Split (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities, and must try and escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Starring Jamse McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, and Haley Lu Richardson.

(Spoilers ahead.)

Shyamalan's back, everyone. This is a really solid, interesting thriller. James McAvoy in particular is really fantastic, managing to shuffle distinctly but subtly between his character's various personalities. Scientifically, we still don't know or understand that much about DID, and I liked how Shyamalan actually did draw on the few things we do know and then expand on that to create a sci-fi/fantasy ending that was a consistent extension of what was set up. There are definitely a few instances of Shyamalan's eye-rollingly bad dialogue, but the tension is kept up and the mystery is unraveled slowly so you're interested enough that the few hiccups are easy to dismiss. Nicely done.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Split > Sex Tape
Split > A Doll's House
Split < A Man for All Seasons
Split < Seven Samurai
Split < Anne of Green Gables
Split < Tickled
Split > Zootopia
Split < Bubba Ho-tep
Split > High Strung
Split < Christmas in Connecticut

Final spot: #616 out of 2568.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

IMDb plot summary: A young girl separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision.
Directed by Jacques Demy. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, and Marc Michel.

This is a movie I've been curious but cautious about for some time. I love musicals but hate the French New Wave, so combining the two could have yielded a disappointingly disastrous result. To my surprise (and relief), I enjoyed this quite a bit. It's entirely sung through, but it's interesting to compare it to other sung-through musicals, such as early operettas or modern rock operas, which have a *lot* of individual unique songs. I'm not sure I could pinpoint more than one or two individual numbers here, but that gives the film a more obvious flow more resembling a non-singing drama. The characters just happened to be saying their lines to music, that's all. It is a charming little musical that's very unique in its genre.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > Office Space
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > Soapdish
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < A Man for All Seasons
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < Seven Samurai
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > How to Train Your Dragon
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > The Basketball Diaries
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < The Invisible Man
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < We're Not Married!
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg > Fences
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg < The Pirates of Penzance

Final spot: #518 out of 2567.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

IMDb plot summary: An Asian-American office worker and his Indian stoner friend embark on a quest to satisfy their desire for White Castle burgers.
Directed by Danny Leiner. Starring John Cho, Kal Penn, Ethan Embry, and Malin Akerman.

Ugh. OK, so I was hoping this would be mildly entertaining. There've been a few "dumb comedies" that I actually enjoyed, that turned out to be smarter than they appeared to be. I was hoping this would be one of them. Turns out, nope. It's not. The central premise is a good one, but every single episode is just unpleasant to watch, aside from the one with Neil Patrick Harris because, well, NPH can save just about anything. I just don't have any interest whatsoever in watching two women with diarrhea compete to poop louder or seeing a close-up of a face boil oozing pus. That, that right there is the kind of movie this was. This is a film I'm glad to check off my list because it means I never have to watch it again. Did not work for me at all.

0.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Sex Tape
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Simone
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle > Turner and Hooch
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < John Q.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < A Decade Under the Influence
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Sumo of the Opera
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Pinocchio
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Shadow of a Doubt
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Susannah of the Mounties
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle > Reefer Madness (1936)
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle < Dracula
Final spot: #2243 out of 2566.

The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A washed-up former child star, forced to do community service at a local megachurch, pretends to be a Christian to land the part of Jesus in their annual Passion Play, only to discover that the most important role of his life is far from Hollywood.
Directed by Dallas Jenkins. Starring Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Shawn Michaels, and Neil Flynn.

So. Christian movies. As I discussed in my review of silence, I do not have a good relationship with most of them. They're cheesy and preachy and focused more on the message than on the story. I went into this not expecting a lot, and frankly, I only saw it because I had 2 hours to kill in between teaching kids and it was the only film I could see in that time slot. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. This isn't an Oscar winner by any stretch of the imagination, but it's actually a pretty solid story. It focuses more on the character than on the preaching, his conversion scene flows fairly naturally from what comes before, there aren't a lot of long-winded "let me explain the message of the movie to you now" scenes, and I actually laughed a few times at Gavin's attempts to look Christian in front of everyone. It's on par with a kind-of-okay non-Christian comedy, which is a step in the right direction, even if we've got a long way to go to make something that's actually great.

2.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone > Office Space
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Soapdish
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Runaway Bride
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone > The Dresser
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < A League of Their Own
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Bee Movie
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < The Magnificent Ambersons
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Misery
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Star Trek: Generations
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone > Serial Killer 1
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone < Anna and the King

Final spot: #1119 out of 2565.

