and Raul Julia.

Presumed Innocent stars Harrison Ford as a prosecuting attorney whose coworker (and affair partner) is brutally murdered, and he finds himself implicated by evidence he can’t disprove. This was a pretty bland film that never quite makes it where it wants to go. The story is pretty lifeless with a few erotic scenes tossed in, but they very much feel gratuitous. They come across as a cheap cash grab trying to bank on having cast attractive actors -- although, also, if you want your audience to be drawn in by Harrison Ford being hot, you should not also give him the dorkiest haircut of all time. It almost manages to pull the whole thing together with a creative answer to the mystery, but then it tanks that by trying to make that answer seem much more profound than it actually is. Ultimately this is a bland thriller that doesn't have much to make it work.

How it entered my Flickchart:

lost to Clueless (1995)

lost to Ready Player One (2018)

won against Madigan (1968)

won against Robots (2005)

lost to The Number 23 (2007)

won against McLintock! (1963)

won against The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

won against The Bishop Murder Case (1929)

won against Soup to Nuts (1930)

won against In Time (2011)

lost to Batman Begins (2005)

won against Lincoln (2012)

22%, #3142/4060 on my Flickchart.

The Holy Mountain (1973)

IMDb plot summary: In a corrupt, greed-fueled world, a powerful alchemist leads a messianic character and seven materialistic figures to the Holy Mountain, where they hope to achieve enlightenment.

Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Stars Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, and Zamira Saunders.

The Holy Mountain is a surrealist film by Alejandro Jodorowsky, so I’m not going to go much into plot because it’s not super comprehensible. I had heard of this movie but didn’t realize until I started watching that it was directed by the director of my all-time least favorite film, Fando y Lis, so I didn’t have high hopes for it. It wasn’t nearly that unpleasant, but it sure was boring for me. I understand that it's not plot-driven, that it's supposed to be surreal and full of symbolism, but after a while, it just felt like chaos for the sake of chaos. The visuals are often striking, sure, but without a narrative thread for me to latch onto, I couldn't stay invested. The most interesting part, by far, was the section showing life on different planets. Each one was unique and creative, and it was a fun little tangent that actually held my attention. But the rest of the film dragged on for what seemed like forever. Jodorowsky is not for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Holy Mountain (1973)

📊 Ranked #3679/4059 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 9

lost to Meet John Doe (held at #2026)

lost to Bottle Shock (#3040 → #2972)

lost to Enough (#3550 → #3510)

beat Winter Passing (#3803 → #3811)

beat I Accuse My Parents (#3676 → #3684)

lost to Hostage (#3613 → #3575)

lost to Airborne (#3644 → #3642)

lost to GoldenEye (#3660 → #3661)

lost to Wimbledon (#3668 → #3670)

 lost to The Godfather Part II (held at #3672)

lost to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (#3674 → #3671)

beat A Sound of Thunder (#3675 → #3683)

Patriot Games (1992)

IMDb plot summary: When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.

Directed by Phillip Noyce. Stars Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, and Patrick Bergin.

Patriot Games is a Jack Ryan movie starring Harrison Ford as Ryan, who intercepts two brothers trying to kill a British lord and, in the process, kills one of them. The living assassin makes it his life’s mission to get revenge on Ryan for his brother’s death. I don’t really know this franchise at all, but I’d always assumed more political intrigue, while really this one primarily comes down to one man and his family being personally harassed. I’m not complaining – that’s a more interesting story to me, and the assassin, played by Sean Bean, ends up being the most fascinating character as he continuously throws his cause under the bus to carry out his personal revenge. The pacing is pretty solid, as it’s a long film but moves along quickly enough that it doesn’t FEEL long. It doesn’t make me want to watch anything else in the franchise – Ryan himself is by far the least interesting piece here – but this was enjoyable enough.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Patriot Games (1992)

📊 Ranked #2315/4058 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 42

lost to King Kong (#2025 → #2015)

beat Hour of the Wolf (#3039 → #3037)

beat Only You (held at #2531)

lost to Drive (#2278 → #2274)

beat Thoughtcrimes (#2404 → #2406)

beat Dr. No (#2341 → #2371)

beat Pokémon: The First Movie (held at #2309)

beat About Last Night... (#2293 → #2307)

beat Dr. Seuss on the Loose (#2285 → #2508)

beat A Tale of Two Sisters (#2281 → #2285)

beat Dhamaal (held at #2279)