The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)

IMDb plot summary: James Bond is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin, while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder.

Directed by Guy Hamilton. Stars Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, and Britt Ekland.

The Man With the Golden Gun is a Roger Moore James Bond film, in which the titular Man with the Golden Gun sends Bond a threat, which leads to 007 traipsing around the world looking for his potential assassin, and the piece of technology that he's stolen. This definitely cements for me that the Roger Moore era of Bond is the one I'm most likely to enjoy. It's big and bold and often silly, especially in its final moments -- one of Bond's near scrapes with death comes from a scantily clad woman accidentally hitting the wrong lever with her rear end. Since the story is set in Asia, there's an unfortunate amount of orientalism, which is certainly hard to watch at times. The film is on much surer footing once we get to the island, as Christopher Lee is delightful as the villainous Salamanca. There are now two Bond films I can confidently say I like, and both are Moore. Guess I should watch the rest of his!

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

📊 Ranked #971/4199 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 77

beat Deep Impact (#2098 → #2099)

beat The Other Boleyn Girl (#1038 → #1039)

lost to All Quiet on the Western Front (held at #518)

lost to True Lies (held at #778)

lost to Support Your Local Sheriff! (held at #907)

beat Little Women (#972 → #973)

lost to Kwaidan (held at #939)

lost to Westworld (held at #955)

lost to Sisters (held at #963)

lost to The Beguiled (held at #967)

lost to The House (held at #969)

lost to Mirage (held at #970)

beat The Impostors (#971 → #972)

Kpop Demon Hunters (2025)

IMDb plot summary: A world-renowned K-Pop girl group balance their lives in the spotlight with their secret identities as demon hunters.

Directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang. Stars Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo.

Kpop Demon Hunters is an animated film about a mega-popular girl group who are secretly using the power of music to ward off demons. But one day, a rival boy band, made up of demons masquerading as humans, comes to challenge their spot... and one of them discovers some of their secrets. This was a huge hit this year, and I totally get why -- this is a good movie! Of course, the music is the biggest draw here, and it works. These are great, catchy songs (although the one nominated for the Oscar was by far the least interesting one in here). But there's a lot of entertaining fantasy metaphor going on in this story as well, and a great coming-of-age story. I do read and watch enough YA that I see a lot of similarities to other fantasy trauma metaphors in recent years, so it doesn't feel new enough to blow me away, but the music helps keep it fresh for sure. Overall simple but likeable, with some very fun music.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

📊 Ranked #1090/4198 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 74

beat Happythankyoumoreplease (#2098 → #2099)

lost to Steven Universe: The Movie (held at #1039)

beat The United States vs. Billie Holiday (#1564 → #1565)

beat Punch-Drunk Love (#1302 → #1303)

beat The Woodsman (#1169 → #1170)

beat Australia (#1104 → #1105)

lost to Point Break (held at #1071)

lost to Joyeux Noel (held at #1088)

beat Barbie (#1096 → #1097)

beat H.M.S. Defiant (#1092 → #1093)

beat Pariah (#1090 → #1091)

Impromptu (1991)

IMDb plot summary: In 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sandsn.

Directed by James Lapine. Stars Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, and Mandy Patinkin.

Impromptu is a period piece primarily centering around the romance between composer Frederic Chopin and writer George Sand. Sometimes I'm very much down for a good period romance, but this one is really a slog. Hugh Grant is a year or two off from really hitting it big as Hollywood's leading man, and he's awkwardly dull and lifeless here. I really want to like Judy Davis as Sand, but her neediness makes the romance so uninteresting. The ups and downs of the different characters start feeling tedious far too early in the film, and it never gets better. There's just not a lot to remember or appreciate about this one, sadly.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Impromptu (1991)

📊 Ranked #3814/4197 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 9

lost to Happythankyoumoreplease (held at #2098)

lost to Sliding Doors (held at #3151)

lost to Father Brown (held at #3676)

beat Little Miss Marker (#3935 → #3936)

lost to The Battle of Algiers (held at #3805)

beat Mannequin (#3870 → #3871)

beat It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (#3837 → #3838)

beat The Host (#3821 → #3822)

lost to The Haunting (held at #3813)

beat Raid on Rommel (#3817 → #3818)

beat The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (#3815 → #3816)

It Was Just an Accident (2025)

IMDb plot summary: An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man's identity.

