The Top 100: Rent

The Top 100 is a blog series where I rewatch and rerank the movies that were in my Flickchart top 100 at the beginning of the challenge. I'm watching them in a random order to be as unbiased as possible in terms of reranking.

It's been... a long time since I did one of these blogs. Frankly, that was because part of me was worried to rewatch this movie -- my original #44, Rent. I was a devout Rent-head as a late teen, early 20-something, and I still enjoy so much of the music, but in the back of my mind I kind of had an inkling that this was going to fall out of favor on a rewatch. But then I reminded myself that I thought the same thing about Beauty and the Beast and it ended up actually climbing two spots, so who knows?

Rent was the 2005 movie adaptation of one of Broadway's most-loved musicals. Its creator, Jonathan Larson, died tragically from a brain aneurysm on opening night, so he never got to see how much his show meant to so many people. It latched onto something in the culture and put that on stage with music, and it became a massive hit. The movie version came out nine years after the Broadway version hit and, with the exception of Tracie Thoms as Joanne and Rosario Dawson as Mimi, the entire Broadway cast reprised their roles.

It tells the year-long story (or possibly two years, I am always slightly confused by the chronology) of a group of broke friends in New York in 1989-1990. It's an eclectic group: a 19-year-old exotic dancer, a songwriter starved for great ideas, a philosophical hacker and his drag queen lover, an aspiring filmmaker still getting over a breakup, his flighty activist ex, and the down-to-earth woman she left him for. We also see glimpses of their former comrade who has married into money and now is firmly on "the other side," as far as they're concerned. Half the characters have AIDS, two of them are or were drug abusers, all of them have some great songs.

Before we get into the full review, here's my live-blogging take on it. As always, spoilers ahead!

• Today I'll be watching Rent... seven months after my last Top 100 rewatch. It's time to get this show on the road again!
• It's been awhile since I watched the movie... I have no idea if it'll grab hold of me the way it has in the past.
• Turning off the subtitles. I know all the lyrics already and they're actually distracting me.
• This movie is very visually dark. I can't even tell what's happening in this opening scene with Collins getting beaten up.
• Wait, that's their only source of heat in NYC in December, and they just throw it out the window? That seems like a bad idea.
• "Think twice before you pooh-pooh it." One of the most hilariously awful lyrics in all of musical theaterdom.
• ...Am I at the stage of my life where I sympathize most with Benny?
• I forgot they use "One Song Glory" to do Roger's back story. I think that works really well, actually.
• The subtle actions happening throughout "Light My Candle" are almost impossible to distinguish because it's so visually dark. :-/
• So far I'm not blown away, but my favorite songs are yet to come. We'll see if they rope me in more.
• Rosario Dawson's "Out Tonight" is one of the highlights so far, for sure. She really captures the restlessness in the whole show.
• The sound mixing in "Another Day" is weird.
• I love the harmonies in "I'll Cover You."
• That's such a touching moment when Roger realizes Mimi has AIDS too.
• I forgot about the extremely uncomfortable setting for "Take Me Or Leave Me."
• Whoa, hold up, Mimi and Benny had a thing "two years ago"? So when she was 17 and he was quite a bit more than 17? Not OK, Benny.
• The movie figured out what to do with "Without You." The most boring song in the show becomes something very lovely.
• Oh, man, that shot of Angel and Collins in the hospital bed. Heartbreaking.
• "And sure enough, next year they'd be mass producing them..." But they've known Angel less than a year. This timeline is off.
• Still think Jesse L. Martin's "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" is stunning. The rest of the movie no longer holds up, but, man, that scene.
• "I'd be happy to die for a taste of what Angel had" - way to turn someone's tragic death into an opportunity to whine about your love life.
• LOL, that dude just gave Roger money on the street but he wasn't even playing anything, just looking mopey with a guitar.
• I forgot that Collins' happy ending is him just blatantly stealing money.

My initial thought was that this wasn't going to have quite the same impact that it did on me 5-10 years ago when I first fell in love with the show and then the movie came out. My initial thought was right. I still think nearly all of these songs are good on their own, and a few of them are even meaningful within the context of the movie, but I found, to my surprise, I didn't connect with any of these characters anymore. Roger is self-righteous and mopey, Mark is constantly indignant about basic adult things like having to pay rent and get a job, and, well, let's not forget that Maureen is the worst person ever and Joanne deserves so much better.

