Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

IMDb plot summary: Marketing maven Kelly Jones wreaks havoc on NASA launch director Cole Davis's already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, the countdown truly begins.

Directed by Greg Berlanti. Stars Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, and Woody Harrelson.

Fly Me to the Moon is a historical romantic comedy/drama starring Channing Tatum as a NASA employee working on getting the first man on the moon, and Scarlett Johansson as the fast-talking marketing executive tasked with selling the journey to the public. Her disregard for the truth and his rigid moral code don't always work well, but they learn to work together. This is a fun concept for a romance but doesn't ultimately do that much with it. Scarlett Johansson feels weirdly out of place here. She's a good actress in general but this always feels very consciously like a performance. Even more surprisingly, Channing Tatum is weirdly charisma-less. The side characters and cast are perpetually more engaging all the way along, and that's not a good sign for a romance movie. I don't know what went wrong here exactly but it does all kind of fall apart and ends up being pretty blah.

🎥 Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

📊 Ranked #2859/4173 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 32

lost to The Sparks Brothers (held at #2089)

beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3131 → #3132)

lost to The Inspector General (held at #2612)

beat The Whole Nine Yards (#2871 → #2872)

lost to Popcorn (held at #2741)

lost to Kicking and Screaming (held at #2806)

lost to The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (held at #2838)

lost to Four Weddings and a Funeral (held at #2854)

beat Sullivan's Travels (#2862 → #2863)

lost to Come to the Stable (held at #2858)

beat Adventures in Babysitting (#2860 → #2861)

beat Bully (#2859 → #2860)

A Nice Indian Boy (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When Naveen brings his fiancé Jay home to meet his traditional Indian family, they must contend with accepting his white-orphan-artist boyfriend and helping them plan the Indian wedding of their dreams.

Directed by Roshan Sethi. Stars Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff, and Sunita Mani.

A Nice Indian Boy follows a young Indian American doctor as he falls in love with a white man raised by Indian parents. Together, the two navigate the doctor's familial expectations around sexual orientation, race, and culture. This movie is, above all, very sweet. The central couple has believable, easy chemistry, and I found myself genuinely rooting for them and wanting the best possible outcome. I like how the movie makes family just as important a theme as romance, giving both arcs space, which rounds out the story and gives it depth. There are no big tearjerker moments and no laugh-out-loud jokes, at least for me, but it's consistently warm and everything lands solidly, even if quietly. It's the kind of movie you put on when you just want to watch something pleasant.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 A Nice Indian Boy (2025)

📊 Ranked #1064/4182 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat Cypher (#2100 → #2101)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Single White Female (#1563 → #1564)

beat New York Stories (#1301 → #1302)

beat Center Stage (#1168 → #1169)

beat It's Such a Beautiful Day (#1103 → #1104)

beat Kuroneko (#1070 → #1071)

lost to Shin Godzilla (held at #1054)

lost to Elf (held at #1062)

beat The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (#1066 → #1067)

beat Point Break (#1064 → #1065)

lost to Key Largo (held at #1063)

Last Night (1998)

IMDb plot summary: A group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.

Directed by Don McKellar. Stars Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, and Roberta Maxwell.

Last Night follows a varied group of people in Toronto in the final hours before the world ends. We see each of them dealing with their impending doom and taking charge of the things they CAN do in the meantime. This movie absolutely blew me away. It's astonishing and devastating. Every individual's thread is compelling on its own, but it's even better as they begin to intersect and affect each other. It's a bleak story on its surface, yet ultimately deeply life-affirming, examining the purpose of humanity through the lens of the end. The fact that the film is so quiet makes it hit harder than a lot of apocalypse stories. Clearly I need to seek out more of Don McKellar's work, and honestly, the rest of the films that were part of this same "stories about the millennium" series sound fascinating too. This is a movie that I think is going to stay with me for a long time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Last Night (1998)

📊 Ranked #118/4157 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 97

beat Frances Ha (#2077 → #2078)

beat Guilty as Sin (#1038 → #1039)

beat The Mummy (#519 → #520)

beat That Thing You Do! (#259 → #260)

beat The Ring (#129 → #130)

lost to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (held at #64)

lost to My Neighbor Totoro (held at #96)

lost to Little Shop of Horrors (held at #112)

beat Up (#120 → #121)

lost to The History Boys (held at #116)

beat Cloverfield (#118 → #119)

lost to Doubt (held at #117)

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

IMDb plot summary: Four irrepressible retirees spend their time solving cold case murders for fun, but their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn when they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.

Directed by Chris Columbus. Stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley.

