Genius (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A chronicle of Max Perkins's time as the book editor at Scribner, where he oversaw works by Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
Directed by Michael Grandage. Starring Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Guy Pearce.

(Mild spoilers ahead.)

This movie trickles in and out in terms of interestingness. Approaching the story of the tortured genius from the perspective of the editor-writer relationship is a refreshing angle, and the most interesting scenes are those which follow that process. Where the movie flops a bit is in its determination to bring in a message about what it means to really live and finishes it in such an overly sentimental way that it made me roll my eyes. I'm not sure how much of this story is based in reality, but it certainly felt like it had been molded to fit the necessary dramatic arc, and not for the better. There's a really interesting narrative in here, but it unravels a bit as the movie becomes desperate to get its message across.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Genius > Harry and the Hendersons
Genius < Argo
Genius < A Matter of Life and Death
Genius > Foolproof
Genius < Selma
Genius < Deconstructing Harry
Genius < The Avengers
Genius > Let the Right One In
Genius < Must Love Dogs
Genius > Lost in America
Genius > Like Crazy

Final spot: #1067 out of 2471.

Tickled (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.
Directed by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve.

I saw a preview for this movie just a few weeks ago and instantly thought, "I have to see that." It delivers in every way what I'd hoped. It's a thoroughly bizarre documentary, told very much through the lens of one set of journalists following the ever-more-surreal rabbit hole of one particular company promoting "Competetive Endurance Tickling." Every time I think the story couldn't get more bizarre, it does. It's a very engrossing piece of storytelling told in a very interesting way, and it delivers on all of its off-the-wall promises.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Tickled > Harry and the Hendersons
Tickled > The Artist
Tickled < The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Tickled < E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Tickled < Four Lions
Tickled > Key Largo
Tickled < Fright Night (2011)
Tickled < Double Indemnity
Tickled > The Front
Tickled > 9
Tickled > Moonrise Kingdom

Final spot: #569 out of 2470.

Anna Karenina (2012)

IMDb plot summary: In late-19th-century Russian high society, St. Petersburg aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky.
Directed by Joe Wright. Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Matthew Macfadyen.

This is certainly a unique movie. It reminded me a lot of Moulin Rouge! in the way it took such visual liberties in telling the story to create a sense of it all being extremely grandiose. For the most part it works here, although, like in Moulin Rouge!, that grandiose, over-the-top visual portrayal of infatuation looks beautiful but leads to a fairly cold attitude toward its characters. Anna's husband is perhaps the most human character in the whole thing, primarily because his side of the saga is seldom romanticized, and his struggles are shown exactly as they are. It makes for an interesting take on the story, though I'm not sure it actually serves the story's purpose well. That being said, it is an engaging narrative, and it is beautiful to look at, so anyone who is a fan of unique visuals will enjoy watching this film.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Anna Karenina > The Fall
Anna Karenina > American Outlaws
Anna Karenina < The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Anna Karenina < E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
Anna Karenina < Four Lions
Anna Karenina < Key Largo
Anna Karenina > The Reader
Anna Karenina > Kolya
Anna Karenina < Cloud Atlas
Anna Karenina > Panic Room

Final spot: #584 out of 2469.

Trans-Europ-Express (1966)

IMDb plot summary: A film director, Jean, his producer, Marc, and his assistant, Lucette, board the Trans-Europ-Express in Paris bound for Antwerp. Once in their compartment it occurs to them that the drama of life aboard the train presents possibilities for a film, and they begin to write a script about dope smuggling.
Directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marie-France Pisier, Christian Barbier, and Raoul Guylad.

(Spoilers ahead, kind of, I guess.)

...What did I just watch? I never really settled into exactly what the point of this movie was. It's a weird experimentalish flick that goes nowhere, and I just don't have a lot of patience for that if there's not SOMETHING gripping me -- there certainly wasn't here. (In the last few minutes of the movie, I turned to Jacob and said, "I have now spent like five minutes watching a naked woman wrapped in chains slowly rotating on a turntable. WHY?" French New Wave, I will never understand you. Ever.

0.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Trans-Europ-Express < Harry and the Hendersons
Trans-Europ-Express < Mickey Blue Eyes
Trans-Europ-Express < The Good German
Trans-Europ-Express < 42nd Street
Trans-Europ-Express > The Ultimate Gift... I guess.
Trans-Europ-Express < XXX
Trans-Europ-Express < March of the Penguins
Trans-Europ-Express > At Land
Trans-Europ-Express > The Truth About Charlie
Trans-Europ-Express < Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Final spot: #2376 out of 2468.

