Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

IMDb plot summary: A young blade runner's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring Ryan Gosling, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, and Harrison Ford.

It should probably be noted I was never a huge fan of the original Blade Runner -- it dug hard into its noir inspiration, and, as with most noir, I found it to be emotionally predictable while pretending not to be. This sequel has the same problem for me. I just didn't care about anything in this world or this set up, I didn't care about Ryan Gosling, I didn't care about the evil corporation trying to make baby robots, I didn't care about the infinite chain of clues being followed to the end... It's hard to know if I would have cared more if this was an original movie and not a sequel. Probably not much, given how little I care about its predecessor, but I'm sure it didn't help.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Blade Runner 2049 < Struck by Lightning
Blade Runner 2049 < Simone
Blade Runner 2049 > Roger Dodger
Blade Runner 2049 > The Net
Blade Runner 2049 > Top Gun
Blade Runner 2049 < Albatross
Blade Runner 2049 > Facing the Giants
Blade Runner 2049 < The Great Train Robbery
Blade Runner 2049 > Analyze This
Blade Runner 2049 > Jane Eyre (1997)
Blade Runner 2049 < Rebel Without a Cause
Final spot: #2345 out of 3043.

Will Penny (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Aging cowboy Will Penny gets a line camp job on a large cattle spread and finds his isolated cabin is already occupied by a husbandless woman and her young son.
Directed by Tom Gries. Starring Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, and Lee Majors.

Well, this is just very strange to watch right after The Stalking Moon, another western movie from 1968 with an incredibly similar plot. This one, however, emphasizes the romance, ends on a downer, and doesn't dance around nearly so many interesting plots. This is definitely one that's going to disappear out of my memory very quickly.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Will Penny < Struck by Lightning
Will Penny < Stardust Memories
Will Penny > Roger Dodger
Will Penny > The Net
Will Penny > Top Gun
Will Penny < The Savages
Will Penny > Facing the Giants
Will Penny > The Great Train Robbery
Will Penny < 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Will Penny < The Swiss Family Robinson
Will Penny < Adam's Rib
Will Penny > Animal House
Final spot: #2340 out of 3042.

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
Directed by Travis Knight. Starring Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, and Rooney Mara.

This has been on my watchlist for quite some time, I just hadn't made space for it yet. It had a great beginning, with a very compelling mythology and unsettling villains. The middle section where Kubo travels with his animal companions is less compelling to me -- it veers very close to a Disney talking-animal-sidekick feeling, which I seldom connect with. But it brings it all back together in the end, and I found myself tearing up from the final villain confrontation through the end of the film. It really ties together in a very lovely way that I didn't anticipate early on in the story. Plus it looks gorgeous.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Kubo and the Two Strings > Fanboys
Kubo and the Two Strings < The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Kubo and the Two Strings > The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
Kubo and the Two Strings > Taxi Driver
Kubo and the Two Strings > The Secret Garden (1987)
Kubo and the Two Strings > L'atalante
Kubo and the Two Strings > Do the Right Thing
Kubo and the Two Strings > Red Eye
Kubo and the Two Strings > The Hudsucker Proxy
Kubo and the Two Strings > Dangerous Liaisons
Final spot: #763 out of 3041.

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

IMDb plot summar: When two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Starring Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, and Milo O'Shea.

This has never been a Shakespeare play I've particularly cared for, but this is an astonishingly good version of it. The two lovers here are so, so young, their dramatic outbursts so childlike, their immediate impulses so unchecked that it feels nearly impossible to keep them from hurting others or themselves with their very raw emotions. Mercutio too gets an interesting spin here-- truly cruel and malicious in the scene with the nurse, seemingly mentally unstable from a few of his isolated scenes-- and his death, where no one realizes he isn't doing a bit until he is actually dead, is fascinating. The best Shakespeare performances make the poetry of the words seem like the most emotionally natural things for these characters to say, and that's certainly true here. It almost makes me actually like the play.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Romeo and Juliet > Fish Story
Romeo and Juliet > The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Romeo and Juliet < Jean de Florette
Romeo and Juliet < 10 Cloverfield Lane
Romeo and Juliet < Key Largo
Romeo and Juliet > Shakespeare Behind Bars
Romeo and Juliet > Hawking
Romeo and Juliet > My Name Is Joe
Romeo and Juliet > The Graduate
Romeo and Juliet < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Final spot: #671 out of 3040.

