Can't Hardly Wait (1998)

IMDb plot summary: Multicharacter teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agenda of life on graduation night.
Directed by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan. Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, and Lauren Ambrose.

I didn't realize until starting this movie that I apparently thought it was She's All That, another 1990s teen comedy I never saw. But once I started watching it, what it really reminded me of was Dazed and Confused -- an ensemble piece about a bunch of teens graduating high school. It doesn't hit the sincere moments particularly well, but there are lots of little minor moments and characters that are fun. I particularly liked the band that breaks up and reunites over the course of the night. It's an enjoyable but pretty forgettable flick.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Can't Hardly Wait > Frosty the Snowman
Can't Hardly Wait < Husbands and Wives
Can't Hardly Wait < Real Life
Can't Hardly Wait > Absolute Power
Can't Hardly Wait < The Terminal
Can't Hardly Wait > My Week With Marilyn
Can't Hardly Wait < The Stepford Wives (1975)
Can't Hardly Wait > We Need to Talk About Kevin
Can't Hardly Wait > Wide Awake
Can't Hardly Wait > The Call
Can't Hardly Wait > The Wicker Man (1973)
Can't Hardly Wait < The Last Unicorn
Final spot: #1277 out of 3079.

The Outsiders (1983)

IMDb plot summary: The rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, only heats up when one gang member kills a member of the other.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, and Patrick Swayze.

This movie is almost astonishingly faithful to the source material, which I know extremely well since I've taught it multiple times. That sometimes makes this land in an almost uncanny valley area for me, feeling like it's almost the book but not quite. The performances hit both some impressive highs (Matt Dillon) and some unfortunate lows (Rob Lowe). It's a solid adaptation that occasionally falls prey to cheesy moralizing - but the book did too a bit, so it's understandable.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Outsiders > Frosty the Snowman
The Outsiders < Husbands and Wives
The Outsiders > Real Life
The Outsiders < The Pianist
The Outsiders > You Can't Take It With You
The Outsiders < The Exterminating Angel
The Outsiders > Lady Bird
The Outsiders < The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
The Outsiders > The Return of Captain Invincible
The Outsiders < Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
The Outsiders < They Came Together
The Outsiders < The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Final spot: #1027 out of 3078.

Stolen Kisses (1968)

IMDb plot summary: After being discharged from the army, Antoine Doinel centers a screwball comedy where he applies for different jobs and tries to make sense of his relationships with women.
Directed by François Truffaut. Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Delphine Seyrig, Claude Jade, and Michael Lonsdale.

It's been some time since I watched The 400 Blows, and I have not watched Antoine and Colette. It took me a little bit to even realize this was the same character, but it did make me want to go back and watch/rewatch those two. Antoine vacillates for me between being outright unpleasant and being just young and impetuous but not malicious. There are a lot of little moments in this movie that are just perfect -- I absolutely loved the moment where he accidentally called his boss' wife (whom he secretly loves) "sir" by accident and then literally runs away in panicked embarrassment. Such a relatable moment. It definitely feels like a center piece of a story, and usually that's very uninteresting, but this has enough going for it that I didn't mind so much it being a piece of a larger story.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Stolen Kisses > Nothing in Common
Stolen Kisses < Husbands and Wives
Stolen Kisses < Real Life
Stolen Kisses > Kinky Boots the Musical
Stolen Kisses > I Saw the Devil
Stolen Kisses > Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Stolen Kisses > Draft Day
Stolen Kisses > Primal Fear
Stolen Kisses < Away We Go
Stolen Kisses < Gentleman's Agreement
Stolen Kisses > The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Final spot: #1164 out of 3077.

Spirits of the Dead (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Anthology film from three European directors based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe: a cruel princess haunted by a ghostly horse, a sadistic young man haunted by his double, and an alcoholic actor haunted by the Devil.
Directed by Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, and Roger Vadim. Starring Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, Jane Fonda, and Terence Stamp.