Dark Passage (1947)

IMDb plot summary: A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.
Directed by Delmer Daves. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Tom D'Andrea, and Agnes Moorehead.

(Spoilers ahead.)

The first two-thirds of this are by far the most interesting. I loved the gimmick for the first third or so where most of it was told from the protagonist's camera viewpoint, never letting us see his face (though it became obvious later why that happened). I also liked that after only hearing his voice for the first act, he wasn't able to speak at all in the second act before getting both face and voice back at the end. The end, though, was where the movie faltered for me. After a really interesting opening and middle, it lost me around the time it tried to make it an actual mystery to solve. Frankly, I didn't really care who had murdered people, I just wanted to see him trying to escape. The ending didn't really work for me either -- not quite enough buildup for me to buy that she'd fly off to live in Peru with a convicted murderer -- but the first two-thirds of the movie were entertaining enough to make up for the disappointing finale.

3.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Dark Passage > The Fall
Dark Passage < The Artist
Dark Passage > Strictly Ballroom
Dark Passage < The Green Mile
Dark Passage < The Thin Man
Dark Passage > Grosse Pointe Blank
Dark Passage > Stage Fright (2014)
Dark Passage > Divergent
Dark Passage < Once Upon a Mattress
Dark Passage < The Birds
Dark Passage < The Majestic
Dark Passage < The Incredibles

Final spot: #858 out of 2467, or 65%.

Amen. (2002)

IMDb plot summary: During WWII SS officer Kurt Gerstein tries to inform Pope Pius XII about Jews being sent to extermination camps. Young Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana helps him in the difficult mission to inform the world.
Directed by Costa-Gavras. Starring Ulrich Tukur, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ulrich Muhe, and Michel Duchaussoy.

I found this a fascinating take on a period of history revisited *often* in cinema. The film puts forth some interesting thoughts about what a Christian's duty is while living in a country that is committing atrocities. My problem with the movie, however, is that it seems to land on that theme and then never move it forward in any way. Perhaps that mimics the frustrating arc of history, but it makes for a repetitive and equally frustrating movie as the same problem is seen from the exact same angle over and over again. It's a disappointingly circular narrative for what could have been a really captivating movie.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Amen. > The Fall
Amen. < The Artist
Amen. < A Matter of Life and Death
Amen. < Foolproof
Amen. > Win Win
Amen. > The Secret of NIMH
Amen. > Julie & Julia
Amen. < Stardust
Amen. > The Forbidden Kingdom
Amen. > City Lights
Final spot: #1090 out of 2466.

Carrie (1976)

IMDb plot summary: Carrie White, a shy and outcast 17 year-old girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
Directed by Brian De Palma. Starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, and William Katt.

(Spoilers.)

Halfway through this movie, I was rolling my eyes and telling my husband, "This movie is SO BAD." But, oh, goodness gracious, that ending. I knew what happened -- most people probably do, even if they've never read the book or seen the movie -- but something about actually seeing it play out was horrifying and heartwrenching. Sissy Spacek's completely still body posture and wide blue eyes portray her not as a furious, vengeful teenager, but as someone in shock at how badly things went once she let her guard down. Watching her move through the school and out the door, in complete shock, covered in blood, is one of the most hauntingly sad images I may have ever seen. For someone who empathizes with outcast characters, this movie may be almost physically painful to watch. Knowing everything was going to end poorly for her made me tense during the entire second half of the movie. I've KNOWN those kids, the ones who were so sheltered they barely knew how to interact with people around them, and while most of them have, thankfully, gone on to do just fine in the real world, I couldn't help thinking of them and hurting for them as I watched this movie. I'm not sure I could say I LIKED Carrie, but it definitely stuck with me enough that I have to give it some significant props. It made a full 180 for me from being one of the worst things I'd seen this year to being a pretty stunning movie.

3.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Carrie > Dreamgirls
Carrie < The Artist
Carrie > Strictly Ballroom
Carrie > The Green Mile
Carrie > Princess Mononoke
Carrie < Don't Drink the Water
Carrie < Seven Up!
Carrie < A Goofy Movie
Carrie < Mary and Max
Carrie > Me and Orson Welles
Carrie > Crimson Tide
Final spot: #689 out of 2465.