Sing Street (2016)

This is from the same writer/director as Once (which I love) and Begin Again (which is fine), and this is easily more on the "love" side. The songs in this are genuinely great, and I deeply appreciated that we didn't just hear snippets of them but got full music videos -- the final prom scene features three full-length songs back to back, and it was fantastic. While our female lead treads very close to "damaged cool girl" tropes, the character interactions on the whole are funny and charming, even down to less central characters like the school bully and the main teen's older brother. The movie's visuals are very much contrasting the realism of everyday life with the otherworldliness of music videos, and some of those sequences work especially well in painting music as an escape from a life that feels like it's going nowhere. It ends on an ambiguous but hopeful note. I'm so glad I finally got the nudge to watch this one.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Sing Street > Hustle & Flow

Sing Street > Jack Goes Boating

Sing Street > Crimes and Misdemeanors

Sing Street < Moxie

Sing Street < The Young Girls of Rochefort

Sing Street > Rurouni Kenshin

Sing Street < Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Sing Street > Pirate Radio

Sing Street > Horrible Bosses

Sing Street > Lion

Sing Street > Beginners

Sing Street < Om Shanti Om

Final spot: #353 out of 3468 movies, or 90%.

The Morning After (1986)

This has fewer layers than Sidney Lumet's works often do and feels more like a standard forgettable thriller that could have been written and released by anyone. More than that, Fonda's actions are often confusing to the point of alienation rather than encouraging us to identify with her -- I frequently couldn't follow WHY she was doing what she was doing -- and while her character's addiction and Bridges' racism are touched on as possible moments of deeper character exploration, both those elements are abruptly discarded or glossed over in the film's final act. There are one or two good moments scattered through the film's runtime, and this is overall a great story concept, but I'd bet there are already better versions of it out there than this strange muddle.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Morning After < Sunday in the Park with George

The Morning After > The Fox and the Hound

The Morning After > The Whole Nine Yards

The Morning After > The Love Witch

The Morning After > Senna

The Morning After < Letters from Iwo Jima

The Morning After > Unbroken

The Morning After < Grand Illusion

The Morning After < 12 Monkeys

The Morning After < Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood

The Morning After > The Lighthouse

The Morning After > Near Dark

Final spot: #1813 out of 3470, or 48%.

Lenny (1974)

I'm not much of a connoisseur of stand-up, and though I'd heard the name Lenny Bruce, couldn't have told you anything about him before this movie. While it's interesting as a portrait of a troubled artist, the one thing the film never successfully does for me is convince me that Lenny Bruce was actually funny. I'm sure that's partly because Bruce's style of humor isn't mine, but the movie also makes his rise to fame very abrupt, never really showing WHY people connected with him, and it continuously portrays him more as a shock value kind of performer who feels more like today's political pundits than anything else. That being said, it's an interestingly-made movie. It's shot in stark black-and-white closeups, making the story seem personal and intimate, and in the scenes in which he performs, it's like you're in the audience. And it certainly is a *loving* tribute to Bruce, which is kind of touching even if I don't share that affection.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Lenny > Monsters

Lenny < Jack Goes Boating

Lenny < About Elly

Lenny < Real Life

Lenny > Beverly Hills Cop

Lenny > Gunpowder Milkshake

Lenny > The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Lenny < Star Trek: Generations

Lenny < Bridge of Spies

Lenny < Holiday Inn

Lenny < I Love You, Man

Lenny < Two Weeks Notice

Final spot: #1541 out of 3461, or 55%.

Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage (2021)

I was only 13 when Woodstock 99 happened and knew almost nothing about it, so I found this documentary fascinating. Some of the issues the festival had were clearly in the hands of those who prepared it -- poorly trained security and not enough water, for example. But others require the participants of this documentary to theorize. Why did so many people stay when they were having a terrible time? Why did the crowd turn violent? Was it the fault of aggressive musical acts like Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine? Was it the fault of the festival creators for not having set clearer expectations of attendees? There are no easy answers, but everyone has a guess, and watching the footage and hearing the commentary on it side-by-side is so interesting. Such a fascinating look at a strange turning point in our culture.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Woodstock 99 > Hustle & Flow

Woodstock 99 < Jack Goes Boating

Woodstock 99 > Talk Radio

Woodstock 99 < Ice Age

Woodstock 99 < Nine to Five

Woodstock 99 > Backbeat

Woodstock 99 > Say Anything...

Woodstock 99 > The Intouchables

Woodstock 99 > Flushed Away

Woodstock 99 > The General

Woodstock 99 > A Shot in the Dark

Woodstock 99 < The Circus

Final spot: #1195 out of 3471, or 66%.

