The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

IMDb plot summary: When a princess is shrunken by an evil wizard, Sinbad must undertake a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.

Directed by Nathan Juran. Stars Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, and Richard Eyer.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a 1950s mythological epic, where Sinbad narrowly escapes being killed by the Cyclops, only to have to return to that same island so he can recover a magic lamp with a genie inside. I recently watched Jason and the Argonauts on a recommendation from the same friend who suggested this one, and this one doesn't work as well for me as that one does. The visual effects aren't as varied or as striking, though I loved the scenes with the shrunken woman helping the crew. The characters are not super distinct or interesting here. It's okay, but not one that I imagine I'll want to return to, and honestly it's tough to scrounge up enough to say about it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

📊 Ranked #2703/4303 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 41

lost to Gypsy (held at #2163)

beat The Merchant of Venice (#3252 → #3354)

lost to Rigoletto (#2702 → #2639)

beat The Man with One Red Shoe (#2980 → #2981)

beat The Boston Strangler (#2842 → #2843)

beat The Kids Are All Right (#2776 → #2777)

beat A Star Is Born (#2737 → #2739)

beat Trumbo (#2720 → #2721)

beat Ted (#2710 → #2711)

beat The Sandlot (#2706 → #2707)

beat Timeline (#2704 → #2705)

beat A Christmas Carol (#2703 → #2704)

The Christophers (2026)

IMDb plot summary: The children of a once famous artist hire a forger to complete some unfinished, long ago abandoned canvases so they'll have an inheritance when he dies.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Stars Michaela Coel, Ian McKellen, and Jessica Gunning.

The Christophers is a Steven Soderbergh movie starring Michaela Cole as someone who is hired by a famous painter's adult children to fraudulently complete their dad's unfinished paintings so that they can sell them after he is gone. She agrees partly because she has a beef with the painter himself, played by Ian McKellen. While I've never thought of myself as being a massive Soderbergh fan, I am realizing more and more that he's one of the most consistently solid filmmakers out there these days. I'm seldom blown away by his work, but I always have a good time, and that's true with this one as well. Cole is especially engaging as our protagonist, so static in her expression that it's a constant game of figuring out what is going on in her head. The whole thing is smooth and slick and a good time, even though it didn't stick with me much longer after watching it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Christophers (2026)

📊 Ranked #1719/4302 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat Knocked Up (#2164 → #2165)

lost to Chronicle (held at #1089)

lost to Killers of the Flower Moon (held at #1626)

beat Police Story (#1892 → #1893)

beat National Treasure (#1759 → #1760)

lost to But I'm a Cheerleader (held at #1690)

beat Incendies (#1723 → #1724)

beat Dark Waters (held at #1706)

lost to Love Songs (held at #1698)

beat Cold War (held at #1702)

lost to The Breadwinner (held at #1700)

beat Fire of Love (held at #1701)

A Bronx Tale (1993)

IMDb plot summary: An intense drama about a boy torn between his tough, hard-working father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss.

Directed by Robert De Niro. Stars Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, and Lillo Brancato.

A Bronx Tale is a movie written by Chazz Palminteri and directed by Robert De Niro. The two actors also feature in the film. It tells the story of a young boy in his childhood and teen years living in a neighborhood that is run by a gangster. The gangster takes the boy under his wing, much to the boy's father's dismay, and we see his coming of age story as he figures out family, romantic relationships, and friendships. This feels very much like a passion project from the two actor-creatives behind the camera on this one, and I can feel the affection for the world and these characters. Our main protagonist in particular is a very normal teen despite being surrounded by very not normal teen things, and the most compelling parts are the ones where he has to figure out the same normal stuff that everybody does, like whether his family and friends are going to approve of the girl that he likes. I often find myself zoning out during crime films, but this one keeps it so personal that much of it works for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 A Bronx Tale (1993)

📊 Ranked #1718/4301 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat Source Code (#2169 → #2224)

lost to Tower (#1087 → #1095)

lost to The Age of Adaline (#1624 → #1574)

beat The Act of Killing (#1891 → #1922)

beat Born Yesterday (#1759 → #1778)

lost to Memoirs of a Geisha (#1689 → #1640)

beat Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (#1722 → #1753)

beat The Thin Man (#1705 → #1735)

beat A Star Is Born (#1697 → #1648)

beat Incendies (#1693 → #1723)

lost to Silent Movie (#1691 → #1534)

beat Hot Shots! (#1692 → #1719)

The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998)

IMDb plot summary: The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film that follows the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers.

Directed by Penelope Spheeris.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part III is the third and final piece in Penelope's Spheeris' trilogy about musical scenes adored by rebel youth. In this installment we go back to the world of punk, but the focus shifts from the music to this community of homeless punk teenagers and young adults. Spheeris spends extended time interviewing them in the houses where they are squatting, trying to figure out how they got there and where they might go. This documentary is, in my opinion, the best of the series, partly because of that slow left turn into the horrible personal lives of the group of fans. More than ever it feels like Spheeris here gets very close to her subjects, most notably in a section where we go from a house party to the aftermath of a fire at the house, during which one of the people we saw in the previous scene died. That's where it feels like the tone really shifts away from music -- we get hardly any musical performances compared to the previous two installments -- and more into this scene of teenagers who have been kicked out of their houses and fully expect just to die addicts in the streets. It's truly one of the most intense documentaries I've seen and is a difficult watch, but I think it's undoubtedly the best of the three.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Decline of Western Civilization Part III (1998)