Eighth Grade (2018)

IMDb plot summary: An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
Directed by Bo Burnham. Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, and Jake Ryan.

I had a lot of people who connected HARD to Lady Bird when it came out, seeing themselves and their relationships in hers, and falling head over heels in love with the movie. That's how I feel about Kayla in this movie. Even though social media wasn't really a thing when I was in eighth grade, I definitely had an Internet presence and was very conscious of how online I was more confident, more interesting, and more comfortable than offline. It's been a very long time since I identified so hard with a character, and seeing her step into a sense of "If things suck, it's okay, I'll be all right" was still inspiring to me as a grown adult 20 years older than her. This is a great film.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Eighth Grade > The Trouble with Harry
Eighth Grade > An American Werewolf in London
Eighth Grade > Vertigo
Eighth Grade < The Adventures of Robin Hood
Eighth Grade > The Gods Must Be Crazy
Eighth Grade < Across the Universe
Eighth Grade > Airplane!
Eighth Grade > Operation Petticoat
Eighth Grade < I'm Not Scared
Eighth Grade < Shaun of the Dead
Eighth Grade < Sister Act
Eighth Grade > Pitch Perfect
Final spot: #248 out of 3039.

Cats (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
Directed by Tom Hooper. Starring Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, and Taylor Swift.

...How do you even rate and review Cats? Either the movie or the show. To Hooper's credit, he stays absurdly faithful to the original, only making one or two tiny changes, but he was definitely embracing it for what it is, which means this was only ever going to be a ridiculous movie. It was in no way helped by having photorealistic cat fur with terrifying human hands protuding out of them. Rebel Wilson and Jason Derulo both failed to capture the *only* trait their characters have, but the Skimbleshanks number rules, and I laughed a lot and had just a great time with this weird, weird, weird movie. I hope it gains a Rocky Horror-style cult following and gets midnight sing-along viewings for decades to come.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Cats > Red
Cats > Dangerous Liaisons
Cats < Vertigo
Cats < Rise of the Guardians
Cats < Key Largo
Cats < Shakespeare Behind Bars
Cats < Sherlock Jr.
Cats > Sneakers
Cats < The Pirates of Penzance
Cats < The Basketball Diaries
Cats < The Body Snatcher
Cats > Manhattan Murder Mystery

Final spot: #746 out of 3038.

Legendary Weapons of China (1982)

IMDb plot summary: A band of killers from an ailing kung fu and magic society are sent on a manhunt for a former member of the society, whose bad mouthing threatens it's existence.
Directed by Chia-Liang Liu. Starring Chia-Liang Liu, Chia Yung Liu, Kara Wai, and Hou Hsiao.

Kung fu movies are very much not my jam, and I couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters involved in this story at all, but there were some fun fight choreography scenes, especially the ones that bordered on slapstick. That's about all I have to say on this one!

How it entered my Flickchart:
Legendary Weapons of China < Manhattan
Legendary Weapons of China < Simone
Legendary Weapons of China > Gigi
Legendary Weapons of China > I Accuse My Parents
Legendary Weapons of China > City Slickers
Legendary Weapons of China > The Yellow Birds
Legendary Weapons of China < The Devil Wears Prada
Legendary Weapons of China < Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
Legendary Weapons of China < The Hoober-Bloob Highway
Legendary Weapons of China < Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Legendary Weapons of China > Running With Scissors
Final spot: #2323 out of 3037.