Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

IMDb plot summary: A young blade runner's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.
Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring Ryan Gosling, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, and Harrison Ford.

It should probably be noted I was never a huge fan of the original Blade Runner -- it dug hard into its noir inspiration, and, as with most noir, I found it to be emotionally predictable while pretending not to be. This sequel has the same problem for me. I just didn't care about anything in this world or this set up, I didn't care about Ryan Gosling, I didn't care about the evil corporation trying to make baby robots, I didn't care about the infinite chain of clues being followed to the end... It's hard to know if I would have cared more if this was an original movie and not a sequel. Probably not much, given how little I care about its predecessor, but I'm sure it didn't help.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Blade Runner 2049 < Struck by Lightning
Blade Runner 2049 < Simone
Blade Runner 2049 > Roger Dodger
Blade Runner 2049 > The Net
Blade Runner 2049 > Top Gun
Blade Runner 2049 < Albatross
Blade Runner 2049 > Facing the Giants
Blade Runner 2049 < The Great Train Robbery
Blade Runner 2049 > Analyze This
Blade Runner 2049 > Jane Eyre (1997)
Blade Runner 2049 < Rebel Without a Cause
Final spot: #2345 out of 3043.

Will Penny (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Aging cowboy Will Penny gets a line camp job on a large cattle spread and finds his isolated cabin is already occupied by a husbandless woman and her young son.
Directed by Tom Gries. Starring Charlton Heston, Joan Hackett, Donald Pleasence, and Lee Majors.

Well, this is just very strange to watch right after The Stalking Moon, another western movie from 1968 with an incredibly similar plot. This one, however, emphasizes the romance, ends on a downer, and doesn't dance around nearly so many interesting plots. This is definitely one that's going to disappear out of my memory very quickly.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Will Penny < Struck by Lightning
Will Penny < Stardust Memories
Will Penny > Roger Dodger
Will Penny > The Net
Will Penny > Top Gun
Will Penny < The Savages
Will Penny > Facing the Giants
Will Penny > The Great Train Robbery
Will Penny < 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Will Penny < The Swiss Family Robinson
Will Penny < Adam's Rib
Will Penny > Animal House
Final spot: #2340 out of 3042.

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armour worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
Directed by Travis Knight. Starring Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, and Rooney Mara.

This has been on my watchlist for quite some time, I just hadn't made space for it yet. It had a great beginning, with a very compelling mythology and unsettling villains. The middle section where Kubo travels with his animal companions is less compelling to me -- it veers very close to a Disney talking-animal-sidekick feeling, which I seldom connect with. But it brings it all back together in the end, and I found myself tearing up from the final villain confrontation through the end of the film. It really ties together in a very lovely way that I didn't anticipate early on in the story. Plus it looks gorgeous.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Kubo and the Two Strings > Fanboys
Kubo and the Two Strings < The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Kubo and the Two Strings > The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
Kubo and the Two Strings > Taxi Driver
Kubo and the Two Strings > The Secret Garden (1987)
Kubo and the Two Strings > L'atalante
Kubo and the Two Strings > Do the Right Thing
Kubo and the Two Strings > Red Eye
Kubo and the Two Strings > The Hudsucker Proxy
Kubo and the Two Strings > Dangerous Liaisons
Final spot: #763 out of 3041.

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

IMDb plot summar: When two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Starring Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, and Milo O'Shea.

This has never been a Shakespeare play I've particularly cared for, but this is an astonishingly good version of it. The two lovers here are so, so young, their dramatic outbursts so childlike, their immediate impulses so unchecked that it feels nearly impossible to keep them from hurting others or themselves with their very raw emotions. Mercutio too gets an interesting spin here-- truly cruel and malicious in the scene with the nurse, seemingly mentally unstable from a few of his isolated scenes-- and his death, where no one realizes he isn't doing a bit until he is actually dead, is fascinating. The best Shakespeare performances make the poetry of the words seem like the most emotionally natural things for these characters to say, and that's certainly true here. It almost makes me actually like the play.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Romeo and Juliet > Fish Story
Romeo and Juliet > The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Romeo and Juliet < Jean de Florette
Romeo and Juliet < 10 Cloverfield Lane
Romeo and Juliet < Key Largo
Romeo and Juliet > Shakespeare Behind Bars
Romeo and Juliet > Hawking
Romeo and Juliet > My Name Is Joe
Romeo and Juliet > The Graduate
Romeo and Juliet < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Final spot: #671 out of 3040.

Eighth Grade (2018)

IMDb plot summary: An introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
Directed by Bo Burnham. Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, and Jake Ryan.

I had a lot of people who connected HARD to Lady Bird when it came out, seeing themselves and their relationships in hers, and falling head over heels in love with the movie. That's how I feel about Kayla in this movie. Even though social media wasn't really a thing when I was in eighth grade, I definitely had an Internet presence and was very conscious of how online I was more confident, more interesting, and more comfortable than offline. It's been a very long time since I identified so hard with a character, and seeing her step into a sense of "If things suck, it's okay, I'll be all right" was still inspiring to me as a grown adult 20 years older than her. This is a great film.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Eighth Grade > The Trouble with Harry
Eighth Grade > An American Werewolf in London
Eighth Grade > Vertigo
Eighth Grade < The Adventures of Robin Hood
Eighth Grade > The Gods Must Be Crazy
Eighth Grade < Across the Universe
Eighth Grade > Airplane!
Eighth Grade > Operation Petticoat
Eighth Grade < I'm Not Scared
Eighth Grade < Shaun of the Dead
Eighth Grade < Sister Act
Eighth Grade > Pitch Perfect
Final spot: #248 out of 3039.

Cats (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
Directed by Tom Hooper. Starring Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, and Taylor Swift.

...How do you even rate and review Cats? Either the movie or the show. To Hooper's credit, he stays absurdly faithful to the original, only making one or two tiny changes, but he was definitely embracing it for what it is, which means this was only ever going to be a ridiculous movie. It was in no way helped by having photorealistic cat fur with terrifying human hands protuding out of them. Rebel Wilson and Jason Derulo both failed to capture the *only* trait their characters have, but the Skimbleshanks number rules, and I laughed a lot and had just a great time with this weird, weird, weird movie. I hope it gains a Rocky Horror-style cult following and gets midnight sing-along viewings for decades to come.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Cats > Red
Cats > Dangerous Liaisons
Cats < Vertigo
Cats < Rise of the Guardians
Cats < Key Largo
Cats < Shakespeare Behind Bars
Cats < Sherlock Jr.
Cats > Sneakers
Cats < The Pirates of Penzance
Cats < The Basketball Diaries
Cats < The Body Snatcher
Cats > Manhattan Murder Mystery

Final spot: #746 out of 3038.

