Stillwater (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A father travels from Oklahoma to France to help his estranged daughter, who is in prison for a murder she claims she didn't commit.

Directed by Tom McCarthy. Starring Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin, and Lilou Siauvaud.

This is in many ways a familiar tale, the father coming to the rescue of his daughter, and the one thing that does stand out in a good way is Damon's performance. He doesn't seem superhumanly heroic or intelligent or good at fighting the way the men in so many of these movies do. He just seems like an average person at the end of his rope, and when he takes steps to fix things, many of them are missteps. That being said, the film itself follows a lot of familiar beats, even down to the slightly twisty ending, and Damon's performance can only go so far to elevate it. It doesn't have much new to say and stays pretty middle-of-the-road.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Stillwater < Sunday in the Park with George

Stillwater > The Polar Express

Stillwater > Dead Man Walking

Stillwater > Three Amigos

Stillwater < The Shining

Stillwater > Love Me Tonight

Stillwater > Lost in America

Stillwater > The Sandlot

Stillwater < Vanya on 42nd Street

Stillwater > Out of Africa

Stillwater < Melinda and Melinda

Final spot: #1840 out of 3447, or 47%.

The Ref (1994)

IMDb plot summary: A cat burglar is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve.

Directed by Ted Demme. Starring Denis Leary, Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey, and Robert J. Steinmiller Jr.

The humor relies heavily on the charisma and dynamics of these actors to make the film work. And it does, for the most part. It's always RIGHT on the verge of being too obnoxious, especially when it comes to Spacey and Davis' inability to keep from poking each other's sore spots, but it always manages to rein itself back in just when it's about the cross that line. The film doesn't quite land its semi-heartfelt ending, but the banter became more enjoyable as Leary's plans kept unraveling, and by the final third of the movie I was really enjoying it. It's also weirdly delightful seeing Glynis Johns as a villain. This doesn't always work for me but it's a great Christmas movie for people who hate Christmas movies, and I had a good time with it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Ref > Sunday in the Park With George

The Ref < Woman in the Dunes

The Ref > Being John Malkovich

The Ref < Steven Universe: The Movie

The Ref < Serendipity

The Ref < His Girl Friday

The Ref > All That Jazz

The Ref > Flight of the Navigator

The Ref > Manhunter

The Ref > Backbeat

The Ref < Idiocracy

Final spot: #1241 out of 3446, or 64%.

Family Business (1989)

IMDb plot summary: An ex professor offers Adam $1,000,000 to "get" some plasma from a high tech company's lab. Adam asks his criminal grandpa for help. Can they convince Adam's now honest dad to join?

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, and Rosanna DeSoto.

There are some interesting tonal shifts in this movie. For the first 2/3, it's heavily comedic, with the dynamic between the three characters played very much for laughs. And then in the final third, it shifts into something more poignant and sad and almost makes me feel a little bad for having had so much fun in the first place. It ultimately balances that shift really well. Crime movies are so not my genre, but if I've learned anything from watching through Sidney Lumet's filmography, it's that they can be really compelling if the characters are charismatic and given some stakes I can really sink my teeth into. This was an enjoyable one that I'm glad I checked out.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Family Business > Hustle & Flow

Family Business < Woman in the Dunes

Family Business > Charlie St. Cloud

Family Business < Steven Universe: The Movie

Family Business < Serendipity

Family Business < His Girl Friday

Family Business > Nobody's Fool

Family Business < Flight of the Navigator

Family Business > For a Few Dollars More

Family Business > Gone in 60 Seconds

Family Business > The Abyss

Final spot: #1253 out of 3445, or 64%.

Annette (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a two-year-old daughter with a surprising gift.

Directed by Leos Carax. Starring Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg, and Devyn McDowell.

