Paradise Island (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Ellen Bradford comes to the South Sea Island of Tonga to marry her fiancé and finds out that he is a drunk. She also finds out that she is the only white woman on the island and, as such, has three men taking a deep interest in her. 

Directed by Bert Glennon. Starring Kenneth Harlan, Marceline Day, and Tom Santschi.

Paradise Island is a film from 1930 about a woman who travels to meet her fiance in an island of Tonga, only to find that he's not a good person and now she's got more than one alternative suitor interested in her. To be honest, I rephrased that description from IMDb, because this was an extremely dull movie that I forgot about almost instantly after watching. The romance aspect is totally uncompelling, as none of the suitors are likable in the least, and it absolutely traffics in the sort of racist stereotypes that were all too common in any 1930s film set in a quote-unquote "exotic" location. While I've seen quite a few gems on my trek through the year 1930, the year also has its fair share of duds, and this is one of those. Not worth checking out.

How it entered my Flickchart: 

Paradise Island < The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Paradise Island < Beauty and the Bestie

Paradise Island < Joseph: King of Dreams

Paradise Island < Hidalgo

Paradise Island > Rush Hour

Paradise Island > Friends With Money

Paradise Island > The Notebook

Paradise Island < A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Paradise Island < Chicken Little

Paradise Island < The Evil Dead (1981)

Paradise Island < Broken Flowers

Paradise Island > Coogan's Bluff

Final spot: #3620 out of 3830, or 5%.

Over the Garden Wall (2014)

IMDb plot summary: Two brothers find themselves lost in a mysterious land and try to find their way home.

Directed by Katie Krentz and Patrick McHale. Starring Elijah Wood, Collin Dean, and Melanie Lynskey.

Over the Garden Wall is a TV miniseries of short animated episodes following two lost boys trying to find their way back home and encountering a series of strange characters and situations along the way. It's been a stable of my husband's autumn rewatches for years, and so while I've seen pieces of it just from being in the same room, this was the first time I actually sat down and paid attention to it, and I'm so glad I did. It's such a delightful mix of charming and creepy, and Greg is one of the most immediately likable characters I've ever seen in animation. Each episode feels very thematically connected to the rest, without ever feeling like it's too repetitive. And, of course, the songs are a ton of fun, especially now that I get to hear them in their proper context. I finally get the hype around this one and am glad I finally made space to watch it for real.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Over the Garden Wall > The Blues Brothers

Over the Garden Wall > Dark Passage

Over the Garden Wall > The White Tiger

Over the Garden Wall < The Great Dictator

Over the Garden Wall > The Gods Must Be Crazy

Over the Garden Wall > Bicycle Thieves

Over the Garden Wall < 10 Cloverfield Lane

Over the Garden Wall < My Neighbor Totoro

Over the Garden Wall < The Apartment

Over the Garden Wall > Rashomon

Over the Garden Wall > Chaplin

Final spot: #290 out of 3829, or 92%.

Follow Thru (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Club champion Lora Moore loses a golf match to a woman from another golf club. Then Jerry Downs, a handsome golf pro, and his goofy friend Jack Martin show up. Lora takes him on as her golf teacher to work on her putt. She falls for him, but so do several other women. Meanwhile, Lora's friend Angie Howard chases after Jack. A lot of silliness ensues.

Directed by Lloyd Corrigan and Laurence Schwab. Starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Nancy Carroll, and Zelma O'Neal.

Follow Thru is a 1930 romantic comedy about a talented female golfer pretending she doesn't know anything about it so the famous golfer she's in love with will teach her. It's an early color musical and is a surprising look at female athletes in the 30s. While the individual pieces of this don't necessarily stand out as anything special, the concept of the story is a lot more interesting than most of the 1930 romances I've been watching. My biggest beef with this movie, though, is the almost unwatchably irritating subplot where Jack Haley is unable to talk to women. I found it, as the kiddos say or have said, so "cringe" that I did actually wince a few times when the character reappeared on screen. So overall, while I wanted to appreciate what this film was bringing, there weren't enough positives and at least one enormous negative that pulled it down.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Follow Thru < The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Follow Thru > Beauty and the Bestie

Follow Thru < No Highway in the Sky

Follow Thru < Master Harold and the Boys (2010)

Follow Thru > The Forger

Follow Thru > Code 46

Follow Thru > Hide and Seek

Follow Thru > Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Follow Thru > The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Follow Thru > The Limey

Follow Thru > Paradise

Follow Thru > Murder!

Final spot: #2632 out of 3828, or 31%.

The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)

IMDb plot summary: An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.

Directed by William Keighley. Starring Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, and Monty Woolley.

The Man Who Came to Dinner follows a famous but ill-tempered writer (played by Monty Woolley) who ends up injuring himself in a small rural town and needing to stay there through the holidays. We watch him making unreasonable demands of his hosts, inserting himself into their business, and disrupting their lives. This is clearly meant as a comedy, but Bette Davis as the author's longsuffering assistant is the only person we can really root for in this story, and she's one of the ones who goes through the most emotional turmoil at the hands of her boss, so I mostly found myself feeling bad for her and hating our titular man who came to dinner. I think there's supposed to be a begrudging "he's the worst but it's all going to work out" love-hate relationship with him, but I just hated him, and it made it hard to buy into any level of heartwarming the ending is meant to be. The dialogue is witty and there are some good one-liners in here, but other than that, it doesn't work for me as a story, much less a holiday story, and I'm not likely to rewatch it any time soon.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Man Who Came to Dinner < The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Man Who Came to Dinner > National Treasure: Book of Secrets

The Man Who Came to Dinner < No Highway in the Sky

The Man Who Came to Dinner > Murder!

The Man Who Came to Dinner > Rancho Notorious

The Man Who Came to Dinner < Bully

The Man Who Came to Dinner > Hal King

The Man Who Came to Dinner < Ready Player One

The Man Who Came to Dinner < Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

The Man Who Came to Dinner > No Sudden Move

The Man Who Came to Dinner > Night Falls on Manhattan

The Man Who Came to Dinner < Coraline

Final spot: #2475 out of 3827, or 35%.

Barbie (2023)

IMDb plot summary: Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.
Directed by Greta Gerwig. Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and America Ferrera.