Directed by Jafar Panahi. Stars Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, and Ebrahim Azizi.

It Was Just an Accident is an Iranian film about a group of former political prisoners who, years later, discover the man who they believe they recognize as their cruelest captor, and the group must decide what to do with him. I really wish this had gotten more attention around the Oscar season, because I think this is a seriously great movie. It does such a beautiful job of highlighting all these different characters and how they have processed and continued to process their past trauma, and what it has led to them being as humans. These acting performances are so compelling, and it truly feels at times like just watching a group of actual people work through a serious dilemma, with all the panic and anger that comes along with it. Without giving anything away, I was also really pulled in by the ending, which allowed for just enough resolution for it to feel meaningful without undercutting how impossible the whole situation was. It's a good movie that is easily my pick for best foreign film this Oscar season.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 It Was Just an Accident (2025)

📊 Ranked #908/4196 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 78

beat How I Live Now (#2095 → #2096)

beat Fever Pitch (#1039 → #1040)

lost to All Quiet on the Western Front (held at #518)

lost to True Lies (held at #778)

lost to Support Your Local Sheriff! (held at #907)

beat American Dreamz (#972 → #973)

beat Misery (#939 → #940)

beat Sansho the Bailiff (#923 → #924)

beat Ghost Town (#915 → #916)

beat Easy A (#911 → #912)

beat The Graduate (#909 → #910)

The Oxford Murders (2008)

IMDb plot summary: At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try to stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symbols.

Directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Stars Elijah Wood, John Hurt, and Leonor Watling.

The Oxford Murders stars Elijah Wood as an American graduate student who comes to Oxford to try and study with a particular professor. To his disappointment, the professor refuses to work with him, but then the two become entangled in a serial murder case when the first victim is a mutual friend. Oh, this one is a mess. It's one of those fairly obnoxious mysteries that things it's being much, much cleverer than it is, when really it just feels pretentious. On top of that there are weird small dialogue issues, like the fact that they cast Elijah Wood as this character and yet everything he says is very British, in very British dialect. I don't know if that was an initial issue with the script, or if they didn't intend to cast an American at the beginning and then never adjusted the script afterward, but it's jarring and immediately sets the tone that this is going to be a movie that does not care with its text. That continues on for the rest of the movie, with really clunky exposition and really underwhelming twists and turns throughout the mystery, all culminating in an ending that doesn't work. Not a lot that I liked about this one.

🎥 The Oxford Murders (2008)

📊 Ranked #3686/4195 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 12

lost to The Lair of the White Worm (held at #2094)

lost to Two for the Money (held at #3147)

lost to Bus Stop (held at #3674)

beat Little Miss Marker (#3933 → #3934)

beat The Battle of Algiers (#3803 → #3804)

beat Epic (#3738 → #3739)

beat Baby Mama (#3706 → #3707)

beat For Love of the Game (#3690 → #3691)

lost to Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (held at #3682)

beat Bohemian Rhapsody (#3686 → #3687)

lost to Holy Ghost People (held at #3684)

Becoming Led Zeppelin (2024)

IMDb plot summary: The film traces the journeys of the four members of the Stairway To Heaven rockers through the music scene of the 1960s and their meeting in the summer of 1968, culminating in 1970.

Directed by Bernard MacMahon.

Becoming Led Zeppelin is a documentary about the forming of Led Zeppelin, primarily centering around interviews with the living members of the band, more so than those in their circle or influenced by them. Watching documentaries about bands I have no connection to is always kind of an interesting task. My primary litmus test is whether it made me want to listen to their music more, and, for this one, it mostly didn't. What it did do was give me a fondness for the nerdery of the band members. They seem much less like hugely successful musicians and more like college besties just enjoying how much fun music is. It does turn out that everything that they love most about music is not what draws me to music. They're talking about all these amazing guitar choices and drum choices and rhythm choices and while I really love hearing them talk about something that they are so passionate about, I'm a lyrics person and a melody person. I do appreciate this extra understanding of what it is that makes this band special. It just also highlights for me that this is not going to be a band that is going to be my favorite. But if you want to hear people just nerd out about music theory for like 2 hours, this is a surprisingly fun watch, and definitely a different take from many music documentaries that focus so heavily on the stress of the celebrity life.

