The Hot Rock (1972)

IMDb plot summary: Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...

Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Robert Redford, George Segal, and Ron Leibman.

The Hot Rock stars Robert Redford as a thief released from prison who is immediately thrown into another heist to steal a valuable gem. As complication after complication arises, the man bankrolling the gang's heist becomes impatient and they have to find a way to finish the job. There's a lightheartedness to much of this movie that makes it a little jauntier than some movies in this genre, and that's appreciated. It's billed as a comedy, though it hardly ever leans far enough into that. By far the most interesting thing about it though is that, abruptly, in the last fifteen minutes, a completely ludicrous subplot serves as the deus ex machina saving the day. It's such an unexpected way to resolve the final problem that I laughed out loud when I realized what was happening. But that's probably the only thing I'm going to remember about this movie. I wish more of it had decided to go really "out there" with its comedic choices. It might have stamped it with more of a distinct personality. As it is, it feels a little disjointed.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Hot Rock < Forever Young

The Hot Rock > Bounce

The Hot Rock < She Loves Me

The Hot Rock > Amen.

The Hot Rock > Grace of Monaco

The Hot Rock < Coraline

The Hot Rock < The Godfather

The Hot Rock > Little Big League

The Hot Rock > Twist of Faith

The Hot Rock < A Time to Kill

The Hot Rock > The Dark Knight Rises

Final spot: #2432 out of 3743, or 35%.

Road Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022)

IMDb plot summary: An adaptation of the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical. Matilda tells the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand to change her story with miraculous results.

Directed by Matthew Warchus. Starring Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, and Lashana Lynch.

Matilda is... the film version of the stage musical version of the book Matilda by Roald Dahl, about a girl growing up in a neglectful home and school who learns she has supernatural powers. Music and lyrics are by Tim Minchin, and they're pretty wonderful. I saw the original Broadway run of this show on my honeymoon so I definitely have fond memories of it, and this is a pretty decent adaptation. The colors and visual composition in particular are truly stunning, and they really went out of their way to provide plenty of moments for choreography, which was one of the most striking things about the original show. I also love how the film is perfectly happy to match its imaginative songs with fantastical images. It just let it BE a musical, and a silly, over-the-top one at that, but then it hits home with a song like "Quiet" and I'm crying. The movie isn't perfect -- the multiple fat suits are a disappointing and distractingly bad decision -- but so much of the movie serves the story and the music that it's still overall a satisfying viewing. Here's to more filmed versions of great musicals!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Matilda > Forever Young

Matilda > Anna Karenina

Matilda > Secretary

Matilda > Deathtrap

Matilda < The Producers (1968)

Matilda < Sleepless in Seattle

Matilda > Hacksaw Ridge

Matilda < Schindler's List

Matilda > Repulsion

Matilda > Speed

Matilda < Us

Final spot: #192 out of 3742, or 95%.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Famed Southern detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece for his latest case.

Directed by Rian Johnson. Starring Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, and Kate Hudson.

Glass Onion is the sequel to Knives Out, this time putting detective Benoit Blanc on a remote island attending a tech billionaire's elaborate reunion of old friends, trying to figure out why he was invited. I'm usually not a fan of sequels and how they make complete character arcs incomplete, but since the only recurring character between the two films isn't the one who gets the character arc in the first place, it works just fine. And Rian Johnson's done it again. This is beautifully woven together, so carefully crafted, and it definitely scratches the Agatha Christie itch, even more than many actual adaptations of Christie's work. Even better, though, not only does this have a great sense of humor, but Johnson has now twice ended these movies by centering people who usually get screwed over by the system and giving them a big win, and I love it. It's cozy and deeply artistically satisfying at the same time, which I don't feel like I get all that often, particularly in mystery/crime genres. It's an extremely fun watch and definitely a worthy follow up. I'll be there for every movie in this series as long as Blanc never gets an ongoing storyline. He doesn't need it with such rich ensembles as we've gotten so far.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Glass Onion > Vampyr

Glass Onion > Kuroneko

Glass Onion > The White Tiger

Glass Onion < Deathtrap

Glass Onion < Shaolin Soccer

Glass Onion < Eyes Without a Face

Glass Onion > Never Let Me Go

Glass Onion > The Seventh Continent

Glass Onion > Hook

Glass Onion < RRR

Glass Onion > The Parent Trap (1998)

Final spot: #413 out of 3741, or 89%.

The Big Heat (1953)

IMDb plot summary: Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

Directed by Fritz Lang. Starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Jocelyn Brando.

The Big Heat is a noir following a detective who just can't let go after a police officer's suicide and keeps digging deeper into what may have prompted it. It's directed by Fritz Lang, which means it looks great, but that's about where my interest in it ends. I just watched this movie a day or two ago and I couldn't for the life of me remember what actually happened in the movie -- I had to go to Wikipedia to remind myself of it. The one piece I could remember, because it's the one that stands out the most, is the relationship of the women in the movie to their significant others. Had more of the movie been focused around them, it would have captured my attention more. As it stands, it is another crime film I have a hard time getting into and thus don't feel qualified to give much more than my personal experience of it. If this is a genre you love, this is a well-put-together iteration of it, and Lang was a talented director so that alone makes it worth watching, but it won't land at the top of any of my own personal lists.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Big Heat < Forever Young

The Big Heat > Bounce

The Big Heat < She Loves Me

The Big Heat > Amen.

The Big Heat > Grace of Monaco

The Big Heat < Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

The Big Heat < Blade Runner

The Big Heat > Little Big League

The Big Heat > Twist of Faith

The Big Heat > A Time to Kill

The Big Heat < Born Into Brothels

Final spot: #2428 out of 3740, or 35%.

Barbarian (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A woman staying at an Airbnb discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems.

Directed by Zach Cregger. Starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, and Justin Long.

Without giving too much away, Barbarian is a story told in a few separate portions about a house in an especially rundown area of Detroit that has Weird Things happening in the basement. This was one of the horror movies that was suddenly getting VERY talked about, so I perhaps had slightly higher expectations going into it than I should have. That makes it sound like it's a bad movie, but it absolutely isn't -- but it's just a very good horror movie, rather than the something groundbreaking I thought it might be. But that's not a real complaint -- I'm quite happy with a good horror movie! It sets up an interesting grouping of characters to be dealing with the evil house, and it's got some great scares, capturing both effective jump-scares and moody tension-building. I also love how it keeps twisting away from the movie you think it's telling. It cuts just when you least expect it to and then all of a sudden you're getting a completely different angle on the story, and then somehow it all fits together at the end. Definitely worth a watch!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Barbarian > Vampyr

Barbarian > Kuroneko

Barbarian < The White Tiger

Barbarian < Raya and the Last Dragon

Barbarian > Is It College Yet?