📊 Ranked #1108/4293 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat Another Earth (#2152 → #2148)

lost to Re-Animator (#1090 → #1077)

beat The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (#1621 → #1615)

beat Joe Versus the Volcano (#1363 → #1447)

lost to To Sir, with Love (#1230 → #1210)

lost to Men Without Women (#1294 → #1282)

lost to Wonder Man (#1327 → #1312)

beat Ghost World (#1345 → #1358)

lost to The Village (#1337 → #1318)

beat The Emperor Waltz (#1341 → #1404)

beat A Grand Day Out (#1339 → #1334)

beat After Yang (#1338 → #1333)

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)

IMDb plot summary: Documentary showcase, what life was like for the music artists living during the Los Angeles Heavy Metal scene in the mid and late 1980s.

Directed by Penelope Spheeris.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is Penelope Spheeris' second delve into a musical underground associated with seediness and violence, in this case the metal of the 1980s. As she did with the punk scene in Part 1, she interviews fans, critics, and musicians themselves to get a sense of why this musical scene matters and what it means. This one is an interesting contrast to the first, because metal music, at least as demonstrated here, has a strong materialism theme to it, while the punk scene from the first film rejected that. While there are some groups that talk about this being about the music, not the fame, there are many more who talk about their dreams of wealth and power as a rock star. But like the first part, there are so many people, both fans and musicians, who are attracted to the movement because they are so convinced that they are going to die young. This was a little bit less engaging than the first film just because the concept was a little bit less new to me. There has been more media about the metal scene in the 80s, so it felt less new. But still a well produced documentary, and an interesting pairing with the first installment in the series.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)

📊 Ranked #2064/4300 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 53

beat Julie & Julia (#2169 → #2170)

lost to Tower (held at #1087)

lost to Garbo Talks (#1624 → #1626)

lost to Man Hunt (#1891 → #1843)

beat Cast Away (held at #2026)

lost to Reality Bites (#1960 → #1961)

beat Drive My Car (held at #1992)

beat The Italian Job (held at #1976)

lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (#1968 → #1969)

lost to The Slipper and the Rose (#1972 → #1973)

beat The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (#1974 → #2065)

lost to One Hundred and One Dalmatians (#1973 → #1974)

Hokum (2026)

IMDb plot summary: A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents' ashes, unaware the property is said to be haunted by a witch.

Directed by Damian McCarthy. Stars Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, and David Wilmot.

Hokum is a 2026 horror film starring Adam Scott as a bitter writer who goes to a hotel in Ireland to try to finish his book, only to get caught up in a mysterious missing person case involving potential ghosts. There are some nice spooky set pieces, and it's a nice idea for a story, but for me it all falls apart because of one tiny technical thing: this thing is lit miserably and it's frequently too dark for me to actually make out what's happening on screen. I turned the brightness up all the way on my device screen and still found myself needing to refer to the Wikipedia plot synopsis for clarity on what had been revealed. In addition to the literal darkness, it also turns into a pretty dreary story that doesn't quite earn its final character arc. A good start that never picks up steam.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Hokum (2026)

📊 Ranked #2573/4299 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 44

lost to Cast Away (#2168 → #2026)

beat A Jazzman's Blues (#3249 → #3429)

beat Outbreak (#2699 → #2863)

beat Beaches (#2432 → #2429)

beat Elle (held at #2301)

lost to Fantastic Voyage (held at #2236)

beat Anna Christie (#2268 → #2267)

beat Mank (#2252 → #2251)

beat A Time to Kill (held at #2244)

beat The Good Dinosaur (#2240 → #2241)

beat Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (#2238 → #2239)

beat Grand Illusion (#2237 → #2574)

Lady Snowblood (1973)

IMDb plot summary: A young woman is trained from birth to be a deadly instrument of revenge against the swindlers who destroyed her family.

Directed by Toshiya Fujita. Stars Meiko Kaji, Toshio Kurosawa, and Masaaki Daimon.

Lady Snowblood is a Japanese film about a woman whose mother is brutalized by a group of men and then dies in childbirth. She bestows on her daughter the destiny of avenging her death by killing all these men. This film was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill duology, and it's extremely evident watching this. The visuals are striking in very similar ways, especially the shots juxtaposing the white and red of the titular snow and blood. The plot itself becomes surprisingly convoluted given the character's singular mission, and that sometimes feels out of place in the final third. Because of all that, I find it compelling visually but not particularly in its story or characters. Worth a watch, but I'm not going to return to it any time soon.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Lady Snowblood (1973)

📊 Ranked #2146/4298 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 51

beat The Ghost and the Darkness (#2159 → #2154)

lost to Long Day's Journey Into Night (#1082 → #1080)

lost to Garbo Talks (#1618 → #1619)

lost to The Age of Adaline (#1884 → #1623)

lost to Rachel, Rachel (#2019 → #1858)

beat The Road (#2084 → #2078)

beat Scarface (#2051 → #2369)

beat The Three Faces of Eve (#2035 → #2224)

beat Aladdin (held at #2027)

lost to Rebecca (#2023 → #2020)

lost to Onibaba (#2025 → #2024)

beat The Importance of Being Earnest (#2026 → #2147)