🎥 Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)

📊 Ranked #2438/4194 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 42

lost to The Score (held at #2093)

beat Two for the Money (#3146 → #3147)

beat Skylark (#2618 → #2619)

lost to A Silent Voice: The Movie (held at #2354)

beat Smokin' Aces (#2486 → #2487)

lost to The Keep (held at #2418)

beat My Girl (#2453 → #2454)

lost to Hellboy (held at #2437)

beat The Rescuers (#2445 → #2446)

beat Power (#2441 → #2442)

beat Elle (#2439 → #2440)

Shine (1996)

IMDb plot summary: David Helfgott, a gifted pianist, struggles through childhood adolescence as his strict father abuses him and his siblings. Years later, he suffers a mental breakdown but manages to return as a legend.

Directed by Scott Hicks. Stars Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Justin Braine.

Shine is an Australian biopic starring Geoffrey Rush as David Helfgott, a talented child prodigy at piano who suffered a mental breakdown and spent much of his adult life in an institution. We follow his short-lived success, his years dealing with his mental health, and his journey toward healing and building new relationships. I watched this film as part of my 1996 project, where I'm trying to reach 100 movies seen from this year. This one got several Oscar nominations, and I can't say most of them are deserved. Geoffrey Rush's performance is the main reason to watch this, as his performance feels emotionally connected enough to keep it from being caricature. but as a film, it works a little too hard to weave together this clear simple narrative of the overly demanding father driving him to the breakdown, and it just feels like a bit of a stretch. If you'd like to see a really good performance by Rush, this is the movie for you, but if you're looking for a great movie overall, this isn't my recommendation.

🎥 Shine (1996)

📊 Ranked #1879/4193 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 55

beat Happythankyoumoreplease (#2096 → #2097)

lost to The Other Boleyn Girl (held at #1037)

lost to Ping Pong Playa (held at #1562)

lost to Swiss Army Man (held at #1833)

beat Malcolm & Marie (#1964 → #1965)

beat My Date with Drew (#1898 → #1899)

lost to The Three Musketeers (held at #1866)

beat The Wedding Singer (#1882 → #1883)

lost to White Heat (held at #1874)

lost to You've Got Mail (held at #1878)

beat Bowling for Columbine (#1880 → #1881)

Snack Shack (2024)

IMDb plot summary: Nebraska City, 1991, two best friends get the chance to run the swimming pool snack shack, that later comes to be the perfect scenario for transgression, fun, personal discovery and romance.

Directed by Adam Rehmeier. Stars Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle, and Mika Abdalla.

Snack Shack follows two eighth grade boys looking to make some money and have an adventure in their last summer before high school. They decide to bid to run the pool's snack shop over the summer, and as they turn it into a very successful venture, they also start running into some hiccups along the way that threaten to dismantle their friendship. There's a lot to like about this raunchy, goofy coming-of-age movie. These characters are frequently obnoxious, but there's something delightful about watching them jump headlong into any idea that takes their fancy. There is a gleeful zaniness to this whole film, and while sometimes that zany tone feels like a bit much, especially in comparison to the more somber third act, overall it’s a pretty fun ride and I had a good time with it.

🎥 Snack Shack (2024)

📊 Ranked #1262/4192 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 70

beat Happythankyoumoreplease (#2095 → #2096)

lost to Heathers: The Musical (held at #1036)

beat Ping Pong Playa (#1561 → #1562)

beat Army of Shadows (#1299 → #1300)

lost to A Chorus Line (held at #1166)

lost to Cheaper by the Dozen (held at #1230)

beat Who Framed Roger Rabbit (#1265 → #1266)

lost to Airheads (held at #1249)

lost to It (held at #1257)

lost to High Strung (held at #1261)

beat Cool Runnings (#1263 → #1264)

Secrets & Lies (1996)

IMDb plot summary: Following the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.

Directed by Mike Leigh. Stars Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, and Phyllis Logan.