I'd be surprised if anyone doesn't know the gist of the Barbie movie, but here goes: It's Greta Gerwig's take on adapting the classic children's doll to a film narrative. We follow Margot Robbie as "Classic Barbie" in Barbieland as she has a bit of an existential crisis and has to enter the real world to find her purpose again. Gerwig and I seldom see eye-to-eye in her films, and that mostly holds true here when it comes to her female leads. Ryan Gosling as Ken absolutely steals the show here, with a far more compelling character arc than Barbie or almost any of her female co-leads, and it's no shade on Robbie, who is a talented actress. Gerwig's experience of femininity is just so drastically different than my own that I don't connect to Barbie any more than I did Lady Bird or her version of Jo March. That being said, it is a very *fun* movie, with lots of jokes that perfectly land and some gorgeous atmospheric set design. It's worth watching just for the sets and costumes alone, and if your style of storytelling meshes with Gerwig, I'd imagine it'd be an even more enjoyable ride. But ultimately, I admire it from a little bit of an emotional distance.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Barbie > The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Barbie < Key Largo

Barbie > The Tragedy of Macbeth

Barbie > The Country Girl

Barbie > Auntie Mame

Barbie > Father of the Bride (1991)

Barbie > National Lampoon's Vacation

Barbie < The Menu

Barbie > The Palm Beach Story

Barbie < H.M.S. Defiant

Barbie < Leaving Las Vegas

Barbie > Feet First

Final spot: #976 out of 3826, or 74%.

The Faculty (1998)

IMDb plot summary: When Casey Connor, Herrington High School's newspaper photographer, witnesses the murder of a nurse and sees her alive again, he decides to investigate the bizarre happenings.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Starring Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, and Laura Harris.

The Faculty is a light horror thriller set inside a high school where aliens are taking over -- well, the faculty. A small group of students figure it out and try to find a way to defeat them before they take over the whole school and then the world. This is exactly the goofy gooey teen horror I wanted it to be, with lots of aesthetically fun (if not wholly realistic) effects showing the creatures taking over the teachers' bodies. The character development is light but just fun enough to make it easy to root for our heroes, and they lean in and out of their school stereotypes in some fun and surprising ways, which makes it extra fun when they're trying to figure out which of them may be an alien in disguise. Overall, an enjoyable fluffy watch.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Faculty > Solaris (1968)

The Faculty < Key Largo

The Faculty > The Count of Monte Cristo

The Faculty > Corrina, Corrina

The Faculty < Nerve

The Faculty < Marjorie Prime

The Faculty > After Yang

The Faculty > Cleo from 5 to 7

The Faculty > The Post

The Faculty > A Nightmare on Elm Street

The Faculty > A Christmas Carol (1951)

The Faculty > Pain and Glory

Final spot: #1132 out of 3812, or 70%.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (1974)

IMDb plot summary: Four armed men hijack a New York City subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. The city's police are faced with a conundrum: Even if it's paid, how could they get away?

Directed by Joseph Sargent. Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, and Martin Balsam.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is the story of a train that is hijacked by four criminals and the law enforcement officials trying to get the hostages released. It's a pretty engaging story as thrillers go. I was particularly interested in how it showed all the many, many bureaucratic threads that intertwine to keep things up and running, and how difficult it is to keep life going when something falls apart. I do wish that in all that jumping from viewpoint to viewpoint and seeing everyone's response to the hostage-taking, that we got a little bit more of the hostages themselves at the center of this crisis. We get the smallest glimpse into their lives and it really would have turned up the human aspect of the tension if we had gotten to know them a bit better. That being said, though, it's an interesting film, if emotionally distant, and definitely worth it for fans of the genre.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > The Last Dragon

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Juno and the Paycock

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three < We're No Angels (1955)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three < Catfish

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three < Metal Lords

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Ghostbusters (1984)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Singles

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Sweet Smell of Success

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Ballet Shoes

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Ping Pong Playa

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three > Lady Bird

Final spot: #1369 out of 3810, or 64%.

The Woman King (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Starring Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, and Lashana Lynch.

The Woman King is inspired by the true story of the Agojie, a group of all-female warriors in West Africa. Viola Davis plays their general, and we see her train new recruits, lead battles against threats, and reveal pieces of her mysterious past. This movie looks great, with rich cinematography, costuming, and lighting in a way that highlights the near-legendary status of these warriors. At the end of the day, though, this is a very good movie that is just mostly not for me. It's political historical action, and while I love that it focuses its attention on characters who don't usually get the spotlight, the tropes of those genres are still very much present and fail to hold my interest for long. Davis is, of course, always excellent in any role she tackles, and it's worth watching even just for her. If you have any interest in this part of history or just want to see an action movie set somewhere different, this is one to check out.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Woman King > The Blues Brothers

The Woman King < Key Largo

The Woman King < The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Woman King < The Glass Menagerie

The Woman King < 12 Angry Men (1997)

The Woman King > How I Live Now

The Woman King > I Am Legend

The Woman King < The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The Woman King < Gold Diggers of 1933

The Woman King > Deceiver

The Woman King > Celeste and Jesse Forever

The Woman King < Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

Final spot: #1817 out of 3825, or 52%.

Blood Freak (1972)

IMDb plot summary: A biker gets a job at a turkey farm and agrees to act as guinea pig for some chemicals that need tested, failing to anticipate the murderous side effects.

Directed by Brad F. Grinter. Starring Steve Hawkes, Dana Cullivan, and Randy Grinter.

Blood Freak is a grainy 1970s B-horror movie about a man who becomes a marijuana addict and then, uh... partly turns into a turkey that eats the blood of other addicts. On the surface this sounds like a delightfully wacky premise for a movie, sort of Reefer Madness style, but as far as an actual "bad movie" watching experience, it feels more along the lines of Manos: The Hands of Fate -- mostly slow and tedious and low-quality enough that it's unpleasant to sit through without a group of folks riffing it with you. The video and audio quality are low enough that I frequently struggled to follow what was going on (in fact, I was only fully clear on the plot thanks to Wikipedia) and it's full of dull moralizing about the meaning of the movie that is somehow both overly didactic AND vague. This isn't one that will make it into my regular rotation of cheesy B-movies any time soon.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Blood Freak < The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Blood Freak < Beauty and the Bestie

Blood Freak < Cocktail

Blood Freak > Hidalgo

Blood Freak < Mr. Mom

Blood Freak > Roger Dodger

Blood Freak < Mannequin

Blood Freak < Hollywoodland

Blood Freak > The Wolfman

Blood Freak > Fireproof

Blood Freak < Man of Steel

Final spot: #3514 out of 3824, or 8%.

X (2022)

IMDb plot summary: In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.

Directed by Ti West. Starring Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow.

