Avalon (1990)

IMDb plot summary:  A Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.

Directed by Barry Levinson. Starring Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, and Leo Fuchs.

Avalon follows a Jewish immigrant man and his family in the early days of television. We begin with his initial journey to assimilate into the United States and then follow his family's attempts to become successful. A lot of this, though not all, is told through the eyes of young grandson, played by Elijah Wood. Although I've been able to sum up the story reasonably succinctly there, the story is not that coherent in terms of what is actually about. It shifts constantly from focusing on the grandfather, the father, and the son in ways that I found occasionally a little jarring. I'm happy to believe that's my problem, rather than the movie's, but it does mean that the ending, which makes it sound as if the film was meant to be centered around the main patriarch the whole time, hits a little strangely. The movie definitely has some good moments and a couple plot threads that I found really engaging, and and the many scenes of the whole family interacting were always enjoyable and fascinating to watch, with all these personalities coming to the forefront. But something about the movie just falls short for me at the end. A good effort that doesn't quite land.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Avalon < Port of Shadows

Avalon > 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Avalon > 10

Avalon < Life of Pi

Avalon > Bananas

Avalon > The Subject Was Roses

Avalon < The Lost Boys

Avalon < The Core

Avalon > Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Avalon < Laura

Avalon < The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Avalon < Happy Gilmore

Final spot: #2114 out of 3672, or 42%.

Garbo Talks (1984)

IMDb plot summary: The son of a woman dying of a brain tumor tries to fulfill his mother's last wish: to meet Greta Garbo.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, and Carrie Fisher.

Garbo Talks tells the story of a woman who finds out she has terminal cancer, and her last wish is to be able to meet Greta Garbo. Her adult son takes on the extremely difficult task of finding the elusive movie star and convincing her to meet his mother before she dies. After watching so many Sidney Lumet thrillers about taking on corrupt systems of power, there's something really relaxing and sweet about this simple story of a man trying to fulfill his mother's dying wish. While he definitely gets his own subplot, it's the mother who holds focus here. She is played beautifully by Anne Bancroft, and even with her limited screentime she manages to cement herself as the emotional core of the entire movie, and everything that happens around her ties into her. It's not an amazing movie but it's unlike much else, and that uniqueness feels refreshing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Garbo Talks > Beauty and the Beast (1946)

Garbo Talks < Woman in the Dunes

Garbo Talks > Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

Garbo Talks < L'atalante

Garbo Talks < North by Northwest

Garbo Talks < Laurence Anyways

Garbo Talks > Stargate

Garbo Talks > Ghostbusters

Garbo Talks > The Long Day Closes

Garbo Talks > The Blind Side

Garbo Talks > The Detective

Garbo Talks > Singles

Final spot: #1320 out of 3671, or 64%.

RRR (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A fictitious story about two legendary revolutionaries and their journey away from home before they started fighting for their country in 1920s.

Directed by S.S. Rajamouli. Starring N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan Teja, and Ajay Devgn.

RRR is an Indian movie set during British rule of India. It tells the story of two men who become friends, one who is a British police officer and one who is trying to retrieve a girl kidnapped from his village by one of the British city leaders. They don't realize at first that their goals are opposite to each other, but when they do it strains their friendship. This movie got a lot of attention for its over-the-top action sequences, and those are indeed pretty delightful. It only has a couple of songs, but those songs are used to incredible effect -- far better to have only a few that are done well than a whole bunch that don't really matter. And most of all, the story of these two men's bond is heartwarming and well told. We get flashbacks showing their pasts and what brought the two of them to be the people they are today, and seeing those back stories makes it so easy to root for both of them to get what they want and reconnect. Are the action scenes wild and fun and unpredictable? Absolutely. But there's also a core to this movie that works just as well.

How it entered my Flickchart:

RRR > Port of Shadows

RRR > Woman in the Dunes

RRR > The White Tiger

RRR < Equus

RRR < The Fountain

RRR < Perfect Blue

RRR > Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

RRR > Magnolia

RRR > Billy Elliot the Musical Live

RRR < Dog Day Afternoon

RRR > The Parent Trap (1998)

Final spot: #405 out of 3668, or 89%.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

IMDb plot summary: In this action-packed comedy, Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage, channeling his iconic characters as he's caught between a superfan and a CIA agent.

Directed by Tom Gormican. Starring Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, and Tiffany Haddish.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent stars Nicolas Cage as himself, struggling to connect with his 16-year-old daughter and wondering if he should give up acting. He takes one last gig, which turns out to tangle him up in both international espionage and a once-in-a-lifetime bromance. The concept of this movie is fun, but... in so many ways, it's a weaker version of Adaptation. The meta commentary, the real-life artist struggling to create, even two Nicolas Cages arguing with each other. It's not unpleasant, but having just watched Adaptation, a lot of the similar humor and twists don't land as well here. What does make this movie work for me is the warm friendship between Cage and Javi. Even as Cage is making plans to take down Javi or turn him into the U.S. government, we feel how strong their bond is and hope for things to turn out right. And not to give too much of a spoiler, but when they ultimately start fighting on the same side, it's deeply satisfying. Pedro Pascal plays Javi and is incredibly charming, and I don't think the movie would have been the same with someone else in the role. Overall, a fluffy, fun watch, but if you want something headier... Adaptation is right there.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent > Port of Shadows

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < Woman in the Dunes

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent > Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent > L'atalante

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < 1917

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < sex, lies, and videotape

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent > Father Goose

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < Army of Shadows

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent > Undercover Blues

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < Extremities

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent < A League of Their Own

Final spot: #1111 out of 3661, or 70%.

