Plan B (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Follows a straight-laced high school student and her slacker best friend who, after a regrettable first sexual encounter, have 24 hours to hunt down a Plan B pill in America's heartland.

Directed by Natalie Morales. Starring Kuhoo Verma, Victoria Moroles, Michael Provost, and Mason Cook.

This is actress Natalie Morales’ directorial debut, and it’s a stellar one. While I enjoyed Booksmart, I LAUGHED at Plan B, and most impressively, it made me laugh at tropes I usually find extremely tedious. This is a smart and funny script with pitch-perfect delivery from the two leads, as well as a tremendous supporting cast. I also appreciate the film’s setting – with many teen movies happening in large cities or occasionally suburban Midwest, it’s nice to see some representation of how women in rural areas do wind up with fewer healthcare options. Overall, definitely a solid watch. Between this, CODA, Moxie, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines, 2021 is turning out to be The Year of great teen girl coming-of-age movies. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

Plan B > Monsters

Plan B > Jack Goes Boating

Plan B < Soapdish

Plan B > Muppets Most Wanted

Plan B > Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Plan B > American Splendor

Plan B < Jean de Florette

Plan B < 56 Up

Plan B > The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Plan B > Boyhood

Plan B > Into the Woods (2014)

Plan B < Christmas in Connecticut

Final spot: #474 out of 3459, or 86%.

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

IMDb plot summary: Young Fiona lives with her grandparents in a small fishing village where she takes an active role to unravel the mysterious secrets.

Directed by John Sayles. Starring Jeni Courtney, Eileen Colgan, Mick Lally, and Richard Sheridan.

This is one of those films that just wraps you up cozily in the world it's created for you and it's just so comfortable to stay there. I didn't expect quite as much of a fantasy vibe early on, and while I won't spoil whether the story ends on a note of realism or magical realism, it toys with both for a good chunk of the story, and that's lovely. The cinematography on this is gorgeous, the kind of thing that makes you long to run away to a remote Irish village yourself, and the relationships between the characters is kind and loving despite the things that make their lives difficult. It's a sweet, charming story that I ended up liking much more than I first expected.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Secret of Roan Inish > Sunday in the Park with George

The Secret of Roan Inish < Jack Goes Boating

The Secret of Roan Inish > About Elly

The Secret of Roan Inish > I and You

The Secret of Roan Inish < Top Secret!

The Secret of Roan Inish > Southside with You

The Secret of Roan Inish > The Magnificent Seven (1960)

The Secret of Roan Inish > Gandhi

The Secret of Roan Inish < How to Steal a Million

The Secret of Roan Inish < Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)

The Secret of Roan Inish < Frankenweenie

The Secret of Roan Inish > Willy's Wonderland

Final spot: #988 out of 3472, or 72%.

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

IMDb plot summary: An English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.

Directed by Leo McCarey. Starring Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles, and Zasu Pitts.

I have a special fondness for “fish out of water” comedies, be they body swap movies or time travel movies. Abrupt status changes like this can often scratch that itch as well. This one doesn’t quite, partly because while the movie sets itself up as that kind of story, it’s only that for about 15 minutes before Ruggles acquiesces to his employer’s demands that he loosen up and socialize with the other people of the town. And then it’s about him learning to be his own person, which is kind of sweet but not so much comedic and ends up leaning awkwardly at times into a super pro-American nationalism which touts personal freedom and glosses over how little the brash Americans care about each other’s comfort. It ends as a very different movie than it began, and it’s fine but not quite my style.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Ruggles of Red Gap > Hustle & Flow

Ruggles of Red Gap < Jack Goes Boating

Ruggles of Red Gap < About Elly

Ruggles of Red Gap < Real Life

Ruggles of Red Gap > The Forbidden Kingdom

Ruggles of Red Gap < Cast Away

Ruggles of Red Gap > The Wrestler

Ruggles of Red Gap < 12 Angry Men (1997)

Ruggles of Red Gap > Patsy & Loretta

Ruggles of Red Gap > John Carter

Ruggles of Red Gap > The Forest

Final spot: #1583 out of 3462, or 54%.

Coda (2021)

IMDb plot summary: As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.

Directed by Sian Heder. Starring Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, and Daniel Durant.

