A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

IMDb plot summary: A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.
Directed by Sergio Leone. Starring Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch, Gian Maria Volontè, and Wolfgang Lukschy.

This was the second critically-acclaimed movie this week that I had high hopes for based on other movies I'd seen and enjoyed from the director... only to be seriously let down. Oddly, A Fistful of Dollars feels significantly longer than The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, despite being about half its length and actually a pretty short film. But while TGTB&TU had some great character development and interactions to pull me into the story, this one is all surface. None of the characters are interesting to watch and it all seems so run-of-the-mill -- though maybe none of these characters or scenarios were tropes just yet. Comparing it to not only TGTB&TU but also to this film's source material Yojimbo, and it's clear that this movie just doesn't have the personal element that helps it hold up to those two. I had trouble even staying awake through this film's short run.

1 star.

How it entered my Flickchart:
A Fistful of Dollars < The Fortune Cookie
A Fistful of Dollars < Chinatown
A Fistful of Dollars > The Long Goodbye
A Fistful of Dollars < Road to Morocco
A Fistful of Dollars < Roberta
A Fistful of Dollars < The Chocolate War
A Fistful of Dollars < Easter Parade
A Fistful of Dollars > Aquamarine
A Fistful of Dollars > Out of the Past
A Fistful of Dollars < Men of Honor
A Fistful of Dollars > Dragon Lee vs. Five Brothers
Final spot: #2083 out of 2398.

La Dolce Vita (1960)

IMDb plot summary: A series of stories following a week in the life of a philandering paparazzo journalist living in Rome.
Directed by Federico Fellini. Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee, and Yvonne Furneaux.

I've liked the other Fellini flicks that I've seen, but wow, this one did nothing for me at all. There were glimpses of really interesting moments, but there was a LOT of nothing in between. I'm assuming the length and meaninglessness of most of it was about showing the vacuity of the character's life, but I tired of it long before the three hours were up and it never really came back to me. Marcello is also not a terribly interesting character to follow around -- until the final 15 minutes or so of the movie, he does and shows us very little. Overall, this does not make me terribly hopeful for 8 1/2, which I know I have to watch at some point, but is another 3-hour Fellini flick about a male character (as opposed to La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, two shorter films centered around women that I absolutely loved).

2 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
La Dolce Vita < The Fortune Cookie
La Dolce Vita > Chinatown
La Dolce Vita > Mystic Pizza
La Dolce Vita < Swing Kids
La Dolce Vita < The Score
La Dolce Vita > I, Robot
La Dolce Vita < The Room
La Dolce Vita < Over the Hedge
La Dolce Vita < The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
La Dolce Vita < Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
La Dolce Vita > Play Misty for Me
Final spot: #1458 out of 2397.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

IMDb plot summary: Snoopy embarks upon his greatest mission as he and his team take to the skies to pursue their arch-nemesis, while his best pal Charlie Brown begins his own epic quest back home.
Directed by Steve Martino. Starring Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, Alexander Garfin, and Mariel Sheets.

(Spoilers ahead.)

I was so worried when I heard this movie was going to exist, but it turns out all that worry was for nothing. This is a really solid movie and a worthwhile continuation of the Charlie Brown movie saga. Or perhaps I shouldn't say "continuation" so much as "reboot," as part of the reason the movie stays so faithful is that, like its most well-liked predecessors, it takes good chunks of its dialogue and its action directly from the comic strip. There is an original narrative in here too, but it's stitched together with familiar lines and situations. Even the new bits, however, manage to stick to the spirit of the classic Peanuts gang, so on the whole it's a very nicely done flick.

My one complaint, however, is a small one but not a particularly minor one for me. The ending of the film doesn't work for me at all. One of the reasons I (and so many others) connect with Charlie Brown is precisely his inability to win -- at least on the full spectrum he does here. He *is* a good person, and people *do* like him (sometimes), but nobody except for maybe Linus would tell him that to his face. The final scenes where the Little Red Haired Girl practically gives a whole speech affirming the Charlie Browns of the world was sweet, and all the kids swarming him with love and affection was heartwarming, but it all felt *off* to me. The Peanuts comics and older cartoons all played heavily on Charlie Brown's attempt to stay compassionate and stable even when no one around him was affirming him as doing the right thing, his determination to keep trying even when he knew, deep down, he was probably going to fail. Seeing him succeed wildly in the eyes of his peers was just never going to happen -- nor should it. Charlie Brown's successes come mostly when he is happy with himself or when he is *allowed* into the inner circle, if not invited with open arms.

As that bit of lengthy rambling, I was unconvinced by the ending of the film, but that didn't meant that everything before it wasn't pretty darn delightful. It's absolutely worth a watch, even if it slips up in its final moments.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Peanuts Movie > The Fortune Cookie
The Peanuts Movie > Pretty Woman
The Peanuts Movie < Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Peanuts Movie > Kiss Me, Stupid!
The Peanuts Movie < Fail-Safe
The Peanuts Movie < Beetlejuice
The Peanuts Movie < M. Butterfly
The Peanuts Movie > The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Peanuts Movie < Philadelphia
The Peanuts Movie > Man on the Moon
Final spot: #436 out of 2396, which is possibly a bit too high.

The Girl King (2015)

IMDB plot summary: THE GIRL KING paints a portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden, queen from age six, who fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden and who have no tolerance for her awakening sexuality.
Directed by Mika Kaurismäki. Starring Malina Buska, Sarah Gadon, Michael Nyqvist, and Lucas Bryant.

