Deconstructing Harry (1997)

IMDb plot summary: Suffering from writer's block and eagerly awaiting his writing award, Harry Block remembers events from his past and scenes from his best-selling books as characters, real and fictional, come back to haunt him.
Directed by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen, Elisabeth Shue, Hazelle Goodman, and Bob Balaban.

Wow, Harry is really one of Woody Allen's most detestable characters, and there is a coldness to this movie because of it. This is one of the last few Allen movies I have yet to see, and I'm... still not entirely sure what I think of it yet, so this review may be a little scattered. The creative use of editing was fascinating here, making Harry's reality fragmented and jumpy while his stories were (as far as I can recall) smooth and straightforward. Unraveling his life through both his work and his real life encounters, we get glimpses of Harry both as who he is and who he wishes to be/thinks he is.

I think this is almost certainly not a flick I can grasp the first time through, so it'd be worth a second viewing at some point. As it is right now, it'll sit in the high middle of my chart as I feel there's something of substance there but nothing that really grabbed me this time around.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Deconstructing Harry > Holiday
Deconstructing Harry < Eat Pray Love
Deconstructing Harry < Barton Fink
Deconstructing Harry > Julie & Julia
Deconstructing Harry < Bye Bye Birdie (1995)
Deconstructing Harry > Titanic
Deconstructing Harry < Manhattan Murder Mystery
Deconstructing Harry > Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
Deconstructing Harry > Cabaret
Deconstructing Harry > Star Trek: Generations
Final spot: #980 out of 2364.

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

IMDb plot summary: A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Directed by Mike Nichols. Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams.

Where this movie is trying to go is interesting, but it just never seems to get there. I've seen much better performances from all the actors involved, and the film never quite figures out how to land, as it just sorts of... runs out of steam and sputters out toward the end. As a result, it never really makes clear what it's trying to say. It seems like it's trying to leave you with a message, but any message that's there is muddled. I'd hoped for something much more interesting, given the great cast, director, and screenwriter. As it is, it just kind of... sits.

1.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Charlie Wilson's War < A Star Is Born (1954)
Charlie Wilson's War > The Number 23
Charlie Wilson's War < Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Charlie Wilson's War > Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Charlie Wilson's War < Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Charlie Wilson's War > Anything Else
Charlie Wilson's War < The Trouble With Angels
Charlie Wilson's War < Hulk
Charlie Wilson's War < Cars
Charlie Wilson's War < Man on Fire
Charlie Wilson's War > The Internship
Final spot: #1586 out of 2363.

Starship Troopers (1997)

IMDb plot summary: Humans in a fascistic, militaristic future do battle with giant alien bugs in a fight for survival.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, and Jake Busey.

While usually I wouldn't be all that into a war movie, even a sci-fi war movie, this is a light, fun, and casual flick that I found really likable. Even though it manages to slip in some interesting commentary on nationalism and the adrenaline of war, for the most part it's fluffy as can be. Heads and limbs get torn off by bugs left and right and the camera barely stops to notice, let alone care. Maybe the violence is gratuitous, but the fact that there was so little blood involved made it feel less realistic and more like a silly video game. (Of course, I have been playing Earth Defense Force recently, so that came to mind more than once when watching this.) I also particularly liked the news networks as a gimmick to set up atmosphere and speed plot along -- it was integrated seamlessly with the tone and world of the movie. Overall, this is a great goofy blockbuster and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

3.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Starship Troopers > Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Starship Troopers < Eat Pray Love
Starship Troopers > What Maisie Knew
Starship Troopers < Sergeant York
Starship Troopers > Junebug
Starship Troopers > The Shining
Starship Troopers < The Chorus
Starship Troopers < How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Starship Troopers > After the Wedding
Starship Troopers < Gandhi
Final spot: #769 out of 2362.

It Follows (2014)

IMDb plot summary: A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after getting involved in a sexual encounter.
Directed by David Robert Mitchell. Starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Lili Sepe, and Daniel Zovatto.

