Hit Man (2023)

IMDb plot summary: A professor moonlighting as a hit man of sorts for his city police department, descends into dangerous, dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to a woman who enlists his services.

Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, and Austin Amelio.

Hit Man stars Glen Powell as a mild-mannered philosophy professor who gets an unexpected side career as a fake hit man who turns his clients into the cops once they hire him. However, things take a turn when he ends up developing feelings for one of his clients and they become involved. This is a fairly entertaining movie, largely for Powell's work -- yes, after this I can see why he suddenly became the enormous star he did. He plays all his various parts extremely well, including his "core self" who is dull and boring. Richard Linklater directs this, and you can definitely see his interest in humans and how they behave shining through this story. That being said, it is more of a flash-in-the-pan movie for me, that I enjoyed while it ran and then mostly forgot once it was over, aside from Powell's impressive performance. Totally watchable but not necessarily memorable for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hit Man > Le voyage au Groenland

Hit Man < Anna Karenina

Hit Man < The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Hit Man > Secret in Their Eyes

Hit Man > Chaos Theory

Hit Man > Talk Radio

Hit Man < The Salesman

Hit Man > George Takei's Allegiance

Hit Man < Saltburn

Hit Man < Joker

Hit Man < Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

Hit Man < Battle Royale

Final spot: #1536 out of 3973, or 61%.

Teen Beach Movie (2013)

IMDb plot summary: Two surfing lovers, whose doomed relationship is nearing to a close, find themselves swept into a dimension-traversing wave that sends them into a beach movie musical in the 60's.

Directed by Jeffrey Hornaday. Starring Ross Lynch, Maia Mitchell, and Gracie Gillam.

Teen Beach Movie is a musical about a teenage surfer couple who are about to break up because the girl is going to finish high school at an elite boarding school. The day she's supposed to leave, the two get caught in a bizarre ocean storm that lands them in the middle of the boy's favorite movie: a 1950s teen beach musical. The two have to figure out how to get back home. This was a slow start for me, but once the teens actually end up in the past, it suddenly became so much more fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from there forward. It's got a great meta sense of humor while also thoroughly embracing the musical numbers. The songs are extremely well-written and very dynamically choreographed, which brings so much life to the story. The dialogue is pretty solid in its parody style, and the actors playing the feuding surfers and bikers absolutely nail the over-the-top acting style. The actual plot is much less interesting than the little side quests to sing and dance, so whenever it gets plot heavy I tune out a bit, but overall there is more than enough to like in this silly little movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Teen Beach Movie > Le voyage au Groenland

Teen Beach Movie < Safe

Teen Beach Movie > The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Teen Beach Movie > All the Best: Fun Begins

Teen Beach Movie > Cats (2019)

Teen Beach Movie > Beyond the Sea

Teen Beach Movie > Barton Fink

Teen Beach Movie < Leaving Las Vegas

Teen Beach Movie > A Room With a View

Teen Beach Movie > The Nice Guys

Teen Beach Movie > Barbie

Final spot: #1010 out of 3972, or 75%.

The China Syndrome (1979)

IMDb plot summary: A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.

Directed by James Bridges. Starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas.

The China Syndrome is a suspense thriller from the 1970s in which Jane Fonda plays a TV anchorwoman who is touring a nuclear plant when she and her cameraman managed to catch on film a near-miss accident. The plant assures everybody that nobody was ever in actual danger, but Fonda and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) are not convinced of this, and they tried to approach the manager on the floor (Jack Lemmon), who is also beginning to think there might be a cover-up. This is definitely steeped deeply in the fear of nuclear power, which was definitely more present the 1970s than it is now, and as such it feels a little paranoid, but it definitely addresses that the issue is hasty or sloppy fixes more than the inherent instability of the system itself. Lemmon is unsurprisingly the star here, with the final third of the film working especially well and keeping the energy tense through to the very end. While Fonda doesn't get a whole lot to play with, and her dynamic was Douglas absolutely doesn't work on almost any level, she does hold her own regardless and does a good job standing in for the average person finding himself in the middle of this. It's a beautifully taut story, and definitely worth a watch, especially if this is a genre that you find yourself drawn to. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

The China Syndrome > Love Exposure

The China Syndrome > Anna Karenina

The China Syndrome < Two Days, One Night

The China Syndrome > Onward

The China Syndrome < The Jungle Book (1967)

The China Syndrome > Civil War

The China Syndrome < The Bay

The China Syndrome < Beautiful Boy

The China Syndrome < Dawn of the Dead (1978)

The China Syndrome > Tickled

The China Syndrome > Good Will Hunting

The China Syndrome < Shakespeare in Love

Final spot: #676 out of 3971, or 83%.

Macgruber (2010)

IMDb plot summary: Former special operative MacGruber is called back into action to take down his arch-enemy, Dieter Von Cunth, who's in possession of a nuclear warhead and bent on destroying Washington, D.C.

Directed by Jorma Taccone. Starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and Val Kilmer.

I should probably start off by saying that I have no connection to the original character at all. I didn't watch a lot of SNL at that point in my life, so I don't have any touchstones. It does seem like a character that would make for a good movie, but the tone of this is a little weird. It's fairly light on the jokes, relying mostly on slightly hyperbolic depictions of 1980s hypermasculinity for its comedy, only to suddenly and abruptly lean really heavy into obvious gags. The whiplash between the two feels a little bit like the film couldn't quite decide whether it wanted to lampoon or playfully honor the 1980s action films, and while you absolutely can walk that line very well, I'm not sure that this captures that. There are one or two moments that made me chuckle, but for the most part most of these jokes don't land, and I don't have enough love for that style of movie to embrace the parody aspect of it. I enjoy that it's trying to do what it's trying to do, but it doesn't really work for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

MacGruber < Le voyage au Groenland

MacGruber > One 2 Ka 4

MacGruber < In & Out

MacGruber < Water for Elephants

MacGruber > The Disappearance of Alice Creed

MacGruber < Treasures of the Snow

MacGruber > State Fair

MacGruber < Shrek Retold

MacGruber > The Rookie

MacGruber > Millions

MacGruber < Dallas Buyers Club

MacGruber > Darkness

Final spot: #2809 out of 3970, or 29%.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Japan is plunged into chaos upon the appearance of a giant monster.

Directed by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi. Starring Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, and Satomi Ishihara.