The only other Leos Carax film I've seen was Holy Mountain, which I hated, but this one just blew me away. I owe a lot of that to the amazing songwriting of the musical group Sparks, who I only learned about a few months ago thanks to the documentary The Sparks Brother. This is one of the least subtle, most operatic films I've seen in a long time, but it's so captivating. Between this and Marriage Story, I'm finding myself really drawn to Adam Driver as an acting singer, not because he has such an out-of-this-world voice, but because he REALLY connects the acting and singing in a way that perfectly accomplishes both. I feel like I don't have nearly enough words to talk about what I loved in this movie -- I just loved it overall so very, very much and have been listening to the soundtrack a ton ever since.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Annette > Hustle & Flow

Annette > Woman in the Dunes

Annette > The Disaster Artist

Annette > The Orphanage

Annette < All the President's Men

Annette < Pan's Labyrinth

Annette > The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Annette < Mirai

Annette > Gaslight

Annette < Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Annette > The Squid and the Whale

Final spot: #179 out of 3444, or 95%.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

IMDb plot summary: Five interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband; and a mean old man meets his match with a demonic, supernatural trick-or-treater.

Directed by Michael Dougherty. Starring Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker, and Rochelle Aytes.

None of these stories would necessarily stand up to their own 90-minute movie, but that's the beauty of an anthology, that you can see several short-form stories that are more effective in their limited timeframe. These are impeccably timed, all ending right before they run out of steam. They all have a sort of visual griminess to them that I don't love, feeling at times like some sort of more playful version of Rob Zombie, but the parts that work REALLY work. This is also one of those movies where I found myself digging into the lore afterward, particularly the little burlap sack pumpkin costume kid who pops up briefly in each of the stories. The lore about him was more interesting than his actual appearance in the movie, but it at least intrigued me enough to make me want to look it up. Pretty decent anthology!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Trick 'r Treat > Monsters

Trick 'r Treat < Woman in the Dunes

Trick 'r Treat > Fantasia 2000

Trick 'r Treat < Steven Universe: The Movie

Trick 'r Treat > Murder by Death

Trick 'r Treat > Porco Rosso

Trick 'r Treat < The Hustler

Trick 'r Treat > The Matador

Trick 'r Treat > Monsters Vs. Aliens

Trick 'r Treat > Evita

Trick 'r Treat > M

Final spot: #1104 out of 3443, or 68%.

Gas Food Lodging (1992)

IMDb plot summary: A waitress lives with her two teen daughters in a trailer park in New Mexico. They all want a boyfriend.

Directed by Allison Anders. Starring Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, Fairuza Balk, and James Brolin.

This is a slow episodic story that is very empathetic toward its characters. Even with the two who are constantly fighting, we see both sides and how they're feeling and hope they'll open up and talk to each other. But it's the younger daughter, Shade, whose story really captivated me. Watching her try to figure out her way through life with her mom and sister as role models is fascinating. The story doesn't always land, and there are stretches where I as a viewer was impatient for something to happen, but it perfectly captures small-town middle-of-nowhere life and the feeling of being trapped in your family's destructive habits. A good movie. Not great, but good.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Gas Food Lodging < Hustle & Flow

Gas Food Lodging > Man of the Year

Gas Food Lodging > Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Gas Food Lodging > The Jerk

Gas Food Lodging > Waxwork

Gas Food Lodging > The Librarian: Quest for the Spear

Gas Food Lodging > Safety Not Guaranteed

Gas Food Lodging > Zelig

Gas Food Lodging > Arctic

Gas Food Lodging > Dark and  Stormy Night

Gas Food Lodging > The Keep

Gas Food Lodging < Monsters

Final spot: #1723 out of 3442, or 50%.

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

IMDb plot summary: Two sisters leave their small seaside town of Rochefort in search of romance. Hired as carnival singers, one falls for an American musician, while the other must search for her ideal partner.

Directed by Jacques Demy. Starring Catherine Deneuve, George Chakiris, Françoise Dorléac, and Jacques Perrin.

While director Jacques Demy's previous musical, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, came across more like a sung-through drama, this is musical romantic comedy through and through, with clear delineations between songs, many of which don't further the plot at all. But that's not a negative in the least because these songs are MARVELOUS. Some incredibly striking dance sequences and such visually stunning colors and a sense of joy and play running through the whole film. Partway through we even get a sudden "there's a murderer on the loose" subplot out of nowhere and it still isn't nearly enough to make the film feel anything other than delightful. This has been on my "I really should have seen this" list for a long time, and it's easily on my shortlist for comfort films to watch next time I'm feeling down.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Monsters

The Young Girls of Rochefort > La La Land (what an appropos match-up!)

