The Nutty Professor (1996)

IMDb plot summary: Grossly overweight yet good-hearted professor Sherman Klump takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.

Directed by Tom Shadyac. Stars Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, and James Coburn.

The Nutty Professor is a 1996 comedy starring Eddie Murphy as Professor Sherman Klump, a teacher and scientist who is studying methods of weight loss in mice. He himself is a very large person and is frequently the butt of the joke of everyone around him because of it. He eventually becomes desperate and tries his experimental treatment on himself, transforms into his thin, testosterone-filled alter ego, and decides he doesn't want to go back. The final message of this film is clearly intended to be something in a body positive vein -- he learns to appreciate himself and still gets the girl -- but it's all undercut by the fact that every single joke makes his weight a punchline. Even when it's done in a way that we're supposed to feel sympathy for the character, it's still punching down at him. I also don't find much fun in the scenes where Eddie Murphy is playing all the members of the Klump family. None of them are particularly interesting to me, and most of the jokes absolutely do not land. They're just sitting around being gross, which I understand is a very deliberate choice, but it made me anxious for those scenes to end. This is definitely the effect of trying to do a love-yourself-the-size-you-are movie in the 90s, where the cultural fatphobia is so prominent it takes over the story, even if you're kind of trying to speak against it. It ultimately doesn't work, either comedically or narratively.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Nutty Professor (1996)

📊 Ranked #3645/4186 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 13

lost to The Sasquatch Gang (held at #2099)

lost to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (held at #3147)

beat Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (#3666 → #3667)

lost to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (held at #3408)

lost to Freaky Friday (held at #3537)

lost to You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (held at #3601)

lost to Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (held at #3633)

beat Animal House (#3649 → #3650)

lost to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (held at #3641)

beat Gomorrah (#3645 → #3646)

lost to Darkest Hour (held at #3643)

lost to You Were Never Really Here (held at #3644)

Blue Moon (2025)

IMDb plot summary: Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of "Oklahoma!".

Directed by Richard Linklater. Stars Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott.

Blue Moon is a Richard Linklater film starring Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart, of Rodgers & Hart, trying to reunite with his former songwriting partner on the opening night of Oklahoma!, Rodgers' successful pairing with a new lyricist. The film takes place in real time over the course of the opening night party. I have always really loved when Linklater goes small and intimate in his stories and evokes a more black-box-theater style, and this is absolutely that. It harkens back to what I loved about Before Sunrise, where we really just got to watch these two characters, one also played by Ethan Hawke there, interact with each other. The dialogue here is snappy and funny and smart and worth listening to, even if it didn't have the underlying character development going through it. Hart is a fascinating character here, and Hawke does an amazing job playing him, really bringing out the character's desperation, and how frequently he tries to cover it up with scores of clever words. I also want to shout out the supporting cast. Andrew Scott, as Richard Rodgers, is an incredible job here and is a wonderful foil for Hawke as Hart. Margaret Qualley is fast becoming one of my favorite actresses, and she is also excellent here as Hart's supposed love interest. If you have any connections in your heart to theater, especially musical theater, this is absolutely a must-watch. There is not only so much going on narratively in the story that is theater-adjacent -- including some lovely little Easter eggs that made me chuckle -- but it also has a theatrical feel in its execution, which I love. The longer that it sits with me, the more I like it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Blue Moon (2025)

📊 Ranked #294/4185 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 93

beat Blackadder: Back & Forth (#2099 → #2100)

beat Robin Hood (#1039 → #1040)

beat All Quiet on the Western Front (#517 → #518)

lost to Chicken Run (held at #258)

beat 25th Hour (#387 → #388)

beat The Virgin Spring (#322 → #323)

lost to Equus (held at #290)

beat Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (#306 → #307)

beat Fatal Attraction (#298 → #299)

beat Deathtrap (#294 → #295)

lost to Two Lovers and a Bear (held at #292)

lost to Midsommar (held at #293)

Unsung Hero (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A mother's faith stands against all odds and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs. Based on a remarkable true story.

Directed by Richard L. Ramsey and Joel David Smallbone. Stars Daisy Betts, Joel David Smallbone, and Kirrilee Berger.