Barbarian < A Matter of Life and Death

Barbarian < Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Barbarian < Beetlejuice

Barbarian < We're Not Married!

Barbarian < Kismet

Barbarian > Judas and the Black Messiah

Barbarian < City Lights

Final spot: #816 out of 3739, or 78%.

City Hall (1996)

IMDb plot summary: The accidental shooting of a boy in New York leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.

Directed by Harold Becker. Starring Al Pacino, John Cusack, and Bridget Fonda.

City Hall stars Al Pacino as the Mayor of New York City and John Cusack as his ambitious Deputy Mayor who just wants to make real change in the city. Things get complicated when an NYPD officer is involved in a shooting with a drug dealer that ends up taking the life of a nearby child, and questions about what the officer was doing there in the first place start revealing some corruption beneath. It's hard for me to watch one of these gritty political police dramas now and not immediately draw lines to Sidney Lumet's work, as that was one of the themes he explored most. This is a pretty mediocre exploration of the theme, aside from a medium-interesting last-minute reveal that adds a little oomph to it. Cusack's Louisiana persona doesn't work for me most of the time, and as is too frequently the case with this kind of movie, the trail gets so windy that it's hard to remember at the end why we were supposed to care about it to begin with. I'm sure it scratches a particular itch for some movie fans, but I found it pretty lackluster.

How it entered my Flickchart:

City Hall < Forever Young

City Hall < Bounce

City Hall > A Fistful of Dollars

City Hall > Graveyard of Honor

City Hall > Antichrist

City Hall < Live-In Maid

City Hall > Deceived

City Hall > Giant

City Hall < Deliverance

City Hall < The Name of the Rose

City Hall > The King

City Hall > Hour of the Wolf

Final spot: #2873 out of 3738, or 23%.

Murphy's War (1971)

IMDb plot summary: A lone survivor from a British naval ship is obsessed with getting revenge on a German U-boat crew that massacred his shipmates in the water.

Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Peter O'Toole, Sian Phillips, and Philippe Noiret.

Murphy's War stars Peter O'Toole as the sole survivor of a German submarine attack on his ship in World War II, and he makes it his personal mission to single-handedly take down the submarine that killed the rest of his shipmates. I have commented before on how Peter Yates' filmography is a constant yo-yo between different genres, and this is yet another example to add to the list. This strikes an interesting tonal balance between the enthusiasm of an underdog heist film and the cynicism of an anti-war picture. Murphy is a pretty uninteresting character and we never really get the sense of why he's so determined to bring this sub down by himself, but O'Toole does his best to bring him to some form of life. The most interesting piece is probably watching the side characters get hurt along the way and seeing how little that does to sway Murphy's decision. The final twenty minutes or so are the most engaging as Murphy's quest finally reaches its culmination, but it's not one that I think will stick in my mind for very long.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Murphy's War < Forever Young

Murphy's War > Bounce

Murphy's War < The Apostle

Murphy's War > Amen.

Murphy's War > Spinning Into Butter

Murphy's War < The Kid Who Would Be King

Murphy's War < Blade Runner

Murphy's War < Runaway Jury

Murphy's War > Captain Fantastic

Murphy's War > Touch of Evil

Murphy's War > Serial Killer 1

Final spot: #2441 out of 3737, or 35%.

The Outfit (2022)

IMDb plot summary: An expert cutter must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night.

Directed by Graham Moore. Starring Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, and John Gumley-Mason.

The Outfit is set in the shop of an English cutter who learned his craft on Savile Row and now has a successful business in Chicago where he makes suits for, among others, mobsters. We observe his shop over the course of one night in which he becomes inextricably caught up in mobster infighting he is unprepared to deal with. The script is nicely paced, keeping just enough twists and reveals to keep us interested as the story plays out in our one chosen location, and Mark Rylance is, of course, a phenomenal actor as our lead. He moves so seemlessly between appearing totally innocuous and hinting at dark secrets hidden below the surface. I also like how it keeps the tension intimate, focused on a few individuals at a time rather than constantly having to pull back to look at the big picture. My one complaint is that the final scenes of the movie escalate the story to a realm that I found less believable and certainly not necessary to keep the themes and the mood of the story intact, so that was a bit of a disappointment. But other than that, it's a well-crafted film.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Outfit > Forever Young

The Outfit < Anna Karenina

The Outfit < Die Hard

The Outfit > Fanboys

The Outfit < Interview with the Vampire

The Outfit > VeggieTales: God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!

The Outfit > Rachel, Rachel

The Outfit < An American Tail

The Outfit < Kingsman: The Secret Service

The Outfit > The Speed Cubers

The Outfit > Sweet Bird of Youth

The Outfit < Clueless

Final spot: #1540 out of 3736, or 59%.

John and Mary (1969)

IMDb plot summary: John and Mary meet in a singles bar, sleep together, and spend the next day getting to know each other.

Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Mia Farrow, and Michael Tolan.

John and Mary tells the story of a couple the morning after their one-night fling. The two are played by Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, and we see them interacting with each other, interspersed with voiceover telling us what they're actually thinking and flashbacks highlighting past relationships that shaped who they are today. The more I watch of Peter Yates' directorial filmography, the more I'm intrigued by how many genres he jumps around in his early years, hardly ever seeming to tackle the same one twice. This is his first talky romantic drama, and there is something interesting about the formatting of it. It really captures the intimacy of the characters' bedroom and how they alternatingly want to hold onto and let go of that intimacy. That formatting is probably the most interesting thing about it, however, as the subjects themselves are not very interesting, and I'm not sold on Hoffman and Farrow's performances. It's maybe worth watching for those involved but it doesn't stand out in any special way.

How it entered my Flickchart:

John and Mary > Vampyr

John and Mary < Anna Karenina

John and Mary < Die Hard

John and Mary < Fanboys

John and Mary < Jeff, Who Lives At Home

John and Mary > It Had to Be You

John and Mary > Space Pirate Captain Harlock

John and Mary < Cabaret

John and Mary < Ambulance

John and Mary < The Forbidden Kingdom

John and Mary < The Chalk Garden

John and Mary > The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

Final spot: #1779 out of 3735, or 52%.

Mad God (2021)

IMDb plot summary: The Assassin travels through a nightmare underworld of tortured souls, ruined cities and wretched monstrosities forged from the primordial horrors of the unconscious mind of Phil Tippett, the world's preeminent stop-motion animator.

Directed by Phil Tippett. Starring Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, and Satish Ratakonda.