Secrets & Lies is a British film about a middle-aged woman whose biological daughter attempts to reestablish contact with her after being given up for adoption. The relationship throws the woman's life out of whack, and she and her whole family must figure out how to navigate it. Mike Leigh's work has been hit-or-miss for me at times, but this one is undeniably a hit. These characters are real and raw, and watching them figure out their lives together is captivating. I have to particularly call out Brenda Blethyn as the mother, whose performance is pitch perfect, both heartrending and endearing. The awkwardness of the family working so hard to keep up appearances despite not having a whole lot to brag about is palpable and makes for some great tense scenes where you are trying to figure out if one of them is going to explode any minute. While the story mostly focuses on the mom and her newly found daughter, there are also enough other subplots involving the rest of the family that it fully feels like a very fleshed out world. One of those rare films where I truly do feel like we're just getting a peek into somebody's life, and it's very naturally crafted.

🎥 Secrets & Lies (1996)

📊 Ranked #752/4191 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 82

beat Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (#2095 → #2096)

beat The Other Boleyn Girl (#1036 → #1037)

lost to He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not (held at #517)

beat Evil (#776 → #777)

lost to 21 Jump Street (held at #647)

lost to Beautiful Boy (held at #711)

lost to The Red Violin (held at #743)

beat Nurse Betty (#759 → #760)

lost to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (held at #751)

beat Casualties of War (#755 → #756)

beat Southside with You (#753 → #754)

One Battle After Another (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When their enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro.

One Battle After Another is the newest Paul Thomas Anderson movie. The film begins with Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor as anarchist rebels who are trying to start a revolution, but when Taylor ends up turning in her fellow anarchists, DiCaprio escapes with their daughter. Over a decade later, the father and his now-teenage daughter are found by people who wanted them dead, and DiCaprio has to try and keep his daughter safe. There is a lot going on in this movie, but I'm not convinced it's quite as impressive as the hyped made it sound. It's definitely got some fun, weird comedy/drama mixing. I was especially struck by the scene where DiCaprio first discovers his daughter is a target and is being transported to a safe house, but at the time he's heavily under the influence and is barely functional getting himself across town to find people who can help him. That scene could absolutely be right at home in an overt comedy (it's more than a little reminiscent of the same actor's Quaaludes scene in Wolf of Wall Street). But mostly I just feel like this is one of PTA's films that  misses me. It is a splashier, slightly more highbrow action movie. And while that aspect is certainly done well, it's not something that seems like the best movie of the year or anything like that. PTA often doesn't quite speak to me, so I guess it's not that surprising that this one didn't quite gel with me either.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 One Battle After Another (2025)

📊 Ranked #1626/4190 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat The Sparks Brothers (#2098 → #2099)

lost to Fever Pitch (held at #1038)

lost to Silent Hill (held at #1564)

beat Solaris (#1836 → #1837)

beat Fury (#1705 → #1706)

beat Elemental (#1629 → #1630)

lost to The Wolf of Wall Street (held at #1596)

lost to Stargate (held at #1612)

lost to Don't Look Up (held at #1621)

lost to Killers of the Flower Moon (held at #1625)

beat Dan in Real Life (#1627 → #1628)

beat The Tragedy of Macbeth (#1626 → #1627)

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

IMDb plot summary: When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others.

Directed by George Cukor. Stars Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Brian Aherne.

Sylvia Scarlett is a very, very early Katharine Hepburn film in which she is the daughter of a criminal who must go on the run, and so she disguises herself as a man to better serve him as his companion. Along the way, the two team up with Cary Grant, who plays another con man who agrees to help them. This was first brought to my attention on a TikTok about very early trans representation. While obviously this doesn't get too deep into that aspect of the story, given the time in which it was released, it does have some really fresh takes on gender, and coming from an actress like Hepburn, who was known for challenging stereotypical notions of gender, especially later in her career, it is a fascinating watch.  Aside from that though, the film isn't great. The romance is not likable or believable. The actors make very inconsistent choices as to what accents they're going to have at any point in the story. And the whole thing is all wrapped up very abruptly in a happy romance ending, tacked on to what was a fairly dark melodrama up until that point. So it's more valuable as a piece of interesting film history and early representation of non-typical gender performance than as an actual film in and of itself.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

📊 Ranked #3209/4189 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 23

lost to Fahrenheit 451 (held at #2096)

lost to The Preacher's Wife (held at #3143)

beat Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (#3669 → #3670)

beat Pinocchio (#3405 → #3406)

beat The Other Sister (#3273 → #3274)

lost to A Mighty Wind (held at #3208)

beat Gangs of New York (#3240 → #3241)

beat Baby Boom (#3224 → #3225)

beat Victor/Victoria (#3216 → #3217)

beat Our Paradise (#3212 → #3213)

beat Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (#3210 → #3211)

beat Inherent Vice (#3209 → #3210)

The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

IMDb plot summary: An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favorite musicians to perform at his home.