X is a horror film about a group of young adults who rent out an old mostly-empty farm in which to shoot an adult film, while the owners of the farm lurk around being generally ominous. And then people start dying. It's kind of a vague horror story that leans more into the vibe than into clear narrative answers for anything that's happening, and while that mostly works, I do find myself wishing I had a deeper understanding of what the actual motivation was for any of these character. Without that, though, it's still a semi-interesting slasher pic with a creative atmosphere. And after this and Infinity Pool, I am fully on the Mia Goth train. She brings such an unusual energy to everything she does, and while I forgot about the details of both of these movies pretty quickly after watching them, the image of Mia Goth wandering through the worlds sticks with me. I know I've sworn off franchises, but I am tempted to go ahead and watch Pearl, the companion piece to this one, to see if that is a more satisfying watch than this one.

How it entered my Flickchart:

X < The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

X > National Treasure: Book of Secrets

X > Outbreak

X < The King and I

X > Hellfighters

X > Like Crazy

X > Life of Pi

X < King Kong (2005)

X > Up Tight!

X < Cropsey

X > Belfast

Final spot: #2170 out of 3823, or 43%.

Tremors (1990)

IMDb plot summary: Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.

Directed by Ron Underwood. Starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, and Finn Carter.

Tremors is a fun comedy sci fi thriller about a town that discovers the surrounding desert is full of enormous worms that are starting to attack the citizens. It was especially fun to watch this shortly after Them!, which also features oversized creepy crawlies borne from nuclear experimentation, but where Them! was solemn and cautionary, Tremors is playful and high-energy. We get a beautifully distinct cast of characters, each of whom bring their own perspectives and solutions to the table, and watching them interact and try tactic after tactic to save their town is just such a fun ride. There's not a lot of depth to either plot or character growth, but that's not what the film is trying to do, so it's not missed. While I don't typically lean into gross-out horror, some of the worm death moments are viscerally icky in a way that I really enjoyed -- a couple moments I laughed out loud at how unexpectedly gooey it was. Overall, a delightful watch that I had a good time with.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Tremors > The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Tremors < Elf

Tremors > The Tragedy of Macbeth

Tremors > The Country Girl

Tremors > Auntie Mame

Tremors > Father of the Bride (1991)

Tremors > National Lampoon's Vacation

Tremors < Till Death

Tremors > The Palm Beach Story

Tremors > H.M.S. Defiant

Tremors < The Menu

Final spot: #973 out of 3822, or 75%.

Borrowed Wives (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Peter has to be married by midnight or else his inheritance goes to his uncle... Who happens to live in a "haunted house".

Directed by Frank R. Strayer. Starring Rex Lease, Vera Reynolds, and Paul Hurst.

Borrowed Wives is a 1930 comedy about a man who is set to receive an inheritance from his grandfather as long as he is married by a certain time. He has plans to do so, but his fiancee's plane is delayed and he is forced to find another woman to pose as his new wife at the last minute, and chaos ensues. The plot and stakes in this one are beautifully simple, and they have a great deal of fun playing with all the ways this could go wrong. It's not an incredible or terribly memorable film -- I didn't walk out of this film necessarily remembering any of the specific jokes, but I did have a general sense of having had a good time, and sometimes that's all you need from your movies. It feels very much like one of those infinite playful mysteries that local community theaters put on as a reliable crowdpleaser, and it is that.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Borrowed Wives > The Blues Brothers

Borrowed Wives < In the Name of the Father

Borrowed Wives > Dan in Real Life

Borrowed Wives < The Country Girl

Borrowed Wives > Logan

Borrowed Wives < There Will Be Blood

Borrowed Wives > Moonwalker

Borrowed Wives > Moby Dick

Borrowed Wives > Orgazmo

Borrowed Wives > Monsters Vs. Aliens

Borrowed Wives < Nine to Five

Final spot: #1257 out of 3821, or 67%.

The People Under the Stairs (1991)

IMDb plot summary: Two adults and a juvenile break into a house occupied by a brother and sister and their stolen children. There, they must fight for their lives.

Directed by Wes Craven. Starring Brandon Quintin Adams, Everett McGill, and Wendy Robie.

The People Under the Stairs is a horror film that follows Fool, a young boy who becomes entangled in a nightmarish journey when he breaks into a seemingly abandoned house to steal a valuable coin. The film masterfully weaves social commentary and horror, creating a thought-provoking yet terrifying narrative. Fool stands out among other protagonists in the genre for not only his intelligence but especially his empathy. These surprising traits add depth to the story and make his survival a compelling focal point. Much of the film's brilliance lies in its restraint, revealing only fragments of the disturbing backstory. This enhances the horror, as our imagination fills in the gaps. Another one of the film's strengths is its unexpectedly empowering conclusion, which serves as a satisfying resolution to the characters' struggles. This contrast to traditional horror endings sets "The People Under the Stairs" apart, leaving viewers with a sense of hope and victory. If this is what Wes Craven is capable of, I really have to pay deeper attention to his filmography. This film demonstrates that he can create a film that is both chilling and thought-provoking in all the right ways.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The People Under the Stairs > The Blues Brothers

The People Under the Stairs > Elf

The People Under the Stairs < Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

The People Under the Stairs > Jeopardy

The People Under the Stairs > The Fabelmans

The People Under the Stairs > Black Panther

The People Under the Stairs > Breaking Away

The People Under the Stairs > Grease

The People Under the Stairs > Short Term 12

The People Under the Stairs < Cam

The People Under the Stairs > Network

Final spot: #482 out of 3820, or 87%.

Nate and Hayes (1983)

IMDb plot summary: A swashbuckling adventure which takes place in the mid-1800's on the South Pacific islands where bloody raids and battles were once the rule of the day.

Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe, and Max Phipps.

Nate & Hayes is an adventure film that follows swashbuckling pirate Captain Bully Hayes and his unexpected companion Nate Williams, as they navigate treacherous waters and dangerous foes in the South Pacific. This was part of my watchthrough of John Hughes' screenwriting credits, and I definitely noticed traces of his comedic style sprinkled throughout. Tommy Lee Jones' portrayal of a pirate is... unusual at best, but kind of fascinating, and the film commendably leans into a buddy comedy trope that doesn't rely on "which of us gets the girl." However, despite these unique elements, Nate & Hayes suffers from a lack of depth and ultimately doesn't leave much of an impression. Worse, the film's take on race definitely has not aged well, and it makes several of the scenes of our characters cavorting around quote-unquote "exotic" locations nearly unwatchable. At best it's bland, at worst it's actively unpleasant.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Nate and Hayes < The Blues Brothers

Nate and Hayes < National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Nate and Hayes > Joseph: King of Dreams

Nate and Hayes < A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

Nate and Hayes > Fedora

Nate and Hayes > First Man

Nate and Hayes < The Omen

Nate and Hayes < Avanti!

