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%.