A Month by the Lake (1995)

IMDb plot summary: At a Lake Como resort, Miss Bentley, an attractive older guest, meets a handsome, well-to-do bachelor. But when he's more interested in a beautiful young flirt, the mischievous Miss Bentley goes to outrageous lengths to reel in her catch.

Directed by John Irvin. Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox, Uma Thurman, and Alida Valli.

The biggest problem this movie faces is that while it’s tremendously easy to root for Redgrave, it’s nearly impossible to root for Fox. He comes across as petulant, entitled, misogynistic, and perpetually in need of having his ego soothed. Watching Redgrave run circles around herself trying to salvage his pride is deeply painful and greatly detracts from the “summer by the sea” charm the movie is clearly trying to evoke. The landscape does look beautiful and relaxing, and it’d be so easy to settle into it if the movie kicked Fox’s character out entirely and focused on Redgrave enjoying her time there. But for now, I’d recommend A Room with a View or Enchanted April in a heartbeat over this muddled romance.

How it entered my Flickchart:

A Month by the Lake < Hustle & Flow

A Month by the Lake > The Shaggy Dog (1959)

A Month by the Lake < Ghost Ship

A Month by the Lake < Independence Day

A Month by the Lake > Sex Tape

A Month by the Lake < Monster

A Month by the Lake < Baby Boom

A Month by the Lake > The Da Vinci Code

A Month by the Lake < The 5th Wave

A Month by the Lake < Red River

A Month by the Lake > Side Effects

A Month by the Lake > The Devil's Brigade

Final spot: #2472 out of 3463, or 29%.

Q&A (1990)

IMDb plot summary: Dirty cop, Mike Brennan thinks he got away with murder. But during a routine Q&A, the righteous assistant DA finds a clue that sets them both on a collision course.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Armand Assante, and Patrick O'Neal.

Sidney Lumet is no stranger to stories about corruption in law enforcement, having tackled it in other films like Serpico and Prince of the City. This time around he draws some interesting connections between it and rampant racism, looking at how the racial tensions in the city feed into the violence of it. Like most of Lumet's crime movies, I found myself thinking at the beginning, "All right, this is the one where it's going to feel like your typical crime film," only for it to capture my interest partway through. There's a scene toward the end where one of our antagonists is following our protagonists without their knowledge, and I found myself genuinely tensing up as the scene played out. It ends on a less hopeful note than some of his earlier films, but it's still interesting to watch Lumet tell and re-tell the same story through slightly different lenses.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Q & A < The Cutting Edge

Q & A > A Prairie Home Companion

Q & A > Flypaper

Q & A > Thank You for Smoking

Q & A > Shame (1968)

Q & A > Pitch Perfect 2

Q & A > Elle

Q & A < Malcolm X

Q & A < Nine Queens

Q & A > Hellboy

Q & A < The Last Castle

Final spot: #1762 out of 3477, or 49%.

With Honors (1994)

IMDb plot summary: Convinced his thesis will have him graduate with honors from Harvard University, a stuffy student finds himself at the mercy of a homeless man's demands when he holds the papers hostage.

Directed by Alek Keshishian. Starring Joe Pesci, Brendan Fraser, Moira Kelly, and Patrick Dempsey.

This movie leans heavily into Pesci’s fast-talking high-energy style – an early scene of him defending himself in a courtroom is clearly shooting for a My Cousin Vinny comparison – and it works fairly well here with Fraser as a foil for him. I’m not as charmed by any of this as they want me to be, though, and find myself classifying it all mostly as “harmless” rather than “good.” I do appreciate though how the film avoids painting Pesci’s character as an all-knowing sage sent to teach arrogant kids a lesson, at least in the latter half of the film. As we get to know him better, it’s clearer he’s just an average person in need of some help, especially as his physical health begins to dwindle. It’s not a stellar film, but it’s sweet, and it works all right.

How it entered my Flickchart:

With Honors > The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

With Honors < Woman in the Dunes

With Honors < Being John Malkovich

With Honors > Little Women (2019)

With Honors < Rachel, Rachel

With Honors < The Tourist

With Honors > Serenity

With Honors < Captain America: The First Avenger

With Honors > Battle of the Sexes

With Honors < Palmer

With Honors < Sweet Charity

With Honors > Liberal Arts

Final spot: #1473 out of 3448, or 57%.

Censor (2021)

IMDb plot summary: After viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid, a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality.

Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond. Starring Niamh Algar, Michael Smiley, Nicholas Burns, and Vincent Franklin.