This odd little movie was playing at an independent theater in my area, and I had to say, it did make me want to learn about the historical character being portrayed here -- but mostly because the movie itself gave a very confusing portrayal of her rather than because it did her justice. The movie is awkwardly edited, woodenly acted, and bafflingly scripted almost to the point where it becomes kind of charmingly bizarre... but not quite. It's a shame, because I knew very little about Queen Kristina, and she seems to have been a fascinating character, despite the uncomfortable hodgepodge we're given here in this film.

1.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Girl King < Melinda and Melinda
The Girl King < Chinatown
The Girl King > Hollywoodland
The Girl King < Road to Morocco
The Girl King < Roberta
The Girl King > The Chocolate War
The Girl King > Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Girl King > Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
The Girl King < Gunga Din
The Girl King > The Little Princess (1939)
Final spot: #2031 out of 2400.

Mad Max (1979)

IMDb plot summary: In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
Directed by George Miller. Starring Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Steve Bisley.

One of the things I found so fascinating about Fury Road when I saw it this summer was how little it explained about the world we were in. No quick recap of what the situation was like, no expository dialogue on who most of these characters were and how they got to be there. You were left just kind of watching and taking everything as it came.

That is even truer of Mad Max. All we know about it is that it is set a few years in the future, but there's really hardly any hint of post-apocalyptic future in this movie. For all I know, it could be just about 1979 Australia... except for these little hints that something's a little off. Granted, I would have liked *more* of those hints to keep it feeling more futuristic and less vigilante action flick, but I've got to give it kudos for its restrained vision of the story.

The movie is pretty slow-moving, though. The titular Max is not mad at all until the last 20 minutes or so, while the rest of it slooooowly builds up. Lots and lots of shots of people just driving across the wasteland, and that gets pretty tiring. Nevertheless, now that I've seen the first and the last, I definitely want to see the in-between ones. From what I've heard, they may be a bit more up my alley than this.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Mad Max > Melinda and Melinda
Mad Max < Pretty Woman
Mad Max < A Separation
Mad Max > Broken Arrow
Mad Max > Clueless
Mad Max < Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
Mad Max < The Man Who Wasn't There
Mad Max > John Dies at the End
Mad Max < Marooned
Mad Max > Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Final spot: #960 out of 2395.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

IMDb plot summary: A mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.
Directed by Rupert Julian. Starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, and Arthur Edmund Carewe.

I watched this as part of the Letterboxd Season Challenge because it really seemed ridiculous that as big of a phan as I am, that I never saw this version. It's definitely that stylized type of acting that I find difficult to take seriously in dramatic pieces, so there were plenty of moments where I found myself distanced from the characters I know and love by how unusual their movements were. There is at least one beautifully effective moment, however -- where Christine realizes onstage that the Phantom is there and just continues singing. This works best in a silent film, I suspect, because getting the right tone for that singing moment would be almost impossible, but there's something very chilling about seeing her continue on, business as usual, while her eyes are showing us how terrified she is. Even if I didn't love this movie, I'm glad I finally saw it.

2.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Phantom of the Opera < The Fortune Cookie
The Phantom of the Opera > Dinner for Schmucks
The Phantom of the Opera > Total Recall
The Phantom of the Opera < Swing Kids
The Phantom of the Opera < The Score
The Phantom of the Opera > 10 Things I Hate About You
The Phantom of the Opera > Rango
The Phantom of the Opera > Hush
The Phantom of the Opera < The Aristocats
The Phantom of the Opera < Cracks
The Phantom of the Opera > Alfie (2004)
Final spot: #1428 out of 2394.

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

IMDb plot summary: An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.
Directed by Peter Sohn. Starring Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, and Steve Zahn.

(Spoilers ahead.)

Let me get this out of the way first: This movie looks gorgeous. It's incredible animation. The scenery is stunning, and the characters themselves always look so great against it. There are so many beautiful shots in this movie, so if you like animation or visuals, it's probably worth seeing just because of that.

That being said though... this is lower-tier Pixar. Still pretty good, but it's not a very original story, and it was incredibly easy to pinpoint major plot points early on. (At the opening shot of Arlo's parents waiting for the eggs to hatch, my husband leaned over and whispered to me, "Well, now we know that one of them is going to die." It took another 15 minutes for that to happen, but it got there.)

On top of that, though, the tone of this movie is... odd. It gets unusually dark and surreal for Pixar. Everything just feels a little unsettling, from the cult pterodactyls to the dinosaur stashing birds on his head to the 10-second drug trip. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, where we see elements of things we recognize but everything is just a little... off. The vibe is different than it is with most Pixar flicks, and I couldn't shake the sense of "wrong"ness I felt from it.

The best parts of this movie are those without words. Pixar really excels in creating emotional scenes with barely any dialogue, and those are the moments that stand out here. The scene where Arlo teaches Spot the concept of family is one of the most hauntingly beautiful scenes Pixar's ever done, and returning Spot to his new family at the end was equally moving. If there had been more of those moments and less bizarre cattle rustling and eerie pterodactyl fleeing, this movie would have been a lot higher on my list.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Good Dinosaur > Melinda and Melinda
The Good Dinosaur < Pretty Woman
The Good Dinosaur > A Separation
The Good Dinosaur < The Green Mile
The Good Dinosaur < Duck Soup
The Good Dinosaur < Grosse Pointe Blank
The Good Dinosaur > The Time Traveler's Wife
The Good Dinosaur < Men in Black III
The Good Dinosaur > Identity
The Good Dinosaur < A Bug's Life
Final spot: #873 out of 2393.