The Wailing (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
Directed by Hong-jin Na. Starring Do-won wak, Woo-he Chun, Jung-min Hwang, and Jun Kunimura.

A group of my movie-watching buddies have raved about this movie, some proclaiming it the best of 2016, and, frankly, I was a little underwhelmed. I think there's definitely a lot to like -- it has a very tangible atmosphere, a fascinating combination of modern-day tech and ancient supernatural beliefs, where people use cell phones to call their shaman. There are a few good, creepy moments, particularly in the first two thirds of the film where the tension is building. The ending, however, doesn't really work for me. I had to go online to look up what I was supposed to take away from it, but as it played out, the sequence of events kept me from finding any kind of emotional resolution, either positive or negative. It just kind of... ended. If it had been deliberately intended to be puzzling, I maybe could have gotten on board, but I felt like I'd just missed something obvious that would have helped the emotional center of the film click into place for me.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Wailing > Sex Tape
The Wailing < A Christmas Carol (1951)
The Wailing < The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Wailing < Anna and the King
The Wailing > Serendipity
The Wailing > Chaos Theory
The Wailing > Internet Famous
The Wailing > Batman Forever
The Wailing > The Dresser
The Wailing > High School Musical 3: Senior Year
The Wailing > The Resurrection of Gavin Stone

Final spot: #1125 out of 2569.

Split (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities, and must try and escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Starring Jamse McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, and Haley Lu Richardson.

(Spoilers ahead.)

Shyamalan's back, everyone. This is a really solid, interesting thriller. James McAvoy in particular is really fantastic, managing to shuffle distinctly but subtly between his character's various personalities. Scientifically, we still don't know or understand that much about DID, and I liked how Shyamalan actually did draw on the few things we do know and then expand on that to create a sci-fi/fantasy ending that was a consistent extension of what was set up. There are definitely a few instances of Shyamalan's eye-rollingly bad dialogue, but the tension is kept up and the mystery is unraveled slowly so you're interested enough that the few hiccups are easy to dismiss. Nicely done.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Split > Sex Tape
Split > A Doll's House
Split < A Man for All Seasons
Split < Seven Samurai
Split < Anne of Green Gables
Split < Tickled
Split > Zootopia
Split < Bubba Ho-tep
Split > High Strung
Split < Christmas in Connecticut

Final spot: #616 out of 2568.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

IMDb plot summary: A young girl separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
Directed by Jacques Demy. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, and Marc Michel.

This is a movie I've been curious but cautious about for some time. I love musicals but hate the French New Wave, so combining the two could have yielded a disappointingly disastrous result. To my surprise (and relief), I enjoyed this quite a bit. It's entirely sung through, but it's interesting to compare it to other sung-through musicals, such as early operettas or modern rock operas, which have a *lot* of individual unique songs. I'm not sure I could pinpoint more than one or two individual numbers here, but that gives the film a more obvious flow more resembling a non-singing drama. The characters just happened to be saying their lines to music, that's all. It is a charming little musical that's very unique in its genre.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > Office Space
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > Soapdish
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < A Man for All Seasons
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < Seven Samurai
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > How to Train Your Dragon
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > The Basketball Diaries
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < The Invisible Man
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < We're Not Married!
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > Fences
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < The Pirates of Penzance

Final spot: #518 out of 2567.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

IMDb plot summary: An Asian-American office worker and his Indian stoner friend embark on a quest to satisfy their desire for White Castle burgers.
Directed by Danny Leiner. Starring John Cho, Kal Penn, Ethan Embry, and Malin Akerman.

Ugh. OK, so I was hoping this would be mildly entertaining. There've been a few "dumb comedies" that I actually enjoyed, that turned out to be smarter than they appeared to be. I was hoping this would be one of them. Turns out, nope. It's not. The central premise is a good one, but every single episode is just unpleasant to watch, aside from the one with Neil Patrick Harris because, well, NPH can save just about anything. I just don't have any interest whatsoever in watching two women with diarrhea compete to poop louder or seeing a close-up of a face boil oozing pus. That, that right there is the kind of movie this was. This is a film I'm glad to check off my list because it means I never have to watch it again. Did not work for me at all.

