Us (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.
Directed by Jordan Peele. Starring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex.

I absolutely loved this from beginning to end. I'm not sure it's as culturally essential as Get Out was, but I think I enjoyed it more. I was slightly dissatisfied with Get Out's plot reveal, while a similar reveal in Us delighted me. It's terrifying and sad and an amazing balance of humor with horror and just beautifully done overall.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Us > Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Us > Rock of Ages
Us > Breaking Away
Us > Kes
Us < Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Us < The Rocketeer
Us < A Quiet Place
Us > Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Us > Another Woman
Us > Repulsion
Us > Speed

Final spot: #161 out of 2931.

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

IMDb plot summary: A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Swoosie Kurtz.

(Mild spoilers ahead.)

This has more than a touch of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? about it, in that it's a powerplay between two horrendous people doing horrendous things. Here, though, I find it difficult to really engage with the two leads' battle for power because I find it so unpleasant to watch Malkovich's character abuse and assault and rape the women around him. I know we're supposed to know he's a terrible person, but I hated him so much at the end that even when he attempts some sort of redemption or garnering any genuine sympathy, I'm entirely cold to him. I find Close's ending far more compelling because, while she is a despicable Iago-style villain, I don't have to watch the immediate hurt and fear and panic she instills in people the way I did him.

All that being said, though, this film is cleverfully scripted, skillfully acted, and beautifully shot (seriously, every shot in the final 10 minutes is just gorgeous). There's a lot to like about it, and when I've distanced myself a bit emotionally from the ugliness I just watched, I suspect I'll appreciate it more for what it is. I suspect it will sit with me for awhile.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Dangerous Liaisons > Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Dangerous Liaisons < Doctor Strange
Dangerous Liaisons < Death to Smoochy
Dangerous Liaisons > No eres tu, soy yo
Dangerous Liaisons > The Prestige
Dangerous Liaisons > Monsters and Men
Dangerous Liaisons > Good Time
Dangerous Liaisons > I Am Legend
Dangerous Liaisons < The Happening
Dangerous Liaisons > John Wick
Dangerous Liaisons > Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Final spot: #1105 out of 2930.

The Cable Guy (1996)

IMDb plot summary: A lonely and mentally disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.
Directed by Ben Stiller. Starring Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, and Jack Black.

I can definitely see why people hated this. It very carefully straddles the line between comedy and thriller, and it's really not until the latter third of the movie for me that it really settles into both of those. When it does settle, though, it got a few laughs out of me (I giggled a bunch near the very end at the guy whose cable goes out and he suddenly discovers the joy of books), and it also hits a decently creepy vibe. The genres finally mesh. The first two thirds are a little bit spottier -- there aren't actually that many jokes written in, and it seems to be mostly relying on the inherent funniness of Jim Carrey's "cringey goofball" shtick, which never sits well with me. But as the movie progresses, it's easier to see it as played for horror, and it kind of works. I am intrigued that two years later, Jim Carrey would star in The Truman Show, another movie about people's dependence on television -- though that movie is in my top 10. But this settles into something I can kind of get behind, though I can't really imagine wanting to rewatch it.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Cable Guy > The Hangover
The Cable Guy < Doctor Strange
The Cable Guy < The Forest
The Cable Guy > Kung Fury
The Cable Guy > The Act of Killing
The Cable Guy < Guys and Dolls
The Cable Guy < Loving Vincent
The Cable Guy > Prometheus
The Cable Guy < Clueless
The Cable Guy > Corpse Bride
The Cable Guy < The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Final spot: #1174 out of 2929, or 60%.

Major League (1989)

IMDb plot summary: The new owner of the Cleveland Indians puts together a purposely horrible team so they'll lose and she can move the team. But when the plot is uncovered, they start winning just to spite her.
Directed by David S. Ward. Starring Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Margaret Whitton, and James Gammon.