Shin Godzilla is a Godzilla movie centered around the endless bureaucracy needed to address a national danger like Godzilla. Not the exciting military decisions being made -- we've had plenty of those stories -- but the exhausting process of having to run your every decision by five other committees, who in turn need to consult with three other interest groups, before you can make a tiny change that may or may not affect anyone. So much of this movie is a bunch of men in suits sitting on comfy couches as they wait for information to come in that will let them act. That could be tedious, but this film manages to make it tense. Add to all that the few moments when we *do* in fact get to see our monster: the character design on this thing is entirely terrifying. Creative and very uncanny valley in a way that I find chilling. It's overall a fascinating take on the story that works for me on a lot of levels, even though I'm not necessarily drawn into the Godzilla mythos on a whole. But this one is well done and held my attention.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Shin Godzilla > Love Exposure

Shin Godzilla > Anna Karenina

Shin Godzilla < Network

Shin Godzilla < Onward

Shin Godzilla < Destroy All Neighbors

Shin Godzilla < The Blue Angel

Shin Godzilla < Shallow Grave

Shin Godzilla < Fruitvale Station

Shin Godzilla > My Life as a Dog

Shin Godzilla < Autumn Sonata

Shin Godzilla > Kill Bill Vol. 2

Shin Godzilla > Fresh (2022)

Final spot: #981 out of 3968, or 75%.

National Theatre's Everyman (2015)

IMDb plot summary: Everyman is successful, popular and riding high when Death comes calling. He is forced to abandon the life he has built and embark on a last, frantic search to recruit a friend.

Directed by Rufus Norris and Nick Wickham. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Philip Martin Brown, and Paul Bullion.

Everyman is the National Theatre Live filmed production of the 15th-century morality play, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as the titular Everyman who is summoned to death, where he will have to account for himself and how he spent his life. He is allowed to look for someone to make the journey with him and vouch for him, but all the people and things he counted on in life reject him. This production is a fun updated adaptation, with interesting use of lights and sound to set the scene; I especially love the extended opening sequence that showcases Everyman's reckless party life before he's suddenly called to defend himself. Ejiofor plays the character with as much depth as the allegory allows for, but the design is really the star of the show here. It's never going to be my favorite play, but if you're looking for a fairly accessible version, this one captures its essence while mostly successfully modernizing it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

National Theatre Live: Everyman < Le voyage au Groenland

National Theatre Live: Everyman > One 2 Ka 4

National Theatre Live: Everyman > In & Out

National Theatre Live: Everyman < The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)

National Theatre Live: Everyman < Camelot

National Theatre Live: Everyman > House of Flying Daggers

National Theatre Live: Everyman > Hang 'Em High

National Theatre Live: Everyman > Don Jon

National Theatre Live: Everyman > Isadora

National Theatre Live: Everyman > Till the Stars Come Down

National Theatre Live: Everyman > Ladies of Leisure

National Theatre Live: Everyman < Funny Girl

Final spot: #2359 out of 3969, or 41%.

Dope (2015)

IMDb plot summary: Life changes for Malcolm, a geek who's surviving life in a tough neighborhood, after a chance invitation to an underground party leads him and his friends into a Los Angeles adventure.

Directed by Rick Famuyiwa. Starring Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, and Kiersey Clemons.

Dope tells the story of a nerdy Black teenager and his friends who get themselves into some deep trouble when a drug dealer plants his supply in the lead's backpack during a nightclub raid. It ends up being up to the teens to get the drugs back where they belong. This is the setup for a dark gritty dramatic story in many other people's hands, but in writer/director Rick Famuyiwa's hands, is a hilarious high school comedy. Shameik Moore is immediately charismatic as our lead character who finds himself in way over his head but makes the most of it, and each silly new obstacle the kids encounter heightens the stakes in a really fun way. The ending is maybe my favorite part, though -- I found myself nervous about how the movie would close its loop, and I didn't need to be, because it's the perfect ending for the movie we were given. A smart, funny movie that works beautifully.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Dope > The Bat Whispers

Dope > Kuroneko

Dope < Network

Dope > Nope

Dope > The Fabelmans

Dope < Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

Dope > The Kite Runner

Dope < My Life in Pink

Dope > Zero Effect

Dope > Cats and Dogs

Dope < Black Narcissus

Final spot: #577 out of 3967, or 85%.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

IMDb plot summary: Best friends Audrey and Morgan unwittingly become entangled in an international conspiracy when one of them discovers that the boyfriend who dumped her was actually a spy.

Directed by Susanna Fogel. Starring Kate McKinnon, Mila Kunis, and Justin Theroux.

The Spy Who Dumped Me is an action comedy starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as two best friends who suddenly find themselves in the middle of some international intrigue when Kunis finds out her ex isn't who she thought he was. While there's a lot about this movie that falls a little flat, where it works is in the chemistry between Kunis and McKinnon. They absolutely feel like genuine friends here, with a comfortable dynamic that shows off both of their characters' personalities, and the more heartwarming moments in the movie rely on that dynamic even more than the comedic moments. However, the film is definitely a little mixed in terms of tone, and there are a lot of strange missing steps, where characters who were adamant about something a moment ago now seem like they forgot what they wanted to do. Overall it feels like a film with a good start and a good center that was too rushed and needed a few more passes on the script. I like pieces of it, I just wish the film was... finished.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Spy Who Dumped Me < Le voyage au Groenland

The Spy Who Dumped Me > Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

The Spy Who Dumped Me > The Happiest Millionaire

The Spy Who Dumped Me > The Good Dinosaur

The Spy Who Dumped Me < Home Again

The Spy Who Dumped Me < The Savages

The Spy Who Dumped Me > The Vagabond King

The Spy Who Dumped Me > A Hard Day's Night

The Spy Who Dumped Me < Inland Empire

The Spy Who Dumped Me > Stagecoach

The Spy Who Dumped Me > Rushmore

Final spot: #2178 out of 3966, or 45%.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

IMDb plot summary: Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Directed by Mark Waters. Starring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, and Nick Nolte.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a young adult fantasy movie based on a book. Freddie Highmore stars as twin brothers who, along with their sister and mother, move to the mansion they've inherited from an ancestor. One of the twins, Jared, discovers an ancient book detailing the world of fairy tale creatures, and soon he learns this was his great-great-uncle's life's work, and it's caught the attention of an evil ogre who wants to use the information in it to conquer the world. So I know that there are a lot of people who inherently love the faefolk kind of fantasy world and will eat up anything involving dark mysterious forests full of tiny magical people. I however find that kind of setting just... so, so dull. And this wasn't the movie to convince me otherwise. Highmore has given good performances, but he's at a weird place in his acting journey here, where his character choices feel forced and stilted, and having him play two separate characters doesn't help matters. The monster CGI is pretty messy and feels entirely separate from the actors, and the film draws a surprising amount of attention to it -- especially by withholding the "big reveal" of the main monster until the end, at which point it fully disappoints. I get someone having a soft spot for this movie, but very little of it works for me. Someday I'll have to see if the books fare any better!

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Spiderwick Chronicles < Le voyage au Groenland

The Spiderwick Chronicles > Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

The Spiderwick Chronicles < The Happiest Millionaire

The Spiderwick Chronicles < The Lost Weekend

The Spiderwick Chronicles < Sliding Doors

The Spiderwick Chronicles > Fracture

The Spiderwick Chronicles > The Devil is a Woman

The Spiderwick Chronicles < The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach

The Spiderwick Chronicles > Teorema

The Spiderwick Chronicles > Borderline

The Spiderwick Chronicles < The Forger

The Spiderwick Chronicles < Luther

Final spot: #2869 out of 3965, or 28%.

