Stage Door (1937)

IMDb plot summary: A chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.

Directed by Gregory La Cava. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, and Gail Patrick.

The dialogue here is the most delightful kind of witty banter, with nearly every exchange functioning as either playful teasing or a pointed jab, and the two can alternate frequently within a scene as dynamics between characters shift. Some more serious drama arises near the end as one woman has to contend with the unexpected results of elbowing her way to the top, but the film isn't trying to make much of a statement about it other than perhaps "Art is hard," and is content to let it sit there. This feels like a film that would live up to multiple rewatches and deep dives into individual characters, and I feel like I barely scratched the surface in a single viewing. There's a lot to appreciate here, and I definitely recommend it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Stage Door > The Dinner Guest

Stage Door > Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Stage Door < Revengers Tragedy

Stage Door < The Muppets

Stage Door < A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

Stage Door < Blackbeard's Ghost

Stage Door > Hot Millions

Stage Door < Shallow Grave

Stage Door > Robin Hood (1973)

Stage Door > Fever Pitch (1997)

Stage Door > The Other Boleyn Girl

Final spot: #769 out of 3224, or 76%.

Tallulah (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Desperate to be rid of her toddler, a dissatisfied Manhattan housewife hires a stranger to babysit and ends up getting much more than she bargained for.

Directed by Sian Heder. Starring Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard, and Evan Jonigkeit.

A lot of indie dramas have deeply flawed characters trying to find their way in the world, but we as the audience are often meant to at least sympathize with their struggle. even if we disagree with their choices. This film bizarrely treats every character, aside from maybe Janney, with a kind of deep contempt. It provides multiple opportunities for audience stand-ins to coldly lecture Page and the mom on their choices and builds up an incredibly shame-y vibe. On top of that, the narrative itself runs out of steam and resolves abruptly, with characters overcoming their inner demons with no justification whatsoever, it's like they just ran out of time and it was time to be fulfilled now. Page and Janney turn in some quality performances and make these characters almost likable despite how judgily they're portrayed, but it is a clunky mess of a film.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Tallulah < The Dinner Guest

Tallulah < Lilo & Stitch

Tallulah > Captain January

Tallulah > Walking Across Egypt

Tallulah > The Devil Rides Out

Tallulah > Napoleon

Tallulah < Night at the Museum

Tallulah > From Here to Eternity

Tallulah < Sixteen Candle

Tallulah < Jake's Women

Tallulah > X2

Final spot: #2452 out of 3222, or 24%

Little Women (1994)

IMDb plot summary: The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.

Directed by Gillian Armstrong. Starring Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado, and Samantha Mathis.

I finally saw the version of Little Women that all my peers loved growing up. At its best, the story oozes warmth and welcome and a strong sense of family love despite ups and downs, and this definitely hits all those notes. The cast is all good, with special nods to Winona Ryder as Jo and Susan Sarandon as their mother. I think I am realizing however, after watching both this and the Greta Gerwig version this year, that this just isn't a story that resonates with me. I don't relate particularly well to any of the characters, it doesn't spark bigger ideas within me, no iteration of it unveils new layers, and on the whole it works for me better as a cozy mindless watch than as something that actually draws me in. And it always has that weird anti-genre-fiction thread running through it. There's nothing to complain about here, really - it's a solid, warm, cozy movie but nothing much beyond that.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Little Women > 12 Monkeys

Little Women < Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Little Women < The Terminal

Little Women > Three Colors: Red

Little Women > Children of Paradise

Little Women > The Theory of Everything

Little Women > Mother Night

Little Women < Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Little Women < Ben-Hur

Little Women < The Chorus

Little Women < The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Little Women < Mr. Holmes

Final spot: #1234 out of 3223, or 62%.

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

IMDb plot summary: A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, and Albert Dekker.

This film definitely FEELS like a play, not necessarily a negative for me, but there are long monologues where characters describe more dramatic scenes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The crowning jewel here is Hepburn, who dominates the first and final thirds of the film and radiates icy possessiveness - the way she speaks of her deceased son seems cloying at first and then downright ominous the more the story plays out. The cinematography is dramatic but usually effective. Once Elizabeth Taylor as the niece enters the picture, I found myself less interested - she's not nearly as captivating, and her big descriptive monologue at the film's climax is one of the ones that doesn't work, sadly. It's very Tennessee Williams and very theatrical, but it definitely has its moments and is probably worth checking out.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Suddenly, Last Summer > 12 Monkeys

Suddenly, Last Summer < Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Suddenly, Last Summer < Sleeping Beauty

Suddenly, Last Summer > Three Colors: Red

Suddenly, Last Summer > Children of Paradise

Suddenly, Last Summer > The Theory of Everything

Suddenly, Last Summer > Mother Night

Suddenly, Last Summer < Young Frankenstein

Suddenly, Last Summer > Ben-Hur

Suddenly, Last Summer < The Return of Captain Invincible

Suddenly, Last Summer < The Big Chill

Suddenly, Last Summer > Chaos Theory

Final spot: #1224 out of 3220, or 62%.