Nate and Hayes < Diana: The Musical

Nate and Hayes > Alfie (2004)

Nate and Hayes < The Machinist

Final spot: #3158 out of 3819, or 17%.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

IMDb plot summary: Affable hillbillies Tucker and Dale are on vacation at their dilapidated mountain cabin when they are mistaken for murderers by a group of preppy college students.

Directed by Eli Craig. Starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, and Katrina Bowden.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil revolves around two well-intentioned hillbillies, the titular Tucker and Dale, whose vacation takes a nightmarish turn when a series of misunderstandings lead a group of college kids to believe they're psycho killers. The film's comedy really leans into the farcical nature of these misunderstandings with fatal consequences, and it works perfectly. At least one of the death scenes got a genuine out-loud laugh from me. But more surprisingly, the movie stands out for its unexpected depth of empathy. While it plays with the country vs. city stereotypes, it portrays both Tucker and Dale as relatable and endearing characters, while also giving the city kids more complexity than mere caricatures would get. This blend of humor, horror, and heart is perfectly balanced, with comedic moments complementing rather than detracting from the tension. Overall, I'm glad I finally got around to watching Tucker and Dale. It's a delightful and refreshing horror-comedy, proving that a twisted premise and genuine empathy can make for a strangely charming horror experience.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > The Blues Brothers

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > Key Largo

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil < Secretary

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > Jeopardy

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > The Fabelmans

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > The Last Unicorn

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > 56 Up

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > Women Talking

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > The Map of Tiny Perfect Things

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > Network

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > The Legend of 1900

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil > The White Tiger

Final spot: #478 out of 3818, or 87%.

Them! (1954)

IMDb plot summary: The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.

Directed by Gordon Douglas. Starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, and Joan Weldon.

Them! tells the story of a small town in the desert plagued by mysterious deaths, and the team of scientists and researchers who come in to investigate. While it's pretty well-known in pop culture what the cause of all this is, the movie doesn't reveal it until much later in the film, so I'll keep it a surprise in my review. The opening scene with the police picking up a terrified silent young girl wandering along in the desert sets a haunting tone that the rest of the movie doesn't quite hold -- but the movie is still very good. While the dialogue occasionally gets heavy-handed, the movie excels in crafting a sense of mystery with how skillfully it's paced. And it was delightful to see a female researcher given as much expertise as her peers, despite being objectified by other men around her. This was the first in a series of movie recommendations given to me along the theme of "horror movies with social commentary," and it fit that bill perfectly. Definitely worth watching!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Them! > The Gray Man

Them! > Dark Passage

Them! < Secretary

Them! < Jeopardy

Them! > Kismet

Them! > Au Revoir Les Enfants

Them! < Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Them! > Don't Drink the Water

Them! > Picnic at Hanging Rock

Them! < Mildred Pierce

Them! > Split

Final spot: #749 out of 3817, or 80%.

The War Zone (1999)

IMDb plot summary: An alienated teenager, saddened that he has moved away from London, must find a way to deal with a dark family secret.

Directed by Tim Roth. Starring Ray Winstone, Lara Belmont, and Freddie Cunliffe.i

The War Zone is a British drama focusing on a teenage boy who finds out that his older sister is in an incestuous relationship with their father, and how this knowledge begins to tear the family apart. This is a very difficult movie to watch, unsurprisingly with that plot. The core three actors, Lara Belmont, Ray Winstone, and Freddie Cunliffe, turn in some really tremendous performances that make this an even tougher watch because they feel like such real fleshed-out characters. The script doesn't quite stick the landing, and I can't actually imagine wanting to watch it again due to the unpleasant subject matter, but I think it's mostly pretty well done.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The War Zone > The Gray Man

The War Zone < Key Largo

The War Zone < The Family Man

The War Zone < The Trouble with Harry

The War Zone < 12 Angry Men (1997)

The War Zone > Happythankyoumoreplease

The War Zone > Bonnie and Clyde

The War Zone > The Wrestler

The War Zone > Patsy & Loretta

The War Zone < The Last Castle

The War Zone > John Carter

Final spot: #1793 out of 3816, or 53%. This feels low but TCDNL.

Band of Brothers (2001)

IMDb plot summary: The story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.

Starring Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, and Ron Livingston.

Band of Brothers was a ten-episode miniseries following one real-life World War II army platoon throughout the war. The miniseries is impeccably well-made, with clearly a ton of preparation and effort going in to bringing these men's stories to the screen, and following them over the course of the war, seeing who stays, who moves, who lives, and who dies, brings it home in a way it's harder to do in a 90-minute movie. As a result, it was easier for me to get to know the characters than it is in a typical war film. I especially found the final episode very moving, as the soldiers struggle to adjust to life after the war ends. It is definitely an undertaking to watch this, and I don't see myself doing it again any time soon, but I'm glad I made it happen at some point.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Band of Brothers > The Anderson Tapes

Band of Brothers < Safe

Band of Brothers < Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)

Band of Brothers > Liberal Arts

Band of Brothers > Blazing Saddles

Band of Brothers > Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Band of Brothers > The Age of Adaline

Band of Brothers > Creation

Band of Brothers < Die Hard

Band of Brothers > The Romantics

Band of Brothers < The Night Before

Final spot: #1440 out of 3811, or 62%.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

IMDb plot summary: When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game turns deadly in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong.

Directed by Halina Reijn. Starring Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, and Myha'la Herrold.

Bodies Bodies Bodies is a horror comedy about a group of friends spending a weekend at their cabin in the woods who begin to be murdered one by one. This movie got a lot of attention for being EXTREMELY gen Z, and it absolutely is, from the slang to the ever present social media to the constant clarification that people are on the right side of social issues, and while it's lampooning all that, it doesn't feel like it's doing it in a mean-spirited way. Instead, it just ends up being a funny, dark horror comedy, and some of the final climactic scenes where characters learn the truth about each other are truly hilarious. And I'm quite pleased with the way that it ended -- it all just made sense. A fun ride, if one that sometimes feels "a little much," but it wouldn't at all be the same movie if you toned it down.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Bodies Bodies Bodies > Sherlock Holmes

Bodies Bodies Bodies > Dark Passage

Bodies Bodies Bodies < Secretary

Bodies Bodies Bodies < The Pawnbroker

Bodies Bodies Bodies > Kismet

Bodies Bodies Bodies > Au Revoir Les Enfants

Bodies Bodies Bodies < Come From Away

Bodies Bodies Bodies < The Joy Luck Club

Bodies Bodies Bodies > Take This Waltz

Bodies Bodies Bodies > Back to the Future Part III

Bodies Bodies Bodies < Encanto

Final spot: #762 out of 3814, or 80%.