Collins and Angel are easily the most likable characters. Of all the people who could be indignant about the deal life's handed them, they cope with it the best. There's a reason everyone rallies around Angel's funeral toward the end -- Angel was possibly the only one who showed any compassion for anyone else. Everyone else is too wildly self-obsessed, too busy interpreting the line "No day like today" as "I shouldn't have to do anything I don't want to do." If anyone but Angel (and maybe Collins) had died at the end, would anyone have positive things to say about how they had impacted the world around them? No, probably not.

I'm not surprised that this worldview shifted for me. Even back when I loved Rent, I kind of sensed that I might grow out of it eventually. I will say, while the movie (and, I'm sure, the show) doesn't hold as well together narratively as well it used to, I still love the music. These are some incredible songs. And these are good performers performing them. The songs just primarily work best outside of the context of the show, with the exceptions of "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" and "Will I?" and, to a lesser extent, "One Song Glory," all of which actually benefit from the plot in a way most of the others do not.

As a string of interesting songs, huge thumbs up. Everyone should buy the soundtrack. As a whole... not as successful. Certainly not successful enough to stay in my top 100.

So I guess let's kick it out.

vs. Harry and the Hendersons (1987) - An easy first choice. Rent takes this one. "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" is better than anything Harry and the Hendersons has to offer.

vs. The Artist (2011) - The Artist is a bit higher than it really should be. I admired it more than I liked it. It was bold and interesting but failed to really make an impact on me emotionally. While Rent doesn't make quite as big an impact on me as it used it, I still found moments of it very moving. Rent wins.

vs. Garden State (2004) - Another movie that is probably too high. I saw Garden State ages ago and it would probably drop significantly if I rewatched it. Rent is fortunate it ran up against this one. Last time, my third-choice movie was Whiplash, and I don't know if Rent would have won against Whiplash. It does here, though.

vs. Se7en (1995) - All right, here's where it stops. Ten years ago, Rent would win this easily (and clearly did when I began my Flickchart), but now I'd rank it below. The Rent soundtrack still goes above Se7en, but we're not ranking soundtracks versus movies, so Se7en wins and bumps Rent down to #156.

vs. Horrible Bosses (2011) - ...Well, this is kind of awkward. I don't know which to pick. Both have high highs and some pretty draggy lows. I think Rent has fewer draggy lows, thanks to its music, so I guess it goes above Horrible Bosses for now. I'm not sure that's the right choice, but it's where it goes.

vs. The Cabin in the Woods (2012) - One of the most amazingly creative movies I've ever seen. Sorry, Rent, you are going down to #194.

vs. 28 Days Later... (2002) - We're getting quite a lot of horror movies pitted against Rent. I think a lot of 28 Days Later's strength is in its first 20 minutes or so, which are spectacular, but not quite as spectacular as Rent's best moments. Rent wins.

vs. Seven Psychopaths (2012) - I'm one of the few people I know who preferred this to In Bruges. I think it's funnier, more profound, and has better acting. It's also funnier, more profound, and has better acting than Rent, which now drops to #203.

vs. Conspiracy Theory (1997) - This was one of the earliest thrillers I remember watching with my dad when I first started getting seriously into movies, and I still think it's a lot of fun, but I think I have to give the point to Rent here.

vs. Sabrina (1995) - Oh, this is a tough call for me. I love the remake of Sabrina. I haven't seen it in awhile, but I suspect that if I were to rewatch this today, it'd still have the same impact on me, whereas Rent definitely diminished. I think because of that I am going to give Sabrina the point.

This drops Rent from #44 to #205, which feels about right. I can't drop it too far out of the top of my movies. I loved it so much 10 years ago, and even if I don't connect with the characters anymore, there's still the matter of how incredible the music is. Seriously, people. Buy the soundtrack. Buy it now. And then learn all the words to "La Vie Boheme" and feel cool.

It's time to choose my next movie from The Top 100, which I will be writing about definitely no earlier than July 20, but probably significantly later. Did you see how long it took me to do this one? Anyway, next time's Top 100 movie is my original #21, West Side Story (1961). Rewatch it along with me or watch it for the first time and you can chime in with your comments when I finally get around to reviewing it.