Mad God is a terrifying stop-motion experimental film with a vague plot about a nameless character descending into the depths of a post-apocalyptic hellscape to plant a bomb. We follow him as he encounters all kinds of upsetting horrors. This is a deeply unsettling movie that I really, really wanted to love, but amid all these super-compelling and terrifying images, I found myself irritated that I couldn't follow even a loose narrative. About 20 minutes in, I began to realize that we were never going to learn much about this world and, rather than that drawing me in more, I lost interest. The film brings me around a bit at the end but still isn't ever quite my thing. That being said, I do think it is well-made and I can see it being incredibly powerful for people who are especially drawn to strong visuals. It's very conceptually exciting and very cinematically arresting, even if I found my own interest wavering. It feels more like walking though an gallery of art installations than watching a film, so if that sounds amazing to you, you should definitely check this out.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Mad God > Vampyr

Mad God < Anna Karenina

Mad God < The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Mad God < You Can Count on Me

Mad God < Summer of Soul

Mad God > It Had to Be You

Mad God < The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

Mad God < Phantom Thread

Mad God < Cypher

Mad God < Eyes Wide Shut

Mad God > Hans Chistian Andersen

Mad God < Memphis Belle

Final spot: #1806 out of 3734, or 52%.

Radio Flyer (1992)

IMDb plot summary: A father recounts a dark period of his childhood when he and his little brother lived in the suburbs.

Directed by Richard Donner. Starring Lorraine Bracco, Elijah Wood, and Joseph Mazzello.

Radio Flyer tells the story of two little boys whose mother marries an abusive man, and the oldest boy, played by Elijah Wood, contrives a plan to save his younger brother from their stepfather's cruelty. What a strange, confusing tone this is going for, mixing the serious issue of child abuse with an imaginative fantasy in a way that never quite lands. While I won't spoil the details of the ending, it is deeply unsatisfying given how badly we want our characters to get a concrete happy ending, and while the film clearly attempts to end on a positive note, it doesn't really work at all. The two young actors playing the boys are good -- maybe too good in that they sell the narrative of childhood trauma so realistically that it's hard to let it go when the movie wants us to. And the choice to rarely show the abuser's face and keep him as an ominous otherworldly villain would have been effective in a different movie where that was taken more seriously. It's, I think, a well-intentioned film, but it ends up feeling clumsy at best and exploitative at worst.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Radio Flyer < Vampyr

Radio Flyer < 13 Going on 30

Radio Flyer < Table 19

Radio Flyer > Bhoot

Radio Flyer > Courageous

Radio Flyer > The Yellow Handkerchief

Radio Flyer < Sharknado

Radio Flyer > Live Free or Die Hard

Radio Flyer < The Hiding Place

Radio Flyer > Min and Bill

Radio Flyer > Madagascar

Radio Flyer < They Were Expendable

Final spot: #3305 out of 3733, or 11%.

Tower (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Animation, testimony, and archival footage combine to relate the events of August 1, 1966 when a gunman opened fire from the University of Texas clock tower, killing 16 people.

Directed by Keith Maitland.

Tower is a mostly-animated documentary about the 1966 shootings at the University of Texas in Austin, with a mix of real-life survivors of the attacks and actors playing younger animated versions of the same characters. It's an interesting look at a mass shooting that rocked the country before mass shootings became an everyday occurrence. The combined use of animation and occasional live footage does a great job of capturing the surreal nature of finding yourself in this kind of situation while also grounding it in these being real people. About halfway through when the animated characters are mostly replaced by their 2016 actual counterparts, it's a surprisingly powerful artistic choice. I do wish there had been a tiny bit more reflection on how this was an uncommon phenomenon in 1966 and is now something frequent enough that we regularly drill students on how to deal with it, but I think the choice to leave those connections up to the viewer was deliberate and I respect that choice. I usually find documentaries educational and interesting but not narratively powerful, but this is one of those rare exceptions.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Tower > Vampyr

Tower < Safe

Tower > The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Tower > Show Me Love

Tower > 13th

Tower > Shall We Dance? (2004)

Tower > Baby Driver

Tower > A Room With a View

Tower < Chronicle

Tower < Till Death

Tower > The Palm Beach Story

Tower > H.M.S. Defiant

Final spot: #944 out of 3732, or 75%.

The Perfumier (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A police detective tries to get back his girlfriend as well as his sense of smell, as he gets help from a perfume maker who uses deadly methods to find the perfect perfume.

Directed by Nils Willbrandt. Starring Sólveig Arnarsdóttir, August Diehl, and Robert Finster.

The Perfumier is a 2022 German crime drama very, very loosely based on the book "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind. There's already a film of the same name that follows the book more closely, but this feels more like a fan fiction story inspired by the original. Both stories include a gifted perfume maker who becomes obsessed with creating the perfect love potion, even if it means killing young women and extracting their scent from them to do it. This one focuses on a police officer with no sense of smell who finds herself on the killer's track. So I love the movie and just recently read and loved the book, so there's a part of me that disliked how very different this one was, but if I think of it as just a regular crime movie, the central conceit does add a slightly more interesting extra layer to what would otherwise be a bland story. It takes a lot of the sort of melodramatically fantastical elements of the book and makes it fit in surprisingly well to a more stereotypical lurid crime thriller. Would I recommend it? Well, not really, not when the originals are right there, but if you're a big fan of the new genre, you might have fun with it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Perfumier < Vampyr

The Perfumier > The Little Princess (1939)

The Perfumier < Satantango

The Perfumier > Patriots Day

The Perfumier < Birdman of Alcatraz

The Perfumier > Genius

The Perfumier > The Dirty Dozen

The Perfumier > Lolita (1997)

The Perfumier < Pal Joey

The Perfumier < Innocence Unprotected

The Perfumier < High Society

The Perfumier > August: Osage County

Final spot: #2461 out of 3731, or 34%.

The Half of It (2020)

IMDb plot summary: When smart but cash-strapped teen Ellie Chu agrees to write a love letter for a jock, she doesn't expect to become his friend - or fall for his crush.

Directed by Alice Wu. Starring Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, and Alexxis Lemire.

The Half of It is a modern YA retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, centering on a teenager named Ellie who has a crush on the pastor's daughter but is too shy to say anything, so she helps a friendly classmate who's not good with words woo her instead. Cyrano is one of my all-time favorite stories. Unrequited crushes were the story of my teenage years, and I always connect so hard with the longing sense of "maybe you'd like me if you really knew me but probably not." I instantly rooted for Ellie. She's such a beautifully crafted character, and Leah Lewis plays her with such love. The drama and sweetness of this movie absolutely kept me hooked the whole way through. The main complaint I have is that, sadly, the mutual love interest seems super underdeveloped as a character, so much so that I kept half-wondering if the movie was going to end with Ellie getting together with the boy who also loved that character, since their friendship got much more compelling scenes. Ultimately, I think the movie *is* about their friendship more than about Ellie's love life, which I do think lands, even if it minimizes the romance a little bit more than I wanted it to. But that's a small complaint. Overall it's a charming movie and well worth a watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Half of It > Vampyr

The Half of It > Anna Karenina

The Half of It < Secretary

The Half of It > The Farewell

The Half of It > Clerks.