0.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Sex Tape
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Simone
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle > Turner and Hooch
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < John Q.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < A Decade Under the Influence
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Sumo of the Opera
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Pinocchio
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Shadow of a Doubt
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Susannah of the Mounties
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle > Reefer Madness (1936)
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Dracula
Final spot: #2243 out of 2566.

The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A washed-up former child star, forced to do community service at a local megachurch, pretends to be a Christian to land the part of Jesus in their annual Passion Play, only to discover that the most important role of his life is far from Hollywood.
Directed by Dallas Jenkins. Starring Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Shawn Michaels, and Neil Flynn.

So. Christian movies. As I discussed in my review of silence, I do not have a good relationship with most of them. They're cheesy and preachy and focused more on the message than on the story. I went into this not expecting a lot, and frankly, I only saw it because I had 2 hours to kill in between teaching kids and it was the only film I could see in that time slot. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. This isn't an Oscar winner by any stretch of the imagination, but it's actually a pretty solid story. It focuses more on the character than on the preaching, his conversion scene flows fairly naturally from what comes before, there aren't a lot of long-winded "let me explain the message of the movie to you now" scenes, and I actually laughed a few times at Gavin's attempts to look Christian in front of everyone. It's on par with a kind-of-okay non-Christian comedy, which is a step in the right direction, even if we've got a long way to go to make something that's actually great.

2.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone > Office Space
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Soapdish
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Runaway Bride
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone > The Dresser
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < A League of Their Own
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Bee Movie
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < The Magnificent Ambersons
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Misery
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Star Trek: Generations
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone > Serial Killer 1
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Anna and the King

Final spot: #1119 out of 2565.

Silence (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Two priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor and propagate Catholicism.
Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, and Tadanobu Asano.

I often have an interesting relationship with movies about Christianity. I deeply long to find ones that are meaningful and well-done, and those just don't come along very often. This, however, is one of the best. I didn't much care for Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, but he gets it absolutely right here and I found myself almost stunned by the film's power. I'm not sure how it would play to a non-Christian audience, but as for myself, I was entirely drawn into the story and found myself thinking deeply about the moral quandaries posed throughout as the credits rolled.

I'm still pondering it, so it's probably the wrong time to be writing a review, even as condensed as mine usually are, but it certainly hit me hard. Andrew Garfield is spectacular as a priest battling for his faith, but I was also impressed by Adam Driver and Liam Neeson and Yosuke Kubozuka (as a character I found myself increasingly drawn to). An intense and fascinating movie that I think is going to keep gnawing at my heart and soul as I process it.

4.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Silence > Martian Child
Silence > Soapdish
Silence > The Beaver
Silence > Equus
Silence < Arsenic and Old Lace
Silence < High Fidelity
Silence < Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Silence > Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Silence < Strangers on a Train
Silence < Liar Liar
Silence > Jerry Maguire

Final spot: #148 out of 2564.

Little Witch Academia (2013)

IMDb plot summary: Inspired by a magician named Shiny Chariot, the lively Akko Kagari enters the Little Witch Academy with the dream of one day becoming as cool and great as her idol.
Directed by You Yoshinari. Starring Megumi Han, Fumiko Orikasa, Michiyo Murase, and Yôko Hikasa.

I am not at all surprised to learn that this spawned a TV series this year, because it felt like watching the first episode of an anime series. There are a lot of characters fighting for attention in these 26 minutes, and most of them don't get enough screen time to build any kind of characterization, but the world it's built is fun and cute, and it's definitely something I could see appealing to kids. I'm glad to hear that more is coming of this, even though I'm certainly not going to seek out any further installments.

2 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Little Witch Academia < Cry-Baby
Little Witch Academia > Creation
Little Witch Academia < Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Little Witch Academia > Charlie Wilson's War
Little Witch Academia < Mr. Nice Guy
Little Witch Academia < Burlesque
Little Witch Academia > The Secret Life of Pets
Little Witch Academia > Thoroughly Modern Millie
Little Witch Academia > Ip Man
Little Witch Academia > Lincoln
Little Witch Academia < Into the Wild
Final spot: #1725 out of 2563.