The Young Girls of Rochefort > The Disaster Artist

The Young Girls of Rochefort < The Orphanage

The Young Girls of Rochefort < And Now for Something Completely Different

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Rurouni Kenshin

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Dick Tracy

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Savannah Smiles

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Life of Brian

The Young Girls of Rochefort > 25th Hour

The Young Girls of Rochefort > Nosferatu

Final spot: #323 out of 3441, or 91%.

Serial Mom (1994)

IMDb plot summary: She's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her children happy. Directed by John Waters. Starring Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, and Matthew Lillard.

I'm not a huge John Waters fan. He is visually drawn to the small "grossnesses" of life in a way that I find challenging to watch -- this film, for example, features some extreme close-ups of people eating. (And I haven't even seen any of his more notorious works!) But this is easily my favorite of the handful I've seen, largely because much of the comedy actually works. It's a funny script that is even funnier with Turner's wide-eyed innocent confidence in herself, as if she genuinely can't comprehend how she might have broken the social contract by becoming a murderer. The film also looks great, filled with bold cheerful colors that are a great contrast to the dark underbelly of the story. Definitely glad I picked this one up. How it entered my Flickchart: Serial Mom > Monsters Serial Mom < Woman in the Dunes Serial Mom > Talk Radio Serial Mom < Steven Universe: The Movie Serial Mom > True Grit (1969) Serial Mom > Moonwalker Serial Mom > M Serial Mom > Up in the Air Serial Mom < I Heart Huckabees Serial Mom > Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Serial Mom > Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Final spot: #1083 out of 3440, or 69%.

Damn Yankees (1958)

IMDb plot summary: A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.

Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen. Starring Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, and Russ Brown.

This is a pretty goofy premise, and this plot does NOT hold up if you look at it with anything resembling scrutiny. For many classic-age musicals, the plot is mostly just an excuse for a fun series of song and dance numbers, and those numbers here are pretty great, thanks largely to Bob Fosse's exciting and compelling choreography. It's hard to choose a favorite, but I think I have to give the nod to the big ensemble numbers of "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo" and "Two Lost Souls." That being said, the songs aren't quite enough to make me forget how bad the plot is -- it's paper thin with zero logical character development and a conflict that just gets abruptly resolved at the end for no reason. I was left thinking there weren't enough songs to drown it out, but turns out there are are plenty, they're just not enough. This isn't one to prioritize.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Damn Yankees > The Keep

Damn Yankees < Woman in the Dunes

Damn Yankees < Talk Radio

Damn Yankees > Scrooge

Damn Yankees < Strictly Ballroom

Damn Yankees < Guys and Dolls

Damn Yankees > The Ladykillers (1955)

Damn Yankees > Liberal Arts

Damn Yankees < The Glass Menagerie

Damn Yankees < The Trouble With Harry

Damn Yankees > The Help

Damn Yankees < Captain America: The First Avenger

Final spot: #1462 out of 3439, or 57%.

Stargate (1994)

IMDb plot summary: An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.

Directed by Roland Emmerich. Starring Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, and Viveca Lindfors.

I haven't seen any of the television shows inspired by this story, but it's easy to see why it inspired more stories about it. There's a lot of "ancient aliens" conspiracy theory stuff in here that makes for adventurous storytelling, and the narrative possibilities are almost endless. There's a definite 90s cheesy charm to this as well, seen in the characterization, the dialogue, the score, and the visuals, and that's pretty enjoyable. It does however require some serious suspension of disbelief, and it does that kind of thing where it HINTS at military action and colonizing being potentially a bad thing on this new world but doesn't actually explore any of those concepts. I wonder if the TV shows are more willing to explore the ramifications of space travel in this world beyond just "ooh, THIS planet has weird-looking camel creatures."

How it entered my Flickchart:

Stargate > The Keep

Stargate < Woman in the Dunes

Stargate > Talk Radio

Stargate < Freaky Friday (2003)

Stargate < Murder by Death

Stargate < A Night to Remember

Stargate > Koyaanisqatsi

Stargate < The Abyss

Stargate > Kajaki

Stargate < Rachel Getting Married

Stargate > For a Few Dollars More

Final spot: #1253 out of 3438, or 64%.

Wrong Turn (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Friends hiking the Appalachian Trail are confronted by 'The Foundation', a community of people who have lived in the mountains for hundreds of years.

Directed by Mike P. Nelson. Starring Charlotte Vega, Adain Bradley, Bill Sage, and Emma Dumont.