The Browning Version (1994)

IMDb plot summary: On the verge of forced resignation, a strict old-fashioned teacher rethinks his life.

Directed by Mike Figgis. Starring Albert Finney, Greta Scacchi, Matthew Modine, and Julian Sands.

When this film works, it's on the strength of Albert Finney's performance. He does such an excellent job of showing this character's pride in his work and how deeply hurt he is as he realizes how little his efforts have meant to anyone around him. As a teacher who also teaches a subject she's passionate about, a lot of his wrestling with that hit very hard. But he is really the only good part of this film, as much of the rest of it is alternately bland and preachy, and the ending would be entirely unsatisfying were it not for Finney managing to bring believability to his final monologue, which really doesn't earn it. Maybe worth a watch for his performance, but otherwise nah.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Browning Project < 12 Monkeys

The Browning Project > It's Always Fair Weather

The Browning Project > A Dangerous Method

The Browning Project < Away From Her

The Browning Project > Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

The Browning Project > Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl

The Browning Project > Drive

The Browning Project > The Commitments

The Browning Project < Descendants

The Browning Project < Yellowbeard

The Browning Project > Interstate 60

Final spot: #1821 out of 3219, or 43%.

Legends of the Fall (1994)

IMDb plot summary: In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.

Directed by Edward Zwick. Starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, and Julia Ormond.

This is the kind of film that jumps ahead years at a time to give a sprawling sense of this family's overarching drama. Brad Pitt is more likable than he has any right to be, given how his character is written, but I found myself more intrigued by Aidan Quinn's character's struggle with doing the right thing when his brother can make horrific mistakes and yet, to quote Quinn, "everyone still loved you more." The movie loves him more too, pushing us heavily to sympathize with Pitt and scorn Quinn, but it never quite convinced me. I would have appreciated the film more if it had centered the brothers wholly and cut the love triangle that keeps fighting to be the movie's focus (Julia Ormond is sorely underused). There's no denying that the film does look lovely, with grandiose sweeping landscape shots that make it easy to understand why the family patriarch stays. But the film frequently feels overstuffed.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Legends of the Fall < The Dinner Guest

Legends of the Fall > It's Always Fair Weather

Legends of the Fall > A Dangerous Method

Legends of the Fall < House of Flying Daggers

Legends of the Fall > Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

Legends of the Fall > Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl

Legends of the Fall < Lazer Team

Legends of the Fall < The Fourth Kind

Legends of the Fall > Streets of Fire

Legends of the Fall < Office Space

Legends of the Fall < The Illusionist

Legends of the Fall < Wordplay

Final spot: #1853 out of 3218, or 42%.

The Rainmaker (1956)

IMDb plot summary: During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster.

Directed by Joseph Anthony. Starring Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, and Lloyd Bridges.

I was loosely familiar with this story as the basis for the musical 110 in the Shade. I've heard the cast album but haven't seen the show, and frankly it's hard to imagine a show with a revival as recent as 2007 being THIS antiquated in its views of women. Katharine Hepburn got an Oscar nomination for this performance, but it's one of the most unflattering portrayals of older single women I think I've ever seen, making her fragile and pitiable for the SOLE reason that she isn't married, even go so far as to explicitly state more than once that a woman isn't REALLY a woman until she's attractive to men. Hepburn excels at portraying bold, independent characters, and, whoo, that would have been more interesting. The film is maybe trying to say some things about ambition and being willing to fight for what you want, but it all gets drowned out by the deliberate on-screen patheticness of this character who apparently just needs a man to bestow upon her her sense of purpose. What a terrible character to put at the center of your film.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Rainmaker < The Dinner Guest

The Rainmaker < Lilo & Stitch

The Rainmaker > Captain January

The Rainmaker > Walking Across Egypt

The Rainmaker > Madigan

The Rainmaker > Quitting

The Rainmaker < Night at the Museum

The Rainmaker < From Here to Eternity

The Rainmaker > Steve Jobs

The Rainmaker < The Peanut Butter Falcon

The Rainmaker > Petulia

Final spot: #2454 out of 3217, or 24%.