Candyman (2021)

This film does a really great job of painting a generally horrifying atmosphere steeped in a dark, ugly history. The use of shadow puppetry to tell the Candyman legends is a very cool artistic choice that helps to separate the myth from the reality of the story in an eerie way. That being said, the story falls apart for me a little at the end. It blurs the lines between legend and reality in a way that made the metaphor difficult for me to track. I suspect this is me missing something though, as this all seems intentional, and I would love to hear someone else's take on the ending.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Candyman < Sunday in the Park with George

Candyman > Gladiator

Candyman > V/H/S

Candyman > The 'Burbs

Candyman > The Lady from Shanghai

Candyman > After the Wedding

Candyman > The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Candyman < True Romance

Candyman < Star Trek: Nemesis

Candyman < The Major and the Minor

Candyman > Elle

Candyman < Absolute Power

Final spot: #1750 out of 3451, or 49%.

Jane Eyre (1996)

These are two decently charismatic actors bringing this story to life, and watching their romance bloom is pretty satisfying at first. And, of course, if you're a sucker for the aesthetic of 1800s Bronte/Austen romances, though I am not, this is probably exactly what you're looking for. However, I don't recall the original book having such wild pacing, though maybe I'm misremembering. It goes at an expected pace up to the big reveal of Mr. Rochester's past and then SPEEDS through the last third of the story in about 15 minutes. It's extremely jarring and makes the final scene feel not only deeply unearned but almost absurd. It's too bad that a film willing to take its time on the romance in the first half of its story skims over the final section so haphazardly.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Jane Eyre < Hustle & Flow

Jane Eyre < The Shaggy Dog (1959)

Jane Eyre > Sharknado

Jane Eyre > I, Robot

Jane Eyre > From Here to Eternity

Jane Eyre > Django Unchained

Jane Eyre > Waiting...

Jane Eyre > Find Me Guilty

Jane Eyre > Play It Again, Sam

Jane Eyre > The Polar Express

Jane Eyre < The Hoober-Bloob Highway

Final spot: #2595 out of 3455, or 25%.

Together Together (2021)

IMDb plot summary: When a young loner becomes the gestational surrogate for a single man in his 40s, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.

Directed by Nikole Beckwith. Starring Patti Harrison, Ed Helms, Rosalind Chao, and Timm Sharp.

Ed Helms and Patti Harrison make a great pair of unexpected companions, and since this film is essentially a two-hander, they carry the whole thing effortlessly. These are two incredible performances in one of the most relatable scripts I've ever heard, and it brings out a tremendous amount of charm to both these characters, as wildly different as they are. Well-scripted rom coms have that skill of making their characters so charismatic that you just want to sit in a room and watch them interact and wish them well and smile, and even though this film definitively lacks the "rom" part of a rom com, that's very much the vibe I get from this. It's heartwarming and fuzzy but never in a way that feels disingenuous -- it feels like we're just watching two people become friends, and it strikes just the right note throughout. Well worth a watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Together Together > Hustle & Flow

Together Together > Jack Goes Boating

Together Together < Soapdish

Together Together > Muppets Most Wanted

Together Together > Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Together Together > American Splendor

Together Together < Glengarry Glen Ross

Together Together < Christmas in Connecticut

Together Together < The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Together Together > Marty

Together Together > Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Together Together > Thor: Ragnarok

Final spot: #481 out of 3464, or 86%.

Jungle Cruise (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramirez, and Jack Whitehall.

This movie very much wants to be a more diverse version of Indiana Jones for a younger generation, but it does fall right into the same trap Indy does in its narrative: it does in fact buy into the idea that this random white person is entitled to go into indigenous people’s sacred lands to take their sacred items for their own purposes. Somehow that never actually gets addressed in this movie, and it makes the rest of its attempts to be progressive seem very performative. And it’s not all that great to begin with. The special effects here are awkward-looking, giving the whole thing an obviously digital sheen that doesn’t work for me. The chemistry between the two charismatic lead actors feels very forced, and the villain is completely uninteresting and inconsequential. This is just unremarkable on every level.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Jungle Cruise < Hustle & Flow

Jungle Cruise < The Shaggy Dog (1959)

Jungle Cruise > Ray

Jungle Cruise > Lady in the Water

Jungle Cruise > Wuthering Heights

Jungle Cruise > As Good As It Gets

Jungle Cruise < Planet 51

Jungle Cruise > Three Kings

Jungle Cruise > Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Jungle Cruise > Doc Hollywood

Jungle Cruise > Silverado

Jungle Cruise > Waiting...

Final spot: #2622 out of 3458, or 24%.

My Girl (1991)

IMDb plot summary: A young girl, on the threshold of her teen years, finds her life turning upside down, when she is accompanied by an unlikely friend.