Unsung Hero tells the true story of David and Helen Smallbone, who move from Australia to Nashville in an attempt to get David's music producing career back on track. They are met with an enormous amount of obstacles, and the "unsung hero" of the title is Helen, who holds the family together as David struggles with his career and the emotional toll this all takes on him. I have a pretty low expectation for faith-based films, but this one is not bad. It's definitely a little cheesy, but it does a pretty good job of having a decent baseline quality level. It's interesting to me that this is framed in marketing as the story of the artists of Rebecca St. James and the artists behind the band For King and Country, because that's barely part of the story -- For King and Country isn't even mentioned until the epilogue. It does feel very much like just a group of kids wanting to honor their parents by telling their stories. But that gets a little murky. I appreciate that it doesn't have an obviously didactic message the way that so many faith-based films do, but I wish that it was a little bit clearer in what it WAS trying to say, because where it does feel didactic, it feels unclearly so.  It seems like trying to teach a message both about the need for humility and the need for ambition, and how somehow this husband is failing at both at once, and that doesn't quite work. I think it does a good job of building the relationship with the family. As somebody who grew up in a large family and not a lot of money, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness put into that. It's not a bad movie if you like this kind of story, or if you're at all curious about the families of some of the big CCM names, but for me it sits along the lines of other mid-level inspirational stories. A step up for a lot of Christian films, but still not something that I want to watch again.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Unsung Hero (2024)

📊 Ranked #2530/4184 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 40

lost to Cypher (held at #2101)

beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3146 → #3147)

beat The Man Who Knew Too Much (#2627 → #2628)

lost to The Blues Brothers (held at #2363)

lost to King Richard (held at #2495)

beat Dhamaal (#2561 → #2562)

lost to Rushmore (held at #2527)

beat The Vagabond King (#2545 → #2546)

beat The Hangover (#2535 → #2536)

beat Shame (#2531 → #2532)

lost to Stagecoach (held at #2529)

beat Elevator to the Gallows (#2530 → #2531)

A Complete Unknown (2024)

IMDb plot summary: In 1961, an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York City with his guitar and forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world.

Directed by James Mangold. Stars Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, and Elle Fanning.

A Complete Unknown is a musical biopic of Bob Dylan, starring Timothee Chalamet. We follow his early days trying to make it big, as well as the fallout from his attempts to branch out from his folk music roots. I just wrote a review of the Christopher Reeve documentary, which kept a tight narrative focus throughout his life. This is the complete opposite -- the story tackles a much shorter period of time in Dylan's life but somehow lacks any throughline aside from maybe "Bob Dylan is an obnoxious person," which I suspect was not the story they were trying to tell. I do think that it's trying to get us to see him as this sort of a rebel figure, but it's not successful. It feels like a series of disconnected stories that don't add up to a picture of the artist that is interesting or compelling or feels worth telling. I will say Timothee Chalamet is really excellent in this. He fully disappears into the role. Totally forgot that I was watching a known actor. He just embodies the character, which is really impressive. And of course, we also have some really excellent music. I love how much time it spends listening to a lot of these great folk songs, and not just performed by Dylan, but we also get a lot from Baez and a lot from Seeger. (Edward Norton as Pete Seger is also really excellent. I haven't seen him do anything this good in a long time.) So the music is good, but I'm just not compelled by the story enough to be swayed by it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 A Complete Unknown (2024)

📊 Ranked #2523/4183 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 40

lost to Blackmail Is My Life (held at #2100)

beat Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (#3144 → #3145)

beat The Man Who Knew Too Much (#2626 → #2627)

lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (held at #2362)

lost to All the Money in the World (held at #2494)

beat Dhamaal (#2560 → #2561)

beat Rushmore (#2526 → #2527)

lost to Stage Fright (held at #2510)

lost to The Savages (held at #2518)

lost to Hanna (held at #2522)

beat Videodrome (#2524 → #2525)

beat Only You (#2523 → #2524)

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)

IMDb plot summary: Reeve's rise to becoming a film star follows with a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability rights.