The Seagull (2022)

IMDb plot summary: The Seagull is a filmed performance of the play by Anton Chekhov, in a new version by Anya Reiss, in which a woman leaves Moscow to visit her terminally ill brother.

Directed by Jamie Lloyd. Starring Jason Barnett, Katie Buchholtz, and Emilia Clarke.

The Seagull is an Anton Chekov play considered a classic, and this version I watched was the filmed version of a production at the National Theatre in the UK. The story centers around a lake home in the country, showing us the artists who live there and visit and form connections with each other. I've never really fallen in love with the original, and I'm more interested in the artistic choices here in the abstract than I am to any of the personal aspects of the play. This production focuses entirely on the text, with the actors sitting in chairs in an empty beige box through most of the play. I've also seen Sidney Lumet's more realism-based version of this play, and neither one has really captured my interest. There are so many different things going on and so many threads to follow that I never feel like I can hold onto one of them long enough to care. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Seagull > Sherlock Holmes

The Seagull < Key Largo

The Seagull < The Family Man

The Seagull < The Trouble with Harry

The Seagull < 12 Angry Men (1997)

The Seagull > Broken Blossoms

The Seagull < Bonnie and Clyde

The Seagull < Beverly Hills Cop

The Seagull < The Matrix Reloaded

The Seagull > The Score

The Seagull > Mr. Nice Guy

The Seagull < Drunken Master

Final spot: #1842 out of 3815, or 52%.

Men Without Women (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Navy divers clear the torpedo tube of a sunken submarine.

Directed by John Ford. Starring Kenneth MacKenna, Frank Albertson, and J. Farrell MacDonald.

Men Without Women is a curious title for this film, because the women-less-ness of these men has no bearing on their plight. These men are, in fact, trapped in a submarine that is running out of oxygen, trying to communicate with the outside world. This is an early John Ford and while it's not as smooth as some of his later films, it definitely captures the claustrophobia of these men and how easy it is for their panic to lead them to make terrible decisions. It's been rare so far for my 1930 films to really capture much of a sense of tension, but this one is pretty effective at that, as well as helping us get to know some of the individual men trapped down here so we can be rooting for them on a personal level.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Men Without Women > Solaris (1968)

Men Without Women < Dark Passage

Men Without Women > The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

Men Without Women > Corrina, Corrina

Men Without Women < Nerve

Men Without Women < Marjorie Prime

Men Without Women > Wonder Man

Men Without Women > Friday the 13th

Men Without Women < Leave No Trace

Men Without Women > Superlopez

Men Without Women > The Post

Final spot: #1140 out of 3813, or 70%.

Cairo Station (1958)

IMDb plot summary: A newspaper salesman at the train station in Cairo develops an unhealthy obsession with a woman who sells refreshments.

Directed by Youssef Chahine. Starring Farid Shaqi, Hind Rustum, and Youssef Chahine.

Cairo Station is set at a busy train station in Egypt in the 1950s, where we follow the lives of a few vendors at the station, most notably a newspaper seller and the beautiful drink vendor he becomes obsessed with, even though she is engaged to another man. This is, to my knowledge, my first Egyptian film I've ever seen, and I found it really captivating. It digs into the characters' darker motivations in a beautifully nuanced way that we don't always see in 1950s cinema. It's a lot more interesting than I've found a lot of similar crime-drama films to be.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Cairo Station > The Anderson Tapes

Cairo Station < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Cairo Station < Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)

Cairo Station > Liberal Arts

Cairo Station < Aliens

Cairo Station > Rabbit Hole

Cairo Station > The Majestic

Cairo Station > Captains Courageous

Cairo Station > Albert Nobbs

Cairo Station < The Informer

Cairo Station > Sundown

Final spot: #1552 out of 3809, or 59%.

The Trial (1962)

IMDb plot summary: An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.

Directed by Orson Welles. Starring Anthony Perkins, Arnoldo Foà, and Jess Hahn.

The Trial is a film adaptation of Franz Kafka's story of a man who abruptly finds himself on trial for a crime, but nobody will tell him what he's accused of. This version is directed by Orson Welles and stars Anthony Perkins as the condemned man, although Welles plays an important supporting character. While typically surreal movies aren't my jam, this one definitely evokes a dreamlike sense of terror, at least throughout the first half. It always teases just enough clear answers that it does feel jarring and disorienting when they all just disappear, and I found that effective. The second half got deeper into the philosophy of the story and started losing my interest. But I did find myself more interested in the first portion than I anticipated, so that was a nice surprise.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Trial < The Last Dragon

The Trial > Frantic

The Trial > For Your Consideration

The Trial > Love Me Tonight

The Trial > Kate

The Trial < The Last Castle

The Trial > A Lady to Love

The Trial < To Be or Not to Be (1942)

The Trial > The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)

The Trial > My Girl

The Trial < Malignant

Final spot: #1982 out of 3808, or 48%.

Infinity Pool (2023)

IMDb plot summary: James and Em Foster are enjoying an all-inclusive beach vacation in the fictional island of La Tolqa, when a fatal accident exposes the resort's perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence and surreal horrors.

Directed by Brandon Cronenberg. Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, and Cleopatra Coleman.

Infinity Pool is a difficult movie to describe the plot of without immediately getting into spoilers, but basically it's about a man on vacation in a foreign country who gets in trouble with the law, only to find himself drawn into a dark world of reckless cruelty. This is a movie I came to begrudgingly like after reading some analyses of it afterwards, but in the moment of watching it I found it needlessly confusing and couldn't process what I was supposed to get out of it. After letting it sit and reading other people's takes on it, it clicked a little bit more and does make me want to rewatch it with a clearer understanding of the narrative. And regardless of my negative first impression, I want to say that Mia Goth is an absolutely fascinating new actress. This was the first thing I've seen her in and while I didn't love the movie, I definitely wanted to see more of her. She's got such a uniquely charismatic look that she uses to the max in this film and kept me interested even when I wasn't drawn to the rest of the story.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Infinity Pool < The Anderson Tapes

Infinity Pool > The Killing

Infinity Pool > Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

Infinity Pool > Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Infinity Pool < Kate

Infinity Pool < Vanya on 42nd Street

Infinity Pool > The Fox and the Hound

Infinity Pool < The Devil Wears Prada

Infinity Pool < Swing Time

Infinity Pool > Lost in America

Infinity Pool > Death on the Nile (2022)

Infinity Pool > You'll Never Get Rich

Final spot: #2105 out of 3807, or 45%.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

IMDb plot summary: On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.

