Running On Empty (1988)

IMDb plot summary: The eldest son of a fugitive family comes of age and wants to live a life of his own.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, and Martha Plimpton.

Running On Empty focuses on a family who have been on the run for 15 years after the parents blew up a napalm manufacturing facility as part of a political effort to stop the Vietnam War. They then spend the next decade and a half, constantly moving and changing their names whenever they worry authorities might be getting too close. The story picks up when their oldest child, now 17 and played by River Phoenix, finds himself struggling with the idea that if he wants to pursue his own life as an adult, he'll most likely never see his family again. Director Sidney Lumet does such a great job of showing how close-knit this family has necessarily become, and even when they are angry with each other they're also determined to fiercely protect each other. Their oldest pokes around at possible college options but genuinely worries that him leaving would destroy his parents, and he doesn't want to be responsible for that. Phoenix does a great job of portraying that dilemma -- in fact, he's pretty great in this whole story overall. I'm not entirely convinced that the film earns its ending, but it is a satisfying one, and it's a new and unique take on both fugitive stories and coming-of-age dramas. Well worth a watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Running on Empty > To Be or Not to Be

Running on Empty > Hoop Dreams

Running on Empty < Leap of Faith

Running on Empty > The Martian

Running on Empty < Safety Last!

Running on Empty < Queen of Katwe

Running on Empty < Sorry to Bother You

Running on Empty < Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Running on Empty > Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

Running on Empty > Coherence

Running on Empty > Lolita (1962)

Running on Empty < Diabolique

Final spot: #609 out of 3310, or 82%.

The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared (2016)

IMDb plot summary: The 101 year old man Allan Karlsson goes through Europe in search for a Russian soda recipe he lost during the early 70s. Unfortunately, he is not the only one who is looking for it.

Directed by Felix Herngren and Måns Herngren. Starring Robert Gustafsson, Iwar Wiklander, David Wiberg, and Shima Niavarani.

The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared is apparently a sequel to the movie The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. I did not know this when I watched it and was a little lost at first. In the first film, apparently a 100-year-old man and his 80-year-old friend run away and steal a bunch of money together. The sequel never really addresses the crimes he may have committed, there are just a whole bunch of people who are angry at him and trying to find him. This particular entry in his story focuses on him trying to find the missing recipe for an unbelievably delicious Russian soft drink. There are a lot of twists and turns and farcical mistakes and monkeys and CIA agents and all kinds of other characters who make their way into the story, but it all just felt empty. I'm not sure if seeing the first film would have made this story feel more complete, but it certainly doesn't stand very well on its own. It's all just kind of... blah, but I can see them TRYING to be really absurdly funny, and that makes for a very uncomfortable watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The 101-Year Old Man < To Be or Not to Be

The 101-Year Old Man > Big Business

The 101-Year Old Man < Snatch.

The 101-Year Old Man > Ted

The 101-Year Old Man > The Conjuring

The 101-Year Old Man < Dracula (1931)

The 101-Year Old Man < Water for Elephants

The 101-Year Old Man < The Inspector General

The 101-Year Old Man > Saboteur

The 101-Year Old Man < Burlesque

The 101-Year Old Man < Master Harold and the Boys

The 101-Year Old Man > Beach Party

Final spot: #2163 out of 3309, or 35%.

Blue Sky (1994)

IMDb plot summary: Jessica Lange stars in a period drama about a family moving to a military base, and she quickly becomes part of a cover-up involving nuclear bomb tests.

Directed by Tony Richardson. Starring Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, Powers Boothe, and Carrie Snodgress.

The shining piece of this film is Jessica Lange's performance. She does such an incredible job at making this character more than the caricature she could be. We can see her fears and her thought processes and root for her to do the right thing and not fall into her self-destructive habits, and in the later half of the movie when she really does step up into being the protagonist, it's a really lovely moment. I also appreciate the frequent focus on the children of this marriage and how their parents' volatility affects them even as they've learned to live with it as a constant factor in their lives. A messy movie at times but worth seeing for Lange if nothing else.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Blue Sky > To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Blue Sky < Chronicle

Blue Sky > Harakiri

Blue Sky < Full Metal Jacket

Blue Sky < Suspicion

Blue Sky < Kajaki

Blue Sky < Starship Troopers

Blue Sky > Kiss Me Kate

Blue Sky > I Saw the Devil

Blue Sky > Charlie St. Cloud

Blue Sky > Being John Malkovich

Blue Sky < The Age of Adaline

Final spot: #1216 out of 3308, or 63%.

The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

IMDb plot summary: Kermit the Frog, The Great Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear are reporters who travel to Britain to interview a rich victim of jewel thieves and help her along with her secretary, Miss Piggy.

Directed by Jim Henson. Starring Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, and Jerry Nelson.