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is a documentary about Christopher Reeve's life, focusing particular on his rise to fame as Superman and his activism efforts after an accident that left him paralyzed. The fact that Reeve's story really only has two widely-known pieces -- his work as Superman and his disability/activism -- makes this a cleaner documentary work than many films trying to capture a full human being. I also found it fascinating how even though it primarily used interviews from very close friends and family, it didn't idolize him as someone larger than life, so much as just a regular guy who liked to act and then wanted to live a better life. It did make me want to hunt down some of his lesser-known films and learn a bit more about him as an actor before his accident, which I suppose is one of the purposes of the film. Overall it does feel like I came out of it having learned a lot about Reeve but without necessarily feeling much about him, which feels like a missed note.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)

📊 Ranked #2227/4182 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 47

lost to Raising Arizona (held at #2097)

beat The Big House (#3141 → #3142)

beat Tab Hunter Confidential (#2621 → #2622)

beat Skyfall (#2359 → #2360)

lost to The Three Faces of Eve (held at #2226)

beat The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (#2291 → #2292)

beat Dallas Buyers Club (#2259 → #2260)

beat Hamlet (#2243 → #2244)

beat The Lodger (#2235 → #2236)

beat King of Jazz (#2231 → #2232)

beat Cry-Baby (#2229 → #2230)

beat Annie Get Your Gun (#2227 → #2228)

The Lobster (2015)

IMDb plot summary: In a dystopian near future, according to the laws of The City, single people are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in 45 days or they're transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Stars Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, and Jessica Barden.

The Lobster is a Yorgos Lanthimos dark comedy that stars Colin Farrell as a man who signs up to go to a hotel in which he has limited amount of time to find a romantic partner, or else he will be turned into an animal of his choice. As one might guess from the title, he chooses a lobster. As the time ticks by and he has no prospects in sight, he starts trying to figure out what he will actually be willing to do to get a partner and avoid that fate. As with so many Lanthimos films, this plays out in a very unusual way, so I'm not going to spoil it much beyond what I've actually said. I have learned that Yorgos might be my favorite modern director. While this doesn't rise quite to the level of enjoyment that I got out of Poor Things or Kinds of Kindness, I did find it fascinating, and I laughed out loud a lot. It's got a truly wonderful mix of dark comedy alongside its horrific story. I also found the ending and its ambiguity very engaging. It kept me thinking about what the story was trying to say about relationships, and I like that it doesn't give an obvious answer. Not my favorite of this director's films, but it's one that I think will continue to sit with me and I appreciate it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Lobster (2015)

📊 Ranked #1059/4181 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat The Sasquatch Gang (#2097 → #2098)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Sweet Smell of Success (#1562 → #1563)

beat After Yang (#1301 → #1302)

beat CBGB (#1168 → #1169)

beat Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (#1103 → #1104)

beat Crazy Rich Asians (#1070 → #1071)

lost to The Voices (held at #1054)

beat In the Name of the Father (#1062 → #1063)

lost to The Quick and the Dead (held at #1058)

beat My Life as a Dog (#1060 → #1061)

beat Repo Man (#1059 → #1060)

The Penguin Lessons (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A disillusioned Englishman who goes to work in a school in a divided Argentina in 1976 finds his life transformed when he rescues an orphaned penguin from the beach.

Directed by Peter Cattaneo. Stars Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, and Bruno Blas.

The Penguin Lessons stars Steve Coogan as an English teacher during a time of political upheaval in Argentina in the 1970s. He is determined to stay out of it and not endanger himself or put himself on the line for any of what's going on, but his perspective changes when he ends up unintentionally adopting a penguin. This is the kind of film that I will admit is very unlikely to work for me. I do not tend to be moved by stories of people being pulled out of apathy by either pets or small children. There are just very few ways that I have ever seen that play out that feels compelling to me. This one doesn't quite work either. I admire the story trying to be told, and it is apparently based on a true story to some extent, but it's one of those stories that it is almost impossible to tell well for me. Once you introduce a cute animal into the mix, it just feels perpetually sappy -- and I fully admit this is a problem with me more so than with the movie, but it means that I'm not the right person to evaluate whether or not this film is actually good because all it does is make me kind of sigh and roll my eyes. If you have a similar reaction to stories in that vein, you probably won't love this either.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Penguin Lessons (2025)