The Half of It < Pink Floyd The Wall

The Half of It < The Royal Tenenbaums

The Half of It < 21 Jump Street

The Half of It > Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The Half of It > Deadpool

The Half of It < The Sessions

Final spot: #571 out of 3730, or 85%.

Scaramouche (1952)

IMDb plot summary: In France during the late 18th Century, a man sets out to avenge the death of his friend at the hands of a master swordsman.

Directed by George Sidney. Starring Stewart Granger, Janet Leigh, and Eleanor Parker.

Scaramouche is a 1952 film about a young Frenchman who embarks on a quest to avenge his friend's death, along the way finding his lost family, joining a theater troupe, and becoming a master swordsman. I am kind of astonished that this movie isn't better known, because it is delightful. It jumps full-on into swashbuckling adventure, creating a rogueish protagonist who certainly has his flaws but nevertheless is easy to root for, and the various settings it puts in place for his adventures are so much fun. I particularly loved the eight-minute final swordfight that takes place all over a theater, including on top of the opera box railings (with audience members sitting right next to them). I also appreciated how much time this movie spent just showing off commedia dell'arte and the various characters and tropes that made it so successful. There are definitely some dated elements to this movie, but it seems so thoroughly of its time that they didn't strike me as out of place, and the good definitely outweighs the bad. This is definitely one I plan to revisit someday!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Scaramouche > Vampyr

Scaramouche > Anna Karenina

Scaramouche > The White Tiger

Scaramouche > Deathtrap

Scaramouche < The Producers (1968)

Scaramouche < Sleepless in Seattle

Scaramouche > Paths of Glory

Scaramouche < Schindler's List

Scaramouche < Repulsion

Scaramouche > Chicken Run

Scaramouche < Breaking the Waves

Scaramouche < Strangers on a Train

Final spot: #199 out of 3728, or 95%.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013)

IMDb plot summary: Mankind is dying. Only one man can do anything about it, Space Captain Harlock, but the Gaia Coalition will stop at nothing to end him.

Directed by Shinji Aramaki. Starring Yu Aoi, Jessica Boone, and Ayano Fukuda.

Space Pirate Captain Harlock is a 2013 Japanese anime about a future world in which humanity set out to look for new homes in outer space but find Earth blocked off to them when they try to return. The titular Captain Harlock runs a pirate spaceship where he and a group of rogues have some sort of plan to get them back to their homes on Earth. I do very much like the visual design in this movie. The pirate ship in particular is just delightfully swashbuckle-y, and it has some very fun dramatic escape sequences. There are also some interesting plot twists that add good layers to the story. However, most of the story didn't work for me all that much. Neither our antagonist nor our protagonist are that interesting, and it feels like so many of the side characters that could have stood out just got glossed over. I do wonder how these character flaws might be righted in the manga or the anime, where they have more time to explore them. This 2-hour version could only really focus on the worldbuilding and the story's slightly-too-complicated plot that kept bringing in maguffins to fix the previous problem. So while it has promise, it falls a little short of delivering on that promise.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > The Devil Rides Out

Space Pirate Captain Harlock < Anna Karenina

Space Pirate Captain Harlock < Die Hard

Space Pirate Captain Harlock < Fanboys

Space Pirate Captain Harlock < Summer of Soul

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > The First Wives Club

Space Pirate Captain Harlock < The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > Frances Ha

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > The Lair of the White Worm

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > Mr. Nice Guy

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > The Matrix Reloaded

Space Pirate Captain Harlock > The Dissident

Final spot: #1777 out of 3727, or 52%.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

IMDb plot summary: In 1787, British ship Bounty leaves Portsmouth to bring a cargo of bread-fruit from Tahiti but the savage on-board conditions imposed by Captain Bligh trigger a mutiny led by officer Fletcher Christian.

Directed by Lewis Milestone. Starring Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, and Richard Harris.

Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film about a British Navy crew on an agricultural expedition who are driven to mutiny by their cruel captain. Note that even though the plot of the movie is in the title, the idea of mutiny doesn't truly come to fruition until a good 2/3 of the way through the movie, as most of it is setting the stage for the uprising. This version of the story casts Trevor Howard as the ruthless Captain Bligh and Marlon Brando as his second-in-command who has a more sympathetic view of the crew. This movie is nearly three hours long and while I appreciate the dedication to plenty of setup, there is easily a full hour of this movie that could have been cut without losing anything at all. (The exoticized portrayals of the island of Tahiti and the sex-positive women there take up entirely too much screentime.) What I did appreciate was Brando's performance, to which he brings a thoughtfulness and really highlights the struggle within him to respect the procedures in place but also to protect his men. Those moments were the most interesting for me to watch, and they were what helped the movie ultimately land. A bloated story but there's definitely some substance to this portrayal as well.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Mutiny on the Bounty > Corpse Bride

Mutiny on the Bounty < Anna Karenina

Mutiny on the Bounty < Die Hard

Mutiny on the Bounty < Fanboys

Mutiny on the Bounty < The Mummy (1999)

Mutiny on the Bounty > It's Kind of a Funny Story

Mutiny on the Bounty > The Dissident

Mutiny on the Bounty > Cabaret

Mutiny on the Bounty > Deceiver

Mutiny on the Bounty < Gold Diggers of 1933

Mutiny on the Bounty > Celeste and Jesse Forever

Final spot: #1750 out of 3724, or 53%.

The Velvet Underground (2021)

IMDb plot summary: The Velvet Underground explores the multiple threads that converged to bring together one of the most influential bands in rock and roll.

Directed by Todd Haynes.

The Velvet Underground is a documentary about the relatively short-lived but wildly influential band The Velvet Underground, helmed by Lou Reed. I am not very familiar with their work, so it was interesting to learn more about them, particularly their ties to Andy Warhol and the 1960s avant-garde art scene. The film is put together in a much more visually intriguing way than most documentaries, really tying into the vibe of Warhol's films and other experimental artwork. My biggest complaint about it might be the rather unexpected one that there isn't actually that much music in it -- the film takes much more care with its visual aesthetic than the aural, and as a result it doesn't really leave me wanting to look up their music further so much as wanting to explore the art culture of the 60s in general. But it does feel like this doc is intentionally trying to be expansive and go beyond other music documentaries' focus on the actual sounds of the band, so I don't know that I actually mind this choice. Like most documentaries, I don't know that I'd revisit it any time soon, but I did feel like I learned a lot.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Velvet Underground > Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

The Velvet Underground < Anna Karenina

The Velvet Underground < Die Hard

The Velvet Underground < Fanboys

The Velvet Underground < The Mummy (1999)

The Velvet Underground > Griff the Invisible

The Velvet Underground > The Lost Skeleton Returns Again

The Velvet Underground > Kiss the Girls

The Velvet Underground < Hail, Caesar!