Ma vie en rose (1997)

IMDb plot summary: Ludovic is an innocent seven-year-old child who provokes horror in his community when he dresses in girls clothes and insists he's a girl.

Directed by Alain Berliner. Starring Georges Du Fresne, Michéle Laroque, and Jean-Philippe Écoffey.

Ma vie en rose is a French film about a family whose youngest son begins dressing like a girl and saying he will be a girl someday. The family doesn't know how to respond, the community doesn't know how to respond, and the seven-year-old transgender girl at the center of the story can't quite figure out how her search for identity is causing so much trouble. This is a very moving film, if a difficult one to watch at times, particularly in the moments where the daughter's new behavior causes ripple effects in the parents' lives and they blame her for being so difficult, either directly or indirectly. I was fascinated by the choice to, very occasionally, sprinkle in some fantastical elements, usually to show the young girl's method of processing her world, and while there were times where I found it jarring, I think ultimately it works, even if I can't explain what that means *actually* happened at the end of the movie. Overall, a powerful story handled very well.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Ma vie en rose > Le voyage au Groenland

Ma vie en rose > Woman in the Dunes

Ma vie en rose < The People Under the Stairs

Ma vie en rose > The Farewell

Ma vie en rose > The Fabelmans

Ma vie en rose < Black Panther

Ma vie en rose > The Kite Runner

Ma vie en rose < A Letter to Three Wives

Ma vie en rose > Zero Effect

Ma vie en rose > Cats and Dogs

Ma vie en rose > Black Narcissus

Final spot: #574 out of 3964, or 86%.

The Legend of the Titanic (1999)

IMDb plot summary: A grandfather mouse tells his grandchildren the "real" story of the Titanic disaster, including himself, evil sharks, a giant octopus, and an evil whaling scheme.

Directed by Orlando Corradi and Kim Jun Ok. Starring Gregory Snegoff, Francis Pardeilhan, and Jane Alexander.

The Legend of the Titanic is an animated film set on the Titanic, in which the iceberg is thrown into the way of the ship by an octopus child, on behalf of an evil shark who is helping a greedy human procure whaling rights from a wealthy duke. Also it's mostly told by mice. How do you even rank or review something this ridiculous? It's terrible and baffling (and very unclear on who did and did not survive the disaster). The voice acting is messy, with many of the more distinct character voices being fully incomprehensible. The animation is awful, with some hilariously abrupt CGI giving us full shots of the ship in a way that is so jarring against the clunky stiff 2D character scenes. It is a fun watch, though, and I even watched it a second time with my husband so we could snark it together. An impossible film to rank, so that should mostly be disregarded, but enjoyably terrible.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Legend of the Titanic < Le voyage au Groenland

The Legend of the Titanic > K-19: The Widowmaker

The Legend of the Titanic < The Happiest Millionaire

The Legend of the Titanic > Father of the Bride (1950)

The Legend of the Titanic < Nowhere Boy

The Legend of the Titanic > August: Osage County

The Legend of the Titanic > Little Big League

The Legend of the Titanic < The Big Heat

The Legend of the Titanic > Rancho Notorious

The Legend of the Titanic < The Verdict

The Legend of the Titanic < Ever After

The Legend of the Titanic < Teacher of the Year

Final spot: #2624 out of 3963, or 34%.

Next Goal Wins (2023)

IMDb plot summary: The story of the infamously terrible American Samoa soccer team, known for a brutal 2001 FIFA match they lost 31-0.

Directed by Taika Waititi. Starring Michael Fassbender, Oscar Knightley, and Kaimana.

Next Goal Wins is Taika Waititi's take on the true story of the American Samoan football team, which was a true disaster, and the outside coach they brought in to help them out of last place. If I recall correctly, this got pretty mixed reviews when it was released, but fortunately for me, Waititi's style of humor in his films is nearly identical to mine, and his particular method of mixing heart with laughter is also the exact right proportion for me, so I had a great time all the way through. I laughed a lot, and I also enjoyed how it subverted the white savior trope a bit by having the new coach's style nearly tank them in the end, and I appreciated the subplot about the trans player who is so at home in her own self and so unconditionally accepted by her teammates. It's a pleasant film that gets elevated for me by how close Waititi's storytelling sensibilities are to my own, so anyone who is less a fan of his voice probably would find it grating, but it worked for me!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Next Goal Wins > Le voyage au Groenland

Next Goal Wins > La La Land

Next Goal Wins < The People Under the Stairs

Next Goal Wins > Raya and the Last Dragon

Next Goal Wins > Le bonheur

Next Goal Wins > The Way, Way Back

Next Goal Wins < 56 Up

Next Goal Wins > It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

Next Goal Wins > Ex Machina

Next Goal Wins > Into the Woods (2014)

Next Goal Wins < Christmas in Connecticut

Final spot: #529 out of 3961, or 87%.

Home Again (2017)

IMDb plot summary: Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young men to move in with her.

Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Michael Sheen, and Candice Bergen.

Home Again stars Reese Witherspoon as a separated mother moving back home to the house she inherited from her father. She soon crosses paths with three aspiring filmmakers who end up living in her guesthouse and becoming very close with her and her family. This is... an exact medium movie. Witherspoon is always a charismatic actress, and it's pleasant to watch her forming relationships with these younger men as she figures out her new life, but none of them have much chemistry with her, and the dramatic scenes have a very forced earnestness that often made me roll my eyes a bit. I do appreciate on one hand that it doesn't end with the predictable romance formula I thought it was setting up, but it's kind of clumsy in how it handles it and makes it feel like the movie is a bit unfinished. So... an extremely mixed bag. Nothing horrendous, but nothing great, and it lands right around the middle of my chart.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Home Again < Pete's Dragon (1977)

Home Again > K-19: The Widowmaker

Home Again > The Happiest Millionaire

Home Again > The Good Dinosaur

Home Again < Wreck-It Ralph

Home Again > Dunkirk

Home Again > The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Home Again > Maverick

Home Again > Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites

Home Again > Certain Women

Home Again > The Wailing

Final spot: #2106 out of 3962, or 47%.

Pariah (2011)

IMDb plot summary: A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Directed by Dee Rees. Starring Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, and Aasha Davis.