📊 Ranked #2547/4180 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 39

lost to Cypher (held at #2100)

beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3142 → #3143)

beat Jimmy the Kid (#2625 → #2626)

lost to The Blues Brothers (held at #2361)

lost to King Richard (held at #2493)

beat A Bridge Too Far (#2559 → #2560)

lost to The Mistress of Spices (held at #2525)

lost to Melinda and Melinda (held at #2543)

beat Ice Princess (#2551 → #2552)

beat The Asphalt Jungle (#2547 → #2548)

lost to Son of Rambow (held at #2545)

lost to I'm Not Rappaport (held at #2546)

The Old Guard (2020)

IMDb plot summary: A covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with an inability to die have fought to protect the world for centuries. But when their abilities are suddenly exposed, they need to eliminate the threat of those who seek to replicate their power.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

The Old Guard is a fantasy sci-fi action movie starring Charlize Theron as the leader of a group of immortal beings who go around saving people's lives while also being on the run from those who want to hunt them down. Things get even more complicated when they discover another immortal who doesn't know what she is yet. What an odd movie this is. It has all the hallmarks of a very trope-filled young adult novel, but this is clearly for adults. That's not necessarily a complaint, just something that makes the movie unique. The lore behind the characters is significantly more interesting than watching them engage in actual battle with the government agents, and it was irritating how obviously it was set up for a sequel at the end. Have the courage to end your movie, please. But if you wanted to watch a YA story featuring adult characters, this is absolutely what that is, and it's a decent ride.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Old Guard (2020)

📊 Ranked #2460/4179 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 41

lost to Blackmail Is My Life (held at #2099)

beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3141 → #3142)

beat Jimmy the Kid (#2624 → #2625)

lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (held at #2360)

beat King Richard (#2492 → #2493)

lost to Hellboy (held at #2427)

lost to Wreck-It Ralph (held at #2459)

beat Smokin' Aces (#2475 → #2476)

beat The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (#2467 → #2468)

beat Broken Embraces (#2463 → #2464)

beat Pitch Perfect 2 (#2461 → #2462)

beat Home Again (#2460 → #2461)

Speak No Evil (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A family is invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that a dark side lies within the family who invited them.

Directed by James Watkins. Stars James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, and Scoot McNairy.

Speak No Evil is about two families who befriend each other on vacation. One family takes the other up on their offer to visit their country home, however things start getting uncomfortable, and the couple begins to wonder if something sinister is going on. As far as horror thrillers go, this one is pretty good. It has a nice balance of genuine creepy moments and slightly exaggerated twists that keep it entertaining throughout. It also does a pretty good job of maintaining the characters' need to stay at the home, even as things come up that feel like they should push them away. It's seldom irritating when they return and more understandable given the circumstances. This isn't an incredible movie, but it is a fun and interesting watch and I'm glad I got to see it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Speak No Evil (2024)

📊 Ranked #1119/4178 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 73

beat Cypher (#2099 → #2100)

lost to Walk Don't Run (held at #1038)

beat Manchester by the Sea (#1562 → #1563)

beat A Grand Day Out (#1301 → #1302)

beat The Nanny Diaries (#1168 → #1169)

lost to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (held at #1103)

beat Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (#1135 → #1136)

beat Crocodile Dundee (#1119 → #1120)

lost to Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (held at #1111)

lost to Luca (held at #1115)

lost to Baby Driver (held at #1117)

lost to Match Point (held at #1118)

A Troll in Central Park (1994)

IMDb plot summary: An evil Queen banishes a flower loving troll named Stanley to New York City, where he befriends two young children.

Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Stars Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, and Charles Nelson Reilly.

