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)

In a Violent Nature (2024)

IMDb plot summary: When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 70-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it.

Directed by Chris Nash. Stars Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, and Cameron Love.

In a Violent Nature is a mostly standard slasher film told, unusually, from the point of view of the killer. Point of view is literal here – we follow him through the woods as he stalks a group of college aged students, but he does not speak or give us much insight into his actions. While I enjoy the slightly sideways perspective this takes on the slasher genre, and at least one of the deaths was so surprisingly gruesome that I laughed out loud, there is a LOT of just… nothing in this movie. Lots of walking through the woods, picking up weapons, walking by people who are talking and listening to them… it feels almost more like watching a Let’s Play video, where the moments of action are few and far between. If I was more engaged in the slasher genre overall, this might pop more for me, but I did find myself zoning out for large chunks of the movie as we trudged through leaves. Horror fans should probably check this out, but I like this better in theory than I do in execution.

How it entered my Flickchart:🎥 In a Violent Nature (2024)

📊 Ranked #2278/4057 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 43

beat The Cloverfield Paradox (held at #2025)

lost to Mister Roberts (#1011 → #1014)

lost to Beauty and the Beast (#1518 → #1477)

lost to Abigail (#1772 → #1741)

beat Footlight Parade (#1898 → #1895)

beat Gold Diggers of 1933 (#1835 → #1942)

beat Stalag 17 (#1803 → #1814)

beat The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (#1787 → #2076)

lost to Spy (#1779 → #1772)

beat My Blueberry Nights (#1783 → #2390)

lost to Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (#1781 → #1769)

lost to Once Upon A Mattress (#1782 → #1748)

Nickel Boys (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A powerful friendship develops between two young Black men as they navigate the harrowing trials of reform school together.

Directed by RaMell Ross. Stars Ethan Cole Sharp, Sam Malone, and Najah Bradley.

Nickel Boys follows two Black teenagers who are sent to a reform school for boys, where they bond with each other as they weather the negative treatment from the adults and figure out what their futures might look like. This feels like one of those movies that flew in, wowed everybody, and then suddenly disappeared and nobody’s talked about it for a year. The filming gimmick is that it’s told entirely from first-person point of view cinematography, switching between the two main characters as they take center stage. It definitely is an attempt to put us in the characters’ shoes, but it also calls attention to the gimmick in a way I don’t love. The story is interesting and I want to follow along with it, but oddly the camera gimmickry distanced me from it, which I’m sure is exactly the opposite of the intention. As a result, though, this one left me emotionally cold even when I appreciated pieces of the artistry.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Nickel Boys (2024)

📊 Ranked #2096/4056 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 48

lost to The Last Metro (#2024 → #1327)

beat Robots (#3038 → #3276)

beat Pacific Rim (#2530 → #2527)

beat 42nd Street (#2277 → #3089)

lost to The Beach (#2151 → #2095)

beat The Adventures of Huck Finn (#2214 → #2215)

beat BASEketball (#2182 → #3008)

beat The Room (#2166 → #2180)

beat A Hard Day's Night (#2158 → #2166)

beat Holiday Affair (#2154 → #2299)

beat Frank (#2152 → #2159)

Black Beauty (1994)

IMDb plot summary: The fates of horses, and the people who own and command them, are revealed as Black Beauty narrates the circle of his life.

Directed by Caroline Thompson. Stars Alan Cumming, Sean Bean, and David Thewlis.

Black Beauty is a film adaptation of the children’s book about a horse’s life as he goes through a variety of living situations and owners that are sometimes cruel, sometimes kind. Alan Cumming voices Black Beauty’s thoughts as a narrator. It’s been years since I read this book, but this film brought back a lot of warm fuzzy memories and was charmingly told. The language, particularly Black Beauty’s narration, is clearly targeted toward younger viewers, and I don’t mind it – it gives the story a wholesome sheen that ties the tone together and helps to offset the more disturbing pieces of the plot. I also appreciated the pacing, which is active enough to keep younger viewers engaged but slow enough to allow the quieter moments to land. This all sounds much more impressive than it perhaps is – it is definitely still a children’s film, just a pretty well-done one. I was more drawn into the story than I expected, and if I was a horse-obsessed child, I suspect this would be exactly what I wanted.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Black Beauty (1994)

📊 Ranked #1789/4055 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 56

beat In Search of a Midnight Kiss (#2024 → #2037)

lost to SubUrbia (held at #1010)

beat Oddity (#1517 → #1643)

lost to The Hunt for Red October (#1262 → #1220)

beat Hook, Line and Sinker (#1388 → #1537)

lost to Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (#1325 → #1187)

beat The Miseducation of Cameron Post (#1356 → #1390)

lost to The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (#1340 → #1338)

lost to The Zone of Interest (#1348 → #1341)

lost to Solaris (#1352 → #1347)

beat Triangle of Sadness (#1354 → #1971)

beat Dangerous Liaisons (#1353 → #1360)