The Velvet Underground > The Cable Guy

The Velvet Underground > The Firm

The Velvet Underground < Deceiver

Final spot: #1755 out of 3726, or 53%.

Umberto D. (1952)

IMDb plot summary: An elderly man and his dog struggle to survive on his government pension in Rome.

Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Starring Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, and Lina Gennari.

Umberto D. is an Italian film by Vittorio Di Sica about an elderly man who finds himself and his dog being kicked out of their apartment for being behind in rent payments. We watched Umberto try various ways of raising money or finding new solutions, but everything seems to end badly. This is the kind of film that I wouldn't have expected myself to like -- a slow meditative look at one man's quiet despair. But it works for me. I think part of what I appreciate so much about it is how well it sets up all these little details that don't pay off until later on. The first half of the film shows the man going about his daily life, and then when things start going especially badly, we see the smaller signs of all those little things falling apart. Despite being such a sad narrative, it actually ends with quite a bit more of a hopeful tone than I'd have expected, and that also went a long way for me toward feeling like I got something out of the movie. This was a surprising gem that I found powerful and moving, and I'm very glad that I finally got to it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Umberto D. > Corpse Bride

Umberto D. > Kuroneko

Umberto D. > The Legend of 1900

Umberto D. < Deathtrap

Umberto D. < Dick Tracy

Umberto D. > Romancing the Stone

Umberto D. > Strange Days

Umberto D. < The Sunshine Boys (1975)

Umberto D. < Dead Again

Umberto D. < The World's End

Umberto D. < The Lego Movie

Umberto D. < Belle

Final spot: #377 out of 3725, or 90%.

Ambulance (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Two robbers steal an ambulance after their heist goes awry.

Directed by Michael Bay. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Eiza González.

Ambulance is a crime thriller about two brothers whose attempted bank robbery goes wrong, leading them to hijack an ambulance as a getaway vehicle, with an injured police officer and an EMT inside. This is a Michael Bay film, which more often than not leads to a big "ugh, no" on my part, and I gotta say,  I rolled my eyes harder than anything at the characters name-dropping Bay's other movies multiple times, but other than that, I was pleasantly surprised with this one. It's an interesting concept, as the EMT tries to save the police officer's life despite less-than-ideal circumstances, but what really pushed it into compelling territory was Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jake Gyllenhaal as our two male leads. Bay often attempts to convey male camaraderie and friendship in his films and this is one of his stronger showings, with the love these two characters have for each other despite their flaws shining through as the emotional thread holding the whole thing together. As a thriller, it's decent, with enough new set pieces and dramatic turns to keep my interest going, but it's, surprisingly, the relationships that drive the story, and they do all right.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Ambulance > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

Ambulance < Kuroneko

Ambulance < Die Hard

Ambulance < 1408

Ambulance < Summer of Soul

Ambulance > Gothika

Ambulance > Drunken Master

Ambulance < The Slipper and the Rose

Ambulance > Anonymous

Ambulance < Cat's Eye

Ambulance < Frequency

Ambulance > Mank

Final spot: #1764 out of 3721, or 53%.

Anybody's Woman (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A man left by his wife gets drunk and marries a chorus girl.

Directed by Dorothy Arzner. Starring Ruth Chatterton, Clive Brook, and Paul Lukas.

Anybody's Woman tells the story of a burlesque dancer who spontaneously gets married to a man drinking away his sorrows at his wife's leaving him. When he sobers up in the morning, he's somewhat horrified at what he's done, but they decide to try and make it work. I didn't like Ruth Chatterton much in Sarah and Son, but she's a lot more interesting and relatable here. She's so easy to root for as she keeps trying to improve her situation but finds her past being constantly flung in her face. And so much of her rejection is thinly veiled as polite societal norms, so when she reacts against the underlying meaning we totally get it but also know how badly that's going to go for her. This is one of the few films in my 1930 project that was actually directed by a woman, so it perhaps makes sense that she brings such compassion to this character. While the ending of the film doesn't entirely work for me, it captured my attention more than some of the other melodramas of the time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Anybody's Woman > Pi

Anybody's Woman < Kuroneko

Anybody's Woman < Die Hard

Anybody's Woman > 1408

Anybody's Woman < Interview with the Vampire

Anybody's Woman > The Light in Her Eyes

Anybody's Woman > Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe

Anybody's Woman > Nanny McPhee

Anybody's Woman > The Suburbans

Anybody's Woman > Showtime

Anybody's Woman > The Great Gatsby (1974)

Final spot: #1513 out of 3722, or 59%.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Explores every facet of Yankovic's life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like 'Eat It' and 'Like a Surgeon' to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.

Directed by Eric Appel. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, and Rainn Wilson.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a parody biopic of comedy musician Weird Al Yankovic, best known for his goofy parodies of popular tunes. This version stars Daniel Radcliffe as Yankovic, and we follow him on his journey to become one of the most successful pop stars in the world. Of course, most of what is shown in the movie never happened and is playing off of other well-known biopics that focus on self-destructive rock stars brought down by drugs, sex, and scandals. There are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments in this film and it doesn't always take the obvious route to them, which is fun. Radcliffe is great in the role, as is Evan Rachel Wood in her role as Madonna. Despite that, some of the pacing of the comedy feels off. There are too many scenes that could easy be straightforward scenes from another biopic, and the only joke present in them is that they're about Weird Al now. That sole joke isn't enough to carry an entire movie, and as a result there are some moments that drag. But the moments that shine, shine bright, and the ending tied it all together very satisfyingly.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Weird > Pi

Weird > Kuroneko

Weird < The Legend of 1900

Weird > Big Trouble in Little China

Weird > Le bonheur

Weird > The Last Unicorn

Weird < 56 Up

Weird > Stardust

Weird < Ex Machina

Weird > Thor: Ragnarok

Weird < Together Together

Final spot: #504 out of 3723, or 86%.

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

IMDb plot summary: A young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.

Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone.

The Mark of Zorro stars Tyrone Power as the foppish son of the former mayor of a Californian town by day, the folk hero Zorro fighting corrupt officials by night. This version of the story really relies on the contrast between the two alter egos, and there is a delightful thrill in watching him play his sensitive nobleman act knowing that he is smarter, stronger, and more ruthless than he's letting on at any point. Power is very charismatic here and is a lot of fun to watch. I do wish there was a stronger emphasis on either the political aspect of it or the adventure scenes -- so much of this story is just watching Power flit about from group to group, and while that's enjoyable, it feels incomplete. It was a fun contrast to The Mask of Zorro, which I watched for the first time earlier this month, and comparing two different approaches to the character almost 60 years apart is kind of fascinating. This one was less exciting, both narratively and visually, but I enjoyed seeing a more debonair approach to the character.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Mark of Zorro > Hairspray (1988)

The Mark of Zorro < Kuroneko

The Mark of Zorro > A Scanner Darkly

The Mark of Zorro > Whisky Galore!