Directed by James Griffiths. Stars Tom Basden, Tim Key, and Sian Clifford.

The Ballad of Wallis Island is set on a remote island where a folk musician is invited to perform a concert. The concert turns out to the brainchild of one man who has spent all of his lottery winnings on bringing this folk musician to the island, with the intention of reuniting him with his former musical partner, whom he parted with on bad terms. The two ultimately decide to try to work together and put on their one-person performance, and the three people, two musicians and their host, form some semblance of relationship. This is a really charming film that is really anchored by Tim Key playing their island host. He is charming but irritating and over-eager to please and ends up consistently rubbing people the wrong way. He's the one whose character arc is most compelling. The musician character arc is fine, but Key's performance is really the one that thematically and emotionally anchors the entire movie. It's a sweet movie in the best way. These characters are enjoyable to be around. We get some fun musical sequences and some small romances, while also not downplaying actual human need and sorrow. This one didn't get as much attention as I feel like it should have gotten, so if you haven't had a chance to check it out, you should. It's really delightful.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

📊 Ranked #585/4188 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 86

beat Fahrenheit 451 (#2095 → #2096)

beat The Other Boleyn Girl (#1035 → #1036)

lost to That Night's Wife (held at #516)

beat Evil (#775 → #776)

beat 21 Jump Street (#646 → #647)

lost to The Mitchells vs. the Machines (held at #580)

beat Carrie (#612 → #613)

beat The Courtship of Eddie's Father (#596 → #597)

beat The Big Sick (#588 → #589)

lost to Marty (held at #584)

beat Stardust (#586 → #587)

beat It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (#585 → #586)

Exhuma (2024)

IMDb plot summary: The process of excavating an ominous grave unleashes dreadful consequences buried underneath.

Directed by Jang Jae-hyun. Stars Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, and Yoo Hae-jin.

Exhuma is a South Korean horror film about a group of shamans who are investigating one particular family and their sketchy burial practices, which have now apparently come back to literally haunt them. This is a fun concept, and there are a few cool, spooky possession scenes that I do remember that stand out from the film, but a lot of it is just slow. The filmic choices showing the possessions are easily the most interesting part of the film, which felt overall very long at two hours and 14 minutes. The rest of the plot doesn't match the energy and the vibrance of those possession scenes, and so I found myself kind of tuning out whenever there wasn't something big and dramatic happening. I do wonder if there were some cultural differences that made this harder for me to process, which is obviously not the fault of the film. Overall, this one didn't quite do it for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Exhuma (2024)

📊 Ranked #2055/4187 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 51

beat The Sasquatch Gang (#2099 → #2100)

lost to Fever Pitch (held at #1037)

lost to Quartet (held at #1562)

lost to Solaris (held at #1835)

lost to Aladdin (held at #1968)

lost to John Wick (held at #2033)

beat Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (#2065 → #2066)

lost to Gold Diggers of 1933 (held at #2049)

beat The Firm (#2057 → #2058)

lost to Hail, Caesar! (held at #2053)

beat The Velvet Underground (#2055 → #2056)

lost to Deceiver (held at #2054)

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)

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)

IMDb plot summary: Showgirl Deloris Van Cartier returns as Sister Mary Clarence to teach music to a group of Catholic students whose run-down school is slated for closure.

Directed by Bill Duke. Stars Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy, and Maggie Smith.

Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is a sequel to the Whoopi Goldberg vehicle where she poses as a nun to escape a murderous ex. Here, she's asked to pose as a nun again to... teach music at a private high school? This is the prime example of a sequel that isn't bad in and of itself, but... why is it here? It's just the first movie without a main character arc. Like the original, the two main musical performances are a lot of fun, but most of it is full of generic "music changes lives" statements and inspirational speeches that don't land. It also feels way too hard like it's trying to connect to "the youths" -- I'm sorry, I can't imagine a situation in which a performance of rapping nuns would convince a group of high schoolers that choir is cool. Add to all that that the justification for getting Whoopi Goldberg back in is truly ludicrous, and it's just kind of a disappointment... and maybe actually makes me like the original a little less too. This is why I don't watch sequels, folks! This is not the one to change my mind.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)

📊 Ranked #2359/4169 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 43

lost to Frances Ha (held at #2082)

beat Sliding Doors (#3123 → #3124)

beat Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (#2603 → #2604)

lost to Following (held at #2343)

beat New Faces (#2473 → #2474)

beat Something the Lord Made (#2408 → #2409)

beat Fun with Dick and Jane (#2375 → #2376)

beat The Last Dragon (#2359 → #2360)

lost to The Blues Brothers (held at #2351)

lost to Sherlock Holmes (held at #2355)

lost to Charulata (held at #2357)

lost to Bad Education (held at #2358)

Mystery Men (1999)

IMDb plot summary: A group of inept amateur superheroes must try to save the day when a supervillain threatens to destroy a major superhero and the city.

Directed by Kinka Usher. Stars Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, and William H. Macy.

Mystery Men is about a group of less-than-stellar superheroes, led by Ben Stiller, who attempt to create a super team that can take their place in the superhero hall of fame. This movie is extremely of its time, which means I totally get why people love it even if it doesn't quite click for me. The most fun part is the stacked cast, packed with talented performers and enjoyable cameos in even smaller roles. It didn't make me laugh all that much, but it's interesting to see a superhero parody movie from before the genre became completely oversaturated. It feels slightly ahead of the curve in that way. Overall, it's fine. Not bad, just doesn't hit the way I hoped it would.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Mystery Men (1999)

📊 Ranked #2397/4179 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 43

lost to Blackmail Is My Life (held at #2097)

beat Monsters University (#3138 → #3139)

beat Mystic River (#2620 → #2621)

lost to Kin-dza-dza! (held at #2358)

beat King Richard (#2487 → #2488)

beat Q & A (#2422 → #2423)

lost to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (held at #2390)

beat Ron's Gone Wrong (#2406 → #2407)

beat Lost in America (#2398 → #2399)

lost to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (held at #2394)

lost to The Woman in Black (held at #2396)

beat Fantastic Voyage (#2397 → #2398)

Sentimental Value (2025)

IMDb plot summary: An intimate exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art.

Directed by Joachim Trier. Stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.

Sentimental Value is a quiet, absorbing family drama about a filmmaker and his two adult daughters, one of whom is an actress and somewhat estranged from him. He asks her to play the lead in a film he wrote for her, and she refuses, so he casts someone else, and we see how the making of this film affects their relationships. I found it a more interesting watch than The Worst Person in the World, my last Joachim Trier film, largely because of how patiently it unravels its characters. Each of these three feels deep and layered, even the sister we don't get to see as much, and the character development feels like a mystery being solved. The film offers a thoughtful look at how art does -- and maybe shouldn't -- overlap with real life, and where the boundaries between the two can blur. The ending left me wanting more, but not in a frustrating way so much as in a way that just acknowledges life doesn't wrap up neatly. It’s an interesting, reflective film, and one I definitely want to revisit.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sentimental Value (2025)

📊 Ranked #1285/4178 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 69

beat Raising Arizona (#2092 → #2093)

lost to Robin Hood (held at #1039)

beat Single White Female (#1560 → #1561)

beat New York Stories (#1298 → #1299)

lost to Dicks: The Musical (held at #1168)

lost to Dangerous Liaisons (held at #1233)

lost to Freaky Friday (held at #1265)

lost to Last Year at Marienbad (held at #1281)

beat Army of Shadows (#1289 → #1290)

beat Finder's Fee (#1285 → #1286)

lost to Fanny and Alexander (held at #1283)

lost to 28 Up (held at #1284)

Frozen (2010)

IMDb plot summary: Three skiers stranded on a chairlift are forced to make life-or-death choices, which prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.

Directed by Adam Green. Stars Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, and Kevin Zegers.

