A House of Dynamite (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Stars Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, and Gabriel Basso.

A House of Dynamite tells the same story from three different perspectives: that of the United States seeing a missile launched from somewhere in the Pacific toward Chicago, with no country willing to take credit for it and only minutes to decide how to respond. This is gripping and also depressing -- pretty par for the course for Kathryn Bigelow, I suppose. Retelling the same events from different perspectives somehow brought new drama and tension each time, even though I knew exactly where it was headed on the subsequent versions of the story. The film never offers any real sense of release, keeping its grip on you from beginning to end. Its ambiguous ending preserves the ominous tone rather than resolving it. Excellently made, but so relentlessly uncomfortable that I'm not sure I ever want to watch it again.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 A House of Dynamite (2025)

📊 Ranked #1118/4295 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 74

beat Mudbound (#2154 → #2324)

beat Jack Goes Boating (#1081 → #1077)

lost to Petite Maman (#544 → #314)

lost to Megamind (#814 → #813)

lost to Yojimbo (#947 → #665)

lost to The Pirates of Penzance (#1013 → #997)

lost to Teen Beach Movie (#1045 → #1031)

beat Kuroneko (#1063 → #1076)

beat Big Trouble in Little China (#1055 → #1040)

lost to The Cameraman (#1051 → #1026)

beat Crazy Rich Asians (#1053 → #1074)

beat Atonement (#1052 → #1049)

In America (2002)

IMDb plot summary: A family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

Directed by Jim Sheridan. Stars Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, and Djimon Hounsou.

In America tells the story of an immigrant Irish family in the United States. The father wants to be an actor, and his wife and two daughters are having to figure out how to make their way in this new world, as well as how to deal with the tragic death of their youngest brother. This is a sweet movie that follows a lot of familiar ground but tells it well. It does a good job of keeping the focus on the younger siblings while also making it clear to us the viewers what is happening that may be going over their heads. I also like the ending scene, which comes together nicely. However, I did find it boring much of the time, with its slow, meandering pace making it difficult for me to stay fully engaged. It's undeniably sweet and heartfelt, but ultimately too slight to leave much of an impression once it was over.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 In America (2003)

📊 Ranked #2018/4291 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 54

beat The Ghost and the Darkness (#2150 → #2149)

lost to Re-Animator (#1087 → #1088)

lost to Laurence Anyways (#1618 → #1608)

lost to Fanboys (#1879 → #1868)

lost to Lo (#2015 → #1867)

beat The Little Things (#2080 → #2081)

beat 17 Again (#2048 → #2165)

beat Fly Away Home (#2031 → #2026)

beat A Few Good Men (#2023 → #2055)

beat 3 Men and a Baby (#2019 → #2017)

lost to The Ladykillers (#2017 → #1958)

beat Walk Cheerfully (#2018 → #2019)

World's Greatest Dad (2009)

IMDb plot summary: When his son's body is found in a humiliating accident, a lonely high school teacher inadvertently attracts an overwhelming amount of community and media attention after covering up the truth with a phony suicide note.

Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. Stars Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, and Morgan Murphy.

World's Greatest Dad stars Robin Williams as a father with the world's worst son: a cruel, crass, disinterested teenager who shows no interest in anything or fondness for anyone. When the son accidentally passes away during an attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation, Williams decides to stage his death as a suicide, complete with note, which makes people see his son in a whole new light that is in no way consistent with the person he was. For any of my theater friends who are thinking, “this sounds a lot like Dear Evan Hansen,” you're not wrong, although this does a better job of telling that story. In the first portion of this film I found myself really not excited to spend a full two hours with the son character, so it was definitely an emotional journey when I suddenly learned I wasn't going to have to, for very sad in-story reasons. Williams himself is of course an exceptionally empathetic character. He always had an extraordinary ability as an actor to engender sympathy, even when doing some terrible things as he does in this movie. I am not sold on the ending -- I don't think it really ties the whole thing together, and that kind of lets it down for me as a whole. But it's an interesting film with a subtle performance by Williams.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 World's Greatest Dad (2009)

📊 Ranked #2127/4294 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 52

lost to I Lost My Body (#2148 → #1963)

beat The Conjuring (#3241 → #3238)

beat It's Not You, It's Me (#2685 → #2682)

beat An Innocent Man (#2420 → #2411)

beat Out of Africa (#2289 → #2581)

beat Rodney King (#2220 → #2213)

lost to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (#2188 → #2173)

beat Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (#2204 → #2400)

beat EDtv (#2196 → #2188)

beat Fatherhood (#2192 → #2393)

beat Source Code (#2190 → #2184)

lost to Vanya on 42nd Street (#2189 → #2181)

O'Dessa (2025)

IMDb plot summary: A farm girl in search to recover a cherished family heirloom travels to a strange and dangerous city where she meets her one true love. To save his soul, she must put the power of destiny to the ultimate test.

Directed by Geremy Jasper. Stars Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Murray Bartlett.

O'Dessa is a post-apocalyptic gender-swapped musical retelling of the story of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Sadie Sink plays a young balladeer destined to change the world with her guitar. This is a wonderful mishmash of vibes and styles, and while that chaotic back-and-forth will definitely be a turn-off for some folks, I had a great time with it. The post-apocalyptic plot is cheesy and sometimes awkwardly done, but something about these enormously broad unsubtle strokes worked, especially once I realized the mythological basis of the story. The folksy nature of the songs is a stark contrast to the high technological feel of the rest of the world, and I really love that. Plus the songs are actually just pretty good on their own, which of course is a big pull for me in a musical movie. This movie is absolutely not gonna gel with everybody. It has a very distinct style, but I found myself fully drawn in and had a great time with it.