The Mark of Zorro > 1917

The Mark of Zorro < Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

The Mark of Zorro < The Ten Commandments (1956)

The Mark of Zorro > Hoodwinked!

The Mark of Zorro < Call Me Madam

The Mark of Zorro < Borat

The Mark of Zorro > Gone Girl

The Mark of Zorro < A Clockwork Orange

Final spot: #1029 out of 3719, or 72%.

Love, Life and Goldfish (2021)

IMDb plot summary: Makoto Kashiba is an elite bank clerk and works for a big bank at its Tokyo HQ. Due to a minor mistake, he is demoted to a small branch office in a country town. He is devastated by his situation. There, he meets beautiful Yoshino Ikoma, who runs a goldfish scooping store. Makoto falls in love with her at first sight.

Directed by Yukinori Makabe. Starring Nicole Ishida, Hayato Kakizawa, and Naoki Kawano.

Love, Life and Goldfish is a Japanese musical film about a young man settling in a new town after a work demotion and perhaps finding love in the process. I really wanted to love this film but something about it sat just outside my periphery. I am often drawn to stories about nerdy outcasts trying to figure out love, especially if there are musical numbers to highlight their journey, but I just had such a tough time tracking this character's motivations and interests. The music does most of the emotional heavy liting here, with these big sentimental ballads that tug at the heartstrings (but that I'm sure would be much improved by seeing their thematic connection to the actual narrative at hand -- something that doesn't always happen). The "goldfish" of the title refers to the fact that the main potential love interest works in a store where people can compete to scoop goldfish out of a larger pool into a smaller one, and the goldfish metaphor is definitely visually arresting but, again, doesn't always land narratively. There may very well be some cultural differences keeping me at a distance here, so this is one I want to go back and retry, because when it works, it REALLY works. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

Love, Life and Goldfish > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

Love, Life and Goldfish < Kuroneko

Love, Life and Goldfish > Incendies

Love, Life and Goldfish < Ghost World

Love, Life and Goldfish < Man on Wire

Love, Life and Goldfish < Panic Room

Love, Life and Goldfish < Family Business

Love, Life and Goldfish < Nobody's Fool

Love, Life and Goldfish > Cafe Society

Love, Life and Goldfish < The Family Man

Love, Life and Goldfish < The Count of Monte Cristo

Love, Life and Goldfish > Juno and the Paycock

Final spot: #1386 out of 3720, or 63%.

The Expendables (2010)

IMDb plot summary: A CIA operative hires a team of mercenaries to eliminate a Latin dictator and a renegade CIA agent.

Directed by Sylvester Stallone. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li.

The Expendables is a big silly action movie following a team of mercenaries trying to overthrow a Latin American dictator. It features a variety of action stars in both prominent and small roles, including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more. So hear me out -- the movie that I ended up comparing this to in my mind the most was Tick, Tick, Boom. When I finished that movie, I thought to myself, "That was one of the most amazing love letters to musical theater I've ever seen, and I have no idea if people who don't love musicals will get anything out of it." This movie feels 100% like a love letter to the big action blockbusters of the 80s and 90s, and as such it almost completely passed me by. I didn't recognize about half the action stars who showed up, the action sequences don't have interesting fight choreography or unique set pieces so much as just a lot of explosions, and there's not really even any half-hearted character development. But every so often I'd get a glimpse of the film paying tribute to its past favorites. So with this, I'm in this weird space of appreciating what it's doing while having absolutely no interest in watching it myself. It'll rank low on my Flickchart personally but that's mostly just because it's not *for* me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Expendables < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

The Expendables < The Man with One Red Shoe

The Expendables > Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

The Expendables > 101 Dalmatians (1996)

The Expendables < Mother (2009)

The Expendables > Party Girl

The Expendables > Danger: Diabolik

The Expendables < Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

The Expendables < On the Town

The Expendables < Bad Moms

The Expendables < The Italian Job (2003)

The Expendables < Sleeper

Final spot: #2934 out of 3718, or 21%.

Forever Young (1992)

IMDb plot summary: During a cryogenics test, a pilot frozen in 1939 awakes in 1992 but time is running out, as his body starts to age rapidly.

Directed by Steve Miner. Starring Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Elijah Wood.

Forever Young stars Mel Gibson as a test pilot in the 1930s who agrees to be part of his friend's top-secret cryogenics research. He expects to be woken up in one year, but something goes wrong and he wakes up in 1992 after young Elijah Wood stumbles upon his abandoned cryotube. I often really connect to sci fi or fantasy fish-out-of-water stories, body swap stories or accidental time travel, all that kind of thing, but this one never quite sticks the landing, always wanting to go in for the cheap sentimentality rather than genuine humanity. Gibson just kind of wanders around here as a general confused nice guy and doesn't get much depth of character. Wood is much better -- at this point in his career he'd picked up some technique and outshines Gibson in most scenes. Jamie Lee Curtis as Wood's mother works very hard to bring something interesting to her thankless role as "nurturing woman who helps everyone else out" but there's only so much you can do with material this thin. It's a fun concept but this is a pretty flat, schmaltzy interpretation of it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Forever Young < Hairspray (1988)

Forever Young > The Man with One Red Shoe

Forever Young < Kuroneko

Forever Young < Incendies

Forever Young < Lucky Number Slevin

Forever Young < Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Forever Young < Gothika

Forever Young < Arthur Christmas

Forever Young < Camp Rock

Forever Young < The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

Forever Young > Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

Forever Young > Vampyr

Final spot: #1853 out of 3717, or 50%.

The Pirate Movie (1982)

IMDb plot summary: The crew of a large ship sail the high seas encountering other pirates from other ships. The boy from the ship ends up having to save his girlfriend who is kidnapped by a bunch of other pirates.

Directed by Ken Annakin. Starring Kristy McNichol, Christopher Atkins, and Ted Hamilton.

