High and Low (1963)

IMDb plot summary: An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom.
Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Starring Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, and Kyôko Kagawa.

A very mellow crime thriller by today's standards, but an engrossing one. The story moves along at what feels like a realistic pace. I thought it was fascinating that the most gripping scene (for me, anyway) was a scene where everyone working in this case just simply reports on what they've found. I felt like I was truly following the ins and outs of what it was like to work on this case. Along with the mystery/crime/thriller aspect, it's also a very human story, especially the opening and closing scenes. I didn't *love* it, but I was impressed by it and would certainly recommend it. 3.5 stars.

Flickchart: #690 out of 1923, below The Secret of Santa Vittoria and above Au Revoir Les Enfants.

The Words (2012)

IMDb plot summary: A writer at the peak of his literary success discovers the steep price he must pay for stealing another man's work.
Directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal. Starring Dennis Quaid, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana and Dennis Quaid.

Well, this movie certainly wanted to say *something*. It didn't really work, though. Too many stories-within-stories-within-stories for any of them to really capture my attention, and the extremely preachy scene at the end made me roll my eyes and say, "Oh, okay, so this was the message that they wanted to get across." It's not a good enough story to get away with that kind of preachiness. Super disappointing. 1.5 stars.

Flickchart: #1450 out of 1922, below Mulan and above Happy Gilmore.

The Thing (1982)

IMDb plot summary: Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.
Directed by John Carpenter. Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, and David Clennon.

This certainly is creepy. I'm not sure it's going to stick with me as much as I had hoped, but it really is a very entertaining creature horror. And, who knows, maybe it WILL stick with me - that creature was certainly one of the creepiest things I've ever seen on film. I think my issue ended up being that I didn't connect to any of the characters, so any moment when they weren't actively fighting the creature was not so interesting for me. 3.5 stars.

Flickchart: #683 out of 1921, below To Sir, With Love and above The Exorcist.

Open Your Eyes (1997)

IMDb plot summary: A very handsome man finds the love of his life, but he suffers an accident and needs to have his face rebuilt by surgery after it is severely disfigured.
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar. Starring Eduardo Noriega, Penélope Cruz, and Chete Lera.

I watched the remake of this last year. Since they are pretty similar, I'd heard that whichever one I watched first would probably be the one I liked more. That is definitely the case here. Watching the story unfold this second time was not quite as wonderful for me, and the performances didn't capture me as much. It's tempting for me to downplay it because it wasn't *transcendant* the way Vanilla Sky was for me, but it was still a really excellent movie. The story is fascinating, the acting is good, and the ending is really interesting to watch. 4 stars.

Flickchart: #347 out of 1920, below Trainspotting and above Kramer vs. Kramer.

Men in Black 3 (2012)

IMDb plot summary: Agent J travels in time to M.I.B.'s early days in 1969 to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Starring Will Smith, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Jemaine Clement, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Oh, this was a beautiful contrast to the second movie, which was terrible all the way through. This suffers from some sequelitis and some tired jokes, but overall, this movie is almost as entertaining as a standalone time travel comedy. The newly-introduced characters are great, especially Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin - what a creative, entertaining character! The movie is much, much, much smarter than the previous installment, and made for a very fun movie night. Way to redeem the series a bit. 3.5 stars.

Flickchart: #696 out of 1919, below Ramona and Beezus and above A Serious Man.

Men in Black II (2002)

IMDb plot summary: Agent J needs help so he is sent to find Agent K and restore his memory.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Lara Flynn Boyle and Rosario Dawson.

Ugh.

This is a pretty horrible movie.

Seriously, it took everything that was entertaining about the original movie and made it lame and stupid. The jokes were flat, the characterization was weird and inconsistent (not just from the last movie to this one - it was inconsistent *within the movie*), and the special effects were really, really bad, while the visuals on the last rewatch of the original flick held up surprisingly well. On the positive side, THANK GOD he wasn't partnered with that dog the whole movie...

*This*, people, *this* is why sequels to clearly standalone movies are a horrible idea. 1 star.

Flickchart: #1794 out of 1918, below Mean Streets and above The Incredible Journey.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

IMDb plot summary: After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
Directed by David O. Russell. Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver.

HERE we go! After watching 7 of the 9 Best Picture nominees from 2012, I finally come across one I genuinely like a lot. (I liked Argo, too, but not a lot.) These characters are rich and interesting. It's the first time I've actually liked either one of these actors - I've never been on the Jennifer Lawrence bandwagon - and it was so very easy to get drawn into their story. It's sweet and heartwarming in the best way and makes me smile. Thoroughly enjoyed this. 4 stars.

Flickchart: #297 out of 1917, below The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and above In the Bedroom.