CODA is a coming-of-age story about a high school girl who is the only hearing person in a family of deaf adults. Her brother and father work as fishermen, and she finds herself the default interpreter between them and the hearing world. But when finds she has a shot at attending a music college, she has to figure out whether her family will understand or forgive her abandoning them to go to school. With just a few changes, this is a story we’ve seen a hundred times. Kid grows up, tries to separate themselves from their parents, cue hurt and healing and growth. But those few small changes DO set this movie apart, particularly by moving this story into a setting we seldom see: the deaf community. The film’s title, CODA, stands for “Child of Deaf Adults,” and the film does an incredible job of showing the very specific challenges those students may face in their teenage years. And it does it RIGHT by casting deaf actors as the deaf characters. While I don’t know the community well enough to know how accurate it is, it’s definitely a perspective we see far too infrequently on film, and that in itself is enough to make this movie worth a watch, despite what is otherwise a traditional take on the genre.

How it entered my Flickchart:

CODA > Hustle & Flow

CODA > Jack Goes Boating

CODA < The Disaster Artist

CODA < All's Faire in Love

CODA > We're Not Married!

CODA < Back to the Future Part III

CODA < 21 Jump Street

CODA > Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

CODA > The Hunger Games

CODA > Il Postino: The Postman

CODA > Roxanne

CODA < Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Final spot: #730 out of 3454, or 79%.

Airheads (1994)

This very easily could have been a terrible movie, but for the most part, it works. All the different personalities in the station interact and intersect in fun ways, and while it is a wild story, it seldom seems implausible or over-the-top, and that makes the more ridiculous moments even funnier set against this plausible backdrop. There are, of course, plenty of good tunes in here too, as the band essentially turns their hostage situation into a mega rock concert with their favorite songs as crowds of interested citizens gather outside the station to tune in and see what's happening. There are about 10 mini-plots running at any given time throughout this movie, so there are certainly some that work better than others -- I never got much out of Michael Richards crawling around in the vents or random people laughing at Chris Farley for being a fat police officer -- but the core of this movie works and is a pretty good time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Airheads > The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

Airheads < Jack Goes Boating

Airheads > Charlie St. Cloud

Airheads > A Serious Man

Airheads < Top Secret!

Airheads > Last Year at Marienbad

Airheads < The Crow

Airheads > Nick of Time

Airheads > It (2017)

Airheads > Fresh

Airheads > 1917

Airheads > The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Final spot: #1005 out of 3475 so far, or 71%.

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

IMDb plot summary: A mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.

Directed by Erle C. Kenton. Starring Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Richard Arlen, and Leila Hyams.

While there are certainly dated elements to this film, I was pleased with how well it held up for me overall. Laughton does a lot of the heavy lifting here, coming across as the perfect mad scientist, so convinced in his own rightness that it’s hard to imagine anyone moving him out of the way. I find it very satisfying that the titular “lost souls,” the animals that have been speed-evolved into something more human, gain their moments of agency at the end, even if the film is still a little wobbly on whether or not they should TRULY count as human. This is a movie of its time but an intriguing one.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Island of Lost Souls > Monsters

Island of Lost Souls < Jack Goes Boating

Island of Lost Souls < Fantasia 2000

Island of Lost Souls > Real Life

Island of Lost Souls > Ant-Man

Island of Lost Souls > Ben-Hur (1959)

Island of Lost Souls < Moonlight

Island of Lost Souls > Hugo

Island of Lost Souls < I, Tonya

Island of Lost Souls < Sleeping Beauty

Island of Lost Souls < Velvet Buzzsaw

Island of Lost Souls < Spanglish

Final spot: #1336 out of 3457, or 61%.

The River Wild (1994)

I've never had any interest in going whitewater rafting, but this movie certainly brings out the adventure, the joy, and the excitement of it, and the landscape shots of the forests, the hills, and of course the river itself are really lovely. When it kicks into high gear as a thriller about halfway through the movie, it does a good job keeping tension high, with the protagonists exhausting every idea they have for how to escape their captors, so we're never left wondering, "But why didn't they just...?" I've said before that I rarely like Streep when she's playing a normal every day human and find her best performances in more extreme characters, but she is good here, coming across as both human and flawed but also intelligent and competent. Had she wanted to, I bet she could have continued doing thrillers, because she's a great leading lady here. The side cast here is also great and their dynamics pretty well fleshed out, and overall it was a solid watch, if not spectacular.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The River Wild > The Cutting Edge

The River Wild < Jack Goes Boating

The River Wild < Being John Malkovich

The River Wild > Little Women (2019)

The River Wild > Rachel, Rachel

The River Wild > The Big Chill

The River Wild > The Hunt (2020)

The River Wild > The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The River Wild < Poltergeist

The River Wild > All About My Mother

The River Wild > Lifeforce

Final spot: #1311 out of 3476, or 62%.