American Factory (2019)

IMDb plot summary: In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert.

American Factory is a documentary about a Chinese company's attempt to open a manufacturing plant in America. This is a depressing watch. I find it fascinating as a documentary how much of the back behind the scenes footage they were able to get an error that really show how fundamentally our system makes it impossible for labor workers to succeed in this country, and how the work ethic of another country overlaps and highlights these problems in both areas. It doesn't necessarily bring to light anything that I wasn't somewhat aware of, but it does a good job of highlighting in one particular instance the kinds of personal impact that can happen when we treat people as drones rather than human beings and push toward productivity above all else. I can't imagine wanting to rewatch it at any point, it's too upsetting to realize how then this is in our country, but I think it was overall pretty well done.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 American Factory (2019)

📊 Ranked #2714/4237 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 41

lost to Frances Ha (held at #2194)

beat The Forger (#3221 → #3222)

beat Certified Copy (held at #2700)

lost to Star Trek: Nemesis (held at #2444)

lost to Son of Rambow (held at #2568)

beat Heartbeat (held at #2634)

lost to Woman in Gold (held at #2601)

beat The Interpreter (held at #2618)

lost to Legally Blonde (held at #2609)

lost to A Star Is Born (held at #2614)

beat Thoughtcrimes (held at #2616)

beat The Vagabond King (held at #2615)

Sorry, Baby (2025)

IMDb plot summary: After a tragic event, a woman finds herself alone while everyone else continues with their lives as if nothing had happened.

Directed by Eva Victor. Stars Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, and Louis Cancelmi.

Sorry, Baby follows a young woman throughout two chapters in her life: one in which she is groomed by one of her college professors, and the second in which she comes to terms with that and how it has affected her in ways she didn't necessarily recognize at first. This is the directorial debut of Eva Victor, and it's an astoundingly good one. It's one of those films that really lets its characters live in the world, and even as there is obviously drama and plot and action happening around them, the overall feeling is one of sitting with the characters in the quiet spaces in their heads. Besides directing, Victor also plays our lead, and she is incredible here. She conveys subtly but believably all the conflicting emotions going on with this character throughout the story. I found the ending very moving. It doesn't have a big dramatic happy resolution, but it does conclude the emotional journey that we've been on in a way that I appreciated. I also really loved how they portrayed the female friendships in this movie, both the positive ones and the ones that are less healthy. Overall an incredibly strong debut and I cannot wait to see more of what this director puts out.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sorry, Baby (2025)

📊 Ranked #515/4236 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 87

beat 2046 (#2200 → #2201)

beat I Want You Back (#1149 → #1154)

beat Regarding Henry (#616 → #623)

beat Akeelah and the Bee (#292 → #305)

lost to Up (#126 → #127)

lost to Speed (#200 → #209)

lost to Dawn of the Dead (#238 → #247)

beat Ball of Fire (#269 → #292)

lost to Sabrina (#258 → #269)

lost to The Fly (#264 → #171)

lost to Jean de Florette (#267 → #166)

lost to Weapons (#268 → #264)

South Pacific (1958)

IMDb plot summary: On a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.

Directed by Joshua Logan. Stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, and John Kerr.

South Pacific is a musical by Rodgers & Hammerstein, set during World War II. It tells the story of group of soldiers and nurses stationed in the South Pacific, focusing in particular on a series of romances and the racial biases that they must confront along the way. Rodgers & Hammerstein have never been my favorite, and this one doesn't win me over either. It does have some lovely songs performed well by the film's cast, but I've never been really convinced by how these songs enhance the story or vice versa. I was also unenthused by the film's decision to place all musical numbers behind a gauzy haze. I imagine that it's trying to lean into the romanticization of it, as if they've left reality by singing, so we're also leaving reality in terms of visuals, but mostly it didn't work for me. This is one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's more boring works in my opinion, and this film version didn't convince me otherwise.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 South Pacific (1958)

📊 Ranked #2708/4235 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 41

lost to Frank (#2200 → #2202)

beat The White Ribbon (#3224 → #3234)

beat Uptight (#2704 → #2713)

beat Wrong Turn (#2449 → #2451)

lost to The Year of Living Dangerously (#2326 → #2238)

beat Lost in America (#2387 → #2415)

lost to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (#2356 → #2297)

lost to The Woman in Black (#2371 → #2407)

lost to Killing Season (#2379 → #2240)

beat Get Shorty (#2383 → #2384)

lost to Rosemary's Baby (#2381 → #2251)

beat North (#2382 → #2383)

Descendant (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Follows descendants of the survivors from the Clotilda, the last ship that carried enslaved Africans to the United States, as they reclaim their story.

Directed by Margaret Brown.