This film is deeply atmospheric -- at times more atmosphere than narrative, which I find interesting to think about after watching the movie but sometimes irritating while watching it. So much of it is told through the lead's hazy memories, dreams, and loosening grip on reality, and I often found myself antsy to know whether anything I'd been watching had actually happened. When it does work, though, it works GREAT. The final scene is utterly chilling and made up for a lot of my frustration for the rest of the film, and lead actress Niamh Algar pretty effectively captures all the various facets of her struggling character. There are people who will appreciate this more than I did, but it's probably worth checking out if you're a fan of horror.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Censor > Hustle & Flow

Censor < Jack Goes Boating

Censor < About Elly

Censor < Ice Age

Censor > The Forbidden Kingdom

Censor > Gunpowder Milkshake

Censor > The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Censor < Blow Dry

Censor > Tangled

Censor > The Italian Job (1969)

Censor > Malcolm & Marie

Final spot: #1531 out of 3465, or 56%.

Vivo (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Vivo follows a one-of-kind kinkajou who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés. But when tragedy strikes shortly after Andrés receives a letter from the famous Marta Sandoval, inviting her old partner to her farewell concert with the hope of reconnecting, it's up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andrés never could.

Directed by Kirk DeMicco. Starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo, Zoe Saldana, and Juan de Marcos González.

I watched this for Miranda's music, and it delivers pretty well on that level. It's got his trademark mix of showtunes, Latino rhythms, and hip-hop, and the tunes are pretty great. The story, however, is told in that classic DreamWorks style of having too many quirky side characters that don't actually add much to the movie or have much personality, and it ends up being more awkwardly chaotic than anything else. I like the central characters and would easily recommend the soundtrack, and younger kids will probably not be as annoyed by the shallow filler bits as I was, but this isn't something I feel inspired to watch again any time soon.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Vivo < Sunday in the Park with George

Vivo > A Prairie Home Companion

Vivo > Batman: Under the Red Hood

Vivo > Venom

Vivo > Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam

Vivo < Broken Embraces

Vivo < The Lighthouse

Vivo > Dunkirk

Vivo > Molly's Game

Vivo < The Piano

Vivo > Jack Strong

Final spot: #1826 out of 3481, or 48%.

Margaret (2011)

IMDb plot summary: A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives.

Directed by Kenneth Lonergan. Starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, and J. Smith-Cameron.

I have appreciated and moderately enjoyed other Kenneth Lonergan films… so… what happened here? What Lonergan has always excelled at is naturalistic and believable dialogue and direction, so why does this feel like dialogue right out of a Rifftrax special? Characters reiterate the same five points over and over again to each other and react to things they already know with shock and disgust. It’s not just bad, it’s laughably bad, like it’s been translated through Google Translate one too many times, and I genuinely can’t comprehend how it happened. The concept behind the story is a good one, and Allison Janney absolutely steals the one scene she’s in as the only one who can make these words sound reasonable, but the rest of it is such a bizarre, stilted mess that I’m left in just complete confusion as to what went wrong.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Margaret < The Cutting Edge

Margaret > A Prairie Home Companion

Margaret < The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Margaret < Saludos Amigos

Margaret < The Pajama Game

Margaret > Destry Rides Again

Margaret > Loving Annabelle

Margaret > City Slickers

Margaret > American Sniper

Margaret < Ocean's Twelve

Margaret < State of the Union

Margaret < VeggieTales: Are You My Neighbor?

Final spot: #2507 out of 3478, or 28%.

Night Falls On Manhattan (1997)

IMDb plot summary: A newly elected District Attorney finds himself in the middle of a police corruption investigation that may involve his father and his partner.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Andy Garcia, Richard Dreyfuss, Lena Olin, and Ian Holm.

I think I am finally coming to my end of the Sidney Lumet police corruption stories, because this one just flew in one ear and out the other. It does tackle the story with one or two unique angles, particularly the relationship between father and son, which adds an extra layer of wondering how far to take a corruption case. But the characters don't get much time to develop, so it all feels a little bland, and I found myself really struggling to remember anything about it even just moments after having finished it. As a result, I'm having a tough time even rounding up enough to say about it. It's just one of those films that makes no impression.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Night Falls On Manhattan < Sunday in the Park with George

Night Falls On Manhattan > The Merchant of Venice (2004)

Night Falls On Manhattan < Ghost Ship

Night Falls On Manhattan > Independence Day

Night Falls On Manhattan > The Howling

Night Falls On Manhattan > Holiday

Night Falls On Manhattan > The Godfather

Night Falls On Manhattan > Nowhere Boy

Night Falls On Manhattan < Coraline

Night Falls On Manhattan > No Sudden Move

Night Falls On Manhattan < National Treasure

Final spot: #2175 out of 3466, or 37%.