Directed by Satoshi Kon. Starring Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, and Aya Okamoto.

Tokyo Godfathers is an animated Japanese film about three homeless people on the streets of Japan who find themselves taking care of an abandoned baby at Christmastime. As they wander around trying to figure out what to do with this child, we learn more about their individual back stories and how they interact with each other. Some of these stories are definitely more interesting than other, but all the stories feel rich, and it did pique my interest in going back to rewatch it sometime. The kindness and love at the center of the film make it a good fit for the holiday season, despite the dark plotlines of loss and poverty at the heart of it. When it comes to my personal reaction, though, it's something I admire more than subjectively enjoy, though I think it's definitely one that could grow on me on another viewing or two, and I would like to give it that chance.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Tokyo Godfathers > The Anderson Tapes

Tokyo Godfathers > The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Tokyo Godfathers < Six Degrees of Separation

Tokyo Godfathers > Onward

Tokyo Godfathers < The Jungle Book (1967)

Tokyo Godfathers > 5 Centimeters Per Second

Tokyo Godfathers < Summer Wars

Tokyo Godfathers > Cats and Dogs

Tokyo Godfathers < Werewolves Within

Tokyo Godfathers < Eat Drink Man Woman

Tokyo Godfathers > Loving Vincent

Tokyo Godfathers < The Fugitive Kind

Final spot: #637 out of 3807, or 83%.

The Unholy Three (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A trio of former sideshow performers double as the "Unholy Three" in a scam to nab some shiny rocks.

Directed by Jack Conway. Starring Lon Chaney, Lila Lee, and Elliott Nugent.

The Unholy Three follows three circus performers -- a little person, a ventriloquist, and a strong man -- who leave the circus after their sideshow is shut down and band together to commit crimes, disguised as a family running a pet shop. This certainly is a more exciting premise than a lot of the crime films I've seen from 1930, leaning heavily into melodrama and elaborate costumes (the ventriloquist disguises himself as a kindly grandmother, and the little person as her baby grandchild). It's a remake of a silent film by Tod Browning, who was later known for the film Freaks, and like that film, the premise of this one treads the line between being respectful of folks who worked at the sideshow and being exploitative. But overall I think it does a good job of letting them be villains without letting their "otherness" MAKE them villains, and overall they come across as full characters more often than not. It's not a film for everyone, but I enjoyed it -- it felt different from other films of the era, and I appreciated a story I hadn't seen told yet.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Unholy Three > The Anderson Tapes

The Unholy Three < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Unholy Three > Cafe Society

The Unholy Three < We're No Angels (1955)

The Unholy Three > Secret Window

The Unholy Three > Andhadhun

The Unholy Three > The French Dispatch

The Unholy Three > I and You

The Unholy Three > Whisky Galore!

The Unholy Three < The Mummy (1932)

The Unholy Three > Maria Full of Grace

Final spot: #1194 out of 3806, or 69%.

Maria Full of Grace (2004)

IMDb plot summary: A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately-needed money for her family.

Directed by Joshua Marston. Starring Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez, and Orlando Tobon.

Maria Full of Grace is a story about a 17 year old girl from Colombia who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and is shortly thereafter fired from her job. She ultimately decides to take on work as a drug mule to help support herself and her family. This is certainly a harrowing story, and the image of her swallowing these large packages that could burst inside her at any moment, killing her, is going to stick with me for a long time. The film treads an interesting line between hopelessness and hopefulness, but it doesn't feel it any point like the film is milking it for us to feel bad for these characters. We just see things going badly for them. The slightly distanced viewpoint actually allows me to feel even more connected to these characters because I don't feel like they are being used to send a message or an idea. While there's obviously not a pure happily ever after for the situation, the story ends with some optimism about the characters, and I appreciated that. Our lead actress is really stupendous -- I believe she earned an Academy Award nomination for this, and that is well deserved. A worthwhile movie to see.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Maria Full of Grace > Wrong Turn

Maria Full of Grace < The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Maria Full of Grace > Begin Again

Maria Full of Grace < We're No Angels (1955)

Maria Full of Grace > The Edge of Heaven

Maria Full of Grace > The Absent-Minded Professor

Maria Full of Grace > Full Metal Jacket

Maria Full of Grace > Ice Age

Maria Full of Grace > Cargo

Maria Full of Grace < The Mummy (1932)

Maria Full of Grace > Ghost World

Final spot: #1194 out of 3805, or 69%. That seems a little low, but TCDNL.

Borderline (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A black woman having an adulterous affair with a white man causes his wife to go mad and re-enforces the towns-folk's prejudice.

Directed by Kenneth MacPherson. Starring Paul Robeson, Eslanda Robeson, and Hilda Doolittle.

Borderline is a 1930 avant-garde film exploring the issue of interracial relationships. For many years it was considered lost but a copy was apparently discovered in Switzerland by accident in 1983. It's definitely a very interesting piece of cinema history and probably worth the watch just for that reason alone. That being said, it's not particularly one that I would watch out of narrative interest or outside of its context in the history of film. It's deliberately disjointed and dreamlike, which is a style that holds very little interest for me no matter how it is used, and I have to assume that in alienating me it is functioning exactly the way that it wants to. There are certainly many striking visuals here, and the soundtrack that was accompanying it in the version I saw absolutely lends itself to the frustrated chaos of the characters. If any of this sounds interesting to you, it's almost certainly one that you should try to find and check out. If it doesn't, it's probably not going to surprise you by being something it's not.

How it entered my Flickchrt:

Borderline < The Anderson Tapes

Borderline > Little Lord Fauntleroy

Borderline < Adam

Borderline < Paint Your Wagon

Borderline > Gozu

Borderline < King Kong (1933)

Borderline < Two for the Money

Borderline < Lovelace

Borderline < Luther

Borderline > Captain America: Civil War

Borderline > 12 Days of Terror

Borderline > Dear Evan Hansen

Final spot: #2727 out of 3804, or 28%.

Hollywood Stargirl (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Stargirl Caraway as she journeys out of Mica into a bigger world of music, dreams and possibility.

Directed by Julia Hart. Starring Grace VanderWaal, Elijah Richardson, and Judy Greer.

