I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A teenager just trying to make it through life in the suburbs is introduced by a classmate to a mysterious late-night TV show.

Directed by Jane Schoenbrun. Starring Justice Smith, Jack Haven, and Ian Foreman.

I Saw the TV Glow is a film about two outcast teenagers who form a bond over a beloved TV show they both relate to deeply. The story takes some unexpected turns after it sets up that premise, so I'm going to leave the rest of the plot vague. This movie blew me away. The final scene was such a visceral gut punch, I just wanted to turn off my screen and cry. I read and watched a few video essays and critical takes on the meaning of the film after watching it, and, yeah, having a stronger understanding of the kind of experience this film intended to convey made it even more moving. Justice Smith in particular is incredible here, his vocal tone truly capturing the perpetual fear that keeps his character in a chokehold. I love the way the story is told and how much it pulled me in. A lot of that is due to the visuals, which are so evocative of not only the time period but also the mood. Overall, a heartbreaking and beautifully crafted horror/drama, and I'm going to be thinking about it for a very long time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

I Saw the TV Glow > David Copperfield (1935)

I Saw the TV Glow > In the Name of the Father

I Saw the TV Glow > Chariots of Fire

I Saw the TV Glow < Gravity

I Saw the TV Glow > Dream Scenario

I Saw the TV Glow < Castle in the Sky

I Saw the TV Glow > Aftersun

I Saw the TV Glow > Bad Times at the El Royale

I Saw the TV Glow > Dead Poets Society

I Saw the TV Glow > Operation Petticoat

I Saw the TV Glow > Pitch Perfect

I Saw the TV Glow > Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

Final spot: #316 out of 4043, or 92%.

Conclave (2024)

IMDb plot summary: When Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, he finds himself at the center of a web of conspiracies and intrigue that could shake the very foundation of the Catholic Church.

Directed by Edward Berger. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow.

Conclave is a dramatic film about the death of a fictional Catholic Pope, and the gathering of Cardinals who must choose his successor. Ralph Fiennes plays the facilitator of the conclave, and he is joined by an excellent supporting cast to round out the dramatic tension. This is exactly the kind of slow talk-y moralizing drama I am always drawn to. What is each character's motivation? What secrets will come to light? Is our main character an unreliable narrator? I'll be on the edge of my seat the whole time waiting to find out. The movie is paced very well, with the twists and turns and ethical quandaries all coming at just the right time to maximize the drama. With all these pieces in motion, it could have landed in a very anticlimactic place, unable to follow through on its set-up, but I was deeply satisfied with how the story ended. It's an excellent character study and question of moral responsibility, especially as relates to faith and tradition. I really appreciated this movie and I'm glad I got around to seeing it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Conclave > David Copperfield (1935)

Conclave > Elf

Conclave < Two Days, One Night

Conclave > Spencer

Conclave < Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Conclave < Face/Off

Conclave > Lolita (1962)

Conclave > Carnage

Conclave > What About Bob?

Conclave > Star Trek (2009)

Conclave > Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Conclave > Civil War

Final spot: #695 out of 4042, or 83%.

Soup to Nuts (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Mr. Schmidt's costume store is bankrupt because he spends his time on Rube Goldberg-style inventions. The creditors send a young manager who falls for Schmidt's niece Louise, but she'll have none of him. Schmidt's friends Ted, Queenie, and some goofy firemen try to help out, and things come to a slapstick head when Louise needs rescuing from a fire.

Directed by Benjamin Stoloff. Starring Ted Healy, Charles Winninger, and Frances McCoy.

Soup to Nuts is a 1930 film about a costume shop going through some managerial changes that wreak some havoc among the workers and owner's family. It's notable for being the film debut of the three comedians who would go on to form the Three Stooges, although at this time they were working as a foursome with Ted Healey. Aside from that historically interesting note, there's not a lot about this movie that stands out. While it's billed as a comedy, a lot of the family and business drama is played pretty straight and take up most of the film, and it's a little jarring to see these goofy slapstick comedians come in, do a little gag, and then move on. Our dramatic leads are tropey but likable enough. It just doesn't do a lot to settle into either the comedy or the drama, and they don't blend together well, so it all ends up kind of mushing together. Disappointing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Soup to Nuts < David Copperfield (1935)

Soup to Nuts > American Sniper

Soup to Nuts < The Fourth Kind

Soup to Nuts < The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Soup to Nuts > Independence Day

Soup to Nuts > The Witches of Eastwick

Soup to Nuts > Blue is the Warmest Color

Soup to Nuts < Water for Elephants

Soup to Nuts > Resident Evil

Soup to Nuts < Father of the Bride (1950)

Soup to Nuts > Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Soup to Nuts > Hurlyburly

Final spot: #2798 out of 4041, or 31%.