🎥 O'Dessa (2025)

📊 Ranked #250/4285 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 95

beat The Chalk Garden (held at #2143)

beat Holiday (#1089 → #1088)

beat Collateral (#563 → #578)

lost to Late Spring (#256 → #253)

lost to tick, tick... BOOM! (#412 → #262)

beat Chariots of Fire (#488 → #499)

beat The Innocents (#448 → #451)

lost to Boyz n the Hood (#431 → #429)

beat 'night, Mother (#439 → #436)

beat The Seventh Continent (#435 → #443)

beat Naughty Marietta (#433 → #445)

beat Billy Elliot: The Musical Live (#432 → #450)

The Drama (2026)

IMDb plot summary: A happily-engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.

Directed by Kristoffer Borgli. Stars Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Alana Haim.

The Drama stars Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as an engaged couple just weeks away from their wedding. But when Zendaya reveals something about her past that neither her fiance nor her closest friends knew, it suddenly changes how everybody thinks about her, the wedding turns from a joyful celebration into a build up full of dread. This is from the same director who gave us Dream Scenario in 2023, one of my favorites of that year, and while this one doesn't go in the same strange Charlie Kaufman-esque direction in terms of fantastical storyline, I found it extremely engaging as a character study and a building of atmosphere. Pattinson and Zendaya are both really incredible in this, as we see their attempts to regain normalcy just fall to pieces. The tension of the story is almost overwhelming by the time we get to the final third, and the climax is electric and impossible to stop watching, despite also being some of the most uncomfortable, cringiest interactions I have seen. This is truly a film that marvelously portrays a train wreck you can't look away from. A deliciously uncomfortable watch that I'm going to remember for a long time.

🎥 The Drama (2026)

📊 Ranked #289/4284 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 93

beat Real Life (#2141 → #2142)

beat Luca (#1088 → #1112)

lost to The Beaver (#562 → #561)

beat New York, New York (#827 → #826)

beat Werewolves Within (#696 → #697)

beat Date Night (#631 → #640)

beat The Kite Runner (#596 → #617)

lost to A Letter to Three Wives (#578 → #579)

beat In This Corner of the World (#587 → #593)

beat Drunken Angel (#583 → #590)

beat Animal Crackers (#580 → #584)

beat The Kid Detective (#579 → #580)

Ransom (1996)

IMDb plot summary: Multi-millionaire Tom Mullen's son is kidnapped, but after initially agreeing to pay the ransom Mullen then decides to use the ransom money as a bounty.

Directed by Ron Howard. Stars Mel Gibson, Gary Sinise, and Rene Russo.

Ransom is a thriller starring Mel Gibson as a wealthy tycoon whose son is kidnapped and held for ransom. It's about that simple a plot, but I had a surprisingly good time with this -- surprisingly for me, at least. Furious vigilante father films can definitely be hit or miss for me, but this one has a pretty good storyline where the characters do behave believably and I can follow along on the journey. The final 15 minutes or so especially are an enjoyable thrill ride as we see the culmination of the villain being taken down. It takes some unexpected turns but nothing too out of left field to take you out of the story. As far as 90s thrillers go, this is a pretty good one and one that I could see enjoying again sometime.

🎥 Ransom (1996)

📊 Ranked #1212/4283 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 72

beat Alice Adams (#2142 → #2143)

lost to Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary Performance (held at #1107)

beat Laurence Anyways (#1597 → #1614)

beat Friday the 13th (#1373 → #1370)

beat The Color Purple (#1204 → #1226)

beat Identity (held at #1167)

lost to The Body Snatcher (#1142 → #1141)

lost to Kneecap (#1145 → #1142)

lost to To Live (#1160 → #1156)

beat Going My Way (#1149 → #1154)

beat CBGB (#1169 → #1208)

beat The Man in the Iron Mask (#1158 → #1157)

Cold War (2018)

IMDb plot summary: In the 1950s, a music director falls in love with a singer and tries to persuade her to flee communist Poland for France.

Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski. Stars Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, and Borys Szyc.

Cold War is a story about a couple in post World War 2 Europe. We follow the two of them over several decades as they meet, part, reunite, break up, and so forth. This one took me a long time to gel with. One problem for me which is very much a "me" problem and not a problem with film, is that I had great difficulty recognizing the male half of this couple, so there were moments when he would show up and have interactions with the woman and I didn't realize it was him, which means I definitely missed portions of this story that were significant. At one point during the film when I realized that I had completely lost the plot, I went to Wikipedia and looked up the summary, only to realize that there had been several interactions that I had completely missed the meaning of because I had thought that they were different people. That being said, the deeper digging into what actually was happening did help it gel for me quite a bit, and by the time the end rolled around, I was much more invested in the story and found the ending very emotionally impactful. This is definitely one that I need to go back and rewatch because given on how much I liked the ending, I might like the rest of it more than I thought he did as well.

🎥 Cold War (2018)

📊 Ranked #1414/4282 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 67

beat Another Earth (#2139 → #2132)

lost to The Lobster (#1088 → #1109)

lost to Marie Antoinette (#1611 → #1601)

lost to The Princess and the Frog (#1872 → #1744)

beat Struck by Lightning (#2006 → #2064)

beat Journey to Greenland (#1939 → #2117)

beat The Act of Killing (#1905 → #1913)

lost to Dark Shadows (#1887 → #1847)

lost to Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles (#1895 → #1882)

beat You Can Count on Me (#1901 → #1898)

beat Drive My Car (#1898 → #1987)

lost to Death to Smoochy (#1896 → #1712)