Directed by Howard Zieff. Starring Anna Chlumsky, Macauley Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis.

All my peers watched this growing up so even before watching it I knew how it ended -- though I won't spoil that for you here -- and expected the events of the final 15 minutes to play a bigger part in the rest of the movie, but instead it's a more meandering story than I anticipated. Anna Chlumsky brings a realistic level of somewhat irritating precociousness to the title character, aside from a few scenes that I attribute to script problems rather than actor problems. That script does falter at times -- it leans more heavily than I'd like into the general idea that suffering is necessary to make you a better person, which is an uncomfortable message in a children's film. Overall, it's fine, but nothing particularly special, and it definitely is clunky in places.

How it entered my Flickchart:

My Girl < The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle

My Girl > Gladiator

My Girl > V/H/S

My Girl > Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

My Girl > The Lady from Shanghai

My Girl > After the Wedding

My Girl < Raising Cain

My Girl > Meet John Doe

My Girl < One, Two, Three

My Girl < High School Musical 3: Senior Year

My Girl > It Comes At Night

My Girl > Christine

Final spot: #1761 out of 3449, or 49%.

Free Guy (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A bank teller discovers that he's actually an NPC inside a brutal, open world video game.

Directed by Shawn Levy. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, and Lil Rey Howery.

There’s a lot of plot going on here, a lot more than this goofy premise actually warrants. It’s the film’s biggest failing, actually, that the conspiracy theory plot of the real world becomes far too clunky and starts taking over from what’s enjoyable about it: Ryan Reynolds’ naïve optimism as a character. It really does say something that Reynolds is so capable of playing both wide-eyed innocents like this and then also deeply jaded sociopaths like Deadpool and making them both funny. There are enough funny moments in this that I can say I had a good time, but there are definitely plenty of moments that slow it down as well.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Free Guy < Hustle & Flow

Free Guy > The Shaggy Dog (1959)

Free Guy > Ghost Ship

Free Guy > Broken Arrow

Free Guy > Air Force One

Free Guy < The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

Free Guy > Stage Fright (2014)

Free Guy > The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Free Guy > The Prince and the Pauper (2000)

Free Guy < The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (1988)

Free Guy < The Librarian: Quest for the Spear

Free Guy > Maverick

Final spot: #1787 out of 3456, or 48%.

Reminiscence (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Nick Bannister, a private investigator of the mind, navigates the alluring world of the past when his life is changed by new client Mae. A simple case becomes an obsession after she disappears and he fights to learn the truth about her.

Directed by Lisa Joy. Starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, and Cliff Curtis.

This movie feels like someone got a great concept for a dystopian world and then... couldn't figure out what to do with it. The world it creates is technically connected to the plot, yes, but none of it really connects thematically, at least not for me. The mystery would be just as home in a 1940s noir, just replacing the technologically-discovered memories with diary entries or voice recordings or some other kind of recorded evidence. It almost entirely wastes this unique world and the philosophical questions it raises on a standard "whodunnit" that ISN'T more engaging than the world they created, so it's clear they pursued the wrong avenue. If you're already a huge fan of the genre, this might be enough of a new twist on it to interest you, but I found it disappointing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Reminiscence < Sunday in the Park With George

Reminiscence > The Shaggy Dog (1959)

Reminiscence < Ghost Ship

Reminiscence < X-Men

Reminiscence > Martian Child

Reminiscence < My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Reminiscence < Baby Boom

Reminiscence > Gangs of New York

Reminiscence > My Darling Clementine

Reminiscence < About Last Night...

Reminiscence < A Knight's Tale

Reminiscence > Candy

Final spot: #2459 out of 3452, or 29%.

About Elly (2009)

IMDb plot summary: The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.

Directed by Asghar Farhadi. Starring Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti, and Merila Zare'i.

Watching these characters work through their various reactions to this unexpected tragedy is really fascinating, and the actors do an incredible job of exuding the closeness and intimacy of true familial relations. I absolutely feel like I’m just observing them on a family getaway. That being said, the only other film I’d seen from this director was A Separation, which I admired but found difficult in its abrupt ending. I had a similar reaction to this here. I was more on board with the characters from moment one, but the ending made so little impact I had to look up the Wikipedia summary to remember how it actually ended so I could write this review. It’s absolutely worth a watch but I did hope for just a little bit more.

How it entered my Flickchart:

About Elly > Sunday in the Park with George

About Elly < Woman in the Dunes

About Elly < Being John Malkovich

About Elly > Natural Born Killers

About Elly > Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe

About Elly > Chaos Theory

About Elly > Cool Hand Luke

About Elly > The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

About Elly > Lifeforce

About Elly > Talk Radio

About Elly < Fantasia 2000

Final spot: #1296 out of 3447, or 62%.