September 5 (2024)

IMDB plot summary: During the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, an American sports broadcasting team must adapt to live coverage of the Israeli athletes being held hostage by a terrorist group.

Directed by Tim Fehlbaum. Starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, and Ben Chaplin.

September 5 tells the story of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics, where the Israeli Olympic team was kidnapped and then murdered. We see the story through the eyes of the American sports reporters on the ground who found themselves covering hard news rather than the Olympic games they had anticipated. We've seen this story told in blockbuster film before, with Stephen Spielberg's Munich, but the journalistic angle taken here does set it apart to make both worth a watch, although Spielberg's version was significantly more engaging for me. So much of this side of the story necessitates just... sitting around and waiting for information to come in, and that can leave you antsy for more to happen. The acting and cinematography here both are unflashy but very competent, and there are some very moving high-stakes moments in the second half of the film that are paced perfectly. Overall, though, this is something that faded pretty quickly from my memory after watching it. It's not a bad movie by any means, but it didn't make an impact on me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

September 5 > David Copperfield (1935)

September 5 < In the Name of the Father

September 5 < The Pianist

September 5 < Borstal Boy

September 5 > The Client

September 5 < Batman (1989)

September 5 > Malcolm & Marie

September 5 < Reality Bites

September 5 < The Ladykillers (2004)

September 5 < A Few Good Men

September 5 < Blow Dry

September 5 < The Group

Final spot: #1861 out of 4040, or 54%.

A Warm Corner (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Some British citizens meet at the Venetian Lido where they go to play. Between them is naughty Mr. Corner, who under the false name of Mr. Pickles goes after Mimi so his friend's son can be free to marry his own daughter. Only, he does not know that the man is in fact already married to Mimi.

Starring Leslie Henson, Heather Thatcher, and Austin Melford.

A Warm Corner is a 1930 film about a man who is humiliated and blackmailed when he tries to cheat on his wife with a married woman, and then doubly humiliated when all the people involved in his affair show up at his home pretending to be other people. This was a slow start, but once it got going, it was a pretty enjoyable entry into what has become a bit of a slog in my 1930 project. It has the hallmarks of an enjoyable comedy of errors, with some bold characterization and some clever wordplay. It's not stellar, but compared to the dull films in this year I've been watching lately, it was refreshing. It's also one of the first films in awhile for this challenge that was not originally on Flickchart when I went to rank it, so I had to submit it and wait for it to be approved. It's clear one of the lesser-known films from this year, and it's at least as good as some of the others I've seen!

How it entered my Flickchart:

A Warm Corner:

beat Broken Blossoms (#1982 → #1991)

lost to The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (#989 → #913)

lost to Mickey Blue Eyes (#1484 → #1442)

lost to VeggieTales: God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! (held at #1731)

beat Tangled (#1855 → #1864)

beat Serenity (#1792 → #1793)

beat Imitation of Life (#1761 → #1785)

lost to Sin City (#1746 → #1747)

beat Serpico (#1753 → #1762)

lost to White Heat (#1749 → #1741)

beat The Help (#1751 → #1775)

beat Captain America: The First Avenger (#1750 → #1770)

Heretic (2024)

IMDb plot summary: Two young religious women are drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse in the house of a strange man.

Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, and Chloe East.

Heretic is a horror film in which two Mormon missionary women visit an older man who has expressed interest in the church. He invites them in to discuss the church further and engages in philosophical debate with them, but as the evening continues, the women start getting the sense that something is off and they might be in danger. I am 100% here for Hugh Grant only playing villains now, because he's incredible in this, as are Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East as the young missionaries. The three play their parts perfectly, balancing the psychological aspect of the horror story, and keeping me on edge the whole time while also acting perfectly in character. It's the kind of story that could easily struggle to hold up to the marvelous premise it sets up, but I was impressed with the ending as well -- it delivered exactly what I was hoping for. It very nicely balanced the unexpected with satisfying follow-through, and I had a blast watching it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Heretic > Get Shorty

Heretic > Elf

Heretic < Two Days, One Night

Heretic > Theater Camp

Heretic > The Jungle Book (1967)

Heretic < The Last Unicorn

Heretic < Dogville

Heretic > American History X

Heretic < The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Heretic > Purple Noon

Heretic < Kung Fu Hustle

Heretic > Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Final spot: #610 out of 4039, or 85%.