Legendary Weapons of China (1982)

IMDb plot summary: A band of killers from an ailing kung fu and magic society are sent on a manhunt for a former member of the society, whose bad mouthing threatens it's existence.
Directed by Chia-Liang Liu. Starring Chia-Liang Liu, Chia Yung Liu, Kara Wai, and Hou Hsiao.

Kung fu movies are very much not my jam, and I couldn't get myself to care about any of the characters involved in this story at all, but there were some fun fight choreography scenes, especially the ones that bordered on slapstick. That's about all I have to say on this one!

How it entered my Flickchart:
Legendary Weapons of China < Manhattan
Legendary Weapons of China < Simone
Legendary Weapons of China > Gigi
Legendary Weapons of China > I Accuse My Parents
Legendary Weapons of China > City Slickers
Legendary Weapons of China > The Yellow Birds
Legendary Weapons of China < The Devil Wears Prada
Legendary Weapons of China < Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
Legendary Weapons of China < The Hoober-Bloob Highway
Legendary Weapons of China < Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Legendary Weapons of China > Running With Scissors
Final spot: #2323 out of 3037.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

IMDb plot summary: The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga.
Directed by J.J. Abrams. Starring Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega.

(Spoilers ahead.)

I saw this two nights ago, and the longer I sit with it, the more I a) forget what actually happened in it and b) am left with irritation. I'm not usually annoyed by fan service, but I *am* when fan service and retconning takes the place of actual character and plot development. There are no narrative cohesive threads in this movie because they cut all the ones that the previous film set up, and then scrambled to make ends meet. I found the redemption arc wildly unconvincing and a very disappointing ending to someone who began as one of the most interesting villains we'd seen in the series. Also, four fake-out deaths is TOO MANY if your movie is not a comedy. It's just a messy, messy movie, but that's what happens when you try to conclude a trilogy while ignoring the entire middle section. Fortunately it's also forgettable so I can pull an Abrams and pretend this one didn't exist.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Rise of Skywalker < Red (2018)
The Rise of Skywalker > The TV Set
The Rise of Skywalker < Stand and Deliver
The Rise of Skywalker > Spy
The Rise of Skywalker < Legally Blonde
The Rise of Skywalker > Lilo & Stitch
The Rise of Skywalker > The Amazing Spider-Man
The Rise of Skywalker > Hollywood Homicide
The Rise of Skywalker > Brigadoon
The Rise of Skywalker > Cambio de ruta
The Rise of Skywalker > Where the Wild Things Are
Final spot: #1993 out of 3036.

A Song Is Born (1948)

IMDb plot summary: With her gangster boyfriend under investigation by the police, a nightclub singer hides out in a musical research institution staffed by bachelor professors - one of whom begins to fall for her.
Directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey.

So apparently this is a musical version of Ball of Fire, which, to my shame, I have never seen. I do want to though after watching this, which is clearly just a very weird retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It's exactly what one would expect from a Danny Kaye musical comedy -- it's silly and light and goofy -- but it does have some great music, thanks to a plot piece that involves bringing together a bunch of actual 1948 musicians and bandleaders including Tommy Dorsey and Louis Armstrong. Super fluffy and pleasant, but not spectacular.

How it entered my Flickchart:
A Song is Born > Manhattan
A Song is Born < An American Werewolf in London
A Song is Born < Primal Fear
A Song is Born > Pitch Perfect 2
A Song is Born < Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A Song is Born > Lagaan: Once Upon a Time In India
A Song is Born > Aguirre: The Wrath of God
A Song is Born > Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
A Song is Born > The Wicker Man (1973)
A Song is Born > The Green Mile
A Song is Born > Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
Final spot: #1234 out of 3036.

Hot Millions (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Paroled London fraudster Marcus Pendleton poses as a computer specialist in order to work for an insurance company that entirely relies on its corporate server.
Directed by Eric Till. Starring Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, Karl Malden, and Bob Newhart.

Oh, this is a fun, silly ride. It's got a dry lightness to it that just makes me smile, with a lead character who's so pleasant and entertaining that we don't even mind that he's embezzling the entire time. There's also an unexpectedly sweet romance between him and Maggie Smith -- the scene where she proposes to him and he plays it off as a joke but then it becomes clear that they both very much want this is quite a lovely moment. Overall, one of the better films I've seen lately in my quest to watch 100 films from 1968.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Hot Millions > Peter Pan (1960)
Hot Millions > Dangerous Liaisons
Hot Millions < Vertigo
Hot Millions < Sergeant York
Hot Millions < The Florida Project
Hot Millions > Hannah and Her Sisters
Hot Millions > Kill Bill Vol. 2
Hot Millions < Finian's Rainbow
Hot Millions > Brave
Hot Millions > National Lampoon's Vacation
Hot Millions > Robot and Frank
Final spot: #677 out of 3035.

Knives Out (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.
Directed by Rian Johnson. Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

This is such a charming watch. Rian Johnson is a master of blending tone here, as he manages to evoke all the feeling of a classic 1920s British murder mystery while also making it feel somehow very modern, never stale or outdated. Marta is a truly wonderful character to position as our lead, and the supporting cast and characters are all just over-the-top enough to be funny without seeming impossible. A really enjoyable flick.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Knives Out > Kiss the Girls
Knives Out > Thor
Knives Out < Jean de Florette
Knives Out > Sergeant York
Knives Out > King George and the Ducky
Knives Out < La Strada
Knives Out > The Jungle Book (1967)
Knives Out > Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
Knives Out > High and Low
Knives Out < Dog Day Afternoon
Final spot: #432 out of 3034.

The Stalking Moon (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A sympathetic retired army scout takes-in a white woman and her half-Apache son, not knowing that the boy's father, a murderous renegade Apache, is after them.
Directed by Robert Mulligan. Starring Gregory Peck, Eva Marie Saint, Robert Forster, and Noland Clay.

This was more engaging than a lot of westerns I've seen (and 1968 especially seems to have just an endless supply of them), but, like all of them, their focus is always on the least interesting characters. Gregory Peck saving the day isn't even half as interesting to me as the interaction between the two Apache/white mixed characters, or the story of Eva Marie Saint's survival after being captured. But I did appreciate the oddly quiet tone for the story, given how much danger the characters were in -- it helped put the emphasis on them as people rather than archetypes.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Stalking Moon > Blow Out
The Stalking Moon < Thor
The Stalking Moon < State and Main
The Stalking Moon < Letters from Iwo Jima
The Stalking Moon > The Tourist
The Stalking Moon < A Foreign Affair
The Stalking Moon > Along Came a Spider
The Stalking Moon > Neighbors
The Stalking Moon > L.A. Confidential
The Stalking Moon > Kung Fury
The Stalking Moon > No eres tu, soy yo
Final spot: #1376 out of 3033.