The Pirate Movie is a very loose adaptation of the Pirates of Penzance operetta, incorporating some of the original songs and the general outline of the plot and interspersing it with original 80s rock tunes. When I went to look this movie up, I learned that people HATED it when it came out. It's got something like a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and got a bunch of Razzie nominations. It's definitely cheesy and silly, but I had a good enough time with it! I was pleased that at least some pieces of the original Penzance tunes showed up, and although none of the rock replacements were much good aside from the final number, they worked just fine if I thought of them as generic background soundtrack tunes. The jokes and one-liners come fast here, and like with any film with large quantities of jokes, some land and some don't, but the ones that don't aren't belabored, just quietly scooted past. I was particularly impressed with a long farcical sword-fighting scene that could easily have gotten boring but instead kept finding new ways to play with the concept. Will I watch it again? Well, maybe not, not when the filmed version of the original starring Kevin Kline is right there, but I'm glad I got to see this weird little movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Pirate Movie > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

The Pirate Movie < Anna Karenina

The Pirate Movie > The Romantics

The Pirate Movie < Show Me Love

The Pirate Movie > Man on Wire

The Pirate Movie > Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

The Pirate Movie < Death by Hanging

The Pirate Movie < Evita

The Pirate Movie > Monsters vs. Aliens

The Pirate Movie > Carefree

The Pirate Movie < Wolf

Final spot: #1207 out of 3714, or 68%.

The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

IMDb plot summary: A man suffering a family loss enrolls in a class about care-giving that changes his perspective on life.

Directed by Rob Burnett. Starring Craig Roberts, Paul Rudd, and Selena Gomez.

The Fundamentals of Caring stars Paul Rudd as a caregiver for a teenager with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, played by Craig Roberts. The story focuses on the relationship between the two as they navigate their own demons. I never quite know how to feel about these "once I got to know someone with a disability" stories. While I approve of more disabled characters in film, most of those movies end up feeling patronizing. I give this film credit for trying to sidestep the more problematic tropes (there's even a sequence where the teenager accuses Rudd of using him for inspiration) but it doesn't seem to bring much to the table in its place. It's like it spends more time trying to avoid the "wrong" thing than doing anything interesting. And at the end of the day it's still primarily Rudd's story even when it tries to be Roberts'. It's not an awful film -- this kind of story has been done much more thoughtlessly -- but it feels unimaginative and halfhearted and I know I'm going to forget it within a week of having seen it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Fundamentals of Caring < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

The Fundamentals of Caring > The Man with One Red Shoe

The Fundamentals of Caring < The Hangover

The Fundamentals of Caring < *batteries not included

The Fundamentals of Caring < My Big Fat Greek Wedding

The Fundamentals of Caring > Sex Tape

The Fundamentals of Caring < Baby Boom

The Fundamentals of Caring > The Da Vinci Code

The Fundamentals of Caring > My Darling Clementine

The Fundamentals of Caring > Reminiscence

The Fundamentals of Caring < About Last Night...

Final spot: #2703 out of 3716, or 27%.

Liliom (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Liliom, a merry-go-round barker at a Budapest amusement park, becomes enamored of Julie, a servant girl, and though under the influence of Madame Muskat, a sideshow entrepreneur, he marries the girl. 

Directed by Frank Borzage. Starring Charles Farrell, Rose Hobart, and Estelle Taylor.

Liliom is a 1930 movie that I recognized partway through as being based on the same story as the musical Carousel. A young naive woman marries a carnival barker who is abusive and irresponsible, and when he dies committing a crime he asks to come back to earth to see the daughter he never met. Carousel at least has some pretty tunes, but this plot is just straight up garbage, happily defending physical violence as some sort of misappropriated form of affection, and it's horrifying. You can't garner any sympathy for these characters at all. The most interesting part of this was the strange afterlife section in the final twenty minutes, which has some suddenly creative cinematic choices, from the visualization of the train to the afterlife to the introduction of the various characters and how they passed away. I'd much rather have seen a whole movie of that than the domestic abuse apologetics taking up most of the film.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Liliom < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

Liliom < The Man with One Red Shoe

Liliom < Table 19

Liliom > Agent Cody Banks

Liliom < Maurice

Liliom > Made of Honor

Liliom < Insomnia (2002)

Liliom > Get Carter

Liliom < Titane

Liliom < Flywheel

Liliom < The Ant Bully

Liliom < Stand Up and Cheer!

Final spot: #3410 out of 3715, or 8%.

The Lost City (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A reclusive romance novelist on a book tour with her cover model gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure.

Directed by Aaron and Adam Nee. Starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe.

The Lost City is a rom com adventure starring Sandra Bullock as a romance novelist and Channing Tatum as the cover model for her most popular series. When Bullock's research for her latest novel turns out to be a little too thorough and potentially uncovers a clue to a lost treasure, she is kidnapped to help complete the puzzle and Tatum has to rescue her. This movie isn't incredible, isn't groundbreaking, but it felt a little bit like a warm fuzzy hug. It reminded me why Sandra Bullock rose to fame in the first place, as she is so quietly funny in this while still feeling like a fully grounded character, and Channing Tatum is absolutely charming as her well-intentioned but completely clueless romantic lead. There are definitely jokes that don't land here, but more do than I expected, and despite the big lavish location and plot points, the humor itself is actually relatively quiet and rooted in character traits. It's certainly a stronger, funnier, more interesting action comedy than recent efforts like Jungle Cruise or Red Notice, and I had a good time with it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Lost City > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

The Lost City < Safe

The Lost City > Incendies

The Lost City > Show Me Love

The Lost City < The Last Seduction

The Lost City < Suspicion

The Lost City > Undercover Blues

The Lost City < Finder's Fee

The Lost City < Zootopia

The Lost City > New York Stories

The Lost City > Wonder Man

The Lost City < Le samourai

Final spot: #1124 out of 3710, or 70%.

Hand Rolled Cigarette (2020)

IMDb plot summary: A story of how a retired British-Chinese soldier and a marginalized young South Asian man face the plight of being abandoned by society.

Directed by Kin Long Chan. Starring Ka-Tung Lam, Bipin Karma, and Singh Hartihan Bitto.

Hand Rolled Cigarette tells the story of a retired soldier who finds himself sheltering a young man on the run from some vengeful drug dealers, and the two form a reluctant bond. The introduction of this movie focuses on a group of soldiers needing to find new paths in life after the Hong Kong Military Service Corps is dissolved, and that was an interesting intro, as it was something I had very little knowledge of and was interested to learn about. But the movie doesn't explore that aspect very much and just turns the story into a typical neo-noir crime thriller, which was a disappointing downturn. The movie leans heavily into the grungy neo-noir visuals I find not only unappealing but difficult to parse, and I had trouble tracking the many different characters crossing paths in the story. The beginning and the end hold together as individually strong moments, but I was less than enthused with most of the middle. May be worth a watch for those inclined to enjoy the genre, but otherwise you can skip it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hand Rolled Cigarette < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

Hand Rolled Cigarette < The Man with One Red Shoe

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

Hand Rolled Cigarette > 101 Dalmatians (1996)

Hand Rolled Cigarette < Mother (2009)

Hand Rolled Cigarette > The Final Countdown

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Passion

Hand Rolled Cigarette < Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Hand Rolled Cigarette > The Jazz Singer (1927)

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Copying Beethoven

Hand Rolled Cigarette > Morocco

Final spot: #2914 out of 3709, or 21%.

