Late Night With the Devil (2023)

IMDb plot summary: A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation's living rooms.

Directed by Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes. Starring David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, and Ian Bliss.

Late Night with the Devil is a found footage horror movie about a late night talk show in the 1970s and the notorious Halloween show they did one year in an effort to drum up ratings. This movie started out *great*. It embeds us in the time frame and the genre and is extremely fun for the first half. It gets a little bit unmoored in the second half... and then the final scenes I did not care for at ALL. There's just so much happening there that abandons the original conceit that it is told from the point of view of from seeing the broadcast. So much of what's going on in the final third is clearly inside people's heads, and that, A) abandons the premise I liked so much at the beginning, and B) doesn't actually make that much sense. I can't figure out what I'm supposed to assume actually *happened*. And not in a way that's fun and ambiguous, but in a way that was irritating. So it's a great concept. It's very well put together, very well presented, and the atmosphere is impeccable. But it falls apart in the final third.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Late Night with the Devil < Sarah, Plain and Tall

Late Night with the Devil < Cars

Late Night with the Devil > Mission to Mars.

Late Night with the Devil > The Monkey King

Late Night with the Devil < Adam's Rib

Late Night with the Devil > The Italian Job (2003)

Late Night with the Devil > Speak

Late Night with the Devil > Dixiana

Late Night with the Devil > ParaNorman

Late Night with the Devil > Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

Late Night with the Devil > The Number 23

Late Night with the Devil > The Goonies

Final spot: #3054, or 22%.

Peppermint Candy (1999)

IMDb plot summary: Following a man's suicide, time traverses back to reveal six chapters of his life on why he committed suicide.

Directed by Lee Chang-dong. Starring Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Yeo-jin, and Moon So-ri.

Peppermint Candy traces one man's life backward, starting with a dramatic encounter with a group of old friends and going back to what made him the person he is now. This one took me a long time to care dabout. I like the narrative device of moving back in time and following where this character comes from and what made him who he is, but I just never quite cared enough until the final third of the movie. That final section, especially the war segments, brought out an emotional response that I had not expected. Those scenes were done extremely effectively and suddenly made the whole character snap into place a little bit more. Now, I do wish that I had had more engagement in the character before that happened, for it to really have the impact it needed. Perhaps this is one that I'll need to rewatch again at some time now that I have a little bit of a stronger understanding of this character and the life that we're watching him live.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Peppermint Candy > The Invention of Lying

Peppermint Candy < Dark Passage

Peppermint Candy < The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Peppermint Candy < Sleepers

Peppermint Candy < Talladega Nights

Peppermint Candy > Laal Singh Chadha

Peppermint Candy > Swingers

Peppermint Candy > EdTV

Peppermint Candy < 12 Angry Men (1997)

Peppermint Candy < The Prestige

Peppermint Candy < The War Zone

Peppermint Candy < John Carter

Final spot: #1846, or 53%.

The Little Prince (2015)

IMDb plot summary: A little girl lives in a very grown-up world with her mother, who tries to prepare her for it. Her neighbor, the Aviator, introduces the girl to an extraordinary world where anything is possible, the world of the Little Prince.

Directed by Mark Osborne. Starring Jeff Bridges, Mackenzie Foy, and Rachel McAdams.

The Little Prince is a French animated retelling of the classic fantasy book -- or, well, more of a sort of sequel, as a young girl with extremely high academic expectations placed on her moves in next door to the aging aviator from the original. I've never been a huge fan of the Little Prince book. I know, I know, it's beloved, but it never quite stuck the landing for me. I don't think the new version sticks the landing at all either. Retelling it where the little prince is a damsel in distress feels like it undercuts the original in a way that doesn't work. Although maybe it works better than I think it does -- as I said, I never really "got" the original. I will say there are some really lovely moments. I love the animation choices for when the story of the prince and the aviator are centered -- they work best. But the modern aspect of it just doesn't work for me at the end.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Little Prince < Sarah Plain and Tall

The Little Prince > Avengers: Endgame

The Little Prince > The Secret of Nikola Tesla

The Little Prince > Batman Forever

The Little Prince < The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini

The Little Prince < Inland Empire

The Little Prince > A Christmas Carol (2004)

The Little Prince > DeLovely

The Little Prince > The Vagabond King

The Little Prince < Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

The Little Prince > The Paperboy

Final spot: #2156, or 45%.

Dream Scenario (2023)

IMDb plot summary: An ordinary family man finds his life turned upside down when strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams.

Directed by Kristoffer Borgli. Starring Lily Bird, Nicolas Cage, and Julianne Nicholson.

Dream Scenario is a bizarre story starring Nicolas Cage as an average middle-aged college professor who suddenly discovers that, for no reason anyone can find, he is showing up in people's dreams. This launches him into an unusual sort of fame that he has to figure out how to deal with. I had so much fun with this. It's clearly a Charlie Kaufman-inspired kind of story -- obviously the Cage connection points to Adaptation, but it's much more along the lines of Being John Malkovich, both in plot and in lead character. Cage is deplorable in a very specific way, someone who absolutely cannot handle being who he is and makes everyone around him miserable because of it (and frankly made me as the audience miserable too, but in the best, most fun way). The story keeps building on itself in a way that keeps it from ever being boring, and I really love where it chooses to land. A delightful surprise.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Dream Scenario > Sarah, Plain and Tall

Dream Scenario > Dark Passage

Dream Scenario > The White Tiger

Dream Scenario < Dead Ringers

Dream Scenario < Dick Tracy

Dream Scenario > Eyes Without a Face

Dream Scenario > Strange Days

Dream Scenario > Equilibrium

Dream Scenario > Kick-Ass

Dream Scenario > Oldboy (2003)

Dream Scenario < Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Final spot: #370 out of 3904, or 91%.