HotShots! (1991)

IMDb plot summary: A parody of Top Gun in which a talented but unstable fighter pilot must overcome the ghosts of his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers.

Directed by Jim Abrahams. Starring Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, and Valeria Golino.

Hot Shots! is a parody of Top Gun starring Charlie Sheen as the highly volatile but talented fighter pilot leading a squadron of planes on a dangerous mission. This is a solo film by Jim Abrahams of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, the team behind Airplane! and The Naked Gun, and it is very much in the same vein as those films. Not being much of a Top Gun fan, it was really entertaining to see that kind of ridiculous over-the-top macho military propaganda lampooned, and as I expect from ZAZ films, there are jokes zinging left and right, so if you don't like one, just wait a minute and there'll be another. A good amount of these don't work for me, and there are almost no transcendent laugh-out-loud moments, although I was tickled by a scene in which a group of drilling soldiers seen through a background window began a kickline. But it's not annoying either for the most part, and overall it makes for a pleasant enough watch, if not in the same league as the ZAZ group work.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hot Shots! > Get Shorty

Hot Shots! < Elf

Hot Shots! < The Pianist

Hot Shots! > The Three Musketeers (1993)

Hot Shots! > VeggieTales: Are You My Neighbor?

Hot Shots! > Hero (2002)

Hot Shots! < Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

Hot Shots! < Disney’s Newsies the Broadway Musical

Hot Shots! > Joker

Hot Shots! > Something to Sing About

Hot Shots! > A Scanner Darkly

Hot Shots! > Incendies

Final spot: 1562 out of 4038, or 61%.

The Green Knight (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A fantasy retelling of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Directed by David Lowery. Starring Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, and Joel Edgerton.

The Green Knight is a retelling of the medieval story of Gawain and the Green Knight. Dev Patel plays Gawain, who challenges the Green Knight on Christmas Day and chops off his head, only for the Knight to stand back up, pick up his head, and announce that one year later he will deliver the exact same blow to Gawain. Most of the film follows Gawain on his year-later quest to find the Knight and see if he will survive the encounter. Honestly I put off watching this one for a long time because I didn't have high hopes, but I found more to like about it than I expected. There's an interesting episodic nature to it as Gawain goes through his various challenges, and the visuals really are gorgeous, but the story doesn't work as well for me. I am also unsure how I feel about the ending, which feels ambiguous in an irritating way to me rather than a fun one, but I suspect sitting with it longer might help it gel. It overall does feel like one I'll appreciate more *having* seen it than *while* seeing it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Green Knight > Being the Ricardos

The Green Knight < Elf

The Green Knight < The Pianist

The Green Knight > Children of Paradise

The Green Knight > Death to Smoochy

The Green Knight > A Star Is Born (1954)

The Green Knight < Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

The Green Knight > Incendies

The Green Knight < Die Hard

The Green Knight > The Salesman

The Green Knight < The Night Before

The Green Knight > Band of Brothers

Final spot: #1556 out of 4037, or 61%.

Dragonheart (1996)

IMDb plot summary: The last dragon and a disillusioned dragon-slaying knight must unite to stop an evil king, who was granted partial immortality.

Directed by Rob Cohen. Starring Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery, and Dina Meyer.

Dragonheart is a fantasy movie about a young king who is saved from death thanks to a dragon sharing his heart with him. But the king grows up to be a tyrannical ruler like his father, and his former mentor, a victim of his cruelty, and the dragon whose heart it was all band together to try to take him down. I was ten when this movie came out, and if I had seen it as a kid, I could absolutely see it becoming a favorite. As it is, it is definitely a movie for children, but it has some charm to it. The story manages to capture both the sense of the individual characters as well as the far-reaching epic story that you want from a fantasy adventure. The amount of humor in this was a bit of a surprise, but I'm pleased the film doesn't take itself too seriously to be a kids' film. The character archetypes aren't deep, but they are clear and make it easy for a child to identify themselves quickly with one of the heroes. Overall, this one was a pleasant surprise and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it, even if I don't think I'm going to rewatch it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Dragonheart > Being the Ricardos

Dragonheart < In the Name of the Father

Dragonheart > The Pianist

Dragonheart < Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Dragonheart > The Minus Man

Dragonheart > The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey

Dragonheart < Watchmen

Dragonheart > The French Dispatch

Dragonheart < Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

Dragonheart > The Shoes of the Fisherman

Dragonheart > What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Dragonheart > The Descendants

Final spot: #1301 out of 4036, or 68%.