Silence (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Two priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor and propagate Catholicism.
Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, and Tadanobu Asano.

I often have an interesting relationship with movies about Christianity. I deeply long to find ones that are meaningful and well-done, and those just don't come along very often. This, however, is one of the best. I didn't much care for Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, but he gets it absolutely right here and I found myself almost stunned by the film's power. I'm not sure how it would play to a non-Christian audience, but as for myself, I was entirely drawn into the story and found myself thinking deeply about the moral quandaries posed throughout as the credits rolled.

I'm still pondering it, so it's probably the wrong time to be writing a review, even as condensed as mine usually are, but it certainly hit me hard. Andrew Garfield is spectacular as a priest battling for his faith, but I was also impressed by Adam Driver and Liam Neeson and Yosuke Kubozuka (as a character I found myself increasingly drawn to). An intense and fascinating movie that I think is going to keep gnawing at my heart and soul as I process it.

4.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Silence > Martian Child
Silence > Soapdish
Silence > The Beaver
Silence > Equus
Silence < Arsenic and Old Lace
Silence < High Fidelity
Silence < Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Silence > Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Silence < Strangers on a Train
Silence < Liar Liar
Silence > Jerry Maguire

Final spot: #148 out of 2564.

Little Witch Academia (2013)

IMDb plot summary: Inspired by a magician named Shiny Chariot, the lively Akko Kagari enters the Little Witch Academy with the dream of one day becoming as cool and great as her idol.
Directed by You Yoshinari. Starring Megumi Han, Fumiko Orikasa, Michiyo Murase, and Yôko Hikasa.

I am not at all surprised to learn that this spawned a TV series this year, because it felt like watching the first episode of an anime series. There are a lot of characters fighting for attention in these 26 minutes, and most of them don't get enough screen time to build any kind of characterization, but the world it's built is fun and cute, and it's definitely something I could see appealing to kids. I'm glad to hear that more is coming of this, even though I'm certainly not going to seek out any further installments.

2 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Little Witch Academia < Cry-Baby
Little Witch Academia > Creation
Little Witch Academia < Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Little Witch Academia > Charlie Wilson's War
Little Witch Academia < Mr. Nice Guy
Little Witch Academia < Burlesque
Little Witch Academia > The Secret Life of Pets
Little Witch Academia > Thoroughly Modern Millie
Little Witch Academia > Ip Man
Little Witch Academia > Lincoln
Little Witch Academia < Into the Wild
Final spot: #1725 out of 2563.

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

IMDb plot summary: A fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case.
Directed by John Ford. Starring Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, and Arleen Whelan.

Oh, goodness, this film is a product of its time. There is absolutely no subtlety or nuance here, and every moment is filled with so much "aw, shucks, I'm just a simple farm boy with all the wisdom in the world" goop that it's almost unbearable at times. It feels like an educational film for children focusing entirely on telling them that Lincoln was awesome no matter what he did. That being said, though, Henry Fonda does almost manage to pull it off. He has a sincerity to him that rings slightly truer than the rest of the film, which is determined to "Mary Sue" him from start to finish. He can't quite make up for it, but if there was something that makes it bearable, it's him.

1.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Young Mr. Lincoln < Cry-Baby
Young Mr. Lincoln > Miss Congeniality
Young Mr. Lincoln < Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Young Mr. Lincoln > Charlie Wilson's War
Young Mr. Lincoln < The Bishop's Wife
Young Mr. Lincoln < Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Young Mr. Lincoln > The Secret Life of Pets
Young Mr. Lincoln > Thoroughly Modern Millie
Young Mr. Lincoln < Mrs. Miniver
Young Mr. Lincoln < Rust and Bone
Young Mr. Lincoln > The Proposal

Final spot: #1729 out of 2562.

La La Land (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A jazz pianist falls for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles.
Directed by Damien Chazelle. Starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, and Rosemarie DeWitt.

Given how much I adore musicals, I knew I'd at least enjoy this movie, even if I didn't love it. And I did. As a movie, it's a pretty by-the-book story of fame and romance. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone do have some great chemistry but there's nothing new about the story itself. As a musical, however, there are moments when it really shines. The problem here is that it's a little spotty. The dance sequences are really gorgeous, and the overall cinematography and editing of the musical numbers do a great job of highlighting the performances. It definitely hearkens back to the MGM musicals of the 40s and 50s. The problem here is that the vocal performances are pretty weak. Stone and Gosling do their best, but they're continually tossed into songs that are out of their vocal ranges or are mixed strangely (that opening number in particular was irritatingly out of proportion between the music and the singers). These are strange and unfortunate flaws for a musical, and flaws that are so easily fixed, that they made me wish every musical number had just been a dance -- that might've helped them hold onto the magic. So... I liked it, wasn't blown away by it the way I wanted to be.