A Troll in Central Park is a Don Bluth film in which a young troll, played by Dom DeLuise, is more interested in growing flowers than wreaking havoc with his troll comrades, and as a result he is banished to Central Park. He ends up befriending of couple of New York children who then find themselves in danger from the trolls. It feels like summarizing the movie plot itself took longer than the movie itself. This movie goes by so fast and tries to cram so much in, and it mostly feels overwhelming. I've never been a huge Don Bluth fan, but when his movies work for me, they really work. This one, I think, really needed to be seen as a child for me to have any affection for it. As an adult, I just find it kind of awkward and messy without a lot of real stakes to ground it. Definitely not the best of Bluth's work.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 A Troll in Central Park (1994)

📊 Ranked #3123/4177 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 25

lost to Cypher (held at #2099)

beat A Prairie Home Companion (#3140 → #3141)

lost to Mystic River (held at #2624)

lost to 3, 2, 1... Frankie Go Boom (held at #2882)

lost to Jake's Women (held at #3011)

lost to Alice in Wonderland (held at #3075)

lost to People on Sunday (held at #3107)

beat Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (#3123 → #3124)

lost to The Milagro Beanfield War (held at #3115)

lost to A Man Called Peter (held at #3119)

lost to In the Year of the Pig (held at #3121)

lost to Everyone Says I Love You (held at #3122)

Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

IMDb plot summary: Marketing maven Kelly Jones wreaks havoc on NASA launch director Cole Davis's already difficult task. When the White House deems the mission too important to fail, the countdown truly begins.

Directed by Greg Berlanti. Stars Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, and Woody Harrelson.

Fly Me to the Moon is a historical romantic comedy/drama starring Channing Tatum as a NASA employee working on getting the first man on the moon, and Scarlett Johansson as the fast-talking marketing executive tasked with selling the journey to the public. Her disregard for the truth and his rigid moral code don't always work well, but they learn to work together. This is a fun concept for a romance but doesn't ultimately do that much with it. Scarlett Johansson feels weirdly out of place here. She's a good actress in general but this always feels very consciously like a performance. Even more surprisingly, Channing Tatum is weirdly charisma-less. The side characters and cast are perpetually more engaging all the way along, and that's not a good sign for a romance movie. I don't know what went wrong here exactly but it does all kind of fall apart and ends up being pretty blah.

🎥 Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

📊 Ranked #2859/4173 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 32

lost to The Sparks Brothers (held at #2089)

beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3131 → #3132)

lost to The Inspector General (held at #2612)

beat The Whole Nine Yards (#2871 → #2872)

lost to Popcorn (held at #2741)

lost to Kicking and Screaming (held at #2806)

lost to The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (held at #2838)

lost to Four Weddings and a Funeral (held at #2854)

beat Sullivan's Travels (#2862 → #2863)

lost to Come to the Stable (held at #2858)

beat Adventures in Babysitting (#2860 → #2861)

beat Bully (#2859 → #2860)

A Nice Indian Boy (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When Naveen brings his fiancé Jay home to meet his traditional Indian family, they must contend with accepting his white-orphan-artist boyfriend and helping them plan the Indian wedding of their dreams.

Directed by Roshan Sethi. Stars Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff, and Sunita Mani.

A Nice Indian Boy follows a young Indian American doctor as he falls in love with a white man raised by Indian parents. Together, the two navigate the doctor's familial expectations around sexual orientation, race, and culture. This movie is, above all, very sweet. The central couple has believable, easy chemistry, and I found myself genuinely rooting for them and wanting the best possible outcome. I like how the movie makes family just as important a theme as romance, giving both arcs space, which rounds out the story and gives it depth. There are no big tearjerker moments and no laugh-out-loud jokes, at least for me, but it's consistently warm and everything lands solidly, even if quietly. It's the kind of movie you put on when you just want to watch something pleasant.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 A Nice Indian Boy (2025)

📊 Ranked #1064/4182 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat Cypher (#2100 → #2101)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Single White Female (#1563 → #1564)

beat New York Stories (#1301 → #1302)

beat Center Stage (#1168 → #1169)

beat It's Such a Beautiful Day (#1103 → #1104)

beat Kuroneko (#1070 → #1071)

lost to Shin Godzilla (held at #1054)

lost to Elf (held at #1062)

beat The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (#1066 → #1067)

beat Point Break (#1064 → #1065)

lost to Key Largo (held at #1063)

Last Night (1998)

IMDb plot summary: A group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.

Directed by Don McKellar. Stars Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, and Roberta Maxwell.