Hollywood Stargirl is a Disney coming-of-age story about a high schooler who moves to a new town and works to make new friends and follow her dreams of being a musician. This is apparently a sequel to Stargirl, which in turn is based on a fairly well-known young adult novel that I've never read, but I'm curious as to whether the character in the novel is as insufferable as the movie. This is the definition of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, set up initially to be somebody who has trouble connecting with others but within a day or two of living in a new place has diehard friends, because she's just so magical people are drawn to her. Now, granted, the actress playing her is extremely charismatic and sells the character as much as I think anyone could, and this does feel more like one of Disney's theatrical releases than a straight-to-streaming optionin terms of how the story is structured. However, it still is moving so many mountains to make things just fall into place for this character that she never gets an actual character arc that makes any sense. I might have identified more with this when I was the main character's age, but I think even then I would have realized how unrelatable she was to me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hollywood Stargirl < The Anderson Tapes

Hollywood Stargirl > Susannah of the Mounties

Hollywood Stargirl < Adam

Hollywood Stargirl > Bandidas

Hollywood Stargirl < Doctor Zhivago

Hollywood Stargirl > Bronson

Hollywood Stargirl < August: Osage County

Hollywood Stargirl > A Dangerous Method

Hollywood Stargirl < The Fighter

Hollywood Stargirl < The Fifth Element

Hollywood Stargirl < Hitch

Hollywood Stargirl < The Lords of Salem

Final spot: #2540 out of 3803, or 33%.

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

IMDb plot summary: A young German soldier's terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.

Directed by Edward Berger. Starring Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, and Aaron Hilmer.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a 2022 German adaptation of the book of the same name, following a young German Soldier and his troop during World War I. It shows the young boys being indoctrinated into agreeing to fight for their country, as well as their loss of idealism once they get into the thick of it and realize that they are being manipulated for someone else's power grab. I had just recently rewatched the 1930 version of this story before watching this one, and while both are good, I think I prefer the earlier version. It digs a little bit more heavily into the psyche of the character and feels a little less reliant on gruesome battle scenes. That being said, this is a pretty solid movie. I'm not sure if it adds anything to the anti-war film ouevre that hasn't already been said, although considering that the original book was written by a German, it's nice to get a version finally adapted by German filmmakers. This cinematography is good, the acting is good, there's not much if anything wrong with it. It doesn't feel like a new story by any means but it's a well-told one.

How it entered my Flickchart:

All Quiet on the Western Front > The Last Dragon

All Quiet on the Western Front > Susannah of the Mounties

All Quiet on the Western Front > Adam

All Quiet on the Western Front > Steamboat Bill, Jr.

All Quiet on the Western Front > Downfall

All Quiet on the Western Front < Star Trek: Nemesis

All Quiet on the Western Front < Strawberry and Chocolate

All Quiet on the Western Front < Hopscotch

All Quiet on the Western Front > Mrs. Miniver

All Quiet on the Western Front > Maverick

All Quiet on the Western Front > The Librarian: Quest for the Spear

All Quiet on the Western Front > The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (1988)

Final spot: #2006 out of 3802, or 47%. That feels unexpectedly low but TCDNL.

The Forger (2012)

IMDb plot summary: A teenager wanders into Carmel, California, where he is soon introduced to the art-forgery community.

Directed by Lawrence Roeck. Starring Lauren Bacall, Josh Hutcherson, and Alfred Molina.

The Forger stars Josh Hutcherson as a troubled teenager whose mom has gone missing and Alfred Molina as the grumpy renowned artist who thinks Hutcherson shows some talent. Of course, as the title of the film implies, Molina doesn't actually want to mentor Hutcherson so much as put him to work on creating art forgeries. For such an interesting cast, that includes Molina and Lauren Bacall, this actually ends up being a very boring film. The stakes are extremely muddy throughout, and it offers neither insight into these characters' personal development nor a glimpse into the world of art forgery or even the world of being an artist. It's primarily a script problem, so even some very good actors cannot make this work. What we're left with is the most mediocre of mediocre movies that barely even attempts to do anything interesting. This one can be skipped.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Forger < The Last Dragon

The Forger > Susannah of the Mounties

The Forger < Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

The Forger < Paint Your Wagon

The Forger > Snakes on a Plane

The Forger < King Kong (1933)

The Forger < Two for the Money

The Forger < Lovelace

The Forger > Dear Evan Hansen

The Forger < Andrei Rublev

The Forger < The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach

The Forger > Luther

Final spot: #2723 out of 3801, or 28%.

The Black Pirate (1926)

IMDb plot summary: Seeking revenge, an athletic young man joins the pirate band responsible for his father's death.

Directed by Albert Parker. Starring Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, and Tempe Pigott.

The Black Pirate is a silent action adventure film starring Douglas Fairbanks as a young man who joins a group of pirates to get revenge for them murdering his father. Silent adventure films are very much not my genre, as I often have difficulty tracking visual movement without any sound to help me process what's going on, but if I'm going to watch a silent adventure film, I absolutely want it to be one that stars Douglas Fairbanks. Everything I've ever seen him in, he is so dynamic and uses his physicality to its absolute maximum. He reminds me a little bit in an odd way of Toshiro Mifune, another actor who is very skilled at using his physical charisma to heighten the story in the character. Even if the story itself didn't do a lot for me, I'm always happy to spend an hour or two watching Fairbanks jump around. A worthwhile performance to watch, even if the movie as a whole didn't quite speak to me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Black Pirate < The Last Dragon

The Black Pirate > Susannah of the Mounties

The Black Pirate > Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

The Black Pirate > Wind River

The Black Pirate > The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

The Black Pirate < Star Trek: Nemesis

The Black Pirate > A Lady to Love

The Black Pirate < To Be Or Not to Be (1942)

The Black Pirate < A Delicate Balance

The Black Pirate < As It Is in Heaven

The Black Pirate > Spider-Man: Homecoming

The Black Pirate < Meet John Doe

Final spot: #1986 out of 3800, or 48%.

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

IMDb plot summary: Although wife and mother Mabel is loved by her husband Nick, her mental illness places a strain on the marriage.

Directed by John Cassavetes. Starring Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, and Fred Draper.