Robbery (1967)

IMDb plot summary: A group of British criminals plans the robbery of the Royal Mail train on the Glasgow-London route.

Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet, and James Booth.

Robbery is a pretty straightforward crime drama that follows both a set of criminals planning a bank robbery and the law enforcement officers who are trying to bring them down. This is the third film directed by Peter Yates, and, wow, he wanted to try out all the genres, didn't he? From the sentimental musical Summer Holiday to the absurdist comedy One Way Pendulum to this realistic crime story, he didn't seem to want to tie himself down to one style. While that's interesting to me, this movie isn't particularly. There's one scene that stands out, where the leader planning the robbery has a confrontation with his wife, and that scene snaps into focus, with some really captivating use of color and staging, but all the rest is very typical of everyday crime dramas without much of a unique stamp on it. For some folks, that's going to draw them right into it. For me, it's going to push me away. I continue to be intrigued by Yates as a director, but this is my least favorite of his films thus far.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Robbery < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

Robbery > The Man with One Red Shoe

Robbery < Satantango

Robbery > Crumb

Robbery < Rigoletto

Robbery > A Week Away

Robbery < Ghost

Robbery < Bedtime for Bonzo

Robbery < Rebecca

Robbery > Mud

Robbery < The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Robbery < Suspiria (1977)

Final spot: #2491 out of 3713, or 33%.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

IMDb plot summary: A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friend", escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.

Directed by Kevin Reynolds. Starring Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, and Christopher Adamson.

The Count of Monte Cristo stars Jim Caviezel as Edmond Dantes, the poor but ambitious sailor who finds himself betrayed by his best friend, played here by Guy Pierce. Dantes spends over a decade locked away in prison for a crime he didn't commit before managing to escape and vowing revenge on the people who put him there in the first place. While there is a lot I enjoy about this movie, there are two rather gaping flaws that keep it from rising too high on my chart. One is that Caviezel is a tremendously bland actor, and even while playing three distinct characters here -- the naive innocent, the jaded inmate, and the dashing cavalier -- he remains very uncompelling. The second is that the movie is uncertain what it's actually about. It keeps throwing in these halfhearted attempts at an anti-vengeance message, including at the very end, but that's undercut by the fact that, according to what actually happens in this movie, vengeance fricking rules and gets you everything you want. The conflicting messages keep the film from ever landing on a deeper level and keep it pretty shallow. It is a fun shallow, and the side characters in particular shine even if our lead does not, but it all feels a little disappointing.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Count of Monte Cristo > Pi

The Count of Monte Cristo < Safe

The Count of Monte Cristo > Incendies

The Count of Monte Cristo < Show Me Love

The Count of Monte Cristo < Man on Wire

The Count of Monte Cristo < Panic Room

The Count of Monte Cristo < Family Business

The Count of Monte Cristo < Don't Look Up

The Count of Monte Cristo > Cafe Society

The Count of Monte Cristo < Koyaanisqatsi

The Count of Monte Cristo < The Family Man

The Count of Monte Cristo > Juno and the Paycock

Final spot: #1383 out of 3712, or 63%.

The Dawn Patrol (1938)

IMDb plot summary: British flying aces in World War I contend with the harsh realities of war.

Directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, and David Niven.

The Dawn Patrol stars Errol Flynn, David Niven, and Basil Rathbone as a group of British flying aces very near the front during World War I. Rathbone is the officer in charge while Niven and Flynn are his ace pilots. We watch the group struggle with their relationships with each other while having to bear the weight of sending young men to die in perilous missions. I watched this for my 1930 film project, mistakenly thinking it was the 1930 version instead of the remake, and now I'm hesitant to go back and watch the original because I'm not convinced it will do as well without this stacked cast, as there isn't much to set it apart from other anti-war films of the same era. I do enjoy the sense of playfulness in the first half, which does a lot to bring out the contrasting devastation in the second half. I also enjoyed Rathbone's character, an officer miserable at having to send soldier after soldier on suicide missions while not being able to do any of the work himself, and it makes him bitter and mean. But overall I don't think this one will stick with me, though it was an adequate watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Dawn Patrol > Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)

The Dawn Patrol < Safe

The Dawn Patrol < Incendies

The Dawn Patrol > The Ladykillers (1955)

The Dawn Patrol < The Great Gatsby (1974)

The Dawn Patrol > Dot the I

The Dawn Patrol < Lo

The Dawn Patrol < Knight and Day

The Dawn Patrol > Jackie

The Dawn Patrol > Anna and the King

The Dawn Patrol < Exotica

Final spot: #1555 out of 3711, or 58%.

H.M.S. Defiant (1962)

IMDb plot summary: On the H.M.S. Defiant, during the French Revolutionary War, fair Captain Crawford is locked in a battle of wills against his cruel second-in-command Lieutenant Scott-Padget, whose heavy-handed command style pushes the crew to mutiny.

Directed by Lewis Gilbert. Starring Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, and Maurice Denham.

H.M.S. Defiant, or Damn the Defiant as it is alternately known, stars Alec Guinness as a Royal Navy captain during the French Revolutionary Wars and Dirk Bogarde as his first lieutenant. The two men have very different views of governing a ship, and they enter into a tense battle of wills that also happens to be bumping up against a planned mutiny from the non-officered soldiers. Guinness and Bogarde are really wonderful to watch here, exuding very different *kinds* of power but seeming very evenly matched, and watching how their ethics play out in their treatment of others is the most engaging part of the movie. I do also appreciate how much time was spent focusing on the pending mutiny -- it humanized the sailors Guinness and Bogarde were fighting over and showcased them and their needs in a compelling way. The ending is a satisfying one that lands exactly where I wanted it to. The only points where my interest flagged were the battle sequences, but even those held my attention a bit more than usual, as the movie did a good job of tying the fate of the battle to the fate of the characters in a way I cared about. A solid watch!

How it entered my Flickchart:

H.M.S. Defiant > Pi

H.M.S. Defiant < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

H.M.S. Defiant > The Romantics

H.M.S. Defiant > Show Me Love

H.M.S. Defiant > The Last Seduction

H.M.S. Defiant > Minority Report

H.M.S. Defiant > Luca

H.M.S. Defiant > Munich

H.M.S. Defiant < Jack Goes Boating

H.M.S. Defiant < Hoop Dreams

H.M.S. Defiant < Till Death

H.M.S. Defiant > The Palm Beach Story

Final spot: #939 out of 3706, or 75%.