4 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
La La Land > Wedding Crashers
La La Land > Beyond the Sea
La La Land < A Man for All Seasons
La La Land < Repulsion
La La Land > The Secret Garden (1987)
La La Land > Rise of the Planet of the Apes
La La Land > Father of the Bride (1991)
La La Land > Mr. Brooks
La La Land < Key Largo
La La Land < The Great Race
La La Land > A Streetcar Named Desire

Final spot: #488 out of 2561.

Patriots Day (2016)

IMDb plot summary: An account of Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis's actions in the events leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes the city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists behind it.
Directed by Peter Berg. Starring Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, and J. K. Simmons.

Man, my reactions to this movie went all over the place. 10 minutes in, I was overwhelmed by how many new characters they were introducing and how little connection they seemed to have to the narrative, though I trusted they'd all come together eventually (they did mostly, but it's a style of character introduction that works much better in books than on film). 30 minutes in, I found myself wondering why this movie had been made, since the story was well-publicized at the time so it wasn't new but we weren't really distant enough from this story to feel like making it an emotional vehicle was justified. 60 minutes in, I was impressed with how it had turned into a pretty tight little thriller. 90 minutes in, I was frustrated that it kept trying to make tiny little serious points about Islamophobia or our treatment of possible terrorism suspects, only to abandon them in favor of a car chase.

Finally, as the credits rolled, I found myself struggling to put all these thoughts together into a coherent view of the film. It's hard to not come away feeling like patriotic propaganda was just thrown in your face (though, really, the title alone gives that away) but most of this really happened, so it's not some filmmakers just concocting feel-good stories about America. But as with American Sniper a few years ago, it's infuriating when the film raises a few serious questions about the ethics of our on-screen heroes, only to ignore them as not really serious ethical concerns at all.

I don't know. I have conflicting feelings about my country and the war on terrorism these days, and this was a weird film for me to go see, and I'm still trying to disentangle my personal thoughts about life from my personal thoughts about the film. What I do think I can say for sure is that if it was trying to be an action crime thriller, it's got holes. If it was trying to be a feel-good reminder of the strength of the American people (as the credits seemed to suggest), it's more promising but still has holes.

2.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Patriots Day < Cry-Baby
Patriots Day > Miss Congeniality
Patriots Day > Little Lord Fauntleroy
Patriots Day > Dogtooth (this is a tough choice, actually)
Patriots Day < Minority Report
Patriots Day > The Hurt Locker
Patriots Day < Josh and the Big Wall
Patriots Day < Singles
Patriots Day < The Prince and the Pauper (2000)
Patriots Day > The Dinner Game
Patriots Day > Do You Like Hitchcock?

Final spot: #1396 out of 2560.

Out of Sight (1998)

IMDb plot summary: A career bank robber breaks out of jail and shares a moment of mutual attraction with a U.S. marshal he has kidnapped.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, and Don Cheadle.

When I saw someone had assigned me this in a movie exchange group I'm in, I kind of rolled my eyes and thought, "OK, I'll give it a shot." It just didn't seem like something I'd enjoy. Somehow, it manages to work for me. George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez have great chemistry together, but Lopez's character all on her own was fascinating to me. She truly is a smart, competent woman (something a lot of action movies attempt but few succeed in), and while she does get all gooey over Clooney, he's equally gooey over her, and they end up being on surprisingly equal footing. I'd forgotten Soderbergh was the director until the credits rolled at the end, but it makes sense, because there are a few artfully directed scenes that don't fit the typical action romance thriller style -- when Steve Zahn is caught in the middle of a bloodbath at a drug dealer's house, for instance. I don't know how long it'll stick with me, but I had a good time on this ride.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Out of Sight > Wedding Crashers
Out of Sight < Soapdish
Out of Sight < Kung Fu Hustle
Out of Sight > Batman Forever
Out of Sight > The Miracle Worker
Out of Sight < Extraordinary Measures
Out of Sight > The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair
Out of Sight > Struck by Lightning
Out of Sight < Miracle on 34th Street
Out of Sight > Avengers: Age of Ultron
Out of Sight > Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Final spot: #1006 out of 2559.

