The Master (2012)

IMDb plot summary: A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Adams.

This movie is not about cults or about scientology or about religion. It's about two characters making an odd connection with each other and how that connection informs who they are and what they do. The acting here is incredible, with Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman turning in amazing performances - and Amy Adams does a great job too. This is an emotionally cold movie, much as I felt Anderson's There Will Be Blood was, except here I could understand the characters and was intrigued by what happened to them, even if I didn't connect with them. 3.5 stars.

Flickchart: #686 out of 1880, below Bully and above Interview With the Vampire.

Singles (1992)

IMDb plot summary: A group of twenty-something friends, most of whom live in the same apartment complex, search for love and success in grunge-era Seattle.
Directed by Cameron Crowe. Starring Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, Sheila Kelley, Jim True-Frost and Matt Dillon.

This ensemble rom com has a bit more depth than a lot of others in the same genre, but it's also not as *fun*. I didn't really care about most of the couples, even when I thought the themes were interesting. It was fine, but I'm not going to remember it a year from now. 2.5 stars.

Flickchart: #1033 out of 1879, below Is It College Yet? and above Dogtooth.

Red River (1948)

IMDb plot summary: Dunson is driving his cattle to Red River when his adopted son, Matthew, turns against him.
Directed by Howard Hawks and Arthur Rosson. Starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

Spoilers ahead.

Well, this movie thoroughly confused me. The first half hour I was just struggling to get into it as a western (probably my least favorite movie genre). Then, halfway through, the movie took an interesting turn when the characters split up... and then proceeded to follow the least interesting character. Then, at the end, it comes down to a showdown between the two, and we get an extremely, extremely abrupt ending. It felt inconsistent at best and thoroughly ridiculous at worst.

One thing I will say about it, though. It had a few moments throughout where I was struck for the first time by John Wayne's acting. Usually I find him extremely one-dimensional, but he had a few moments here and there where I thought, "That was an excellent way to portray that." If only the script hadn't been 3/4 boring and 1/4 confusing. 1 star.

Flickchart: #1480 out of 1878, below On the Town and above Dracula.

Black Narcissus (1947)

IMDb plot summary: After opening a convent in the Himalayas, five nuns encounter conflict and tension - both with the natives and also within their own group - as they attempt to adapt to their remote, exotic surroundings.
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Starring Deborah Kerr, David Farrar, and Kathleen Byron.

Spoilers ahead.

Well, that was nothing like I was expecting. The opening makes it look like one of those cheerful inspirational nun movies like Come to the Stable or The Bells of St. Mary's, and then things just got darker and darker until they went completely off the deep end. Though I do think it got somewhat overly melodramatic at times, overall I really enjoyed watching the progression. It ended up being almost horror-esque in tone, but not necessarily in content, which was an interesting combination. Definitely an interesting watch. 4 stars.

Flickchart: #708 out of 1876, below Sister Act and above The Dark Knight.

White Heat (1949)

IMDb plot summary: A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn.
Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien.

One of the most consistently engaging crime movies I have maybe ever seen. Not a lot of complicated crime syndicate politics, just an interesting story. James Cagney plays a chilling bad guy, with his calm approach to violence. The final scene is fantastic, leading to one of the most notable quotes in film history (according to the AFI, anyway). Fascinating to watch. I really liked it. 4 stars.

Flickchart: #512 out of 1875, below Mary and Max and above Notes on a Scandal.

Key Largo (1948)

IMDb plot summary: A man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
Directed by John Huston. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and Lauren Bacall.

As a theater nerd, I'm a sucker for stories set mostly in one location. Even though this movie branched out at the end, it still retained the feel of a good one-room drama: interesting characters and interesting dialogue driving the story. Humphrey Bogart's journey to being the hero of the film was a particularly interesting one to watch. I didn't find the ending as satisfying as I had hoped, but it was overall still a good movie and I'm glad I finally saw it. 3.5 stars.

Flickchart: #527 out of 1874, below Hannah and Her Sisters and above Drive.

Children of Paradise (1945)

IMDb summary: This tragic tale centers around the ill-fated love between Baptiste, a theater mime, and Claire Reine, an actress and otherwise woman-about-town who calls herself Garance. 
Directed by Marcel Carné. Stars Arletty and Jean-Louis Barrault.

Children of Paradise is split into two distinct halves and, sadly, they are not equally good. The first half is fascinating, charming, and original, while the second half devolves into a very traditional story of tragic and lost love that undoes everything good set up by the first half. I found myself strongly disliking my favorite characters more and more as I watched the second act. Extremely disappointing after I enjoyed the first half so much. 2 stars.

Flickchart: #1062 out of 1873, below Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex... and above Three Days of the Condor.