I am a big fan of horror films that focus on slow, creeping tension without a lot of jump scares or gore, and this perfectly hit the spot. It's creepy not because things jump out at you every five minutes, but because the situation itself is just scary. The soundtrack is a fascinating throwback to older horror scores, and while it took me a little while to get into the groove of that, by the end I was completely sold on how it helped to create this sort of... retro surreal nightmare. I totally get why this got all the hype it did. It's one of the better horror films that I've seen in awhile.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
It Follows > How to Deal
It Follows > Eat Pray Love
It Follows < Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
It Follows < The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
It Follows > Billy Elliot the Musical Live
It Follows > The Basketball Diaries
It Follows > Hawking
It Follows < Repulsion
It Follows > A Streetcar Named Desire
It Follows > Punchline
It Follows < The Goodbye Girl (2004)
Final spot: #453 out of 2360.

Luen oi hang sing (2002)

IMDb plot summary: Fung is a delivery boy who has several chance encounters with Jane. A budding relationship between the two is rapidly established, but when Jane is suddenly killed in a car accident, it seems as if it is all over. But Jane's dying wish, to see the dance competition she would have been in, comes true as she is given seven days to "live" within Fung's body.
Directed by Dante Lam. Starring Nicholas Tse, Kar Yan Lam, Eason Chan, and Candy Lo.

This movie has a sweet premise (though the Netflix reviews compare it a LOT to Ghost, which I have not seen, so I can't say how original it is), but the execution falls very flat. The visuals are muddled and ugly, the tone of the movie is uncertain, and sometimes even the genre of the film is in question. Is this a supernatural romance? A drama about loss? A dance movie with a twist? The movie tries to be all of these and never really succeeds at any of them. Not a great flick by any means.

2 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart (ranked under its English title):
Tiramisu < How to Deal
Tiramisu > Mission: Impossible III
Tiramisu < The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Tiramisu < American Graffiti
Tiramisu < Seasons of the Heart
Tiramisu < Braveheart
Tiramisu > Eagle Eye
Tiramisu > Lawless
Tiramisu > Midnight Cowboy
Tiramisu < Gypsy (1993)
Tiramisu < Avanti!
Final spot: #1739 out of 2361.

The Abyss (1989)

IMDb plot synopsis: A civilian diving team are enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and face danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
Directed by James Cameron. Starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, and Leo Burmester.

Man, James Cameron's epics may be, well, of epic length but, boy, do they look fantastic. This is a movie that I imagine would be great to see on the big screen. Even watching it on my laptop, I was pretty impressed.

It should probably be noted that I watched the theatrical version of this, but having read up on the extended cut, I'm pretty happy with the version I saw. There was already a lot trying to be squeezed into this movie as is, and adding another essential subplot would have made the movie feel thematically stretched, rather than as rich as it was.

This is a movie that uses its length well, with little filler and very few scenes of waiting around for something to happen. It's a very solid film, and one I'm glad I finally got to see.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Abyss > Bunraku
The Abyss > Argo
The Abyss < Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Abyss < The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
The Abyss < Billy Elliot the Musical Live
The Abyss < Bubba Ho-tep
The Abyss > The Reader
The Abyss < Hannah Arendt
The Abyss < Tropic Thunder
The Abyss < The Impossible
The Abyss > Educating Rita
Final spot: #569 out of 2359.

Jumper (2008)

IMDb plot synopsis: A teenager with teleportation abilities suddenly finds himself in the middle of an ancient war between those like him and their sworn annihilators.
Directed by Doug Liman. Starring  Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Well, this was pretty disappointing. I was a big fan of the book as a teenager (in fact, I just got it so I can read it again and compare the two) but that was less wild sci-fi over-the-top action and more interesting coming-of-age drama with some sci-fi elements mixed in. I remember being fascinated by how it explored all the things he would and could do with this power, and while the movie does touch on that, it spends a lot more time building up a ridiculous villain that just exists and is accepted with zero explanation. Combine that with an extremely rushed second half (especially compared to the leisurely first half) and a bizarre ending, and this movie is ambitious but falls very flat.

There are a few good moments, though -- I'm thinking particularly of the chase scene all over the globe, which is delicious to watch. Hayden Christensen is likable, if a little dumb, as our hero, and Jamie Bell is (far more) interesting as his sidekick. There was a lot of potential with this movie, and seeing it fall apart is disappointing, but every so often I can catch glimpses of what it could've been.

1.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Jumper < Red Eye
Jumper > Ray
Jumper < The Invention of Lying
Jumper < Camelot
Jumper > Apocalypse Now
Jumper < Hello, Dolly!
Jumper < JFK
Jumper > The Misfits
Jumper > Blue Valentine
Jumper > About Last Night...
Jumper > Drive Me Crazy
Final spot: #1677 out of 2358.