Pariah tells the story of a lesbian teenager who is not out to her parents and is exploring her identity with the help of two friends, one butch lesbian her mother disapproves of, and the friend her mother pushes her toward who turns out to have a lot in common with her. Lee is such a great character, alternately confident and terrified, as we often all are as teens. I was going to say her relationship with her father was the most interesting to me, but genuinely each of the four key relationships she has in her story are compelling and show different sides of her identity as she figures out who she is and how to be that authentically. These characters are complex and looking to understand their world as it is, and seeing how each of them influences and is influenced by our lead character is great. It's a thoughtful, moving watch that I'd definitely recommend.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Pariah > Le voyage au Groenland

Pariah < Woman in the Dunes

Pariah > The Impossible

Pariah > Corrina, Corrina

Pariah > Nina Wu

Pariah > Minority Report

Pariah > Suburbia

Pariah > The Nice Guys

Pariah < The Menu

Pariah > H.M.S. Defiant

Pariah < Tower

Pariah < Tremors

Final spot: #1001 out of 3960, or 75%.

Africa Speaks (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Explorer Paul Hoefler leads a safari into central Africa and what was then called the Belgian Congo, in the regions inhabited by the Wassara and the famous Ubangi tribes.

Directed by Walter Futter.

Africa Speaks is a 1930 "documentary" about life in central Africa. I say "documentary" because it notably mixes actual footage of animals in Uganda with staged dramatic moments that it purports as realistic, including a vicious animal attack. Although my research led to mixed results, it's quite likely that most of the scenes featuring the supposed native Africans were also scripted and shot on L.A. sound stages. It's pretty gross to present your film as a documentary and then add in sensationalized fictional content, especially when it's contributing to stereotypes of an entire continent. There is one short scene that I loved: footage of bounding impalas. I had never seen them move like that, and I was captivated watching them spring all over the place like rabbits. Nature is cool sometimes. But a good minute-and-a-half scene of natural life does not make up for the icky exploitational nature of the rest of the film.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Africa Speaks < Le voyage au Groenland

Africa Speaks < K-19: The Widowmaker

Africa Speaks > The Mirror

Africa Speaks > X-Men: The Last Stand

Africa Speaks < Deceived

Africa Speaks < Batman Begins

Africa Speaks < Steve Jobs

Africa Speaks > The Chocolate War

Africa Speaks > Quitting

Africa Speaks > Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia

Africa Speaks < Annie Get Your Gun

Final spot: #3190 out of 3959, or 19%.

This Is Me... Now (2024)

IMDb plot summary: This narrative-driven odyssey that coincides with the release of her same-named album tells the story of Jennifer Lopez's journey to love through her own eyes.

Directed by Dave Meyers. Starring Jennifer Lopez, Fat Joe, and Jane Fonda.

This Is Me... Now is Jennifer Lopez's visual interpretation of her newest album, and is essentially a series of music videos smushed together with a clumsy plot. We follow our lead character, played by Lopez, as she tries to find love, shares her weird music video dreams with her therapist, and goes to treatment for love addiction. The music videos are fun, with some good visuals and some catchy songs, but trying to pretend there's a cinematic throughline here is absolute nonsense. It doesn't hold together at all and would be much more enjoyable without this clumsy plot trying to say... *something* about J. Lo's life (it's so poorly put together that it's hard to even really know what she's trying to communicate). It all just comes off as pretentious, throwing a bunch of vague tropes at the screen and assuming they'll take on a greater meaning. I could definitely rewatch some of the individual numbers, but there's no reason for them to be put together like this. It makes each one of them less interesting.

How it entered my Flickchart:

This Is Me... Now < Pete's Dragon (1977)

This Is Me... Now < K-19: The Widowmaker

This Is Me... Now > Michael Clayton

This Is Me... Now > X-Men: The Last Stand

This Is Me... Now < Deceived

This Is Me... Now < Batman Begins

This Is Me... Now > The Color of Pomegranates

This Is Me... Now > The Life of David Gale

This Is Me... Now < 42nd Street

This Is Me... Now > Highlander

This Is Me... Now > The Westing Game

Final spot: #3158 out of 3951, or 20%.

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

IMDb plot summary: A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.

Directed by Peter Weir. Starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, and Linda Hunt.

The Year of Living Dangerously is set in the weeks before the overthrow of Indonesia's President Sukarno in the mid-60s. Mel Gibson plays an Australian journalist new to Jakarta, Linda Hunt a (male) photo-journalist who has been there for some time, and Sigourney Weaver the British embassy worker they both fall in love with. The romance is easily the least interesting part of this movie, so it's too bad that it takes up the most space. I'm much more interested in Hunt's character, who is immersing himself in the lives of the downtrodden in Jakarta and becoming increasingly frustrated with how their government has abandoned them. (The choice to cast Hunt as a man is fascinating, and she does throw her all into this part and make Billy a well-fleshed-out character, although of course the fact that her character is half-Chinese is a messy bit of yellowface.) It made me want to learn a lot more about that time in Indonesian politics, which I admittedly know almost nothing about, and I always found myself irritated when it tried to recenter me back on Gibson and Weaver's bland love affair. The two sides of the story don't help reinforce each other, they just fight against each other, and the side that "wins" in terms of dominant theme is the least compelling side.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Year of Living Dangerously < Pete's Dragon

The Year of Living Dangerously > K-19: The Widowmaker

The Year of Living Dangerously < Anchors Aweigh

The Year of Living Dangerously > Father of the Bride (1950)

The Year of Living Dangerously > National Velvet

The Year of Living Dangerously < Sideways

The Year of Living Dangerously > Ralph Breaks the Internet

The Year of Living Dangerously < The Resurrection of Gavin Stone

The Year of Living Dangerously > Sullivan's Travels

The Year of Living Dangerously > Splash

The Year of Living Dangerously > Bee Movie

Final spot: #2552 out of 3958, or 36%.

Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

IMDb plot summary: A tight-knit team of rising investigators, along with their supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.

Directed by Billy Ray. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, and Julia Roberts.

Secret in Their Eyes is a mystery thriller told in two timelines. A government agent's daughter is brutally murdered, and we follow both the original time in which the murder occurred and was not solved, as well as a time jump 13 years later when one of the former agents thinks he's tracked the guy down again. In a lot of ways, this is a pretty typical crime story, but it sets itself apart a bit with some excellent acting performances. Julia Roberts in particular is excellent here as the mother of the murdered woman. She portrays the physical and spiritual toll her daughter's death takes on her, both in the immediate aftermath of the crime and over a decade later when she has been living with it for awhile. The ending is the best part, both satisfying and unsettling in a way that makes it feel more grounded in the humanity of the characters -- there's nothing that's going to undo the pain these characters have gone through, and hoping for that kind of happy ending will always disappoint.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Secret in Their Eyes > Pete's Dragon (1977)

Secret in Their Eyes < Anna Karenina

Secret in Their Eyes < The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Secret in Their Eyes < Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Secret in Their Eyes > Black Snake Moan

Secret in Their Eyes > Scrooge (1970

Secret in Their Eyes > Serenity

Secret in Their Eyes > Is It Fall Yet?