Yellow Submarine (1968)

IMDb plot summary: The Beatles agree to accompany Captain Fred (Lance Percival) in his Yellow Submarine and go to Pepperland to free it from the music hating Blue Meanies.
Directed by George Dunning. Starring The Beatles, Paul Angelis, John Clive, and Dick Emery.

After watching Head earlier this year and *hating* it, I was a little nervous about another surreal absurdist musical featuring a 1960s band. But overall, this is kind of engaging. The calm, dry personalities of the Beatles characters help to tone down what could be an exhausting over-the-top hour and a half, and some of the visuals paired with the music were really captivating. ("Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" was my favorite.) It's not something I ever feel a need to watch again, but it's got charm and I can see why people like it.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Yellow Submarine < Blow Out
Yellow Submarine > Deja Vu
Yellow Submarine > Midnight Cowboy
Yellow Submarine > The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Yellow Submarine > The Whole Nine Yards
Yellow Submarine < John Dies at the End
Yellow Submarine > Office Space
Yellow Submarine > How to Rob a Bank
Yellow Submarine > The Day After Tomorrow
Yellow Submarine > The Blues Brothers
Yellow Submarine < Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (what an interesting match-up...)
Final spot: #1566 out of 3032.

The Stand (1994)

IMDb plot summary: After a deadly plague kills most of the world's population, the remaining survivors split into two groups - one led by a benevolent elder and the other by a maleficent being - to face each other in a final battle between good and evil.
Directed by Mick Garris. Starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Jamey Sheridan, and Laura San Giacomo.

So, I have this longstanding problem with Stephen King's work. Or, well, film adaptations of it, since I don't think I've actually read anything by him. But the issues I have with his films are plot-based, and from reading book synopses on Wikipedia I think I'd have the same problem with them, and regardless King wrote this teleplay, so it's definitely his writing I dislike here.

The thing is, he comes up with these decently creepy premises and then throws *everything* at them without bothering to connect them. In The Shining, the hotel is full of ghosts AND Jack Torrance also just happens to be a little crazy to begin with AND his son just happens to have ESP. And it's never clear whether one is influencing the other at all, so it just looks like multiple separate stories he's trying to smush together.

The Stand is (I think mostly?) just two stories: A mysterious flu kills off most of the population, and the survivors have to fight Satan. The first half of the miniseries is about the flu and survival, the second half is about going off to fight Satan in the desert. But there's also all this weird throwaway stuff about visions from God, Satan trying to make a baby with a human woman, a healing ghost, several characters with disabilities that I don't know WHAT he's doing with them, a bunch of drama about choosing town council members, and more. All of these issues flare up with great significance like they're going to play major roles in how things go, and then they seem to be either resolved or forgotten within minutes. What does King think this story is *about*? Nothing stays, nothing holds, nothing matters.

Speaking of nothing mattering -- that final scene. The good guys are captured by Satan who decides to tear them apart at a public execution, but then one of our (very uncomfortable) disability characters shows up with an atomic bomb, and then some sort of ghost comes out of two of Satan's dead minions and sets off the bomb. And back in the town, everybody lauds the dead heroes' sacrifice and talks about how they went out there to "stand, and that's what they did." But, like... What? Aside from I guess gathering everyone in one place for the execution, nothing they did made any difference at all. (And if it's an atomic bomb, they don't need to be *that* close together for it to do the trick.) They didn't make the ghosts happen (right?), they didn't make the bomb appear, they did ab.so.lute.ly.no.thing and are treated like they saved the world.

The first hour or so is good. Watching the world get slowly taken down by the flu and seeing the survivors trying to figure out what to do next is fascinating. But when it suddenly turns into a supernatural God's-people-vs-a-literal-demon battle, it loses me entirely and tosses out a thousand threads it can never resolve well.

I don't get it, y'all. I don't get King, and I don't get this adaptation, and it was a very long four-and-a-half hours once it started going off the rails.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Stand < Blow Out
The Stand > A Farewell to Fools
The Stand > Ulysses
The Stand < Cellular
The Stand < The Robe
The Stand > Thoughtcrimes
The Stand < Company (1997)
The Stand < Ghost
The Stand < The Love Bug
The Stand < Reality Bites
The Stand < Sunshine
The Stand > The Iceman
Final spot: #1844 out of 3029.

The Birthday Party (1968)

IMDb plot summary: The down-at-heel lodger in a seaside boarding house is menaced by two mysterious strangers, who eventually take him away.
Directed by William Friedkin. Starring Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee, Sydney Tafler, and Dandy Nichols.

I had no experience with or understanding of the play at all prior to this, but it sounds like something I wouldn't get into at all. It does that thing I dislike about David Lynch films, in that it teases you with some sort of logical narrative by being pretty coherent moment-to-moment but just feels like it's leaving out a piece, and if you knew what that one piece of lost information was, you'd understand the whole plot. I found myself zoning out during the film, and whatever emotional response I was supposed to take away from it, I didn't. Not my type of play or movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Birthday Party < Blow Out

The Birthday Party < A Farewell to Fools

The Birthday Party < Gigi

The Birthday Party < The Book Thief

The Birthday Party > The Incredible Journey

The Birthday Party > Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

The Birthday Party < The Lake House

The Birthday Party > Atlantic Rim

The Birthday Party > Island in the Sun

The Birthday Party > One for the Money

The Birthday Party > Men in Black II

Final spot: #2863 out of 3027.

Inspector Clouseau (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A string of robberies has occurred in Britain and it's up to Inspector Clouseau to catch the criminal.
Directed by Bud Yorkin. Starring Alan Arkin, Frank Finlay, Delia Boccardo, and Barry Foster.

Given my mediocre response to most Pink Panther movies, I expected to have a mediocre response to this as well, but it was... well, still mediocre, but a step above. I wasn't irritated by it at any point, partly because the silly comedy doesn't have a giant spotlight on it as much as just subtly weaving its way into the plot. That isn't always an improvement, but it is here. It's not a stellar movie by any means, but it's a decently entertaining one.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Inspector Clouseau > Run Fatboy Run
Inspector Clouseau < An American Werewolf in London
Inspector Clouseau < Brothers
Inspector Clouseau > Pitch Perfect 2
Inspector Clouseau < Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
Inspector Clouseau < The Prestige
Inspector Clouseau > Le Week-End
Inspector Clouseau < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)
Inspector Clouseau > Mudbound
Inspector Clouseau < The Revenant
Inspector Clouseau > Arctic
Final spot: #1291 out of 3026.