The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of retirees who spend their spare time solving cold cases, until a real murder lands right in their laps. I watched this because my husband is a fan of the books and this adaptation, and it made me want to read the novels too. The characters are a bit broadly drawn, but they’re undeniably charming and well acted (with a powerhouse cast -- Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie, and Pierce Brosnan), and that goes a long way. I actually guessed the solution toward the end, not because the clues were airtight, but because it felt like the most interesting narrative choice, and it was satisfying when that was in fact the direction the story went. It didn't blow my mind, but it's gentle, cozy, and pleasant. The kind of sweet, low-stakes watch that makes for a very pleasant evening.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

📊 Ranked #1170/4181 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 72

beat Blackadder: Back & Forth (#2097 → #2098)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Single White Female (#1562 → #1563)

beat A Grand Day Out (#1299 → #1300)

lost to Center Stage (held at #1168)

beat The Cable Guy (#1233 → #1234)

beat The Secret Garden (#1200 → #1201)

beat Call Me Madam (#1184 → #1185)

beat The Ten Commandments (#1176 → #1177)

beat The River (#1172 → #1173)

beat The Hill (#1170 → #1171)

lost to Dicks: The Musical (held at #1169)

The Addams Family Values (1993)

IMDb plot summary: The Addams Family try to rescue their beloved Uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie.

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Stars Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, and Christopher Lloyd.

Addams Family Values follows, well, the macabre Addams as they welcome a new baby and a murderous nanny into their home. I'm usually not into sequels, but maybe the key is not to see the original, because I had a great time with this movie. There's a really fun vibe throughout, balancing gothic spookiness with just the right amount of absurdity. Without that silliness, the whole thing wouldn't work nearly as well. I was genuinely surprised by how often I laughed out loud. Joan Cusack, in particular, is delightful. I never get to see her play villains OR seductresses, and she excels at both here. Do I feel compelled to go back and watch the first one? Absolutely not. One Addams movie is enough for me, but I'm glad this was the one I saw.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Addams Family Values (1993)

📊 Ranked #1040/4180 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat Blackmail Is My Life (#2097 → #2098)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (#1562 → #1563)

beat New York Stories (#1299 → #1300)

beat Dicks: The Musical (#1168 → #1169)

beat Look Out, Officer! (#1103 → #1104)

beat Woman in the Dunes (#1070 → #1071)

beat Fresh (#1054 → #1055)

beat Kiss Me, Stupid (#1046 → #1047)

beat Guilty as Sin (#1042 → #1043)

beat The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (#1040 → #1041)

lost to Robin Hood (held at #1039)

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)

IMDb plot summary: Showgirl Deloris Van Cartier returns as Sister Mary Clarence to teach music to a group of Catholic students whose run-down school is slated for closure.

Directed by Bill Duke. Stars Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, and Maggie Smith.

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is a sequel to the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle where she poses as a nun to escape a murderous ex. Here, she's asked to pose as a nun again to... teach music at a private high school? This is the prime example of a sequel that isn't bad in and of itself, but... why is it here? It's just the first movie without a main character arc. Like the original, the two main musical performances are a lot of fun, but most of it is full of generic "music changes lives" statements and inspirational speeches that don't land. It also feels way too hard like it's trying to connect to "the youths" -- I'm sorry, I can't imagine a situation in which a performance of rapping nuns would convince a group of high schoolers that choir is cool. Add to all that that the justification for getting Whoopi Goldberg back in is truly ludicrous, and it's just kind of a disappointment... and maybe actually makes me like the original a little less too. This is why I don't watch sequels, folks! This is not the one to change my mind.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)

📊 Ranked #2359/4169 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 43

lost to Frances Ha (held at #2082)

beat Sliding Doors (#3123 → #3124)

beat Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (#2603 → #2604)

lost to Following (held at #2343)

beat New Faces (#2473 → #2474)

beat Something the Lord Made (#2408 → #2409)

beat Fun with Dick and Jane (#2375 → #2376)

beat The Last Dragon (#2359 → #2360)

lost to The Blues Brothers (held at #2351)

lost to Sherlock Holmes (held at #2355)

lost to Charulata (held at #2357)

lost to Bad Education (held at #2358)

Mystery Men (1999)

IMDb plot summary: A group of inept amateur superheroes must try to save the day when a supervillain threatens to destroy a major superhero and the city.

Directed by Kinka Usher. Stars Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, and William H. Macy.

Mystery Men is about a group of less-than-stellar superheroes, led by Ben Stiller, who attempt to create a super team that can take their place in the superhero hall of fame. This movie is extremely of its time, which means I totally get why people love it even if it doesn't quite click for me. The most fun part is the stacked cast, packed with talented performers and enjoyable cameos in even smaller roles. It didn't make me laugh all that much, but it's interesting to see a superhero parody movie from before the genre became completely oversaturated. It feels slightly ahead of the curve in that way. Overall, it's fine. Not bad, just doesn't hit the way I hoped it would.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Mystery Men (1999)

📊 Ranked #2397/4179 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 43

lost to Blackmail Is My Life (held at #2097)

beat Monsters University (#3138 → #3139)

beat Mystic River (#2620 → #2621)

lost to Kin-dza-dza! (held at #2358)

beat King Richard (#2487 → #2488)

beat Q & A (#2422 → #2423)

lost to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (held at #2390)

beat Ron's Gone Wrong (#2406 → #2407)

beat Lost in America (#2398 → #2399)

lost to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (held at #2394)

lost to The Woman in Black (held at #2396)

beat Fantastic Voyage (#2397 → #2398)