Secret in Their Eyes > Sleepers

Secret in Their Eyes > Irma La Douce

Secret in Their Eyes > The Sword in the Stone

Secret in Their Eyes > Treasure Planet

Final spot: #1729 out of 3950, or 56%. That definitely feels too low, so something's wonky there in my chart.

Bright Lights (1930)

IMDb plot summary: A successful Broadway star ready to retire from her wild career announces her engagement. But her tumultuous past isn't done with her yet.

Directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Dorothy Mackaill, Frank Fay, and Noah Beery.

Bright Lights is a showbiz romantic drama involving murder and several different romantic plotlines. It's a short film with several lengthy musical numbers, which unfortunately means there's not nearly enough time for all the plot they're trying to add in vain. It's an oddly paced film, with huge amounts of plot squeezed into tiny two-minute bursts, which then gets interrupted by a 10-minute musical number (too often a racist song about African life). I'm not one to complain about a film having lots of musical numbers, but they feel jarring against the dense plot and dozens of characters being crammed into the rest of the film. I'm not sure if I'm getting tired of my 1930 project or if I've seen most of the ones I'd like from the year, but this is another dull entry in the list.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Bright Lights < Pete's Dragon (1977)

Bright Lights < Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

Bright Lights > Michael Clayton

Bright Lights > X-Men: The Last Stand

Bright Lights < The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Bright Lights < Bad Moms

Bright Lights < Steve Jobs

Bright Lights < The Chocolate War

Bright Lights > 30:Minutes or Less

Bright Lights > Charlie Wilson's War

Bright Lights > Green Book

Bright Lights < The Toy That Saved Christmas

Final spot: #3195 out of 3949, or 19%.

Try Seventeen (2002)

IMDb plot summary: The story of a young man who enters college only to discover that he can learn more about life and love from his neighbors in the apartment building where he lives.

Directed by Jeffrey Porter. Starring Elijah Wood, Franka Potente, and Mandy Moore.

Try Seventeen stars Elijah Wood as a 17-year-old starting college and then immediately dropping out, moving into an apartment with two women who are into him, and trying to work through his complicated relationship with his mother and the father he never met. And it's a weird mess of a movie. Wood's character arc is nearly incomprehensible. We can't tell what he wants or what he's trying to do, he's just kind of floating through the movie as things happen around him that apparently contribute to his character growth, but none of it is done well. Especially early on, it can't quite decide if it wants to be a dark quirky comedy or an earnest coming-of-age story, and jumping back and forth doesn't help at all with understanding what we're supposed to be rooting for. I'm especially disappointed with how underdeveloped the subplot is between our lead and his mother, which feels like there's unmined depth there, and the movie just... gives up on it in favor of much less compelling stories. A bland and sloppy film that never reaches its potential.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Try Seventeen < Pete's Dragon (1977)

Try Seventeen > K-19: The Widowmaker

Try Seventeen < Anchors Aweigh

Try Seventeen < The Lost Weekend

Try Seventeen < Sliding Doors

Try Seventeen < Fracture

Try Seventeen > The Da Vinci Code

Try Seventeen < The Three Faces of Eve

Try Seventeen < The 5th Wave

Try Seventeen < Falling in Love

Try Seventeen < Side Effects

Try Seventeen > Walking Across Egypt

Final spot: #2935 out of 3956, or 26%.

The Bounty (1984)

IMDb plot summary: Fed up with their Captain's harsh discipline, a sailing ship's crew decides to take action.

Starring Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Olivier.

The Bounty is the 1980s adaptation of the Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Anthony Hopkins as the captain insistent on taking the more direct but more dangerous route to their destination, and Mel Gibson as the officer who overthrows him with the help of the crew. I watched the Trevor Howard/Marlon Brando version of this story just last year, and that one sets up Howard as fairly unlikable early on, while this one holds onto a bit more uncertainty about who is in the right. Some of that is due to the film's gimmick of being a flashback, told by Hopkins to the naval council determining whether the mutiny happened due to his incompetence, so the earliest beats of the story in particular are filtered through his eyes. (There's definitely a possibility that the entire story is *meant* to be unreliably filtered through his character's viewpoint, although the sequences following the mutineers after the split don't quite fit in with that thought.) Anyway, the actual quality of the film... It's well paced and decently acted, and I had a good time watching it, but I can't imagine it will make a lasting impact on me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Bounty > Le voyage au Groenland

The Bounty < Woman in the Dunes

The Bounty < The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

The Bounty < Secret in Their Eyes

The Bounty > Cast Away

The Bounty < Scrooge

The Bounty < Sweet Dreams

The Bounty > The Fixer

The Bounty > My Favorite Year

The Bounty > Meek's Cutoff

The Bounty > Lenny

The Bounty > The Flamingo Kid

Final spot: #1825 out of 3957, or 54%.

Dhamaal (2007)

IMDb plot summary: Four lazy slacker conmen buddies who are jobless, homeless and broke learn about the secret of a hidden treasure from a dying thief and later embark on a race against time to find the mobster's buried treasure and claim it while being pursued by a determined police inspector who is hellbent to get the treasure all by himself.

Directed by Indra Kumar. Starring Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, and Arshad Warsi.

Dhamaal is a Bollywood remake of the Hollywood classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which a zany cast of characters all race to find hidden treasure revealed to them by a dying man. The chaos of this story is well served by the broad style of comedy often found in Bollywood films -- I didn't remember the Mad World plot and didn't recognize it as a remake until nearly the end of the movie, that's how well the story fit in this world. It is a big, bold, silly movie, and while many of the jokes don't land for me, there are enough that I had an okay time with it. It does a good job of hopping around quickly enough with each group that it keeps the energy going, and any time I got bored with one plotline, it was okay because it was only a small portion of the story. Mostly it makes me want to revisit the American version, though, and as such I don't know that it serves much purpose as a remake. So... okay, but just okay.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Dhamaal < Pete's Dragon (1977)

Dhamaal > K-19: The Widowmaker

Dhamaal > Anchors Aweigh

Dhamaal > The Good Dinosaur

Dhamaal < Wreck-It Ralph

Dhamaal < Dunkirk

Dhamaal < Vanya on 42nd Street

Dhamaal < The Devil Wears Prada

Dhamaal > You'll Never Get Rich

Dhamaal > Nobody

Dhamaal > Must Love Dogs

Dhamaal < The Lion in Winter (2003)

Final spot: #2209 out of 3952, or 44%.

Klaus (2019)

IMDb plot summary: A simple act of kindness always sparks another, even in a frozen, faraway place. When Smeerensburg's new postman, Jesper, befriends toymaker Klaus, their gifts melt an age-old feud and deliver a sleigh full of holiday traditions.

Directed by Sergio Pablos and Carlos Martínez López. Starring Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, and Rashida Jones.