Our Paradise (2011)

IMDb plot summary: Vassili is an aged prostitute with killer instincts. He finds an unconscious young man in the Forest of Boulogne and takes him home. Now lovers and accomplices, the two men become a couple in prostitution and steal from their clients.
Directed by Gaël Morel. Starring Stéphane Rideau, Dimitri Durdaine, Béatrice Dalle, and Mathis Morisset.

This film has a great premise, and the two leads are interesting playing off each other. As the plot becomes more concrete and less episodic about halfway through, it builds in intensity as well. The problem is that the second half relies on characterization the first half doesn't quite achieve. The final 15 minutes are thrilling, but they seem inconsistent with at least one of the established characters, and as a result it loses its bite a little. Those who like their dramas dark and foreign are likely to enjoy it anyway.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Our Paradise < Cry-Baby
Our Paradise > Premonition
Our Paradise > Live-In Maid
Our Paradise < Dogtooth
Our Paradise > Sixteen Candles
Our Paradise < Cropsey
Our Paradise < The Deer Hunter
Our Paradise > Talk to Her
Our Paradise > X-Men: The Last Stand
Our Paradise > Miss Potter
Our Paradise < Star Wars Uncut

Final spot: #1502 out of 2558, which feels a bit too low.

Breathless (1960)

IMDb plot summary: A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he reunites with a hip American journalism student and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy.
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, and Henri-Jacques Huet.

I have never found Godard palatable. His past two movies I've seen both landed in the lower echelons of my chart. One of my movie groups chose this as their movie to watch together this month, and a few folks said that this was the only Godard they liked, so I gave it a shot. It did not improve my opinion. Godard is everything people make fun of when they parody pretentious foreign films. He's incomprehensible and random and supposedly meaningful, but I can't find anything redeeming in it. It's confusing, not just in terms of plot (this one actually is fairly straightforward plotwise) but in terms of why the characters do what they do. Is he evoking an emotion? Is he tackling cinematic tricks? Is he exploring... something? Probably yes to all of those, but I'm so distracted by the awkwardness of every scene that I can't feel what he wants me to feel or notice what he wants me to notice. It's all so self-indulgent and pretentious and ridiculous and I can't take any of it seriously, much less enjoy it.

0.5 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Breathless < Cry-Baby
Breathless < Premonition
Breathless < Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
Breathless < They Were Expendable
Breathless > Ella Enchanted
Breathless > Soultaker
Breathless < The Prince & Me
Breathless < One Hour to Die: You Have All Been Poisoned
Breathless < The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Breathless < Watership Down
Breathless > Un Chien Andalou

Final spot: #2435 out of 2556

Anna and the King (1999)

IMDb plot summary: The story of the romance between the King of Siam and widowed British schoolteacher, Anna Leonowens, during the 1860s.
Directed by Andy Tennant. Starring Jodie Foster, Chow Yun-Fat, Bai Ling, and Tom Felton.

(Spoilers.)

For the first half of the movie, I was having a surprisingly good time. I'd heard a lot of criticism when the movie was released, but I loved the lavish visuals, and the two leads created a pair that work well off each other. I was especially impressed by Jodie Foster, who disappeared into her role in a way I'd never seen her do before. The two cultures came together in a way that seemed very natural and realistic, a far cry from the almost cartoonish comedy in the Rodgers & Hammerstein version of the story, which is the only one I was familiar with.

Where the film goes off the rails, unfortunately, is in the latter half, where it tries to build both a love story and a dramatic political coup, both of which may be part of the original story (I've never read the book) but here they weaken the overall story. The romance is haphazard -- there's no doubt the two characters respect each other greatly, but then there's an abrupt understanding that they're both romantically interested, as if there's some missing scene with a lot more sexual tension in it that makes that subplot clear. The plotline involving the coup is potentially interesting, but falls flat partly because it tries to pull in the romantic aspect of it as well and give Anna the chance to save the day. It's a disappointing ending to what I thought was a thoughtful and charming beginning.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Anna and the King > Wedding Crashers

Anna and the King < Finder's Fee

Anna and the King < Kung Fu Hustle

Anna and the King > Lolita (1997)

Anna and the King < The Miracle Worker

Anna and the King < Letters from Iwo Jima

Anna and the King < Oliver Twist

Anna and the King < Star Trek: Generations

Anna and the King > 12 Angry Men (1997)

Anna and the King > Cabaret

Anna and the King > Serial Killer 1

Final spot: #1110 out of 2557.