Strawberry and Chocolate (1994)

IMDb plot summary: This Oscar nominated film is the story of two men who are opposites, one gay, the other straight, one a fierce communist, the other a fierce individualist, one suspicious, the other accepting, and how they come to love each other.

Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío. Starring Jorge Perugorría, Vladimir Cruz, Mirta Ibarra, and Francisco Gattorno.

This feels like a movie I should REALLY love, and I like a lot of what it does, but there are also a lot of scenes that feel... less focused than I wish they were, and I end up with a muddied sense of overall arc. What it does well is make Diego incredibly likable and demonstrate clearly the connection between his personal life and his political one, and why he isn't just happy to sit back and ride along with the Revolution. He's by far the most interesting character in this story, and I'd frankly rather have seen more of him and his personal life than watch David struggling through his epiphany.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Strawberry and Chocolate < To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Strawberry and Chocolate > Big Business

Strawberry and Chocolate > Snatch.

Strawberry and Chocolate > Hellfighters

Strawberry and Chocolate > Gran Torino

Strawberry and Chocolate > The Savages

Strawberry and Chocolate > Twisted Nerve

Strawberry and Chocolate > Pitch Perfect 2

Strawberry and Chocolate < Spider-Man: Homecoming

Strawberry and Chocolate > Closer

Strawberry and Chocolate > Rogue One

Strawberry and Chocolate > The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Final spot: #1666 out of 3317, or 50%.

The Boy Friend (1971)

IMDb plot summary: When the leading lady of a low-budget musical revue sprains her ankle, the assistant stage manager is forced to understudy and perform in her place, becoming a star and finding love in the process.

Directed by Ken Russell. Starring Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, and Bryan Pringle.

This is a loose adaptation of a Broadway musical that was a pastiche of 1920s musical comedy, but in the film version we are seeing the story of a theater troupe putting on that musical with a Hollywood casting director in the audience. The result is over two hours of watching people uncomfortably, deliberately hamming up an already-hammy script, and it's one of the cringiest things I think I've ever watched. I felt like I was in the audience of an absolute trainwreck of a show, and it wasn't entertaining, just unpleasant. Some of the dancing is quite nice, and the songs might have been if they weren't mostly performed in obnoxious "character voices." The weirdest thing to me of all of this is that the show was a parody of hammy shows in the first place, and that style is serve best by embracing the cheesiness of it, not by creating a frame work in which it appears clear that you're mocking it. This reads like the director absolutely *loathed* the original play and decided to transport the hideousness he saw in his mind to the film so we'd all hate it too. Well... I mean, it worked. But was that anyone's actual goal here? Probably not.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Boy Friend < One, Two, Three

The Boy Friend < Horton Hears a Who

The Boy Friend < VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas

The Boy Friend > The Art of War

The Boy Friend > Get Carter

The Boy Friend < Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

The Boy Friend > Metal Tornado

The Boy Friend > Nell

The Boy Friend > 8 1/2

The Boy Friend > The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

The Boy Friend < Mr. Mom

Final spot: #2956 out of 3316, or 11%.

Carousel (1956)

IMDb plot summary: Fifteen years after his death, a carousel barker is granted permission to return to Earth for one day to make amends to his widow and their daughter.

Directed by Henry King. Starring Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell, and Barbara Ruick.

This story is... so strange, largely because Billy is portrayed as pretty much unredeemable throughout. I kept waiting for him to turn a corner, to apologize for his violent actions, to admit maybe hitting people you say you love isn't a good thing, but... he doesn't. Ever. Instead, Julie defends his terrible behavior over and over again, and so he gets away with it and never learns, not even after death. I have no idea what message the film was even TRYING to send. There are some great tunes in here ("You'll Never Walk Alone" and "If I Loved You" in particular), but they deserve to be in a much better show that doesn't glorify abuse.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Carousel < One, Two, Three

Carousel < Horton Hears a Who

Carousel > VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas

Carousel > Captive State

Carousel > 30 Minutes or Less

Carousel < The Jazz Singer (1927)

Carousel < Sorry, Wrong Number

Carousel < Howl's Moving Castle

Carousel > Green Book

Carousel > Einstein and Eddington

Carousel < Throw Momma from the Train

Final spot: #2580 out of 3315, or 22%.

1917 (2019)

IMDb plot summary: April 6th, 1917. As a regiment assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.

Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, and Colin Firth.

This film got a ton of acclaim for seeming to be in two long uninterrupted shots, and that definitely does a lot to heighten the tension and immerse you in the characters' world. Director Sam Mendes has directed a lot of theater, so he knows how to keep long scenes engaging to his audience. The extremely narrow focus on these characters does a lot to make the tone of the story resonate as well. There are a few final scenes where it seems like all is lost, and when those obstacles are overcome and the hero makes it through, it's hard not to cheer. But it's also more than just adrenaline-fueled action, as these incredibly high stakes seem to melt away entirely at the end with a meditation on the futility and emptiness of war in the first place, and I found that moment more moving than I do in many films which have a similar goal. The score is also particularly strong here, bringing home a lot of the necessary emotional beats. While I'm skeptical that this movie will stick long in my mind, it is certainly well-written and I'm glad I finally sat down and watched it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

1917 > One, Two, Three

1917 < Hoop Dreams

1917 > Now You See Me

1917 > Full Metal Jacket

1917 < Frankenweenie

1917 > Undercover Blues

1917 > Smiles of a Summer Night

1917 < Hell in the Pacific

1917 > High Strung

1917 > Bride & Prejudice

1917 > Point Break

1917 > Logan's Run

Final spot: #945 out of 3314, or 71%.

