Flow (2024)

IMDb plot summary: Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences.

Directed by Gints Zilbalodis.

Flow is a Latvian animation film about a group of animals trying to survive in a human-less, rapidly flooding world. This movie is one I feel like I'm going to be thinking about for a long time. The animation style is simple and effective against the wordless meandering narrative, making it feel more like a moving painting than a typical film. The animals behave like animals, not humans with animal bodies, and it makes the whole story feel otherworldly. Is this post-apocalyptic? Do humans exist in this world? Did they recently? No clue, and really it doesn't matter, because the animals aren't seeking the answer, they just want to survive. There are some strangely supernatural elements that seem to appear partway through the story, and they seem to not feel out of place at all. There are so many great little moments of personality and character and friendship being built throughout this film, all without words, and creating a fascinating balance of slow meditative journeying and almost existential tension in an inexplicable world. It's a beautiful, unique film that I'm glad I got to experience.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Flow > For Pete's Sake

Flow > Safe

Flow > Network

Flow < Parasite

Flow > Cape Fear (1962)

Flow < The Guilty

Flow < Aftersun

Flow > Primal Fear

Flow > Nosferatu (1922)

Flow < The Young Girls of Rochefort

Flow < Together Together

Flow < Mommy

Final spot: #350 out of 3990, or 91%.

Fools Rush In (1997)

IMDb plot summary: After a one-night stand with Alex, Isabel realizes that she is pregnant and they decide to get married. However, along with the marriage comes compromise of one's own cultural traditions.

Directed by Andy Tennant. Starring Matthew Perry, Salma Hayek, and Jon Tenney.

Fools Rush In is a 1997 romance starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek as a couple who get pregnant after a one-night stand, and they decide to risk it all on an impulsive marriage, despite their very different backgrounds. My general reaction to almost everything that happened in this movie was, "Oh, those poor sweet dumb kids." Our two leads come across as so deeply unequipped for any kind of relationship but so well-intentioned, and they make such bad decisions and then make even weirder decisions trying to fix them, but you kinda hope it'll work out because they just seem like college kids with no clue how to communicate. There's a sincerity to both their performances that transfers what would have been an irritating relationship dynamic to just... a cheerfully incompetent one. Perry's character has no ability to have difficult conversations, so he just constantly lies to avoid them, even if the lie will ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLY be discovered in the next 10 minutes, and Hayek's character acts so heavily on impulse while claiming she doesn't. Should they be having a baby together? Absolutely not. Do I kind of hope it works out because I feel bad for them like they're clueless teenagers? Absolutely. I kind of feel the same way about the movie. Does it work as a romance? Mostly not. Do I kind of root for it anyway because I feel bad for how sincere everything in this feels? Absolutely.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Fools Rush In < For Pete's Sake

Fools Rush In > The Day of the Triffids

Fools Rush In > The Conversation

Fools Rush In < The Tempest (2010)

Fools Rush In < The Rescuers

Fools Rush In > Pokémon: Detective Pikachu

Fools Rush In > Superman

Fools Rush In > The Secret War of Harry Frigg

Fools Rush In > Till the Stars Come Down

Fools Rush In > National Theatre Live: Everyman

Fools Rush In < Camelot

Final spot: #2372 out of 3989, or 41%.

A Christmas Carol (1984)

IMDb plot summary: A bitter old miser who rationalizes his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three spirits visit him on Christmas Eve.

Directed by Clive Donner. Starring George C. Scott, Frank Finlay, and Angela Pleasance.

This version of Charles Dickens' classic stars George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, the wealthy miser who is visited by a collection of ghosts to convince him to change his ways. A Christmas Carol has never fully won me over, and I couldn't tell you why, it leaves me a little cold. This version mixes in some unexpected moments of humor, but overall it isn't the one to change my mind. Scott is often a pretty good actor, but here he can't quite sell the slow transformation, and it's easy to get the sense that the first two ghosts were unnecessary. The most compelling actor is Scrooge's nephew Fred, played by Roger Rees with the perfect amount of optimism before it spills over into making him seem like someone who just... doesn't read people very well. Other than that, however, it feels like a pretty middle-of-the-road interpretation of the story, and it was fine but not particularly exciting.

How it entered my Flickchart:

A Christmas Carol < VeggieTales: Madame Blueberry

A Christmas Carol > The Day of the Triffids

A Christmas Carol > The Conversation

A Christmas Carol < Lost in America

A Christmas Carol < Miss Rose White

A Christmas Carol > Pokémon: Detective Pikachu

A Christmas Carol > Superman

A Christmas Carol > The Secret War of Harry Frigg

A Christmas Carol > Till the Stars Come Down

A Christmas Carol < Funny Girl

A Christmas Carol < National Theatre Live: Everyman

A Christmas Carol > Ladies of Leisure

Final spot: #2373 out of 3988, or 40%.

Nosferatu (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.

Directed by Robert Eggers. Starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicolas Hoult, and Bill Skarsgård.

Nosferatu is Robert Eggers's newest film, a remake of the classic from the 1920s. It tells the story of a young newlywed couple who find themselves enmeshed with a centuries-old vampire named Count Orlock who has nefarious plans for the bride. I have not been a huge fan of Egger's work in the past. I found both The Lighthouse and The Northman more interesting in theory than an execution. But this one really stepped it up for me. This is a slow looming horror story that does a really great job of painting a terrifying atmosphere without relying on jump scares. Bill Skarsgard as Orlock is especially fascinating, both in the vocal acting decisions he makes and how they adjust his voice in post to give him some terrifying bass resonance. There are a lot of really fascinating scenes in here that keep the film from ever really feeling its 2 hour length. Aaron Taylor-Johnson makes some spectacularly strange acting decisions that pulled me out of the movie, but he's a small enough part there's still plenty for me to enjoy. There were also scenes that were incredibly difficult to watch as somebody who is super grossed out by spit (although blood and other gore like that doesn't bother me at all, and there's also plenty of that). But it's a well done movie overall and I had a good time watching it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Nosferatu > For Pete's Sake

Nosferatu > Safe

Nosferatu < Network

Nosferatu < Onward

Nosferatu > Barbarian

Nosferatu < Red Carpet

Nosferatu < The Hunger Games

Nosferatu < Hidden Figures

Nosferatu > Little Children

Nosferatu < The Hateful Eight

Nosferatu > The Road Warrior

Nosferatu > The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

Final spot: #861 out of 3987, or 78%.

Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

IMDb plot summary: The filming of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) is hampered by the fact that its star Max Schreck is taking the role of a vampire far more seriously than seems humanly possible.

Directed by E. Elias Merhige. Starring John Malkovich, Willem Defoe, and Udo Kier.

Shadow of the Vampire is a horror movie focused on the filming of the real life 1920s horror film Nosferatu, an adaptation of Dracula (without the rights to film Dracula). In this version of the story, actor Max Schreck, who plays Nosferatu, insists on staying in character and makeup at all times, leading some on the crew to believe he is in fact not an actor but a real life vampire. When I started watching this, I knew it was about the filming of Nosferatu, but I thought it was a pretty straightforward biopic. It was a delight to discover that it was in fact a supernatural horror story that painted filmmaker F.W. Murnau as being more than willing to make a pact with a vampire to sacrifice his lead actress in order to get the perfect movie. Despite the absolutely ludicrous premise of this movie, it takes itself so very seriously, but fortunately it's in a way where it becomes delightfully silly rather than irritatingly pretentious. Willem Defoe as Schreck is particularly fun, although John Malkovich's Murnau is also a wonderful caricature of the obsessed artist. This is not the beautifully tragic deep art that it sets itself up as, but it's a ton of fun, especially since I had no idea what i was actually getting into.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Shadow of the Vampire > For Pete's Sake

Shadow of the Vampire < Safe

Shadow of the Vampire > Stargate

Shadow of the Vampire < Waking Ned Devine

Shadow of the Vampire > The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Shadow of the Vampire > Evita

Shadow of the Vampire < Serial Mom

Shadow of the Vampire > Death by Hanging

Shadow of the Vampire > VeggieTales: Rack, Shack & Benny

Shadow of the Vampire > The Descendants

Shadow of the Vampire > Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Shadow of the Vampire > Decision to Leave

Final spot: #1277 out of 3986, or 68%.

Repo Man (1984)

IMDb plot summary: A young punk, recruited by a car repo agency, finds himself in pursuit of a Chevrolet Malibu with a huge, $20,000 bounty--and something otherworldly stashed in its trunk.

Directed by Alex Cox. Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, and Tracey Walter.

Repo Man Stars Emilio Estevez as a teenager who is a punk but gets a job as a Repo Man.  He and his company are sent out on the lookout for a particular car with a huge bounty on it, which turns out to maybe be part of a giant conspiracy to cover up aliens. When I was recommended this, I assumed it was a typical 1980s action movie, maybe with some coming of age elements sprinkled in. But it's so much weirder than that and that was a delightful surprise. Once I was able to lean into it as a full-fledged bizarre comedy story, it suddenly started to click for me. Unfortunately that wasn't until later in the film, and I spent the beginning of the film perplexed by the film's tone. It's one that i would like to revisit at some point in the future after I've let the details of the plot slip away from my memory but still remember the overall vibe it brought. It's a wacky, wild movie that I had a good amount of fun with once I figured out how to take it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Repo Man > Dodsworth

Repo Man > Anna Karenina

Repo Man < The People Under the Stairs

Repo Man < Onward

Repo Man < Destroy All Neighbors

Repo Man < The Blue Angel

Repo Man < Shallow Grave

Repo Man < Fruitvale Station

Repo Man < The Quick and the Dead

Repo Man > Elf

Repo Man > Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

Repo Man > My Life as a Dog

Final spot: #989 out of 3985, or 75%.

Society of the Snow (2023)

 

IMDb plot summary: The flight of a rugby team crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world's toughest environments to survive.

Directed by J.A. Bayona. Starring Enzo Vogrincic, Augustín Pardella, and Matías Recalt.

Society of the Snow is a Spanish-language film telling the true story of the Uruguayan soccer team that crash-landed in the Andes, and the few who survived there for months. This was directed by J. A. Bayona, who has done a few of my absolute favorite movies, and in comparison this is a little bit lower, but still a very solid and interesting movie. I thought the pacing of the movie was beautifully done -- showed the duration of their survival while staying on the edge of the tension the whole way, which is not easy to do. I do wish I was good enough with faces to have made more of a connection to the individual characters. Especially after a few weeks had passed, I really struggled to differentiate them from each other, which limits the impact any individual character's life or death can have. The film is good, however, at showing this horror on a wider scale and painting it as horrific not just because we care about character X or character Y, but because this is an awful thing for any human being to have to go through, and as a result, my lack of connection with individual characters didn't really hurt it very much. Overall, a very well-made film that tells a fascinating story from a very human perspective.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Society of the Snow > Dodsworth

Society of the Snow > Anna Karenina

Society of the Snow < The People Under the Stairs

Society of the Snow < Onward

Society of the Snow > Barbarian

Society of the Snow > Red Carpet

Society of the Snow < Mildred Pierce (1945)

Society of the Snow < Encanto

Society of the Snow > Sleight

Society of the Snow < Bubba Ho-tep

Society of the Snow > Take This Waltz

Society of the Snow < Margin Call

Final spot: #799 out of 3984, or 80%.