Last Night follows a varied group of people in Toronto in the final hours before the world ends. We see each of them dealing with their impending doom and taking charge of the things they CAN do in the meantime. This movie absolutely blew me away. It's astonishing and devastating. Every individual's thread is compelling on its own, but it's even better as they begin to intersect and affect each other. It's a bleak story on its surface, yet ultimately deeply life-affirming, examining the purpose of humanity through the lens of the end. The fact that the film is so quiet makes it hit harder than a lot of apocalypse stories. Clearly I need to seek out more of Don McKellar's work, and honestly, the rest of the films that were part of this same "stories about the millennium" series sound fascinating too. This is a movie that I think is going to stay with me for a long time.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Last Night (1998)

📊 Ranked #118/4157 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 97

beat Frances Ha (#2077 → #2078)

beat Guilty as Sin (#1038 → #1039)

beat The Mummy (#519 → #520)

beat That Thing You Do! (#259 → #260)

beat The Ring (#129 → #130)

lost to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (held at #64)

lost to My Neighbor Totoro (held at #96)

lost to Little Shop of Horrors (held at #112)

beat Up (#120 → #121)

lost to The History Boys (held at #116)

beat Cloverfield (#118 → #119)

lost to Doubt (held at #117)

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

IMDb plot summary: Four irrepressible retirees spend their time solving cold case murders for fun, but their casual sleuthing takes a thrilling turn when they find themselves with a real whodunit on their hands.

Directed by Chris Columbus. Stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley.

The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of retirees who spend their spare time solving cold cases, until a real murder lands right in their laps. I watched this because my husband is a fan of the books and this adaptation, and it made me want to read the novels too. The characters are a bit broadly drawn, but they’re undeniably charming and well acted (with a powerhouse cast -- Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie, and Pierce Brosnan), and that goes a long way. I actually guessed the solution toward the end, not because the clues were airtight, but because it felt like the most interesting narrative choice, and it was satisfying when that was in fact the direction the story went. It didn't blow my mind, but it's gentle, cozy, and pleasant. The kind of sweet, low-stakes watch that makes for a very pleasant evening.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

📊 Ranked #1170/4181 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 72

beat Blackadder: Back & Forth (#2097 → #2098)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Single White Female (#1562 → #1563)

beat A Grand Day Out (#1299 → #1300)

lost to Center Stage (held at #1168)

beat The Cable Guy (#1233 → #1234)

beat The Secret Garden (#1200 → #1201)

beat Call Me Madam (#1184 → #1185)

beat The Ten Commandments (#1176 → #1177)

beat The River (#1172 → #1173)

beat The Hill (#1170 → #1171)

lost to Dicks: The Musical (held at #1169)

The Addams Family Values (1993)

IMDb plot summary: The Addams Family try to rescue their beloved Uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie.

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Stars Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, and Christopher Lloyd.

Addams Family Values follows, well, the macabre Addams as they welcome a new baby and a murderous nanny into their home. I'm usually not into sequels, but maybe the key is not to see the original, because I had a great time with this movie. There's a really fun vibe throughout, balancing gothic spookiness with just the right amount of absurdity. Without that silliness, the whole thing wouldn't work nearly as well. I was genuinely surprised by how often I laughed out loud. Joan Cusack, in particular, is delightful. I never get to see her play villains OR seductresses, and she excels at both here. Do I feel compelled to go back and watch the first one? Absolutely not. One Addams movie is enough for me, but I'm glad this was the one I saw.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Addams Family Values (1993)

📊 Ranked #1040/4180 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 75

beat Blackmail Is My Life (#2097 → #2098)

lost to The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (held at #1038)

beat Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (#1562 → #1563)

beat New York Stories (#1299 → #1300)

beat Dicks: The Musical (#1168 → #1169)

beat Look Out, Officer! (#1103 → #1104)

beat Woman in the Dunes (#1070 → #1071)

beat Fresh (#1054 → #1055)

beat Kiss Me, Stupid (#1046 → #1047)

beat Guilty as Sin (#1042 → #1043)

beat The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (#1040 → #1041)

lost to Robin Hood (held at #1039)