Red (2018)

IMDb plot summary: Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant, the artist Mark Rothko takes on his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work of art for an extraordinary setting.
Directed by Michael Grandage. Starring Alfred Enoch and Alfred Molina.

This is now my third encounter this play, after studying it in a class and seeing a production of it after I left college (starring my acting prof, which was a sort of surreal experience). I have yet to really find my way into this story, and it is not particularly helped here by Alfred Enoch's performance, which remains perpetually in the same range of vocal inflections and makes it near impossible to break through into actual character. Molina is great as Rothko, of course, as he is great in anything, and I'm almost willing to sit through an hour and a half of him just ranting -- but not quite. I'm still not convinced this play is doing as much as I think it's doing, largely because I think it relies too heavily on characters talking *about*, a cold, distanced analysis of the meaning of art that rarely breaks through into the lives we see play out on stage. It's all right, but it just doesn't get to me.

This movie is not yet on Flickchart.

Patsy & Loretta (2019)

IMDb plot summary: An original movie about the friendship between country-music stars Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.
Directed by Callie Khouri. Starring Megan Hilty, Jessie Mueller, Kyle Schmid, and Janine Turner.

Well, this did exactly what a musician's biopic is probably supposed to -- it made me want to go seek out these artists' music. I really have no knowledge of or connection to Patsy Cline or Loretta Lynn, so I have no clue how accurate this is to their lives, but I did find myself fairly engaged in their stories. This is largely due to musical theater veterans Megan Hilty and Jessie Mueller being very compelling performers. The script seems to go back over and over again to the same predictable beats, but their performances make it (mostly) work.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Patsy & Loretta > Blow Out
Patsy & Loretta < An American Werewolf in London
Patsy & Loretta < Brothers
Patsy & Loretta > North by Northwest
Patsy & Loretta > Hamlet (2009)
Patsy & Loretta > Lifeforce
Patsy & Loretta < Alice (1990)
Patsy & Loretta < 12 Angry Men (1997)
Patsy & Loretta < EDtv
Patsy & Loretta < John Wick
Patsy & Loretta > Disturbia
Final spot: #1179 out of 3025.

Swiss Army Man (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body and together they go on a surreal journey to get home.
Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe.

How do you even really review a movie like this? It is strange and gross and creepy but it also has some really lovely moments tapping into pieces of humanity from a very strange side-angle. It reminds me of something like Lars and the Real Girl and The Beaver, except with maybe more magic realism and a lot more gross body function jokes. The latter is the piece that keeps me from really loving it. I see how the idea that humanity is kind of gross as a whole is part of the movie's point, but it also makes me want to not watch the movie again any time soon. I guess I haven't watched Paul Dano in anything in a little bit, because I'd forgotten how truly great he is as an actor. The soundtrack should also get a mention. It's beautifully ingrained into the fabric of the film, and the one true laugh the movie got from me was a background song where the lyrics were a very literal description of what was happening on screen.

I have no idea where this is going to land.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Swiss Army Man > Blow Out
Swiss Army Man < The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
Swiss Army Man > State and Main
Swiss Army Man < All's Faire in Love
Swiss Army Man < Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Swiss Army Man > My Date With Drew
Swiss Army Man < Before Sunset
Swiss Army Man > The Horse's Mouth
Swiss Army Man > Hamlet (1990)
Swiss Army Man > Let the Right One In
Swiss Army Man > Roma
Final spot: #1064 out of 3024.

Petulia (1968)

IMDb plot summary: An unhappily married socialite finds solace in the company of a recently divorced doctor.
Directed by Richard Lester. Starring Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, and Arthur Hill.

This is not a French movie, but it has a very French New Wave feel to it, in its near-incomprehensible character choices and its awkwardly nonlinear storytelling. It has a few moments of resonance (Petulia's relationship with her husband had some fascinating moments) but on the whole it's a movie at a distance, but from a distance these characters are muddled and I can't figure out why I'm supposed to be watching them.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Petulia < Blow Out
Petulia > A Farewell to Fools
Petulia < Definitely, Maybe
Petulia > The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Petulia < Blue Valentine
Petulia < Fame (1980)
Petulia < Highlander
Petulia < What Lies Beneath
Petulia < Sorry, Wrong Number
Petulia < 12 Days of Terror
Petulia > Talk to Her
Final spot: #2077 out of 3023.

Star! (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A musical biography of Gertrude Lawrence, who led a hustling and bustling life on the stage.
Directed by Robert Wise. Starring Julie Andrews, Richard Crenna, Michael Craig, and Daniel Massey.

A year or two ago, I asked my Facebook friends if they could think of any gender-swapped versions of the "awful man is awful but he's a genius so the women in his wife choose to support him anyway." This COULD have been an example of that, but instead of embracing or really even emphasizing Gertrude Lawrence's talents, it spends a lot of time trying to teach her that she's doing it wrong and needs to be brought down a peg. It's kind of a messy script, too. Watching Julie Andrews sing and dance is always a delight, but this is a strange, muddled script that really doesn't play to her strengths as an actress and pushes her into a lot of very broad comedy, which she tackles with far too much elegance to be convincing. A weird, messy flick.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Star! < Blow Out
Star! > A Farewell to Fools
Star! > Definitely, Maybe
Star! < Cellular
Star! < Anonymous
Star! > Thoughtcrimes
Star! > Company (1997)
Star! > Ready Player One
Star! < SpaceCamp
Star! > Jack Strong
Star! < Lovelace
Final spot: 1802 out of 3022.

Miller's Crossing (1990)

IMDb plot summary: Tom Regan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen. Starring Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro and Jon Polito.

This was one of the few Coen brothers movies I haven't seen, so I was glad to get the push to see it as part of a movie challenge group, even if the Coens and I have a weird relationship where I only really like the movies people forget about or actively hate.

This is fine, I guess. It does that thing a lot of noir does where it puts in just a WHOLE bunch of characters and secret plots and double crosses and I think it's also maybe trying to say something about humanity but it mostly just leaves me kind of exhausted. When anyone can turn on anyone else, I have trouble finding any purpose or satisfaction to it, it just feels... random. There is certainly a lot of very stylish, atmospheric cinematography, and it's definitely a moody piece, which worked in its favor. But it didn't really grab me at all.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Miller's Crossing < Blow Out
Miller's Crossing > A Farewell to Fools
Miller's Crossing > Ulysses
Miller's Crossing > Cinderella (2015)
Miller's Crossing < V/H/S
Miller's Crossing < The Avengers
Miller's Crossing < Rebecca
Miller's Crossing < Chaos Theory
Miller's Crossing < Water for Elephants
Miller's Crossing > House of Games
Miller's Crossing < The Boston Strangler
Final spot: #1696 out of 3021.