This is one of those movies that is exceptionally difficult for me to write about because it wasn't *bad* for me so much as a total nonentity. It hits so many familiar beats that I felt like I've seen this movie a hundred times before. They're all competently told, and it never really makes a misstep, but it never really steps outside the box either, and for a sports movie to win me over it really has to add something special. Not bad, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to forget it instantly.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Major League < The Misfits
Major League > The Matrix Reloaded
Major League < Hysteria
Major League < A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Major League < The Great Escape
Major League > In the Line of Fire
Major League > The Dinner Guest
Major League < Dr. Strangelove
Major League > Mystic Pizza
Major League < Deja Vu
Major League < On the Waterfront
Major League < Multiplicity

Final spot: #2121 out of 2928.

The Kindergarten Teacher (2018)

IMDb plot summary: A kindergarten teacher in New York becomes obsessed with one of her students whom she believes is a child prodigy.
Directed by Sara Colangelo. Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Gael García Bernal, and Ato Blankson-Wood.

(Spoilers ahead.)

As an arts teacher myself (though not for kindergarten-aged kids), I found this movie terrifying. Maggie Gyllenhaal is excellent as the epitome of a villain who is convinced she's doing the right thing, and with every new thing she'd do to overstep a boundary or increase her obsession in this child, I found myself tensing up. I appreciate how the movie empathizes with Gyllenhaal's restlessness but is never truly on her side, not even in the final moments of the movie where it does set up the possibility that restoring the child to his parents may, in fact, result in his artistic talent being overlooked. It's an uncomfortable and unsettling movie with some incredible acting.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Kindergarten Teacher > Outbreak
The Kindergarten Teacher > We're No Angels
The Kindergarten Teacher > Breaking Away
The Kindergarten Teacher < Kes
The Kindergarten Teacher < The Fountain
The Kindergarten Teacher > Sabrina (1954)
The Kindergarten Teacher < Once
The Kindergarten Teacher < Trust
The Kindergarten Teacher < Welcome to Dongmakgol
The Kindergarten Teacher < Sita Sings the Blues
The Kindergarten Teacher < Footloose (1984)
The Kindergarten Teacher > American Psycho
Final spot: #319 out of 2927.

The Vanishing (1988)

IMDb plot summary: Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
Directed by George Sluizer. Starring Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege, and Gwen Eckhaus.

(Spoilers ahead.)

While I totally dig the chilling ending to this movie, it's so very, very slow up until then, and most of its work goes into plot development rather than character development, where I really wish it had focused. I really love that it subverts the expected tropes by revealing the culprit fairly early on, but then it doesn't do nearly as much with it as I wish it had. Intriguing, but not captivating.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Vanishing > Outbreak
The Vanishing < We're No Angels (1955)
The Vanishing < The Help
The Vanishing > Love Me Tonight (which I feel must accidentally have jumped up to this spot in the chart)
The Vanishing < Les Miserables (2012)
The Vanishing < Hopscotch
The Vanishing > Rushmore
The Vanishing > Deconstructing Harry
The Vanishing > Irma La Douce
The Vanishing > Mrs. Miniver
The Vanishing < Cat's Eye

Final spot: #1237 out of 2926.

Tea With the Dames (2018)

IMDb plot summary: Dames Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Joan Plowright, and Maggie Smith get together for tea to reminisce and discuss their acting careers.
Directed by Roger Michell.

This is the kind of documentary that I typically have the least interest in, taking a celebrity and just having them share their experiences and thoughts on whatever in front of the camera. The lack of a narrative journey ultimately leaves me dissatisfied. The four women here are charming and fairly interesting, and it's nice to see their interactions with each other, and it was extremely cool seeing their discussions juxtaposed with footage of their roles as younger actresses. But you never get the sense of true intimacy here. There's a definite guard up, an awareness of being on camera and of carefully phrasing everything. Maybe they phrase these things just as carefully in their everyday interactions, but in the end, it feels simply like a long celebrity interview, and less like a film that has anything to actually say, which makes it a slightly dull watch for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Tea With the Dames < Outbreak
Tea With the Dames > American Made
Tea With the Dames < The Preacher's Wife
Tea With the Dames > Zero Charisma
Tea With the Dames < Stand and Deliver
Tea With the Dames < A Girl of the Limberlost
Tea With the Dames > The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Tea With the Dames > Our Paradise
Tea With the Dames > Star Wars Uncut
Tea With the Dames > Destry Rides Again
Tea With the Dames > Django Unchained

Final spot: #1966 out of 2925.