For most of this movie, I was kind of rolling my eyes. It's cheesy and jump-scare-y and it's got so many gory shots that seem gratuitous. I'm not terribly squeamish, but some of these smushed-head images were really tough to look at it. And then the movie takes an interesting left turn in the final thirty minutes and an even more interesting one in the final thirty seconds, during which the ending of the story plays out *while* the credits roll. And not epilogue stuff, this is like... the climactic scene of the movie happens with credits scrolling past. I found myself, to my completely surprised, very moved by this. It takes the over-the-top scenario we've been presented with this whole story and suddenly, unexpectedly, highlights how awful this would be. It's still not a great movie, but it jumps itself up a half star or so with such a strong ending.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Wrong Turn > Dark and Stormy Night

Wrong Turn < Woman in the Dunes

Wrong Turn < Talk Radio

Wrong Turn < Scrooge

Wrong Turn < The Dissident

Wrong Turn < Julie & Julia

Wrong Turn > King Kong Escapes

Wrong Turn < Charulata

Wrong Turn > Neighbors

Wrong Turn < Bad Education

Wrong Turn < The Last Dragon

Wrong Turn < The Anderson Tapes

Final spot: #1685 out of 3437, or 51%.

Werewolves Within (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Feature adaptation of the video game where werewolves attack a small town.

Directed by Josh Ruben. Starring Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, George Basil, and Sarah Burns.

This is a wild, silly ride of a film and I never quite knew what to expect from it. But that's half the fun. The comedy is seldom as overt as it is in most horror parodies. It's clearly *there*, but the film plays its wild characters pretty straight, and it's definitely happy to lean into the horror part just as much. It honestly kept me guessing the whole way through, which is something I didn't expect at all. And for a cast of names I mostly didn't know (the few I did were sitcom staples), it's a wonderfully strong ensemble cast, building up these tiny characters into clear personalities in a short amount of time. This isn't the most amazing horror comedy out there, but it's solid all the way through.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Werewolves Within > Dark and Stormy Night

Werewolves Within > Woman in the Dunes

Werewolves Within < The Disaster Artist

Werewolves Within > All's Faire in Love

Werewolves Within < Mad Max: Fury Road

Werewolves Within > Notting Hill

Werewolves Within < The Babysitter

Werewolves Within < Yojimbo

Werewolves Within > Eat Drink Man Woman

Werewolves Within > Jackie Brown

Werewolves Within < The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!

Final spot: #580 out of 3436, or 83%.

Val (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Documentary centering on the daily life of actor Val Kilmer featuring never-before-seen footage spanning 40 years.

Directed by Ting Poo and Lee Scott.

This is now the second documentary I've seen released in 2021 with the premise of "This celebrity will look back through their home videos with us!", after Kid 90. Val is a more compelling one, perhaps partly because he had a wider breadth of career to examine, but mostly because it does actually put forth a narrative of sorts, centered around Kilmer's continual search for his one great part, and then just when he'd found it, he lost it all too quickly to throat cancer, which took his voice from him almost completely. (Most of the film is narrated by Kilmer's son Jack, whose voice does bear a striking resemblance to his father's.) I do wish the film had dedicated a bit more time to the rumors of him being difficult to work with -- they touched on it JUST enough to make a point of it and then rushed past it, which felt even more awkward than if they'd ignored it completely. This is a little long for someone only a moderate fan of Kilmer's work, but it's a decent watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Val < Dark and Stormy Night

Val > The Lorax (1972)

Val > No Sudden Move

Val < The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Val < The Shop Around the Corner

Val > Jurassic World

Val > Wild Zero

Val > Streets of Fire

Val < The Fourth Kind

Val < Pacific Rim

Val > The Illusionist

Val < Office Space

Final spot: #2050 out of 3435, or 40%.

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Three generations of women fight back against those who could take everything from them.

Directed by Navot Papushado. Starring Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, and Michelle Yeoh.

