The Menu (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.

Directed by Mark Mylod. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nicholas Hoult.

The Menu takes place over one evening in the kind of high-level dining establishment that people wait in line to get into for years, if they ever get in at all. Ralph Fiennes plays the head chef putting forth his new avant-garde menu, and Anya Taylor-Joy plays an obsessed foodie's much less interested date, and they are the centerpieces around which the story is told as the menu takes a darker turn. This is far from a subtle satire, but I had a great time with it nonetheless. It's a fun, gruesome take on class warfare and art that becomes so abstract it erases humanity. It also latched onto the vibe of a really fun slasher movie, where you know the killer IS going to strike again, it's just a matter of trying to guess who and how and when. I also have to give a quick shoutout to Nicholas Hoult, who is always good but who absolutely nails it as the obnoxious fan fawning over Fiennes' every move. And, of course, I have to praise the cinematography, which focuses on the food (in all its various forms) in a way that really taps into the smell and taste senses that can be so difficult to convey in film. I enjoyed this one a lot.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Menu > Bad Education

The Menu < Elf

The Menu > Cafe Society

The Menu > Date Night

The Menu > The Secret Garden (1987)

The Menu > Beyond the Sea

The Menu > Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

The Menu < Till Death

The Menu > A Room With a View

The Menu > The Palm Beach Story

The Menu > Tower

Final spot: #961 out of 3781, or 75%.

The Fallout (2021)

IMDb plot summary: High schooler Vada navigates the emotional fallout she experiences in the wake of a school tragedy. Relationships with her family, friends and view of the world are forever altered.

Directed by Megan Park. Starring Jenna Ortega, Maddie Ziegler, and Niles Fitch.

The Fallout centers around a group of high school students who survived a school shooting by huddling together in one of the bathrooms, showing the ways they deal with that trauma in the following days. The student we follow most is played by Jenna Ortega, and she's absolutely incredible in this role. It's so hard to watch her try to hold things together any way she can but so easy to understand why she's acting the way she does. The other actors in smaller roles are also beautifully cast and directed, showing all the different ways this kind of traumatic experience can manifest in people. It's one of those slow-growing films where all of a sudden I find myself tearing up -- in this case, it was at the scene where she goes hiking with her father and the two of them are finally able to open up about their fears. This story, sadly, only gets more and more relevant with each week as the tide of American mass shootings goes unchecked, and movies like this that show the effect it can have on our kids will continue to be necessary.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Fallout > Bad Education

The Fallout > Elf

The Fallout > Six Degrees of Separation

The Fallout < Deathtrap

The Fallout < Before Sunset

The Fallout < Boyz 'N the Hood

The Fallout < The Devil's Backbone

The Fallout > Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

The Fallout < La Strada

The Fallout < Knives Out

The Fallout > Marriage Story

The Fallout > Village of the Damned

Final spot: #454 out of 3780, or 88%.

The Conformist (1970)

IMDb plot summary: A weak-willed Italian man becomes a fascist flunky who goes abroad to arrange the assassination of his old teacher, now a political dissident.

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, and Gastone Moschin.

The Conformist follows an Italian man in 1938 who is tasked by the fascist authorities to assasinate a former teacher of his. He reluctantly goes along with the plan, though it becomes clear he makes a poor government flunky. I really struggle to connect with the New Hollywood films of the 1970s. Even when I'm tangentially interested in the themes, such as this one, they speak a very different cinematic language than I do, and most of what they show me distances me rather than bringing me into what they're trying to say. I like the idea of this film in theory, but in practice I found it mostly tedious. I did find the ending scene by far the most interesting, and if I had been more engrossed in the rest of the movie I could see it having a very powerful effect on me, but as it is, it fell flat. I actually had to go look up the plot on Wikipedia to remind myself what happened in it aside from that ending scene because the rest of it had so little impact on me. I understand people connecting to this, but it's not for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Conformist < Bad Education

The Conformist > Faust: A German Folk Legend

The Conformist < Boogie Nights

The Conformist > Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

The Conformist > Touch of Evil

The Conformist > Ready Player One

The Conformist > Firecreek

The Conformist < Star Trek Into Darkness

The Conformist < Hancock

The Conformist < Matchstick Men

The Conformist > Hitchcock

The Conformist < Sideways

Final spot: #2389 out of 3779, or 37%.

Spirited (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A musical version of Charles Dickens's story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey.

Directed by Sean Anders. Starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer.