Descendant is a documentary about the last known slave ship to dock in the US, and the descendants' attempts to find it as part of discovering their own history. This film does a good job as a documentary of highlighting interesting facts about history, both personal and national history, and why it's still important for us to learn about it. It's also structured well in terms of jumping between the past and future to show their interconnectedness. It successfully shows the effects the ripple effects of that slave ship landing in how it still impacts people even today, down to who controls the land in this area. Like most documentaries, the narrative is kind of hampered by the fact that real life doesn't usually have a nice neatly wrapped up ending, but as a film that is drawing attention to something, I think it does a good job.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Descendant (2022)

📊 Ranked #2568/4234 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 45

lost to Malcolm X (#2199 → #2219)

lost to Goldfinger (#3223 → #3233)

beat The Lizzie McGuire Movie (#3736 → #3737)

beat Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (#3484 → #3462)

beat The Fortune Cookie (#3354 → #3365)

beat McCabe & Mrs. Miller (#3287 → #3294)

beat Gozu (#3254 → #3268)

beat Where Eagles Dare (#3238 → #3259)

beat Theorem (#3230 → #3214)

lost to Whisper of the Heart (#3226 → #3159)

beat 12 Days of Terror (#3228 → #3212)

beat We're No Angels (#3227 → #3244)

Dilwale (2015)

IMDb plot summary: The younger siblings of two estranged lovers fall for each other, unaware of the violent past that drove the elder ones apart.

Directed by Rohit Shetty. Stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Varun Dhawan.

Dilwale is a Bollywood musical movie about a couple that falls in love, only to find out that their older siblings are an estranged couple themselves, who were torn apart by gang rivalries. This reunites Kajol & Shah Rukh Khan from Dilwale Dilwale La Jahuenge, which I just saw and adored, but this one is a little less exciting. The generational aspect of this story is often a perk of Bollywood films, but here it makes the film feel a little bloated. There are some good individual songs -- I was familiar with "Janam Janam" and it's absolutely stunning context, and it's worth watching for that alone. But of all the Bollywood movies that I have been watching as part of my recent movie viewing, this is one that definitely is going to fade from my memory because it just didn't stand out. Not bad, but it pales in comparison to a lot of its better options.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Dilwale (2015)

📊 Ranked #2289/4233 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 49

lost to Celeste & Jesse Forever (#2197 → #2114)

beat Häxan (#3222 → #3229)

beat Wedding Crashers (#2702 → #2792)

beat The Commuter (#2447 → #2277)

beat The Year of Living Dangerously (#2324 → #2336)

lost to The Blues Brothers (#2262 → #2266)

beat Road House (#2292 → #2465)

lost to Top Hat (#2277 → #2205)

beat The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (#2284 → #2298)

lost to Safety Not Guaranteed (#2280 → #2264)

lost to Sorry, Wrong Number (#2282 → #2232)

beat Mank (#2283 → #2294)

Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When a titan music mogul is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.

Directed by Spike Lee. Stars Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, and Ilfenesh Hadera.

Highest 2 Lowest is a Spike Lee remake of an Akira Kurosawa film, about a wealthy man whose son is kidnapped and held for ransom. He and the people around him must figure out how to respond. This is more interesting in concept than it is in execution. It seems like it would be a natural transition into the modern era, but it ultimately ends up feeling clunky, with overly expository dialogue, even given Lee's expository style. The first half is more interesting conceptually than the second, where it just becomes a typical action flick. The acting is uneven as well. Jeffrey Wright does a great job (when does he ever not?) but Denzel Washington feels didactic and stagey in the worst way. Mostly this just made me want to go back and watch the original, because although this is a great concept for a story and Wright is worth watching, so much of it is just kind of disappointing.

🎥 Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

📊 Ranked #1810/4233 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 58

beat Camp Rock (#2199 → #2278)

lost to Speak No Evil (#1148 → #1166)

lost to The Meg (#1668 → #1568)

lost to Dressed to Kill (held at #1935)

beat Blow Dry (#2060 → #2062)

lost to Away We Go (#1998 → #1986)

beat For Pete's Sake (#2029 → #2093)

lost to A Song Is Born (#2012 → #2016)

lost to State and Main (#2021 → #1937)

beat One 2 Ka 4 (#2025 → #2089)

beat The Seventh Seal (#2023 → #2021)

lost to Shine (#2022 → #1936)

The Straight Story (1999)

IMDb plot summary: Alvin Straight, a 73-year-old, learns that his estranged brother, Lyle is critically ill. Unable to drive, Alvin embarks on a journey from Iowa to Mt. Zion by riding a lawn mower.

Directed by David Lynch. Stars Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, and Jane Galloway Heitz.

The Straight Story is a David Lynch drama about an elderly man who plans to travel the country to visit his estranged brother, who has had a stroke. Only problem is, he has no way to get there, until he decides to drive his riding mower. This is a huge departure from what Lynch is most known for -- this is a quiet, realism-centered, heartwarming story, rather than the bizarre fever dreams I associate with him. It's easier to follow for sure, but also just kind of sits there for me. It's so slow and so quiet, there's almost nothing happening. There's no denying it is a pleasant and warm film, but I did almost immediately forget it. I have no doubt this is going to be some people's favorite movie by Lynch, but it all fell a little flat for me.

🎥 The Straight Story (1999)

📊 Ranked #1812/4232 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 58

lost to The Fourth Kind (#2198 → #2193)

beat The Revengers' Comedies (held at #3222)

beat Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (#2702 → #2703)

beat King Richard (#2446 → #2516)

beat Mad Max (#2322 → #2319)

beat Hairspray (#2261 → #2398)

beat Vampyr (#2229 → #2299)

beat Tiny Furniture (#2213 → #2211)

beat Being the Ricardos (#2205 → #2203)

beat Exhuma (#2201 → #2215)

lost to Camp Rock (#2199 → #2198)

beat We Need to Talk About Kevin (#2200 → #2199)