Frozen -- the very much *not* Disney one -- follows three friends stranded on a ski lift after a resort closes for the weekend, leaving them to face the cold, hunger, and worse. Watching this right after Extreme Days was a funny contrast, since both involve kind of douche-y guys and a lone woman on a ski trip, but I liked this one a lot more. I was surprised by how gross and dismal it gets, though in hindsight I probably shouldn’t have been. It’s a tense, tightly contained survival horror that really commits to its premise. If I ever needed a reason not to go skiing, this is it. Dark, bleak, and not exactly a fun watch, but a solid film that does what it sets out to do.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Frozen (2010)

📊 Ranked #1588/4177 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 62

beat Eddington (#2092 → #2093)

lost to Robin Hood (held at #1039)

lost to Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (held at #1561)

beat Knight and Day (#1828 → #1829)

beat Marnie (#1698 → #1699)

beat Begin Again (#1626 → #1627)

beat The Pianist (#1593 → #1594)

lost to Cats Don't Dance (held at #1577)

lost to Hell's Angels (held at #1585)

beat Hamlet (#1589 → #1590)

lost to The Wolf of Wall Street (held at #1587)

beat Backbeat (#1588 → #1589)

Extreme Days (2001)

IMDb plot summary: During a lifelong expedition planned by four lifelong friends - Will, Brian, Matt, and Corey - Corey's beloved grandfather suddenly passed away.

Directed by Eric Hannah. Stars Dante Basco, Ryan Browning, and A.J. Buckley.

Extreme Days follows some recent high school graduates as they go on a road trip across the country, making some new friends and learning some lessons along the way. This might be the most bro-y youth group movie ever made, which means I am spectacularly not the target audience. It reminds me a bit of the jukebox musical A Week Away, in that it tries to be a faith-adjacent film without actually invoking God, presumably to broaden its appeal, but that just makes everything feel muddy and unfocused (what ARE these characters learning?). The male characters are exhausting to spend time with, and the endless snowboarding sequences wear out their welcome fast. Honestly, the most enjoyable part was recognizing random CCM songs... even if some of them were wildly out of context ("Good Life" by Audio Adrenaline used as a "whoo, my life is awesome" song is kind of hilarious). I got very little out of this, and I doubt I would have even as a Christian teen.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Extreme Days (2001)

📊 Ranked #3190/4176 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 24

lost to Raising Arizona (held at #2091)

lost to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (held at #3133)

beat Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (#3654 → #3655)

beat Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (#3394 → #3395)

beat Beauty and the Bestie (#3264 → #3265)

beat When Strangers Click: Five Stories from the Internet (#3197 → #3198)

lost to Tiramisu (held at #3165)

lost to The Return of the Pink Panther (held at #3181)

lost to We're No Angels (held at #3189)

beat Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (#3193 → #3194)

beat A Mighty Wind (#3191 → #3192)

beat The Iceman (#3190 → #3191)

Inside Out 2 (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A sequel that features Riley entering puberty and experiencing brand new, more complex emotions as a result. As Riley tries to adapt to her teenage years, her old emotions try to adapt to the possibility of being replaced.

Directed by Kelsey Mann. Stars Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, and Kensington Tallman.

Inside Out 2 is a sequel to Pixar's 2015 film Inside Out, about the emotions that live inside the human mind and help guide us. At this point in the story, human protagonist Riley is reaching puberty, and her mind gets overtaken with new emotions that unsettle Riley's life and sense of self. I've needed to watch this forever because one of the voice actors is actually a former student of mine and I'm so proud of her and her work.... but sequels are so not my thing, and unfortunately that mostly holds up here. This movie isn't bad, but it just doesn't hold the resonance for me of the original one. It feels like enjoyable fan fiction that just plays around inside the world, but it's hard for me to mentally connect the two stories in a meaningful way. With the original being possibly my favorite Pixar of all time, this one delivers a decent story, but it pales in comparison to its source material.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Inside Out 2 (2024)

📊 Ranked #1528/4170 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 63

beat Raising Arizona (#2088 → #2089)

lost to Robin Hood (held at #1039)

beat Mrs. Miniver (#1561 → #1562)

lost to The Judge (held at #1298)

lost to The Birds (held at #1428)

lost to Mean Girls (held at #1495)

beat Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India! (#1528 → #1529)

lost to Fury (held at #1511)

lost to The Piano (held at #1519)

lost to Interiors (held at #1524)

lost to To Kill a Mockingbird (held at #1526)

lost to TÁR (held at #1527)