Spirited is a holiday musical comedy inspired by A Christmas Carol, starring Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds as the soul the ghosts are tasked with saving this year. The music is by current musical theater darlings Pasek and Paul, who I usually dislike, but I'm going to come out there and say I think this is their best work. In fact, this movie as a whole is so much better than I would have expected. Ferrell and Reynolds aren't the best singers, but they bring the exact right musical theater *energy* to this movie, with a willingness to go all in on every single number, no matter how cheesy. And while there is a plot and a "message" to this movie, it doesn't ever get in the way of the actors just having a good time. The movie leans into its musical stylings in its visuals as well, both in its vivid cinematography and its energetic choreography. Honestly, this movie is better than it has any right to be and I can definitely see this becoming part of my regular holiday viewing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Spirited > Bad Education

Spirited > Key Largo

Spirited > Six Degrees of Separation

Spirited < Deathtrap

Spirited > The Gods Must Be Crazy

Spirited < I'm Not Scared

Spirited < Broadway Danny Rose

Spirited < The Banshees of Inisherin

Spirited > The Producers (2005)

Spirited < Bicentennial Man

Spirited > Primal Fear

Final spot: #344 out of 3778, or 91%.

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A supernatural, time-travelling, musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's cult Christmas story.

Directed by Stephen Donnelly. Starring Luke Evans, Olivia Colman, and Jessie Buckley.

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol is a loose adaptation of the Leslie Bricusse musical Scrooge first released in the 1970s with Albert Finney in the title role. A few songs from the original musical appear here, with the rest being, as far as I can tell, also composed by Bricusse, though I had a surprisingly difficult time finding that out. But there's almost nothing done here that isn't done better in the 1970 version -- and I don't even like the 1970 that much. The new songs are absolutely dismal, with instrumentation that feels jarringly out-of-place. The one thing that actually works about this movie is the character design of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a wax candle-like creature who can change her appearance, which lends itself to the best visual moments of the movie -- the only good ones, really. But overall it's a deeply uninspiring version of this story that tries too hard to beat its audience over the head with the "message" of the story, through really uninteresting musical numbers.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < Neighbors

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol > Warm Bodies

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < Dr. No

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol > The Ides of March

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < The Cat in the Hat (1971)

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < The Howling

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < House of Games

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < Immortal Beloved

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < Paint Your Wagon

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol > Benedetta

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < Nine (2009)

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol < The Friends of Eddie Coyle

Final spot: #2593 out of 3777, or 31%.

Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976)

IMDb plot summary: Competition between privately owned Los Angeles, California ambulance companies is played for humor.

Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, and Harvey Keitel.

Mother, Jugs & Speed are the nicknames of three employees at a nearly-bankrupt for-profit ambulance company. Mother, played by Bill Cosby, is the company's mainstay, while Harvey Keitel's Speed and Raquel Welch's impolitely-named Jugs are newcomers trying to establish their credentials. This film is all over the place when it comes to tone. It zigzags back and forth between being a sort of zany workplace comedy and a dark drama. The two occasionally play well together, especially in scenes where the team is working and highlighting how they find the darkly funny or absurd moments in the tragedies they have to respond to. But a lot of the time, it feels like the movie can't decide whether it wants to make commentary or just goof around with low-budget workplace shenanigans. As a result, the comedy feels hollow and the drama feels unearned. There's an interesting movie at the heart of this film, it just doesn't quite cohere for me into something that works on the whole.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Mother, Jugs & Speed < Camp Rock

Mother, Jugs & Speed > L'Age d'Or

Mother, Jugs & Speed > Liz & Dick

Mother, Jugs & Speed < Star!

Mother, Jugs & Speed > The TV Set

Mother, Jugs & Speed < Happy Gilmore

Mother, Jugs & Speed < Fish Tank

Mother, Jugs & Speed < Amazing Grace

Mother, Jugs & Speed > Do You Like Hitchcock?

Mother, Jugs & Speed > Superman

Mother, Jugs & Speed < Carol

Final spot: #2232 out of 3777, or 41%.

La Condesa (2020)

IMDb plot summary: Three generations are cursed by a secret in La Condesa.

Directed by Mario Ramos. Starring Hannia Guillen, Gonzalo Trigueros, and Soraya Padrao.

La Condesa is a Honduran film tracking a haunted house at two different points in time: once in the 1970s, and once in the 2020s, where a descendant of the original characters comes back to the house. This isn't a bad premise for a horror movie, and there are moments where I think it's going to kind of work, but none of the characters are particularly interesting, and, sadly, neither is the Evil they're fighting against. You've got to have one of those to make something interesting in a horror flick, and this one just kind of floats around without ever landing anywhere interesting. I will say the grungy 70s nostalgia aesthetic works really well in this kind of movie, and for a good chunk of the film I thought this was going really work for me. As it is, sadly, it's a pretty disappointing ride. I seriously wish there had been as much thought put into the story, because I really wanted to like it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

La Condesa < Neighbors

La Condesa > L'Age d'Or

La Condesa > Liz & Dick

La Condesa < King Kong (2005)

La Condesa < Rosemary's Baby

La Condesa < The Shop Around the Corner

La Condesa > Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl

La Condesa > Val

La Condesa < About Ray

La Condesa > Blow Out

La Condesa < The Fourth Kind

Final spot: #2311 out of 3776, or 39%.