Death on the Nile (2022)

IMDb plot summary: While on vacation on the Nile, Hercule Poirot must investigate the murder of a young heiress.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, and Kenneth Branagh.

Death on the Nile is Kenneth Branagh's sequel to Murder on the Orient Express, where he once again plays Detective Hercule Poirot, based on the popular mystery novels by Agatha Christie. Instead of being on a train, this time Poirot is accompanying a newlywed couple and their friends on a celebratory trip to Egypt, when one of them is murdered. This is not as interesting a plot as Orient Express, neither in the cast of characters nor in the mystery's solution, though it does round up a decent ensemble of actors including Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Armie Hammer, and Annette Bening, among others. But where this film falters the most, I think, is in trying to shoehorn in a dramatic arc for Poirot himself. It's just not that kind of story, and it means that we never really lean as much as I want into the other characters being created because I find myself kind of just waiting for Poirot's arc to play out. It's definitely a step down from Branagh's previous Christie adaptation, even if the Christie formula is still strong enough to hold it together.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Death on the Nile < Port of Shadows

Death on the Nile > In the Company of Men

Death on the Nile > Withnail & I

Death on the Nile > The English Patient

Death on the Nile < Vivo

Death on the Nile < Must Love Dogs

Death on the Nile > Avengers: Infinity War

Death on the Nile > No eres tu, soy yo

Death on the Nile > Trumbo

Death on the Nile < Holiday Affair

Death on the Nile < Swing Time

Death on the Nile < You'll Never Get Rich

Final spot: #2013 out of 3670, or 45%.

Melvin and Howard (1980)

IMDb plot summary: The story of hard-luck Melvin E. Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes.

Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards, and Elizabeth Cheshire.

Melvin and Howard tells the true story of Melvin Dummar, an average milkman who gives a strange hitchhiker a ride one night, only to discover that that man was Howard Hughes and that he's been left a piece of Hughes' fortune. While Dummar could certainly use the money, he has a difficult time convincing anyone that the will including him is genuine. The story is split between showing his financial difficulties before and after Hughes' death. I wonder what the real Melvin Dummar thought of this film, in which he's portrayed as kind of a horrible person. There's a level of not wanting him to win the money because he doesn't seem to "deserve" a windfall like this. The movie is also awkwardly paced and makes it tough to tell what the conflict actually is at any given moment. We just meander through Melvin's life for awhile, and then suddenly it kicks into gear in the last forty minutes or so when Hughes dies, and it feels sloppily executed. The most interesting piece by far is the opening 15 minutes or so, which shows our one interaction between the two title characters, and that'd be a great little short film if not saddled with the rest of the movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Melvin and Howard < Port of Shadows

Melvin and Howard > Fast Food Nation

Melvin and Howard > Star Trek Into Darkness

Melvin and Howard < Life of Pi

Melvin and Howard > Flightplan

Melvin and Howard < The Subject Was Roses

Melvin and Howard > Boys Town

Melvin and Howard < Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Melvin and Howard < Isadora

Melvin and Howard < Mission: Impossible III

Melvin and Howard > Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Melvin and Howard < The Secret War of Harry FRIGG

Final spot: #2145 out of 3666, or 41%.

Abraham Lincoln (1930)

IMDb plot summary: An episodic biography of the 16th President of the United States.

Directed by D.W. Griffith. Starring Walter Huston, Una Merkel, and William L. Thorne.

Abraham Lincoln is a biopic of, well, the title character, focusing heavily on his early life, his relationship with Mary Todd, and his determination to preserve the country during the Civil War. The film was made by D.W. Griffith, and given his earlier extremely racist film The Birth of a Nation, I was not at all excited for a Lincoln biopic. While Griffith still definitely doesn't seem to be elevating Lincoln's anti-slavery decisions, focusing entirely on the unity factor (which, I'm sure, was primarily Lincoln's goal to begin with), he does laud the man as a hero, which I wasn't sure would be the case. That being said, the political pieces of this story are by far the least interesting, told in strange halting pieces. I'd much rather see a full film on Griffith's take on the Lincoln-Todd marriage, which may not be accurate but would at least be more entertaining. This isn't one I'd recommend overall, it's both boring and cinematically unspectacular.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Abraham Lincoln < Closer

Abraham Lincoln < 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Abraham Lincoln > Wyatt Earp

Abraham Lincoln < Roberta

Abraham Lincoln > Running With Scissors

Abraham Lincoln > VeggieTales: Sumo of the Opera

Abraham Lincoln > Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin

Abraham Lincoln > Atomic Blonde

Abraham Lincoln > The Fast and the Furious

Abraham Lincoln < Kinsey

Abraham Lincoln < Good Night, and Good Luck.

Abraham Lincoln < Freaky Friday (1976)

Final spot: #2984 out of 3663, or 19%.