A Woman Under the Influence is a John Cassavetes film starring Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands as a working class couple with children. Rowlands clearly has some mental instability,  possibly something like bipolar disorder, given that we see what appear to be both manic and depressive episodes, but Falk has no idea how to deal with it. Worst of all, his big concern seems to be primarily how this will reflect on him in the workplace in the community. I have not yet found a Cassavetes film that I like... until this one. It's just as early mumblecore as all of his others, but for the first time I could track the characters and their frustrations and their motivations. Geina Rowlands is truly tremendous in this. Her character is clearly so unwell, but all of her husband's suggestions for dealing with it are so obviously going to make things worse, and it's impossible not to be on her side as she desperately tries to keep herself together so that she can stay with her children. There are a slew of other characters, doctors and coworkers and children, who fade in and out of the story, but the focus is always on the couple, and they are the ones who really captivate. Absolutely worth a watch. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

A Woman Under the Influence > The Anderson Tapes

A Woman Under the Influence > Dark Passage

A Woman Under the Influence > Six Degrees of Separation

A Woman Under the Influence < The Great Dictator

A Woman Under the Influence > The Gods Must Be Crazy

A Woman Under the Influence < Petite Maman

A Woman Under the Influence < It Follows

A Woman Under the Influence < Nosferatu

A Woman Under the Influence < The Producers (2005)

A Woman Under the Influence > Adaptation

A Woman Under the Influence < Nativity!

A Woman Under the Influence < Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar

Final spot: #352 out of 3799, or 91%.

The Deep (1977)

IMDb plot summary: In Bermuda, two amateur treasure-hunting divers have a run-in with local criminals when they inadvertently discover the secret cargo of a World War II shipwreck.

Directed by Peter Yates. Starring Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte, and Dick Anthony Williams.

The Deep was next on my Peter Yates watchlist. It tells the story of a couple on a diving expedition on their vacation who discovered some mysterious artifacts that then get them entangled in the middle of a big dramatic smuggling plot.  There are definitely some nice tense scenes involving the efforts to find more artifacts under the water, but my enjoyment of the film was largely hampered by how unlikable a character our lead is. He's played by Nick Nolte, who I've never been a huge fan of, but here he really leans into the ygly American stereotypes in a way where I'm mostly just rooting for him to lose the artifact and get sent back home. I will admit that this is mostly a personal preference, that his character just entirely rubs me the wrong way and I can't quite get over it. It might be worth watching the rest of the movie for some of the action sequences, but the plot and the acting and the writing are not going to be what recommends it primarily. This one definitely lands lower on my list of films by Yates.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Deep < The Last Dragon

The Deep > Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex...

The Deep < Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

The Deep > Bandidas

The Deep < Doctor Zhivago

The Deep > Bronson

The Deep > August: Osage County

The Deep < Spinning Into Butter

The Deep < Prisoners

The Deep < Whoopee!

The Deep < And Then There Were None (1945)

The Deep > High Society

Final spot: #2520 out of 3798, or 34%.

The Ice Storm (1997)

IMDb plot summary: In suburban New Canaan, Connecticut, 1973, middle-class families experimenting with casual sex and substance abuse find their lives beyond their control.

Directed by Ang Lee. Starring Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, and Sigourney Weaver.

The Ice Storm is a talky family drama that feels very much like a Tennessee Williams kind of script, where all the characters are miserable and all of them are having affairs with everybody else... and I just don't care about any of them. This is despite a really solid cast, including Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, and a young Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci. I did have medium-high hopes for this one but it just all sits in such a drudgery that I couldn't get into it. For this kind of thing to work I have to either really intellectually care about the themes or find a connection to the characters in some way or be given smart and thoughtful dialogue, and while I could see this attempting to do all three of those things, none of them ever really land. I'm not sure this is a bad movie so much is just one that is absolutely not for me. I would definitely be curious to hear from people who are big fans of this one because it feels like something that would have fans. I'm just not one of them.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Ice Storm < The Last Dragon

The Ice Storm > Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex...

The Ice Storm < Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

The Ice Storm > Bandidas

The Ice Storm > Doctor Zhivago

The Ice Storm > Ralph Breaks the Internet

The Ice Storm > Hitchcock

The Ice Storm < Withnail & I

The Ice Storm < Revolutionary Road

The Ice Storm < Kindergarten Cop

The Ice Storm < Matchstick Men

The Ice Storm > Sideways

Final spot: #2401 out of 3797, or 37%.

Paid (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Mary Turner goes up for three years on a crime she didn't commit. Once out she and former prison mates plan a scam in which old men can be sued for breach of promise - the "heart balm" racket.

Directed by Sam Wood. Starring Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, and Marie Prevost.

Paid stars a very young Joan Crawford as a woman who is sent away to prison for a crime she didn't commit. When she's finally let out, she vows to take her revenge on the male species as a whole by running a series of scams in which she romances older men and then sues them for breach of contract. While the plot for this one didn't really stand out among the (surprisingly large) number of women-in-prison stories from 1930 that I've seen so far, Joan Crawford is very good in it, unsurprisingly. She's definitely leaning into an earlier 1930 style of melodramatic film acting, but there is a genuineness to her portrayal that makes her character really relatable, and it's easy to root for her as she goes about her nefarious plans. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to those who aren't already Crawford fans, as it doesn't offer a whole lot else, but she's worth checking out in this.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Paid < Bad Education

Paid > Pepito and the Magic Lamp

Paid > Adam

Paid < Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Paid > The War

Paid > The Jerk

Paid > The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Paid < Skylark

Paid > Je t'aime, je t'aime

Paid < The Hoober-Bloob Highway

Paid > The English Patient

Final spot: #2154 out of 3795, or 43%.

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known (2022)

IMDb plot summary: Fifteen years after the Tony-winning Broadway run of Spring Awakening, the original cast and creative team reunite for a spectacular, one night only concert.

Directed by Michael John Warren. Starring Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, and John Gallagher Jr.

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known is a documentary focusing on a reunion of the original cast of the musical Spring Awakening for a concert performance fifteen years after its Broadway run. Virtually the entire original cast, down to the minor characters and ensemble, were available to reunite, so we get some really great interviews with all of these cast members, many of whom hadn't made a name for themselves when they were first in this show and are now regularly working actors. They reflect on the show's journey to Broadway and its impact on musical theater for teenage audiences. I've never actually been a fan of Spring Awakening but I appreciated the layout of the documentary, where we would get a good mix of information about the show, mixed with video footage of the original performance, mixed with footage of the concert, all of which did a really great job of selling the show and its themes and its importance. It almost made me want to go see the show, which is about as high a compliment as you could get for something like this. For those who are much bigger fans of either the show or the people involved I'm sure this is very much a love letter for them. As it is, I'm not sure it's an essential Broadway documentary but it certainly an earnest one, and I appreciate the enthusiasm with which all these characters view this work.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known > Bad Education

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known < Key Largo

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known < Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known > Liberal Arts

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known < Aliens

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known < Knight and Day

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known > The Wedding Singer

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known > Junebug

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known < Quiz Show

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known > The Act of Killing

Spring Awakening: Those You've Known > Jackie

Final spot: #1608 out of 3791, or 58%.