I appreciate what this movie was going for. There are hundreds of these movies out there, and next to none of them have an awesome cast of ladies helming the team. This is a perfectly serviceable but not exciting addition to that list. Aside from the great group of women involved -- and, make no mistake, it is frequently a delight to see them kicking butt left and right -- there's not a lot else special about this movie. The abandoned child subplot is mostly underdeveloped, and the only action scene that stands out choreographywise is the one where Gillan's hands are numb and she has to fight with knives taped to them. That's probably enough to win over fans of the genre to begin with, and I certainly don't regret watching it, but it's not as memorable as I wish it were.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Gunpowder Milkshake > Dark and Stormy Night

Gunpowder Milkshake < Woman in the Dunes

Gunpowder Milkshake < Fantasia 2000

Gunpowder Milkshake < Reality Bites

Gunpowder Milkshake > The Dissident

Gunpowder Milkshake > The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Gunpowder Milkshake < Total Recall (1990)

Gunpowder Milkshake < The Bishop's Wife

Gunpowder Milkshake < Swimming With Sharks

Gunpowder Milkshake < Critters

Gunpowder Milkshake < Cast Away

Gunpowder Milkshake > Kung Fu Panda

Final spot: #1554 out of 3434, or 55%.

The Tomorrow War (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A family man is drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront the past.

Directed by Chris McKay. Starring Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons, and Betty Gilpin.

Chris Pratt's character development, or lack thereof, is definitely the weakest part of this movie, which is otherwise a pretty cool concept and I was actually very unsettled (in a good way!) with the design of the aliens. You can't quite track how their bodies fit together, which is creepy enough that I could totally buy into them. But along the way there's an attempted father-daughter plotline that ends up being seriously underwhelming at best and heavy-handed and irritating at worst, and some ensemble character development that doesn't really go anywhere, though Sam Richardson is really likable in a side role. The film also struggles with pacing, with the final 30 minutes feeling wholly unnecessary, as well as confusing -- they just spent all this time making a weapon to kill the aliens and they still end up having to just punch them to death? It's a messy, awkward story, which is disappointing given how fun the premise could have been.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Tomorrow War < Dark and Stormy Night

The Tomorrow War > The Lorax (1972)

The Tomorrow War < National Treasure

The Tomorrow War > Everyone Says I Love You

The Tomorrow War > Mud

The Tomorrow War < Birdman of Alcatraz

The Tomorrow War > Saturday Night Fever

The Tomorrow War < My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

The Tomorrow War < The Fighter

The Tomorrow War > Wild

The Tomorrow War > Four Weddings and a Funeral

The Tomorrow War > Mr. Holland's Opus

Final spot: #2220 out of 3433, or 35%.

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

IMDb plot summary: Two bounty hunters with the same intentions team up to track down a Western outlaw.

Directed by Sergio Leone. Starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè, and Luigi Pistilli.

This is the second in Sergio Leone's unofficial Dollars Trilogy, and the last one I had to see. Given the fact that I loved The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly but was bored out of my mind during A Fistful of Dollars, I had no idea what to expect from this one. Turns out it's right in the middle. The relationship between Eastwood and Van Cleef's characters is what centers it best for me. All the hallmarks of Leone's other films are there, from Ennio Morricone's haunting and wonderful score to some really stunning cinematography. But in the end it is just in the middle. It's not as captivating a story as its successor, nor as thoughtful, nor full of such compelling dialogue. As someone who always struggles to find her way into a western, I was impressed with how well it did and slightly saddened it didn't make it further. You may enjoy it more if this is your genre.

How it entered my Flickchart:

For a Few Dollars More > Dark and Stormy Night

For a Few Dollars More < Kuroneko

For a Few Dollars More > Talk Radio

For a Few Dollars More < Freaky Friday (2003)

For a Few Dollars More < Serendipity

For a Few Dollars More < His Girl Friday

For a Few Dollars More > Koyaanisqatsi

For a Few Dollars More < Flight of the Navigator

For a Few Dollars More > Kajaki

For a Few Dollars More < Gone in 60 Seconds

For a Few Dollars More < Rachel Getting Married

For a Few Dollars More > The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Final spot: #1252 out of 3432, or 64%.

The Offence (1972)

IMDb plot summary: A burnt-out British police detective finally snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Sean Connery, Trevor Howard, Vivien Merchant, and Ian Bannen.