I've never really been sold on the Muppet movies. I didn't grow up with them so I don't have any nostalgic fondness for their films. That being said, this one is GREAT. Lots of clever and funny jokes, like the scene with Piggy and Kermit sneaking around in John Cleese's house, or the running gag that Fozzie and Kermit are identical twins. But the thing that really swayed me here was the musical numbers. A lot of Muppet songs are good tunes but still always feel like they're for kids, so there's a layer of distancing. But here, the songs hold just as much weight and emotional power as any other musical film, and they're used in quiet, subtle ways, not always just loud and bombastic. That bike ride song was a particular favorite. I was just blown away but how enjoyable this was. I may have found the one Muppet movie that I really LOVE, and it's not one I'd ever have guessed!

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Great Muppet Caper > High School Musical 3: Senior Year

The Great Muppet Caper > Hoop Dreams

The Great Muppet Caper < Leap of Faith

The Great Muppet Caper > Super 8

The Great Muppet Caper > William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

The Great Muppet Caper > It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

The Great Muppet Caper > Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

The Great Muppet Caper > Broadway Danny Rose

The Great Muppet Caper > Crimes and Misdemeanors

The Great Muppet Caper > He Loves Me ... He Loves Me Not

The Great Muppet Caper > Revengers Tragedy

Final spot: #415 out of 3307, or 87%.

Brainscan (1994)

IMDb plot summary: A teenager is part of an interactive video game where he kills innocent victims. Later, the murders become real.

Directed by John Flynn. Starring Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, T. Ryder Smith, and Amy Hargreaves.

For as much fun as that premise is, I had higher expectations for the movie as campy fun, but it never quite meets those. Part of this is due to the movie not being fully sure what side of camp it wants to land on, whether to go with the over-the-top terror of "I may have murdered my best friend" or just plain goofy with the appearance of the Freddy Krueger-esque demon living inside the video game. The two styles just don't mesh very well, with the actual deaths and danger seeming just slightly too real for the goofy body horror gags of the central villain. That's not to say that ANY of this feels "realistic," but it's hard to combine existential "what have I done" horror with quippy men in silly monster makeup. It's not terrible, but it could have been a lot more fun than this.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Brainscan < To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Brainscan > Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

Brainscan < Snatch.

Brainscan > Tiramisu

Brainscan > Burning Annie

Brainscan < Dracula (1931)

Brainscan < Water for Elephants

Brainscan < The Inspector General

Brainscan < Saboteur

Brainscan > Frida

Brainscan < The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Final spot: #2165 out of 3306, or 35%.

Kismet (1955)

IMDb plot summary: A roguish poet is given the run of the scheming Wazir's harem while pretending to help him usurp the young caliph.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Starring Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, and Vic Damone.

So let's address the elephant in the room - every single main character is a person of color played by a white person, and the show makes a lot of use of exotic Arabian Nights-style stereotypes which are very messy. That being said, this movie looks GORGEOUS. It's got these vivid colors and these great big dramatic shots that make the whole thing feel very musical theater and very larger than life in all the best ways. The songs themselves don't really stand out in and of themselves (I can't remember a single one now that the film's over), but the vocal performances are lovely, and I was certainly never bored watching them. This has all the earmarks of a classic Golden Age Hollywood musical, and I adored all those trappings, while always wishing that it wasn't quite so much cultural cosplay.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Kismet > High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Kismet > The Black Cat

Kismet < Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Kismet < The Martian

Kismet < We're Not Married!

Kismet > Before Sunset

Kismet > The Impostors

Kismet > Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs

Kismet > The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

Kismet > Is It College Yet?

Kismet > City Lights

Final spot: #724 out of 3305, or 78%.

Hero (2002)

IMDb plot summary: A defense officer, Nameless, was summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success of terminating three warriors.

Directed by Yimou Zhang. Starring Jet Li, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Maggie Cheung, and Ziyi Zhang.

There's a Rashomon-style quality to this narrative, as we see different versions of the story until finally the truth is revealed at the end. It adds some liveliness to the narrative, which otherwise drags for me. The bright spots here are absolutely the fight scenes, which are visually stunning, with vivid colors and carefully-crafted shots and moments of fantasy where characters fly and run across water. It's one of those unusual instances where I actually felt like the story in between was just a placeholder until we got to those gorgeous combat sequences. But there aren't as many of those as I wish there were, and I just had very little interest in the central story, and every time we moved back to another bit of exposition or explanation I sighed a little. It's well worth watching for its astonishing visuals, but I was less sold on the rest.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hero > High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Hero < Hoop Dreams

Hero > The Hidden Fortress

Hero < Native Son

Hero < To Kill a Mockingbird

Hero < All's Faire in Love

Hero > Being John Malkovich

Hero < The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Hero < Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

Hero > Stalag 17

Hero > Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie

Hero < Battle Royale

Final spot: #1208 out of 3304, or 63%.