A Chorus of Disapproval (1988)

IMDb plot summary: A man new to a smallish British town joins an amateur theatre company. Once there, he discovers that the drama on stage is quite often nothing compared to what's happening behind the scenes: seduction, romance, faction fighting, and the inevitable jealousy.
Directed by Michael Winner. Starring Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Irons, Richard Briers, and Barbara Ferris.

As much fun as it is to get the occasional movie that's structured nothing like the rest of the movies I've been watching, this one isn't great. It's pretty messy and never ends up being either funny or profound. Moderately entertaining at best.

How it entered my Flickchart:
A Chorus of Disapproval > Office Space
A Chorus of Disapproval < Doctor Strange
A Chorus of Disapproval < The Happening
A Chorus of Disapproval > A Star Is Born (2018)
A Chorus of Disapproval < The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
A Chorus of Disapproval < Inside Llewyn Davis
A Chorus of Disapproval < Silent Movie
A Chorus of Disapproval > The Interpreter
A Chorus of Disapproval > Kung Fury
A Chorus of Disapproval < The Good Dinosaur

Final spot: #1257 out of 2911.

Rounders (1998)

IMDb plot summary: A young, reformed gambler must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks, while balancing his relationship with his girlfriend and his commitments to law school.
Directed by John Dahl. Starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Turturro, and John Malkovich.

This is a lot of fun. Definitely taps into the adrenaline and the desperation of the narrative. It feels very much like a heist movie. Edward Norton does an excellent job of playing truly loathsome characters.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Rounders > Office Space
Rounders < Evil Dead II
Rounders > The Happening
Rounders > Where's God When I'm S-Scared?
Rounders < Night Must Fall
Rounders > Hannah Arendt
Rounders < Panic Room
Rounders > Mrs. Brown
Rounders > The Death of Stalin
Rounders > Laurence Anyways

Final spot: #843 out of 2910.

Into the Dark: Pooka! (2018)

IMDb plot summary: A struggling actor takes on a seasonal holiday job as the mascot for the year's hottest new toy: Pooka. However, after putting the costume on, he develops two personalities - one for himself, and one for Pooka.
Directed by Nacho Vigalondo. Starring Nyasha Hatendi, Latarsha Rose, Jon Daly, and Dale Dickey.

I haven't watched any of the Into the Dark horror anthology films up until this point, but my husband started watching this on a whim today and so I followed along. It is a frustratingly vague experience much of the time that feels more like watching a David Lynch film than a traditional horror piece. I often enjoy using horror tropes to tell other, deeper kinds of stories, and this attempts that, but it gets bogged down in its first hour of not-very-scary, mostly-just-weirdly-surreal imagery.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Pooka! < Office Space
Pooka! < Cars
Pooka! > Armageddon
Pooka! > The Battle of Algiers
Pooka! > Green Lantern
Pooka! > Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Pooka! < A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Pooka! < Before I Fall
Pooka! > Apocalypse Now
Pooka! > Avanti!
Pooka! > The Queen
Final spot: #2199 out of 2909.

Jezebel (1938)

IMDb plot summary: In 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
Directed by William Wyler. Starring Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, and Margaret Lindsay.

I've never quite gotten on the Bette Davis love train, and that remains true here. While I like the uncertainty of the film's ending, I find myself largely indifferent to the central character's arc. Everyone just seems extremely unlikable, and I struggle to figure out what to take away from this. It reminds me a lot of Gone With the Wind, but without any of the beautiful cinematography.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Jezebel < Office Space
Jezebel < City Slickers
Jezebel > Dumb and Dumber
Jezebel < Special
Jezebel > Road to Morocco
Jezebel > Dinner for Schmucks
Jezebel > The Name of the Rose
Jezebel > No Reservations
Jezebel > Five Children and It
Jezebel < Miss Congeniality

Final spot: #2369 out of 2908.

The Fallen Idol (1948)

IMDb plot summary: A butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
Directed by Carol Reed. Starring Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel, and Bobby Henrey.

(Spoilers ahead.)

My biggest complaint with noir is how often it all feels the same. The same characters, beats, twists, and stakes over and over again. This one goes for a more unique spin -- it tells it all through the story of a child. Since noir so frequently looks at cynicism and loss of innocence and idealism, it seems only right to see it through the eyes of a child. Even when things work out in the end as far as the narrative goes, the child's worldview has been shaken, and that lingers through the "happy ending" plot events. It's an interesting effect, and one that pushes this up into the top half of my chart.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Fallen Idol > Gattaca
The Fallen Idol > We're No Angels
The Fallen Idol < Boyhood
The Fallen Idol < Grave of the Fireflies
The Fallen Idol < My Name Is Bruce
The Fallen Idol > Brooklyn
The Fallen Idol < The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Fallen Idol < The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
The Fallen Idol > Hoodwinked!
The Fallen Idol < Gone Girl
The Fallen Idol > Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
Final spot: #673 out of 2907.

Dead Ringers (1988)

IMDb plot summary: Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, and Barbara Gordon.

(Mild spoilers ahead.)

Well, this was unsettling. That shouldn't have been a surprise to me at all -- after all, it is Cronenberg -- but I particularly like how disturbing this is with very little of the gross-out body horror Cronenberg is known for. Its uncomfortableness is almost entirely psychological. These characters' downward spiral is so fascinating to watch from scene to scene. Jeremy Irons was very smart about how he played the two characters. There is nothing at all to set them apart from each other in their features, and the dialogue is not helpful when the brothers swap places so often, so it all comes down to the acting to figure out who is who from scene to scene, and Irons does this very effectively. The final 10 minutes of the movie or so are deeply, deeply sad. Easily my favorite Cronenberg I've seen thus far.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Dead Ringers > Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
Dead Ringers > Date Night
Dead Ringers < Breaking Away
Dead Ringers < Grave of the Fireflies
Dead Ringers < My Name Is Bruce
Dead Ringers > Brooklyn
Dead Ringers > The Ten Commandments (1956)
Dead Ringers < Detroit
Dead Ringers > Gremlins
Dead Ringers < Galaxy Quest

Final spot: #651 out of 2906.

Drunken Master (1978)

IMDb plot summary: Wong Fei-Hung is a mischievous, yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents, his frustrated father has him disciplined by Beggar So, a Master of drunken martial arts.
Directed by Woo-Ping Yuen. Starring Jackie Chan, Siu Tin Yuen, Jung-Lee Hwang, and Dean Shek.

I think I've narrowed in on one of the things that make martial arts movies so unappealing to me. When every scene has to be a setup for the inevitable fight at the end of it, you get a lot of characters who are just constantly aggressive with each other, sometimes for no reason. It's hard to find a likeable character to root for. Jackie Chan is definitely more charismatic than a lot of other martial arts movie leads (and his fight work looks amazing), but even he can't convince me there's any kind of hero in this movie. That being said, I enjoyed the lighter comedic aspects of this, and some of the fight scenes were fun, though they definitely all blur together for me. I liked it more than I anticipated.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Drunken Master < Three Amigos
Drunken Master > It Had to Be You
Drunken Master > Buddy Buddy
Drunken Master > The Robe
Drunken Master < The Bishop's Wife
Drunken Master < Treasures of the Snow
Drunken Master > Whisper of the Heart
Drunken Master > Kagemusha
Drunken Master < Black Snake Moan
Drunken Master > Shrek Retold
Drunken Master < The Sword in the Stone
Final spot: #1596 out of 2905.