Sidney Lumet was so gifted at narrowing in on a character's psyche, and he does that beautifully here. I don't think I've seen a finer performance from Sean Connery. It's a slow burn as we see more and more of the character's unraveling, and by the time we get to the end the tension is high. The film is based on a stage play, which makes complete sense to me, as it unfolds in essentially a series of two-person scenes, but the writing, directing, and acting keeps that from ever feeling like more should be happening. Definitely worth checking out.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Offence > Frank

The Offence > Woman in the Dunes

The Offence < He Loves Me ... He Loves Me Not

The Offence < School of Rock

The Offence > The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

The Offence < Don't Drink the Water

The Offence > The Wolf of Wall Street

The Offence > Anomalisa

The Offence < The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Offence > Good Kill

The Offence > The Shape of Water

Final spot: #704 out of 3431, or 79%.

Sweet Dreams (1985)

IMDb plot summary: The story of Patsy Cline, the velvet-voiced country music singer who died in a tragic plane crash at the height of her fame.

Directed by Karel Reisz. Starring Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth, and David Clennon.

Like many biopics, this one feels less like a story and more like an information dump, especially given the fact that the subject of this biopic died tragically young, and since the story didn't really have a narrative throughline so much as a bunch of random songs and scenes from Cline's life, it doesn't have any idea how to resolve the story when she isn't around. What do we take from her work? What do we take from her life? It's hard to tell. What I can tell you though, is that Jessica Lange is a goshdarn delight as Cline. She imbues her with not only the confidence and feistiness that you'd expect from the character, but a deep sense of goodwill toward everyone around her and a willingness to not take herself too seriously. It's probably why her marriage to Charlie lasts as long as it does -- she's so often able to let his short-tempered rants roll right off her back -- though of course there comes a point where that's not enough. It's fine, it's a serviceable biopic. Check it out if you want.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Sweet Dreams < Dark and Stormy Night

Sweet Dreams > Play It Again, Sam

Sweet Dreams > No Sudden Move

Sweet Dreams > Happy Gilmore

Sweet Dreams > The Paperboy

Sweet Dreams < The Prince and the Pauper (2000)

Sweet Dreams < Paper Moon

Sweet Dreams > The Quiet Man

Sweet Dreams < The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Sweet Dreams < Videodrome

Sweet Dreams > Rushmore

Sweet Dreams > Inland Empire

Final spot: #1805 out of 3430, or 47%.

North (1994)

IMDb plot summary: Sick of the neglect he receives from his mom and dad, a young boy leaves home and travels the world in search of new parents.

Directed by Rob Reiner. Starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jason Alexander, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

I only knew this film from its notorious reputation as being a movie Roger Ebert passionately hated, and I don't know that it deserves *that* level of vitriol. There are a couple moments where the goofy comedy almost works, which is more than I can say for plenty of other films trying just as hard. That being said, well, no, it's not good. His search across the world for new parents includes some incredibly unpleasant racial stereotypes, the messaging of the movie is so awkward, the constant string of cameos and guest actors is an obvious grab for attention in a movie that doesn't deserve it, and North is a very unlikable character whose complaint with his parents feel less based in loneliness or wanting love and more in a sense of "I'm special, why don't people treat me like I'm special?" Glad to have scratched this one off the list, and now it can stay that way.

How it entered my Flickchart:

North < Dark and Stormy Night

North < The Lorax (1972)

North > Color Me Kubrick

North < Monster House

North < Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland

North > Green Lantern

North > A Thief in the Night

North < The Swan Princess

North < Atlantis: The Lost Empire

North > Jumper

North < Johnny Tremain

Final spot: #2916 out of 3429, or 15%.

The Dissident (2021)

IMDb plot summary: When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world piece together the clues to a murder and expose a global cover up.

Directed by Bryan Fogel.

I remembered when this story came out but didn't dig into it too deeply at the time, so I was glad to get a chance to learn a bit more about it a few years later. The documentary goes through Khashoggi's writing and involvement with various activist groups, how the story about his death unfolded, and the response (or lack of response) from the rest of the world. It's more than a little frustrating to see how hesitant so many world leaders were to condemn this because it was more politically and monetarily advantageous to look the other way or downplay it. The films ends on a pretty dour note, understandably, highlighting that political abuses only get worse when they don't face any repercussions. While I don't know the situation well enough to know whether or not this film was fully accurate, it definitely cited its sources, which I appreciated, and I came away feeling like I knew more about the scenario than I did going in.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Dissident > Dark and Stormy Night

The Dissident < Kuroneko

The Dissident < Fantasia 2000

The Dissident < Ice Age

The Dissident < The Chalk Garden

The Dissident > Julie & Julia

The Dissident > Chasing Amy

The Dissident > Phantom Thread

The Dissident > The Lair of the White Worm

The Dissident > Mr. Nice Guy

The Dissident > Drunken Master

The Dissident > The Matrix Reloaded

Final spot: #1607 out of 3428, or 53%.