Klaus is an animated retelling of the Santa Claus origin story, focusing on the spoiled son of a post office magnate who is sent to be postman to a distant northern town until he learns the value of his work. He ends up teaming up with a toy-making hermit to bring life back to the town, and the legend of Santa begins to grow. This is an odd duck of a movie, combining the sort of myth-making grandiosity of something like Rise of the Guardians with the fast-talking wise-cracking hero of most other DreamWorks movies. The former works best, and it takes over more of the movie as the lead becomes more grounded, but it's got kind of a rough start until it gets there. Once they find the right balance, I enjoy the thread of silliness that stays embedded in the story -- seeing the different Santa Claus myths pop up through very silly misunderstandings is a lot of fun, and ultimately the film lands in a satisfying place that sits just right for a cozy holiday watch. Not a perfect movie, but pretty charming.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Klaus > Le voyage au Groenland

Klaus < Kuroneko

Klaus > Kajaki

Klaus > Memories of Murder

Klaus < Gentleman's Agreement

Klaus < A Christmas Carol (1951)

Klaus > New York Stories

Klaus < Three Colors: White

Klaus > Punch-Drunk Love

Klaus < Finder's Fee

Klaus < Lyle, the Kindly Viking

Klaus > Army of Shadows

Final spot: #1192 out of 3946, or 70%.

The Beguiled (2017)

IMDb plot summary: The unexpected arrival of a wounded Union soldier at a girls school in Virginia during the American Civil War leads to jealousy and betrayal.

Directed by Sofia Coppola. Starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning.

The Beguiled is a Sofia Coppola film set during the American Civil War. An all-girls' school in the south finds a wounded Union soldier and decide to nurse him back to health before turning him in to the army. But his presence in the house begins to affect the house in unexpected ways, and things get complicated. There's an eerie otherworld-ness about this movie. It reminded me a bit of something like Black Narcissus -- a group of women cloistered from the world encountering something they were not prepared for, and their equilibrium falls apart. I did find that I had trouble telling some of the young girls apart, and I wish I'd gotten to know them a bit better to help flesh that out, but the key relationships here are developed beautifully. I love how much emotion and thought is communicated nonverbally; this truly is one of those movies where the subtext is the key to the whole thing. I haven't always glommed onto Sofia Coppola's work, but this one made me want to watch more of her because it had such a unique tone.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Beguiled > Pete's Dragon (1977)

The Beguiled > Anna Karenina

The Beguiled < Cam

The Beguiled < Nope

The Beguiled < Wizards

The Beguiled > The Blue Angel

The Beguiled < BigBug

The Beguiled > Censor

The Beguiled > The Impostors

The Beguiled < The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

The Beguiled > Twins

Final spot: #899 out of 3948, or 77%.

The Great Outdoors (1988)

IMDb plot summary: A Chicago man and his family go camping with his obnoxious brother-in-law.

Directed by Howard Deutch. Starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, and Stephanie Faracy.

The Great Outdoors is a John Hughes-written film starring John Candy and Dan Aykroyd as two brothers-in-law on vacation in a remote cabin along with their families. Candy just wants to enjoy some quiet unplugged family time, while Aykroyd is constantly competing to get the biggest, shiniest thing for their trip. The John Hughes filmography ride has been kind of a bumpy one, but this one is definitely a hit. It's clearly a big broad comedy but allows for some very touching human connection moments, and the relationship between Candy and Aykroyd manages to hit the right emotional beats while also being amusing. It's a little surprising to me that this doesn't get as much love as some of Hughes' other written work -- maybe it's because he didn't direct it himself. It's not a masterpiece, but I think it's significantly better than, say, Sixteen Candles or Pretty and Pink. (Although, of course, this one doesn't have a protagonist for teens to relate to.) Definitely a worthwhile watch!

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Great Outdoors > Love Exposure

The Great Outdoors < Kuroneko

The Great Outdoors > The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain

The Great Outdoors < Memories of Murder

The Great Outdoors > Air

The Great Outdoors > Carefree

The Great Outdoors < Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

The Great Outdoors > The Emperor Waltz

The Great Outdoors > The French Dispatch

The Great Outdoors < Up in the Air

The Great Outdoors < The Shoes of the Fisherman

The Great Outdoors < Rack, Shack & Benny

Final spot: #1270 out of 3945, or 68%.

Two Days, One Night (2014)

IMDb plot summary: Liège, Belgium. Sandra is a factory worker who discovers that her workmates have opted for a EUR1,000 bonus in exchange for her dismissal. She has only a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses in order to keep her job.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. Starring Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, and Catherine Salée.

Two Days, One Night stars Marion Cotillard as a woman who has just been fired from her job after her boss held a ballot among the employees as to whether they should get a financial bonus or let Cotillard go. When it's revealed that one of the coworkers convinced everyone to vote against her by lying to them, she requests a second ballot and then has the weekend to convince everyone to agree to keep her on. I recently watched Rosetta by the Dardenne brothers and was unenthused, but this one worked for me. Cotillard's character's task is SUCH hard work, and it's so humiliating to ask each coworker one-by-one whether they could please forego additional money they need to help save her job. I love the variety of responses we get, from anger, to relief, to shock, to defiance, all feeling equally human and equally possible. The good responses make her task seem vaguely possible, while the bad ones make it seem unachievable. No surprise, Cotillard is absolutely incredible in this. Her exhaustion and despair is perpetually under the surface, sometimes becoming visible, and I immediately saw myself reflected in her, in the moments when I have absolutely no spoons left but have no choice but to try to forge ahead anyway. A marvelous film I will have to revisit.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Two Days, One Night > Le voyage au Groenland

Two Days, One Night > Kuroneko

Two Days, One Night < Cam

Two Days, One Night > The Farewell

Two Days, One Night > The Cat Returns

Two Days, One Night > The Last Unicorn

Two Days, One Night > Breaking Away

Two Days, One Night > A Man for All Seasons

Two Days, One Night > Kramer vs. Kramer

Two Days, One Night > Chariots of Fire

Two Days, One Night < The People Under the Stairs

Final spot: #497 out of 3947, or 87%.

Hulchul (2004)

IMDb plot summary: A man and woman from feuding families each pretend to fall in love, as part of a revenge plot. Chaos ensues when their fake romance becomes a reality.

Directed by Priyardashan. Starring Akshaye Khanna, Kareena Kapoor, and Amrish Puri.

Hulchul is a Bollywood take on Romeo and Juliet... if Romeo and Juliet began by faking a relationship to try and undermine the other's family by luring them into their own. The two young people find that their pretend feelings are actually becoming something real, and they work to find a way to be a together. After watching a series of mediocre romances, I was very pleased to have a good time with this one. There's a particularly delightful early song in which the two leads haven't actually fallen in love with and sing about their infatuation, while their body language portrays the exact opposite every time their partner isn't looking at them. It's the first time in a while I've really been drawn into one of the frequent Bollywood musical performances, and it was great fun. It runs a little long in the final third -- there's a lot of side stuff with the male lead's brothers that feels like a tangent to the more interesting sections -- but it's a fun rom-com with a lot to like.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hulchul > Le voyage au Groenland

Hulchul < Kuroneko

Hulchul > Kajaki

Hulchul < Time Bandits

Hulchul > Loins of Punjab Presents

Hulchul > The Pirate Movie

Hulchul < Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

Hulchul < Summer Stock

Hulchul < The Hustler

Hulchul > Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Hulchul > M

Hulchul < Trick 'r Treat

Final spot: #1290 out of 3954, or 67%.