Shalako (1968)

IMDb plot summary: In 1880 New Mexico, a group of European hunters runs afoul of the Apache but is aided by an ex-cavalryman turned guide.
Directed by Edward Dmytryk. Starring Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Stephen Boyd, and Jack Hawkins.

Sean Connery as the most Scottish cowboy is pretty fun, but the movie as a whole is pretty boring. It starts off seeming like it's going to give a slightly more interesting take on Native American life than most classic westerns, but that gets abandoned pretty quickly and it's just a bland story overall.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Shalako < Run Fatboy Run
Shalako < Deja Vu
Shalako < Gigi
Shalako > Detropia
Shalako > Stand Up and Cheer!
Shalako < The Talk of the Town
Shalako > To Kill a King
Shalako < Song of the South
Shalako < Mamma Mia!
Shalako > Ali
Shalako < Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Final spot: #2710 out of 3020.

The Boston Strangler (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A series of brutal murders in Boston sparks a seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.
Directed by Richard Fleischer. Starring Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy, and Mike Kellin.

This is... a messy movie. It's very sensationalist and has a very over-the-top view of this character's psychology, but it paints itself (especially in the final on-screen text) as being a very serious docudrama with an important message for humanity. The split-screen used throughout is really only effective for the early scene in which it shows all the different people looking for or calling in people they think might be the Strangler -- it helps enhance the sense of paranoia -- but the technique is used many other times in much less effective ways. Overall, kind of a cheesy pulpy flick that wants to be more.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Boston Strangler < Run Fatboy Run
The Boston Strangler > A Farewell to Fools
The Boston Strangler > Ulysses
The Boston Strangler > Cinderella (2015)
The Boston Strangler < Wedding Crashers
The Boston Strangler < Into the Dark: Pooka!
The Boston Strangler < Scrooge
The Boston Strangler < Dear Frankie
The Boston Strangler < Shane
The Boston Strangler > House of Games
The Boston Strangler < Father of the Bride (1950)
Final spot: #1695 out of 3019.

The Green Berets (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.
Directed by Ray Kellogg and John Wayne. Starring John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, and Aldo Ray.

While I like the idea of watching a movie made about a war while that war is still going on, it still comes down to a lot of combat scenes and discussion of strategies, which never interest me. I zoned out with 30-40 minutes left to go and had real serious difficulty refocusing on the film. Genre bias is a thing.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Green Berets < Knight and Day
The Green Berets < Deja Vu
The Green Berets < Mr. Mom
The Green Berets > Detropia
The Green Berets > Sumo of the Opera
The Green Berets < Fist of Legend
The Green Berets < To Kill a King
The Green Berets > Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Green Berets < Moonfleet
The Green Berets < Love in the Afternoon
The Green Berets < The Merchant of Venice (2004)
The Green Berets > Surf's Up
Final spot: #2722 out of 3018.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)

IMDb plot summary: When deaf mute Singer moves to a small city to be near his only friend confined in a hospital, he grows attached to his landlady's sensitive 16-year-old daughter.
Directed by Robert Elis Miller. Starring Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, Percy Rodrigues, and Cicely Tyson.

Well, this is a heartbreaking film. Alan Arkin's performance is brilliant, in how without any words at all he still conveys so much about this character. Watching all the various characters look for happiness, which seems more and more elusive as the story goes on, held my attention the entire time. The ending is the only piece of this I didn't love -- it seems a little abrupt and eager to moralize in a movie that didn't have a lot of that up until that point -- but it's still a fascinating flick.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > Run Fatboy Run
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > Dangerous Liaisons
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter < Citizen Kane
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter < Rise of the Guardians
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter < The Florida Project
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > Hannah and Her Sisters
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > Father of the Bride (1991)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > Robot and Frank
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > The African Queen
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > The Graduate
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter > The Great Race
Final spot: #660 out of 3017.

Pretty Poison (1968)

IMDb plot summary: When a mentally disturbed young man tells a pretty girl that he's a secret agent, she believes him, and murder and mayhem ensue.
Directed by Noel Black. Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, and John Randolph.

I... have no idea what this movie is doing. A huge part of it is how much it tries (I think) to paint Anthony Perkins' character as sympathetic, but he's extremely unpleasant in his efforts as an adult to lie to and seduce a high school girl. I can't tell if I'm supposed to read the couple's love for each other as genuine in any way. I just can't figure out what I'm *supposed* to think of these characters or get out of this, and I definitely didn't get anything on my own, so it all just ended up muddled.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Pretty Poison < Run Fatboy Run
Pretty Poison < Deja Vu
Pretty Poison > Mr. Mom
Pretty Poison > K-19: The Widowmaker
Pretty Poison < Snatch.
Pretty Poison > There's Something About Mary
Pretty Poison > The Out of Towners
Pretty Poison < Footloose (2011)
Pretty Poison > Palo Alto
Pretty Poison > Baby Mama
Pretty Poison < Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical
Final spot: #2370 out of 3016.

56 Up (2012)

IMDb plot summary: Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
Directed by Michael Apted and Paul Almond.

How it entered my Flickchart:
56 Up > Blow Out
56 Up > RoboCop
56 Up < Citizen Kane
56 Up < Rise of the Guardians
56 Up < The Great Race
56 Up < Hannah and Her Sisters
56 Up < The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
56 Up > The Awful Truth
56 Up < The Basketball Diaries
56 Up < Manhattan Murder Mystery
56 Up < Sneakers
56 Up < Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Final spot: #742 out of 3015.

Graveyard of Honor (2002)

IMDb plot summary: A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However his fear of nothing soon causes problems.
Directed by Takashi Miike. Starring Gorô Kishitani, Narimi Arimori, Renji Ishibashi, and Ryôsuke Miki.

After having this on my movie challenge watch list for several years (and then accidentally watching the 1975 version instead), I've finally seen this one. And... meh. Not sure it was worth the wait. The most engaging parts of it by far were the moments that showed the character's depths of drug addiction, but frankly it was hard to care much at all about a character who raped two women in the first 15 minutes of the movie. I was just kind of done seeing him on screen long before he was done being on it, and it was exceptionally difficult to give a crap about what was going on in his life after that. And frankly I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to get out of this film. (It's kind of where I land on a lot of crime and mob films.) It didn't do a lot for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Graveyard of Honor < Run Fatboy Run
Graveyard of Honor < On the Waterfront
Graveyard of Honor > Bewitched
Graveyard of Honor < Frozen River
Graveyard of Honor > John Q.
Graveyard of Honor < The Name of the Rose
Graveyard of Honor > Miss Congeniality
Graveyard of Honor < Secondhand Lions
Graveyard of Honor > The Enemy Below
Graveyard of Honor > Airborne
Graveyard of Honor > Empire of the Sun
Final spot: #2509 out of 3014.

Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A filmed production of the musical 'Miss Saigon' for its 25th anniversary, performed live at London's Prince Edward Theatre, in London's West End.
Directed by Brett Sullivan. Starring Jon Jon Briones, Eva Noblezada, Alistair Brammer, Kwang-Ho Hong, and Tamsin Carroll.

I loved the cast album for this show when I was in high school. As an adult, I definitely recognize that there are some major problems with the show as a whole, but in spite of that I found myself really enjoying this production. I got really immersed into the heightened operatic nature of the big dramatic songs ("This Is the Hour" in particular is incredible). My heart just opened up completely for Kim and, to my surprise, for the Engineer as well -- the underlying tragedy to his largely comedic character really comes through in an incredible performance by Jon Jon Briones. And there really are some phenomenal songs in here.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Miss Saigon > Blow Out
Miss Saigon > The Hudsucker Proxy
Miss Saigon < Citizen Kane
Miss Saigon < 10 Cloverfield Lane
Miss Saigon < The Florida Project
Miss Saigon > Hannah and Her Sisters
Miss Saigon > Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Miss Saigon < Robot and Frank
Miss Saigon < Black Narcissus
Miss Saigon > Hawking
Miss Saigon > The Bells of St. Mary's
Miss Saigon > Crocodile Dundee
Final spot: #676 out of 3013.

Greetings (1968)

IMDb plot summary: An offbeat, episodic film about three friends, Paul, a shy love-seeker, Lloyd, a vibrant conspiracy nut, and Jon, an aspiring filmmaker and peeping tom. The film satirizes free-love, the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, and amateur filmmaking. 
Directed by Brian De Palma. Starring Jonathan Warden, Robert De Niro, Gerrit Graham, and Richard Hamilton.

While this is significantly better than De Palma's other 1968 film Murder a la Mod, it's still primarily just following around the most obnoxious, terrible human beings around, and watching them being dull at other people. It feels inescapably like a student film, experimenting with styles more than creating a cohesive piece from beginning to end.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Greetings < Run Fatboy Run
Greetings < On the Waterfront
Greetings < Mr. Mom
Greetings < Detropia
Greetings > The Incredible Journey
Greetings > Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Greetings < The Lake House
Greetings > The Prince & Me
Greetings < Island in the Sun
Greetings > Carnival Magic
Greetings > 101 Dalmatians (1996)
Greetings > Mockingbird Don't Sing
Final spot: #2854 out of 3012.

Resident Evil (2002)

IMDb plot summary: A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Starring Milla Jovovich, Eric Mabius, Michelle Rodriguez, and James Purefoy.

Jacob and I have played a couple of the Resident Evil games together so I was very loosely familiar with the series' zombie mythos, which the movie seems to stick to pretty closely. It definitely *feels* like a video game movie, with cut scenes and clearly-defined location-based fights. The monsters are nice and creepy in the games, but the effects in the film aren't nice enough for them to blend in with the real-life people in the scenes. The staging and pacing choices are nice, though, and there are some unsettling scenes in here once the movie finally gets going (it takes what feels like forever to get to the zombies). The characters don't matter even a little bit, so the twist isn't terribly effective, and the movie seems to play fast and loose with its own rules every so often. (I was very confused by the character who was dead and then not actually dead but then suddenly a zombie anyway.) Probably my favorite part, though, was the ending, where the character escapes from where she's been kept only to find that all the zombies have clearly escaped and the world is overrun. It's obviously meant to set it up for more sequels but I like it on its own as a creepy ending to the story. It's a good image.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Resident Evil < Blow Out
Resident Evil > Side Effects
Resident Evil < The Prince and the Pauper (2000)
Resident Evil > Beaches
Resident Evil < War of the Buttons (1994)
Resident Evil > A Dangerous Method
Resident Evil > Hellraiser
Resident Evil > The Amazing Spider-Man
Resident Evil > Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Resident Evil > Horton Hears a Who
Resident Evil < Hollywood Homicide
Final spot: #1979 out of 3011, or 34%.

The Decalogue (1989)

IMDb plot summary: Ten television drama films, each one based on one of the Ten Commandments.
Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

This series took me a month and a half to watch, and now I don't quite know what to do with it. I like the theme and how it found creative, not-at-all-obvious ways to explore each theme. I think #5 is probably my favorite. The overall bleak tone started getting to me even with how spread out these are, and I have the same issue here that I do with Kieslowski's Colors trilogy, in that his endings never resonate with me and so I found each piece just slightly disappointing when it finally ended. It's kind of an incredible feat of filmmaking, but I found it often difficult to watch and it will likely be even more difficult to rank.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Decalogue > Blow Out
The Decalogue < The Lady Vanishes
The Decalogue > Winnie the Pooh
The Decalogue < Kanal
The Decalogue < Lyle, the Kindly Viking
The Decalogue > Is It Fall Yet?
The Decalogue < The Exorcist
The Decalogue < The Magnificent Ambersons
The Decalogue > Paris, Texas
The Decalogue < Sin City
The Decalogue > Sleepers
Final spot: #1073 out of 3010, or 64%.

Company (1996)

IMb plot summary: At Bobbie's 35th birthday party all her friends are wondering why isn't she married? Why can't she find the right man and Why can't she settle down and have a family?
Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring Adrian Lester, Sheila Gish, Sophie Thompson, and Rebecca Front.

That was the most wildly depressing version of this show I've ever seen. While most versions try to bring out the good and the bad in each couple, this one painted every couple as passive aggressive at best and flat-out hateful at worst. The musical numbers are performed nicely, but the show loses all its power if it doesn't lead to a hopeful rendition of "Being Alive." (I genuinely wondered if this version of the show was implying Bobby took his own life at the end, given the misery and the sense of finality present through his entire final scene.) The show itself is so good, but this is not the production.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Company < The Illusionist (2006)
Company > The Godfather
Company < Avengers: Endgame
Company > The Final Countdown
Company > Buddy Buddy
Company > The Thomas Crown Affair
Company < My Sassy Girl
Company > Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Company < Annie (2014)
Company > The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Company < Give My Regards to Broad Street
Final spot: #1912 out of 3007.

Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968)

IMDb plot summary: After attempting suicide, Claude is recruited for a time travel experiment, but, when the machine goes haywire, he may be trapped hurtling through his memories.
Directed by Alain Resnais. Starring Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, Anouk Ferjac, and Alain MacMoy.

I appreciate what this movie is doing more than I actually like it. Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad hit me on an emotional level, while this one never quite does (and maybe that's the sci-fi nerd in me -- I keep impatiently waiting for the time travel to resurface as a plot point when it's just a means to an end). Our quietly personable protagonist does a lot to get us engaged in his extremely non-linear story, though, and it is an interesting concept.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Je t'aime, je t'aime > The Illusionist
Je t'aime, je t'aime < The Lady Vanishes
Je t'aime, je t'aime < Full Metal Jacket
Je t'aime, je t'aime < Hopscotch
Je t'aime, je t'aime > Enemy of the State
Je t'aime, je t'aime < Bye Bye Birdie (1995)
Je t'aime, je t'aime > Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Je t'aime, je t'aime < Skylark
Je t'aime, je t'aime < The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Je t'aime, je t'aime > Cape Fear (1991)
Je t'aime, je t'aime > The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Je t'aime, je t'aime > Along Came a Spider
Final spot: #1380 out of 3006.

Head (1968)

IMDb plot summary: The Monkees are tossed about in a psychedelic, surrealist, plotless, circular bit of fun fluff.
Directed by Bob Rafaelson. Starring Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith.

...What even was this nonsense?

How it entered my Flickchart:
Head < The Illusionist
Head < The Godfather
Head < Mr. Mom
Head < C.H.U.D.
Head < Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
Head > Flesh for the Inferno
Head > Laserblast
Head < The Truth About Charlie
Head > Paulie
Head < The Brother From Another Planet
Head > At Land
Final spot: #2927 out of 3005.

National Theatre Live: All About Eve (2019)

IMDb plot summary: This is performed in the Noël Coward theatre and is an adaptation from the well known film. This story revolves around aspiring actress Eve Harrington (Lily James). Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing (Gillian Anderson) and tells Margo and her friends a melancholy life story. Margo takes Eve under her wing, only to have Eve use her and connive against her.
Directed by Ivo van Hove. Starring Lily James, Gillian Anderson, Julian Ovenden, and Rhashan Stone.

This is a very ugly adaptation of All About Eve. The script is good, the performances are decent (though Lily James' acting is a little broad for my taste here), but aesthetically, this is one of the least appealing theatrical pieces I maybe have ever seen. The ungainly screen in the upper half of the space becomes well worn out as a gimmick less than a half hour into the run, and the minimal set, rather than sparking the imagination, just feels sprawling and empty -- and not in a way that I feel is attempting to thematically tie into the emptiness of show business! A disappointingly distracting series of design choices.

How it entered my Flickchart:
All About Eve < Phantom of the Paradise
All About Eve > The Godfather
All About Eve > Goldfinger
All About Eve > Saboteur
All About Eve < Stepmom
All About Eve < Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
All About Eve > Genius
All About Eve > Happy Christmas
All About Eve > The Fighter
All About Eve < The Mummy (1999)
Final spot: #1648 out of 3004.

Kinky Boots the Musical (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A filmed version of the popular stage musical, in which a feisty drag queen attempts to rescue a shoe factory by designing fabulous and fetishistic footwear.
Directed by Jerry Mitchell and Brett Sullivan. Starring Matt Henry, Killian Donnelly, Natalie McQueen, and Sean Needham.

I wasn't at all familiar with the musical before watching this, or the original movie, so I had virtually no idea what this was actually about. It does make me want to watch the original film more than see the show live. The story itself is engaging, but the songs aren't terribly creative or interesting, and I'm not fully sold on Matt Henry as the flashy Lola (though his rendition of "Not My Father's Son" is lovely). Overall, a decent production of a not-that-interesting-to-begin-with musical.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Kinky Boots the Musical > The Illusionist (2006)
Kinky Boots the Musical < The Hudsucker Proxy
Kinky Boots the Musical < Winnie the Pooh
Kinky Boots the Musical > Hopscotch
Kinky Boots the Musical < The Last Unicorn
Kinky Boots the Musical < The Cutting Edge
Kinky Boots the Musical < True Romance
Kinky Boots the Musical > Meet John Doe
Kinky Boots the Musical > To Be or Not to Be
Kinky Boots the Musical > The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Kinky Boots the Musical < Nine to Five
Final spot: #1293 out of 3003.

You Were Never Really Here (2017)

IMDb plot summary: A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
Directed by Lynne Ramsay. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Dante Pereira-Olson, Judith Roberts, and John Doman.

When director Lynne Ramsay's movie We Need to Talk About Kevin was released, I was super excited to watch it, and then found myself... lost. I just didn't get it at all. When this movie came out, I was excited to watch it and see if I was able to graps Ramsay's vision this time around. Well... I'm not. Nope. I would completely buy that Ramsay's work is creative and visionary and fascinating, but, as I've said before about Francis Ford Coppola, I think we simply speak two different film languages. I don't get any of the emotions I think she's trying to evoke, I'm just left with a sense of "...Wait, what?" This is probably better than I'm going to rank it, given the absolutely glowing reviews I keep reading of it, but all Ramsay's work just goes over my head.

How it entered my Flickchart:
You Were Never Really Here < The Asphalt Jungle
You Were Never Really Here < Burning
You Were Never Really Here > Speak
You Were Never Really Here < The Inspector General
You Were Never Really Here > Gangs of New York
You Were Never Really Here > Medium Cool
You Were Never Really Here > Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed
You Were Never Really Here > The Words
You Were Never Really Here > The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
You Were Never Really Here < Heat
Final spot: #2445 out of 3002.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

IMDb plot summary: The story of the legendary rock band Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury, leading up to their famous performance at Live Aid (1985).
Directed by Bryan Singer. Directed by Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, and Ben Hardy.

There's very few things as disappointing to me as a movie musical that doesn't bother to do anything with the way they shoot the music. For a movie about one of my favorite bands of all time, they could not have been less inspired in the way they incorporated the music into the story. Instead we get a vague story of ego and teamwork that doesn't bother to develop any of the characters. I don't even know how you take a movie featuring the music of Queen and make it this dull.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Bohemian Rhapsody < The Asphalt Jungle
Bohemian Rhapsody < The Godfather
Bohemian Rhapsody > Speak
Bohemian Rhapsody < The Rescuers Down Under
Bohemian Rhapsody > Gangs of New York
Bohemian Rhapsody > Medium Cool
Bohemian Rhapsody > Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed
Bohemian Rhapsody > The Words
Bohemian Rhapsody > The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
Bohemian Rhapsody < Holiday Affair
Final spot: #2444 out of 3001.