Hocus Pocus (1993)

IMDb plot summary: A teenage boy named Max and his little sister move to Salem, where he struggles to fit in before awakening a trio of diabolical witches that were executed in the 17th century.

Directed by Kenny Ortega. Starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy.

Hocus Pocus is a Disney movie from the 90s about a group of kids who accidentally bring three child-eating witches back from the dead, and then they have to work together to send the witches back where they belong. This was something of a childhood staple for most people my age, but I didn't watch it as a kid so never got on the Hocus Pocus nostalgia train. Now that I've actually seen it, it's... fine. Definitely made for kids, so I think I mostly missed my window. It's got some fun moments -- I like the zombie character and the unexpected musical number -- but I wish the witches were a little less cartoony and brought some darker vibes to the story. It might have worked for me when I was younger, I'm not sure. As it is, it's okay for me as an adult but nothing I feel an urge to rewatch any time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Hocus Pocus > The Invention of Lying

Hocus Pocus < Dark Passage

Hocus Pocus > Kajaki

Hocus Pocus < Batman Returns

Hocus Pocus > The Whistleblower

Hocus Pocus < The Song of Lunch

Hocus Pocus > Moonlight

Hocus Pocus > Educating Rita

Hocus Pocus < Monsters Vs. Aliens

Hocus Pocus < The Absent-Minded Professor

Hocus Pocus > The Theory of Everything

Hocus Pocus < Orgazmo

Final spot: #1294 out of 3903, or 67%.

Weird Science (1985)

IMDb plot summary: Two high-school nerds use a computer program to literally create the perfect woman, who promptly turns their lives upside-down.

Directed by John Hughes. Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock.

Weird Science is a John Hughes comedy about two nerdy high school outcasts who, with a combination of pretend science and unexplained magic, create a hot adult woman on their computer who is there to obey their every whim... or also maybe to teach them self-confidence by making them host a party. I knew going into this that this likely wouldn't age well, and OH BOY was I right. This is all about boys thinking they get to earn a girlfriend by, I guess, being confident enough and threatening biker gangs. Nothing about actually being a good boyfriend. There is exactly one joke in here that worked for me, and it was where they accidentally created a giant missile in the house because they hooked up their connections wrong when trying to make a new woman. It was so refreshing to have something to laugh at that it almost tricked me into thinking I liked the movie, but it went right back downhill again. There just aren't any likable characters in this or any good jokes. I love a lot of Hughes, but this one is just garbage nonsense.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Weird Science < Sarah, Plain and Tall

Weird Science < Cars

Weird Science < Annie (1982)

Weird Science > Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Weird Science < The Story of the Weeping Camel

Weird Science > Get Carter

Weird Science > Metal Tornado

Weird Science > Maurice

Weird Science < When Zachary Beaver Came to Town

Weird Science > Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Weird Science < 8 1/2

Weird Science > Shock Treatment

Final spot: #3547 out of 3902, or 9%.

20th Century Women (2016)

IMDb plot summary: The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.

Directed by Mike Mills. Starring Annette Benning, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig.

20th Century Women stars Annette Benning as a single mom to a teenage boy played by Lucas Jade Zumann. She worries he isn't getting enough positive influences in his life and ropes in her feminist punk rocker tenant, played by Greta Gerwig, and the boy's female best friend, played by Elle Fanning, to help him figure out his life. This is the kind of slow indie drama that can be done really sloppily, but in this one everything just works, largely because Bening grounds the rest of the cast with her deeply relatable character. The script is also excellent, managing to set up all the typical coming-of-age milestones and life lessons without making it ever seem schmaltzy. I'm usually not a fan of Gerwig at all, but here her attitude of bored distance mostly works, especially in combination with the other women in the film. I also really liked the narrative device of having the characters occasionally speak about their lives from the future -- it widened the film's perspective in a way I found very moving. This is one of those movies that just *works*, and I'm glad I got to see it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

20th Century Women > The Invention of Lying

20th Century Women > The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

20th Century Women < The White Tiger

20th Century Women < Onward

20th Century Women < Shiva Baby

20th Century Women < The African Queen

20th Century Women < Mister Roberts

20th Century Women > What Maisie Knew

20th Century Women < Steven Universe: The Movie

20th Century Women < The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

20th Century Women > The Boy and the Heron

20th Century Women < Robin Hood (1973)

Final spot: #957 out of 3901, or 75%.

BlackBerry (2023)

IMDb plot summary: The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.

Directed by Matt Johnson. Starring Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, and Matt Johnson.

BlackBerry is a biopic documenting the rise and fall of BlackBerry in the smartphone market. Jay Baruchel plays the tech genius coming up with all the nerdy solutions, while Glenn Howerton plays the ruthless businessman who knows how to get their product to the market. There aren't a lot of biopics in this genre that I find terribly compelling -- The Social Network is the only one I can think of, and that's because Fincher is a very engaging storyteller. This one is okay. It has some good, if broadly drawn, performances, and for me it's more interesting to see the fall of a company than its rise. But at its heart it still has all the expected beats of this kind of story -- the conflict between creating a good product and making money, the people who get left behind as the company gets big, the pitch meeting that changes everything. If this is a story arc you find particularly compelling, you could definitely do worse than this, but it isn't breaking new ground for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

BlackBerry < Sarah, Plain and Tall

BlackBerry > Cars

BlackBerry < Wild Zero

BlackBerry > Sweet Kitty Bellairs

BlackBerry > American Hustle

BlackBerry > Konrad

BlackBerry < Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

BlackBerry < The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

BlackBerry > The Conformist

BlackBerry < Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

BlackBerry < The Ice Storm

BlackBerry < Sideways

Final spot: #2490 out of 3900, or 36%.