Inside the Lines (1930)

IMDb plot summary: During World War 1, German spies will stop at nothing to spy on the allied war plans stored at Gibraltar.

Directed by Roy Pomeroy. Starring Betty Compson, Ralph Forbes, and Montagu Love.

Inside the Lines tells the story of two American spies working in Germany during World War 1. They fell in love together before the war began, and then when they reunite on the other side, both thinks the other is an actual traitor. This is more interesting as a plot in theory, but the story drags on screen. There are a lot of characters with a lot of different interactions that are uninteresting to keep track of, and we don't spend enough time with the couple pre-spying to really be invested in their love story once things get going. When things finally pick up in the final section, it's not nearly as exciting as it would need to be to make up for the first half. A pretty boring entry into my 1930 project.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Inside the Lines < Le voyage au Groenland

Inside the Lines < K-19: The Widowmaker

Inside the Lines > The Mirror

Inside the Lines < Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Inside the Lines > Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Inside the Lines < The Last Temptation of Christ

Inside the Lines > Bullitt

Inside the Lines < Picnic

Inside the Lines < The People vs. Larry Flynt

Inside the Lines < It Could Happen to You

Inside the Lines < Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Inside the Lines < Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Final spot: #3304 out of 3953, or 16%.

Allegiance (2016)

IMDb plot summary: Allegiance illuminates one of American history's lesser known chapters as it tells the story of Sam Kimura, transported back nearly six decades to when his younger self and his sister Kei fought to stay connected to their heritage, their family and themselves after Japanese Americans were wrongfully imprisoned during World War II.

Directed by Lorenzo Thione. Starring Lea Salonga, Telly Leung, and George Takei.

Allegiance is the filmed version of the Broadway musical written by George Takei and inspired by his and his family's experiences in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. It centers around one family, where the adult brother and sister take very different tactics toward their imprisonment -- he enlists in the military so he can prove they're loyal Americans, and she takes up with the camp leader of a revolution against their jailers. This is definitely a fascinating historical story, and the script and performances are all pretty solid. It's the songs where this show lets us down. There are a few memorable tunes, but also a lot of repetitive ones that don't have much of an arc and make me wonder if this was initially imagined as a sung-through show entirely. We have some incredible performers giving it their ally -- you're never going to have a bad time listening to Telly Leung and Lea Salonga sing -- but I can't imagine I'll want to add the cast album to my playlist any time soon. It's a good story, though, and I'm glad it's being told, even if I wish it were just a little bit better.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Allegiance > Le voyage au Groenland

Allegiance < Kuroneko

Allegiance < Kajaki

Allegiance > Secret in Their Eyes

Allegiance > Ben-Hur (1959)

Allegiance > Hereditary

Allegiance < Música

Allegiance > Space Sweepers

Allegiance < Saltburn

Allegiance < Joker

Allegiance < Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

Allegiance < Battle Royale

Final spot: #1528 out of 3955, or 61%.

Love in the Rough (1930)

IMDb plot summary: When shipping clerk Jack Kelly is recruited by his employer to help his golf game, his boss insists he conceal his humble identity at the country club.

Directed by Charles Reisner. Starring Robert Montgomery, Sarah Y. Mason, and Joseph Farnham.

Love in the Rough is, weirdly, the second golf-centric romantic comedy I've seen in my film trek through the year 1930. In this one, a shipping clerk is invited along on a golf trip by his boss and ends up finding love with another golfer, although he misleads her about his financial situation. All these 1930 rom coms are starting to blend together. They didn't do a lot of varying character traits or set up chemistry between characters in a very interesting way. This one, aside from being golf romance #2, is also pretty uninteresting. At least it breaks up its boring characters with some fun musical numbers, which are done pretty well, even if entirely inconsequential to the story -- in true 1930s musical style. A forgettable but not unpleasant watch, overall.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Love in the Rough < Le voyage au Groenland

Love in the Rough > K-19: The Widowmaker

Love in the Rough < Anchors Aweigh

Love in the Rough < The Lost Weekend

Love in the Rough < The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Love in the Rough > Fracture

Love in the Rough > The Devil Is a Woman

Love in the Rough > Andrei Rublev

Love in the Rough > Teorema

Love in the Rough < Luther

Love in the Rough < Dear Evan Hansen

Love in the Rough > 12 Days of Terror

Final spot: #2856 out of 3944, or 28%.

Civil War (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

Directed by Alex Garland. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, and Cailee Spaeny.

Civil War is Alex Garland's latest film, set in a not-far-distant future where the United States has descended into civil war. Kirsten Dunst is our protagonist, a jaded photojournalist on a mission to document the war, and she and her crew make their way across the states to D.C. to try and get a photo of and interview with the President. Alex Garland is one of my favorite filmmakers currently, and although this is probably my least favorite of his thus far, it's still a thoughtful and engaging watch. Keeping the focus on the journalists lets us see things slightly more from the "outside," perceiving all the horrors as both everyday and still horrible. Dunst has really come into her own as an actress over the past decade, and she is excellent here as well. While it's probably my least favorite of Garland's four directorial works, it still is striking and is something that I think is going to sit with me for awhile.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Civil War > Love Exposure

Civil War > Kuroneko

Civil War < The Legend of 1900

Civil War > The Farewell

Civil War < The Fabelmans

Civil War > 5 Centimeters Per Second

Civil War < Summer Wars

Civil War < Beautiful Boy

Civil War < Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Civil War < Super

Civil War < Face/Off

Civil War < Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Final spot: #677 out of 3943, or 83%.

Fearless (1993)

IMDb plot summary: A man's personality is dramatically changed after surviving a major airline crash.

Directed by Peter Weir. Starring Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rossellini, and Rosie Perez.

Fearless stars Jeff Bridges as a man who survives a devastating plane crash, only to have a great deal of difficulty settling back into every day life afterward. While he claims to be fine and turns down offers of therapeutic assistance, his actions become more and more distanced from his family as he tries to identify how that near-death experience has changed him. It was interesting watching this film directly after Hero, another movie about a deadly plane crash and a man becoming an unexpected hero because of it. But this movie takes a very different angle, focusing on the many different ways grief, loss, and PTSD can show up in different people, and how difficult that can be for folks on the outside to comprehend. It's a slow-moving story that is grounded in some very good acting performances, particularly Bridges, who is so incredibly difficult to read in his state of lingering shock. It's a complex performance that I find very compelling, and the film is worth watching for that alone.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Fearless > Love Exposure

Fearless < Kuroneko

Fearless < The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

Fearless > The Sword in the Stone

Fearless > Death at a Funeral (2007)

Fearless < Timecop

Fearless < Raising Cain

Fearless > Death to Smoochy

Fearless > American Outlaws

Fearless < Phone Booth

Fearless < Kill Bill Vol. 1

Fearless > Three Thousand Years of Longing

Final spot: #1576 out of 3942, or 60%.