Pig (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A truffle hunter who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig after she is kidnapped.

Directed by Michael Sarnoski. Starring Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin, and Cassandra Violet.

For what looks at first glance like yet another movie in the vein of John Wick or Taken, this movie goes in a very different direction, although I can't reveal most of the plot details without getting spoilery. I will say that it takes on a much less action-centric and more thoughtful drama-centric tone, and one that centers much more around the love of the culinary arts than one man's quest for vengeance. Cage does a great job centering this as well. I thought I knew exactly what this movie was going to be based on the first 15 minutes, and then it subverts it all to go a completely different direction that I found far more engaging and thought-provoking. I don't know that I'll remember this movie forever, but it was refreshing and creative and worth at least one watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Pig > Frank

Pig > Woman in the Dunes

Pig < He Loves Me ... He Loves Me Not

Pig < The Muppets

Pig > The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

Pig < The Joy Luck Club

Pig > The Wolf of Wall Street

Pig > Anomalisa

Pig < Sleight

Pig < The Shape of Water

Pig < Judgment at Nuremberg

Pig < Au Revoir Les Enfants

Final spot: #709 out of 3427, or 79%.

Red Christmas (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A mother must protect her family on Christmas Day from a demented stranger who is hell-bent on tearing them apart.

Directed by Craig Anderson. Starring Dee Wallace, Geoff Morrell, Sarah Bishop, and Sam Campbell.

Despite what sounds like the plotline of a pro-life propaganda film, the movie doesn't seem to be tackling this from a political angle as much as a silly slasher one. Or, at least, if it's trying to have a viewpoint, it does it poorly. It very lightly toys around with the idea of whether or not she was wrong to try and get an abortion, but mostly it's just about watching these people die. Therein lies the problem, though. The movie is pretty generic in its slasher vibe and doesn't successfully set stakes for any of its characters on a personal level. And it's hard to ever be VERY scared for them when they're just deciding to sit inside the house and wait for the killer to come in and get them. It fails as both (possible?) satire and horror.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Red Christmas < Dark and Stormy Night

Red Christmas < The Lorax (1972)

Red Christmas > Color Me Kubrick

Red Christmas < Wild Strawberries

Red Christmas > Mr. Hulot's Holiday

Red Christmas < Uncut Gems

Red Christmas < Darkest Hour

Red Christmas > My Family

Red Christmas > The Boss

Red Christmas > Animal House

Red Christmas > Shalako

Red Christmas < You Were Never Really Here

Final spot: #2866 out of 3426, or 16%.

Find Me Guilty (2006)

IMDb plot summary: In the late 1980s, a low level gangster named Jackie DiNorscio defends himself in court in what became the longest criminal trial in American judicial history.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, Ron Silver, and Alex Rocco.

Much of the dialogue in this film is taken directly from court transcripts, a fact that they tell you at the beginning of the movie but that I forgot about until researching a bit to write this review, and it took me a bit by surprise, because the dialogue *feels* heavy-handed. I can only assume the original transcripts were also heavy-handed! Diesel is not great in this film. He's not much of a dramatic actor, but he doesn't pull off the comedy here either, and always seems to be very self-consciously performing. Additionally, it's hard to know who to actually root for. I think we're supposed to identify more strongly than I did with DiNorscio's "I don't snitch on my friends" code, but my sympathies often lay with the prosecuting attorney who was devastated by the harm this family had done and wanted it to stop, and a few awkward jokes from DiNorscio in court don't make me forget that. Kind of a weird messy movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Find Me Guilty < Dark and Stormy Night

Find Me Guilty < Live-In Maid

Find Me Guilty > Color Me Kubrick

Find Me Guilty > Wild Strawberries

Find Me Guilty > The Rainmaker

Find Me Guilty > Domestic Disturbance

Find Me Guilty > Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Find Me Guilty > The Phantom Tollbooth

Find Me Guilty < The Legend of Drunken Master

Find Me Guilty > The Name of the Rose

Find Me Guilty < Deliverance

Final spot: #2578 out of 3425, or 25%.