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India (1995)

IMDb plot summary: Miss India and an aspiring actor spend a night together roaming the streets of Mumbai and unwittingly clash paths with a megalomaniacal gangster planning to take over India.

Directed by Ketan Mehta. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepa Sahi, Javed Jaffrey, and Anupam Kher.

This Bollywood movie tells the story of an unnamed aspiring actor and a prostitute who despite to spend an evening together, only to find themselves mixed up in a mob plot to replace the president of India with a surgically manufactured identical twin. This is obviously a LUDICROUS plot, but it only really becomes the central plot in the film's second half -- the beginning is mostly just the two main characters dancing around India escaping the police, the leading lady's pimp, and the mob boss' son who wants her for himself. It's an over-the-top zany story with some absolutely delightful song and dance numbers. (I particularly liked the dance-off between our hero and the mafia prince.) And the story gets more ridiculous as it continues on -- I chuckled out loud at several moments. It is a good 2 1/2 hours long, like many Bollywood films, but this film really flew by for me. I was having so much fun with it and the characters and wondering what the movie would come up with to throw at us next. Definitely a fun watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India < Hoop Dreams

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > Harakiri

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India < Full Metal Jacket

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India < To Kill a Mockingbird

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > All's Faire in Love

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > The Blind Side

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > Ballet Shoes

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > The Trojan Women

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > Inherit the Wind

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > An Education

Oh Darling Yeh Hai India > The Bad Sleep Well

Final spot: #1139 out of 3313, or 66%.

Maverick (1994)

IMDb plot summary: Bret Maverick, needing money for a poker tournament, faces various comic mishaps and challenges, including a charming woman thief.

Directed by Richard Donner. Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner, and Graham Greene.

This feels most in the vein of a heist movie, where everyone is out to get everyone else all the time but it's somehow fun and playful. This movie has a lot going for it but has aged badly in one aspect: it's tougher to buy Mel Gibson now as a likable rogue now that we know his unpleasantness as a person. That's not always a disqualifier, but this movie ABSOLUTELY relies on us buying into Gibson's charm, hook, line, and sinker, and as a result it loses a lot of its luster if that can't happen. The script is a lot of fun, though. I didn't expect it to be as overtly comedic as it was -- there's one bizarre moment of breaking the fourth wall to make a Lethal Weapon joke. Some of the jokes land better than other, and all would land better if I felt Gibson's charm, but there's enough enthusiasm for the jokes to sell me on their effort overall. Not stellar, not without its problems, but still a medium-enjoyable popcorn movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Maverick < One, Two, Three

Maverick > Horton Hears a Who

Maverick > The Hurt Locker

Maverick > Hellfighters

Maverick > Gran Torino

Maverick > The Savages

Maverick > Twisted Nerve

Maverick < Wreck-It Ralph

Maverick < The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

Maverick < The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (1988)

Maverick > Smokin' Aces

Maverick < The Librarian: Quest for the Spear

Final spot: #1679 out of 3312, or 49%.

Viva Zapata! (1952)

IMDb plot summary: The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Díaz in the early 20th century.

Directed by Elia Kazan. Starring Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, and Joseph Wiseman.

I knew very little about Zapata or about the Mexican revolution going into this film, but it sounds like director Elia Kazan really did his homework to try to capture this story. I do want to mention the fact that many of the central characters are played by white people, though I did learn that Anthony Quinn was Mexican-American, which was fun. The story, however, is a powerful and interesting one, despite its outdated casting practices. Zapata is a messy character, especially in the interactions we see between him and his romantic partner, but he seems to be the only one able to resist the temptation to use his power for personal gain. As he has to step up over and over again to use his influence to kick out a corrupt politician, you see him losing faith in the idea that he'll ever be able to stop fighting. The final scenes of this movie however make this a hopeful story, not a despairing one. It's a fairly well-crafted movie about a subject I didn't know much about, but I don't know that it would hold up to multiple viewings.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Viva Zapata! > To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Viva Zapata! < Chronicle

Viva Zapata! < Harakiri

Viva Zapata! < Holiday Inn

Viva Zapata! > 21

Viva Zapata! > Heaven Knows What

Viva Zapata! > Pather Panchali

Viva Zapata! < Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)

Viva Zapata! > Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Viva Zapata! > The Master

Viva Zapata! > Alice (1990)

Final spot: #1463 out of 3311, or 56%. That seems low but The Chart Does Not Lie.