Blackmail Is My Life (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A pungent, extremely entertaining tale of hedonistic, amoral blackmailer Matsukata.
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku. Starring Hiroki Matsukata, Tomomi Satô, Hideo Murota, and Akira Jo.

This movie went in a very different direction than I thought it would from the start. The first piece of the movie feels almost like a silly, fun heist movie about this group of young blackmailers, but then as things around them get more serious, so does the story, and we end with basically a full noir. I definitely preferred the first part of the movie, since it was something I hadn't seen before, and was a little bored by the more predictable way the story played out at the end.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Blackmail Is My Life < Descendants
Blackmail Is My Life > The Godfather
Blackmail Is My Life > Goldfinger
Blackmail Is My Life > Short Circuit
Blackmail Is My Life < Dead Man Walking
Blackmail Is My Life > Birdman of Alcatraz
Blackmail Is My Life > Teacher of the Year
Blackmail Is My Life < Anna and the King
Blackmail Is My Life < The Wailing
Blackmail Is My Life > The Cruise
Blackmail Is My Life < The Paperboy
Final spot: #1613 out of 3000.

Rachel, Rachel (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Rachel is a 35 year old school teacher who has no man in her life and lives with her mother. When a man from the big city returns and asks her out, she begins to have to make decisions about her life and where she wants it to go.
Directed by Paul Newman. Starring Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington, and Estelle Parsons.

(Spoilers.)

This has a lot going for it. Rachel is an interesting character, and the way the movie gets us inside her head and its fears, hopes, and impulses is really well-done. I found myself oddly disappointed that the thing that motivated her to change her life was a simple romantic affair -- I don't know what I hoped it would be, but it felt like it tread more familiar ground once that relationship got going. That being said, it was still an enjoyable watch and I still think she's a great character.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Rachel, Rachel > Lawless
Rachel, Rachel < The Lady Vanishes
Rachel, Rachel < Star Trek: Generations
Rachel, Rachel > The Vanishing
Rachel, Rachel > Ponyo
Rachel, Rachel < Punch-Drunk Love
Rachel, Rachel > Frances Ha
Rachel, Rachel > The Fixer
Rachel, Rachel > Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Rachel, Rachel > Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Final spot: #1174 out of 2999.

Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites (2019)

IMDb plot summary: The opera tells a fictionalised version of the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne, Carmelite nuns who, in 1794 during the closing days of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, were guillotined in Paris for refusing to renounce their vocation.
Directed by Gary Halvorson. Starring Isabel Leonard, Adrianne Pieczonka, Erin Morley, and Karen Cargill.

The music in this is nice, and there are some very striking visuals with the set and costume design. The story itself is better in concept than in execution, and it does make me interested to see other versions of this story.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Dialogues des Carmélites > Lawless
Dialogues des Carmélites < The Lady Vanishes
Dialogues des Carmélites < Full Metal Jacket
Dialogues des Carmélites > The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (1988)
Dialogues des Carmélites < The Call
Dialogues des Carmélites < Borstal Boy
Dialogues des Carmélites < Absolute Power
Dialogues des Carmélites < Spider-Man: Homecoming
Dialogues des Carmélites < Letters from Iwo Jima
Dialogues des Carmélites > Hopscotch
Dialogues des Carmélites > After the Wedding
Dialogues des Carmélites > A Separation
Final spot: #1306 out of 2998.

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

IMDb plot summary: Female aliens take control of Earth's monsters and begin using them to destroy the human race.
Directed by Ishirô Honda. Starring Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi, and Yoshio Tsuchiya.

This one takes a little while to get going, but when it does, it's so much fun. It was interesting to realize how satisfying I found the destruction scenes, despite the extremely dated and low-budget effects. But while it's less immersive than a modern day action movie with things exploding all over the place, it's also much easier to follow visually. "Yup, that building's getting crushed." It's a different kind of fun, like the satisfaction you get from just knocking over Lego buildings. It's not realistic by any stretch of the imagination but I maybe prefer this to the chaotic sort of "explosions and debris everywhere" style.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Destroy All Monsters > The Recruit
Destroy All Monsters < The Lady Vanishes
Destroy All Monsters > Serenity
Destroy All Monsters > Dan in Real Life
Destroy All Monsters > The Boys of Paul Street
Destroy All Monsters < Thor: Ragnarok
Destroy All Monsters < Peggy Sue Got Married
Destroy All Monsters < Andhadhun
Destroy All Monsters < The Sessions
Destroy All Monsters > 49 Up
Destroy All Monsters > Upside Down
Destroy All Monsters < Waking Ned Devine
Final spot: #838 out of 2997.

49 Up (2005)

IMDb plot summary: In 1964, to explore the adage "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man," World in Action filmed seven-year-olds. Every seven years, Michael Apted visits them. At 49, 12 agree to talk about family, work, their hopes, and the series.
Directed by Michael Apted.

This is a bit more like what I've been expecting the last two entries in the series to be like. Most people to be pretty well settled in, with the changes in their lives being expected ones. It's a quieter entry than many of the previous ones, which is all right, just not one that captures my interest as much. The most interesting recurring theme here is that of the subjects' response to the documentary itself -- often a negative one. I'll be curious to see how many of them continue to participate in the next installment.

How it entered my Flickchart:
49 Up > The Recruit
49 Up < The Hudsucker Proxy
49 Up > Serenity
49 Up > Dan in Real Life
49 Up > Akira
49 Up > Thor: Ragnarok
49 Up < Peggy Sue Got Married
49 Up < Andhadhun
49 Up < The Sessions
49 Up > Porco Rosso
49 Up < Upside Down
Final spot: #839 out of 2996.

Death by Hanging (1968)

IMDb plot summary: A Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce.
Directed by Nagisa Ôshima. Starring Kei Satô, Do-yun Yu, Fumio Watanabe, and Hôsei Komatsu.

This is a fascinating movie. I prefer the first half's comedic absurdity to the second half's surreal absurdism, but both are pretty captivating and put forth all kinds of interesting questions about guilt and conscience and responsibility.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Death by Hanging > An Affair to Remember
Death by Hanging < The Lady Vanishes
Death by Hanging > The Descendants (2011)
Death by Hanging > The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
Death by Hanging > Le bonheur
Death by Hanging < Judgment at Nuremberg
Death by Hanging > M
Death by Hanging < Fright Night (2011)
Death by Hanging > Under the Skin
Death by Hanging > The Emperor Waltz
Death by Hanging > Frankenweenie
Final spot: #808 out of 2995.