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is a feature documentary about the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which celebrated African American music and culture, and promoted Black pride and unity.

Directed by Questlove.

These are big names in the musical world, from Stevie Wonder to Nina Simone to Mahalia Jackson, and it's truly delightful to see so many full musical performances from them. The film does a really great job of showing how these artists fit into the culture as well. One day of the festival focused solely on gospel music, and we learn about the culture of the Black church in America alongside the music. We get commentary on the distinction between Black and white music in the 60s as we feature The Fifth Dimension, a band of Black singers who were sometimes critiqued for sounding "too white" and weren't sure they'd be welcome. We learn about the way Black Americans felt distant from their country as we see them react (or rather not react) to the moon landing, which happened during this time. It's a fascinating literal time capsule and worth a watch for sure.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Summer of Soul > Dark and Stormy Night

Summer of Soul < Kuroneko

Summer of Soul < Fantasia 2000

Summer of Soul < Ice Age

Summer of Soul > The Matrix Reloaded

Summer of Soul < Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical

Summer of Soul < How to Marry a Millionaire

Summer of Soul > Kiss the Girls

Summer of Soul > The Firm

Summer of Soul > Gold Diggers of 1933

Summer of Soul > Swingers

Summer of Soul > Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Final spot: #1579 out of 3424, or 54%.

The Italian Job (1969)

IMDb plot summary: Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.

Directed by Peter Collinson. Starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Benny Hill, and Raf Vallone.

The humor in this is its strongest feature. The chaos of all the moving pieces of the heist is always just moments away from being a zany cartoon, and that keeps it enjoyable throughout most of it. It's interesting to note the pieces of this that have entered the zeitgeist -- I didn't realize until the actual moment it was said that this is the movie that "you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off" came from. Given the somewhat madcap nature of the film, I was also interested to see how it would end, and it did not disappoint. I wouldn't have predicted that ending, but it's absolutely perfect and fits so well tonally with the rest of it. In fact, I like the ending so much that I'd say that pushes it up a couple notches from what would have otherwise been an entertaining but forgettable crime comedy. This is pretty solid and worth a watch, especially if this is anywhere near your genre.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Italian Job > Frank

The Italian Job < Kuroneko

The Italian Job < Fantasia 2000

The Italian Job < Ice Age

The Italian Job > Drunken Master

The Italian Job > The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The Italian Job > Total Recall

The Italian Job < Star Trek: Generations

The Italian Job > Tangled

The Italian Job < 101 Dalmatians (1961)

The Italian Job > Les Miserables (1935)

Final spot: #1515 out of 3423, or 56%.

Kid 90 (2021)

IMDb plot summary: An intimate look at young Hollywood starlets growing up in the 1990s, using hundreds of hours of footage captured by Soleil Moon Frye.

Directed by Soleil Moon Frye.

Kid 90 is a documentary focusing on 80s and 90s child star Soleil Moon Frye and her life growing up in the spotlight. Not only was she in the spotlight with her acting work, but she also had a video camera of her own and obsessively documented her and her friends' life. As an adult, Frye watches her old videos, reads her old diaries, and interviews her childhood friends to provide commentary on life as a teenager in the public eye at the turn of the millennium. It's fun to see clips of her hanging out with friends as a youngster, especially the ones who went on to become superstars (a very young Leonardo DiCaprio appears a few times). These candid videos show so clearly that these trendy young actors were still just goofy teenagers, as of course they were, with all the emotions that come along with that. The film works great as a time capsule of that era of early-to-mid 90s tech kids. Where it falters is in Frye's attempts to make this a thoughtful film about friendship or loss. There's not much of a clear throughline or end goal in her searching through her past records, so it ends up coming across as more meandering than anything. Fortunately, it's short, so the time capsule nature carries it along pretty well.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Kid 90 < Dark and Stormy Night

Kid 90 > The Lorax (1972)

Kid 90 < National Treasure

Kid 90 > Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Kid 90 > Genius

Kid 90 < Birdman of Alcatraz

Kid 90 > The Dirty Dozen

Kid 90 > Lolita (1997)

Kid 90 > Stephen King's The Stand

Kid 90 < Rigoletto

Kid 90 > Prisoners

Final spot: #2196 out of 3422, or 36%.