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

IMDb plot summary: In 1880s India, two former British soldiers decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great.

Directed by John Huston. Starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine, and Christopher Plummer.

The Man Who Would Be King stars Michael Caine and Sean Connery as two British officers who decide to, on their own, head into a remote Eurasian country full of individual warring tribes and conquer it. This was an odd movie to watch, and I'm still not at all sure what to make of it. It's set up like a jaunty heist movie, but underpinning the whole thing is the fact that it's all about a group of entitled British men deciding to take over a non-white country. While there's a little bit of self-awareness in this -- they are ultimately unsuccessful in their goal, and it indicates that their hubris was a big part of it, which is compelling -- but I'm not sure that it was *wholly* convinced its protagonists were the bad guys, just that they did their colonizing badly. And it leans into and supports so many tropes about non-white civilizations that I was just uncomfortable much of the time. I'd like to see this story retold either in a way that is more confidently critical of our leads or, at the very least, in a way that recentered the stories of the people at the heart of the conflict. There may be more nuance to this narrative than I found, but it ultimately felt too much like a colonization romp for me to get into it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Man Who Would Be King < Love Exposure

The Man Who Would Be King > Ulysses

The Man Who Would Be King > Company (1997)

The Man Who Would Be King > The Stalking Moon

The Man Who Would Be King > Pitch Perfect 2

The Man Who Would Be King < The Harder They Fall

The Man Who Would Be King > Power

The Man Who Would Be King < Something the Lord Made

The Man Who Would Be King < Star Trek: Nemesis

The Man Who Would Be King > Candyman (2021)

The Man Who Would Be King > Hellboy

The Man Who Would Be King > Q & A

Final spot: #2056 out of 3941, or 48%.

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

IMDb plot summary: When King Henry IV ascends to the throne, his heir, the Prince of Wales, is befriended by Sir John Falstaff, an old, overweight, fun-loving habitual liar. Through Falstaff's eyes we see the reign of King Henry IV and the rise of Henry V.

Directed by Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, and Margaret Rutherford.

Chimes at Midnight is Orson Welles' cinematic retelling of Shakespeare's Henry history plays, focusing nearly all the action through the eyes of the young carefree prince's constant companion, Falstaff. Welles himself plays Falstaff and we see his friendship with the prince change over the course of the film. Shakespeare's histories have never been my favorite of his plays, and I struggled as always to connect with this story on an emotional level. Welles is, of course, a very engaging orator, and his Falstaff monologues were fairly engaging, but there's just not much else for me to latch onto. I admire what it's trying to do, and, on a very specific note, I really appreciated the range of vocal choices being made by all the actors throughout. Even when I couldn't care about the story, I could just appreciate the vocal work bringing all the minor characters to live. If I was a bigger fan of the original histories, I'm sure this would be a more compelling watch, but as it was, it was well-done and I was unmoved.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Chimes at Midnight < Le voyage au Groenland

Chimes at Midnight > Ulysses

Chimes at Midnight < The Happiest Millionaire

Chimes at Midnight > Father of the Bride (1950)

Chimes at Midnight > National Velvet

Chimes at Midnight > BlackBerry

Chimes at Midnight > For Your Consideration

Chimes at Midnight > Call Me By Your Name

Chimes at Midnight < The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Chimes at Midnight > Jezebel

Chimes at Midnight < Wild Zero

Chimes at Midnight > The Secret of Nikola Tesla

Final spot: #2472 out of 3940, or 37%.

Phir Hera Pheri (2006)

IMDb plot summary: Baburao, Raju and Shyam are living happily after having risen from rags to riches. Still, money brings the joy of riches and with it the greed to make more money. And so, with a don as an unknowing investor, Raju initiates a new game.

Directed by Neeraj Vora. Starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal.

Phir Hera Pheri follows three men who lose all their wealth to an investment scam and get into various hijinks trying to regain that money. This is apparently a sequel, but I haven't seen the original, and while it might be helpful to understand how the characters got to where they are, it's certainly not necessary for character development, as these are incredibly broad characters and problems. The new revelations of dangers and hare-brained schemes to get money felt so repetitive after the first few times, and there wasn't a story arc so much as just an episodic series of events, which is too bad, because I can feel them trying to reach those exaggerated farcical heights where everything gets zanier and zanier until it explodes in chaos at the end. But this plods way too much to get there, most of the jokes don't land (or at least not without a cultural knowledge I don't have), and none of the characters are engaging enough to care about their journey. By far the least interesting of my Bollywood watches this month.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Phir Hera Pheri < Le voyage au Groenland

Phir Hera Pheri < Obvious Child

Phir Hera Pheri > The Last Picture Show

Phir Hera Pheri < The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Phir Hera Pheri > Simone

Phir Hera Pheri > Nobel Son

Phir Hera Pheri < Easter Parade

Phir Hera Pheri < Freaky Friday (1976)

Phir Hera Pheri > Casino Royale (2006)

Phir Hera Pheri > Suez

Phir Hera Pheri > The Fast and the Furious

Phir Hera Pheri > Abraham Lincoln

Final spot: #3247 out of 3940, or 18%.

The Fall Guy (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A stuntman, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right?

Directed by David Leitch. Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

The Fall Guy stars Ryan Gosling as a former stuntman who is injured badly on the job and quits. When he hears that his former lover, played by Emily Blunt, wants him to work on her new picture despite him ghosting her completely after his accident, he agrees to come back for one last picture. Gosling is of course a phenomenally charismatic actor, gifted at action, comedy, and heart, and all of those work together here, where his persona carries the majority of the picture. There are also, as there should be in a film about stuntmen, some really fun action scenes as Gosling runs around trying to solve the mystery he finds himself in the middle of. It's a big fun popcorn flick that keeps the mystery interesting but not overly complicated, and there are some nice human emotions grounding the whole thing. Am I going to remember it? No. But if somebody else tosses it on, will I occasionally look up at the screen and chuckle? Sure.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Fall Guy > Love Exposure

The Fall Guy < Anna Karenina (2012)

The Fall Guy < Kajaki

The Fall Guy > The Sword in the Stone

The Fall Guy < Ben-Hur (1959)

The Fall Guy > The Speed Cubers

The Fall Guy > Albert Nobbs

The Fall Guy > Mosaic

The Fall Guy < Nothing in Common

The Fall Guy > Mr. Holmes

The Fall Guy > The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Final spot: #1609 out of 3939, or 59%.