This is a pretty uneven little anthology, though it does make me want to read the original Poe inspirations for these stories -- it feels like at the heart of each of these films there's a more interesting story being told. The movies lean most heavily into moody gothic atmosphere, which sometimes works but starts wearing thin. While the Fellini segment apparently has the most critical acclaim, I prefer Malle's, though it would have benefited from an even shorter runtime. The gambling scene runs almost painfully long and detracts from a much more interesting bookended plot.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Spirits of the Dead < Nothing in Common
Spirits of the Dead < State Fair
Spirits of the Dead > Giant
Spirits of the Dead > Pinocchio
Spirits of the Dead > The Lizzie McGuire Movie
Spirits of the Dead > Antz
Spirits of the Dead > Deja Vu
Spirits of the Dead < Call Northside 777
Spirits of the Dead > Stardust Memories
Spirits of the Dead > Start the Revolution Without Me
Spirits of the Dead < The Black Stallion
Final spot: #2322 out of 3076.

Bhoot (2003)

IMDb plot summary: When a married couple moves into a flat that is haunted by a spirit, a series of inexplicable experiences drive the wife to near madness. Now, the husband must protect his wife to save their marriage.
Directed by Ram Gopal Varma. Starring Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar, Nana Patekar, and Rekha.

Well, this was clearly an attempt at recreating something like The Exorcist, but with ghosts instead of demons. The emphasis on the physical discomfort of the supernatural torture is allowed to linger so long that it lapses into being boring. It's a strange, messy movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Bhoot < Five Graves to Cairo
Bhoot < Funny Face
Bhoot < The Host (2013)
Bhoot > Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Bhoot < Surf's Up
Bhoot > Evan Almighty
Bhoot > Larry-Boy & the Angry Eyebrows
Bhoot < Stand Up and Cheer!
Bhoot > Agent Cody Banks
Bhoot < Martyrs
Bhoot < Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Bhoot < Snow White and the Huntsman
Final spot: #2805 out of 3075.

Tank (1984)

IMDb plot summary: Sergeant Major Zack arrives at a new army base with his wife, son and Sherman tank. One night at a bar he "stops" a pimp/deputy from beating a girl. The corrupt sheriff uses Zack's son for revenge and Zack uses his tank.
Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. Starring James Garner, Shirley Jones, C. Thomas Howell, and Mark Herrier.

This is an incredibly silly movie, from the cartoonish characters to the hilariousness of the turning point in the plot halfway through. It was kind of an enjoyably bizarre film that moves along fairly quickly and kept my interest all the way through. The least interesting parts were the moments where people went into moralizing speeches about fatherhood and forgiveness. Nobody is watching this movie for that. People are watching this movie to see a tank car chase.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Tank < The Pursuit of Happyness
Tank > Funny Face
Tank > Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Tank > She Loves Me
Tank > Office Space
Tank > Outbreak
Tank > The Fourth Kind
Tank > Company (2011)
Tank < Laura
Tank < The Princess Diaries
Tank < Inland Empire
Tank > My Blueberry Nights
Final spot: #1548 out of 3074.

Ace High (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A recently-escaped bandit forms an unlikely alliance with two bounty hunters and an acrobat to get revenge against the people who framed him.
Directed by Giuseppe Colizzi. Starring Eli Wallach, Terence Hill, Brock Peters, and Kevin McCarthy.

There were ever so many westerns released in 1968, but at least this one has a slightly lighter touch than most of them, giving it more the vibe of a heist movie than anything else. While I wish we got to know anything about most of our main characters, Eli Wallach has an incredibly disarming sort of charm, and I rooted for him the whole way. The final scene is very satisfying. Pretty decent for what is approximately my millionth western from this year.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Ace High < Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Ace High > Frankenstein
Ace High > Scotland, PA
Ace High > Freaks
Ace High < The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Ace High > The Cruise
Ace High > The Whole Nine Yards
Ace High > Splash
Ace High < Convict 13
Ace High > Bee Movie
Ace High < The Resurrection of Gavin Stone
Final spot: #1642 out of 3073.