The Top 100: Amelie

The Top 100 is a blog series where I rewatch and rerank the movies that were in my Flickchart top 100 at the beginning of the challenge. I'm watching them in a random order to be as unbiased as possible in terms of reranking.

This week I rewatched Amelie, originally at #49 on my chart. That's awfully high for a movie I only saw once ten years ago. So it was about time I rewatched this and determined whether it deserve to be in my top 50 of all time.

Amelie is the story of a young woman who grows up very isolated and decides, as an adult, to try to make other people's lives better, even though she feels in many ways she can't relate to them. That's definitely a very relatable premise to me as someone who has often felt "outside" of the rest of the world, socially. As always, we'll begin my review with my live-blogging... which, admittedly, I didn't do much of. I didn't have that many thoughts on this movie as compared to past rewatches.

• The opening credits make it seem like it's going to be a much darker movie than it actually is. Huh.
• First time I saw this I knew nothing about Jeunet.  Now I can see his touches in all of this movie.
• The first significant dialogue from characters happens 12 minutes in.
• The use of sound in this is interesting. The silence after so much chatter felt very profound.
• This is very meandering. But what a fascinating cast of characters to meander with.
• This isn't a great sign. I'm only 45 minutes in and feel done with the movie.
• I'm not tweeting much because I don't have that much to say. The movie is interesting but definitely not wowing me like when I was 18.
• At the time I would have identified much more strongly than I do now with Amelie's friendlessness and lack of social understanding.
• I really enjoy this "only two possibilities for him being late" sequence. It is delightful.
• I'd forgotten the answer of the mysterious photo booth man.

And that's the extent of my recorded thoughts as I watched the movie. So let's delve into my official rewatch review.

Like other Jeunet films I've seen, this movie uses over-the-top dramatic acting and camera shots and effects to convey a bit more fantastical look at the world. In City of Lost Children, this was more ominous, as the entire world felt a bit unsafe. In Amelie, it's more whimsical -- the characters here are not threatening, but amusing, and we, along with Amelie, see them from the outside looking in without getting a very strong understanding of who they are. Just snapshots. But I'm not sure a lot of these characters would hold up to deeper scrutiny, so it's just as well we only see glimpses of them.

Where this film does capture me is in the latter half, where Amelie's extreme shyness continually keeps her from meeting the man who she is so drawn to. She contrives puzzle after puzzle leading him to her, only to back out at the last minute and slip a note into his pocket or his book into his bag instead without ever making actual contact. And the final scenes with Amelie and Nino racing around on his motorcycle are truly beautiful, giving a sense that these two odd ducks have finally found their perfect partner, someone who accepts who they are and, for Amelie, will maybe be the first person to actually know who they are.

That is a lovely and, to me, compelling concept, but the rest of the movie isn't quite as delightful to watch. Like an ensemble film, some of the stories are more interesting than others. I loved Lucien, the slow-minded fruitseller who took a constant stream of verbal abuse from his boss. I liked the garden gnome who traveled the world. I liked the mystery of the man in the photo booths and the reveal of the answer. But I was uninterested (and occasionally disturbed) by the stalker ex-boyfriend. I didn't care about the failed writer or the woman whose husband left her. And Amelie herself didn't click for me until about the halfway point.

I remember being wowed by the visuals the first time I saw it, and that didn't happen this time either. The muted colors and unusual camera angles made the movie feel darker than I wanted it to feel. It fit perfectly with the melancholy opening, but once Amelie had grown up and moved on, the darker visual tone stayed. Maybe it was showing us how her upbringing still lived her life for her, but to me the visuals seemed mismatched to the story.

This definitely isn't a bad movie. It's very enjoyable. Amelie is a uniquely conveyed character, and most of the stories are fun to watch, and the ending is gorgeous. But it's the first one in this challenge where I didn't have any "wow" moments. Not a single line or scene that really blew me away. Maybe it was a movie that spoke to me back in my late teens, but it appears it doesn't now.

With all that said, I'm sure it's not going to stay at #49 on my chart (that would be incorrect), but let's see where it does end up landing.

vs. The Circus (1928) - A Charlie Chaplin flick I don't remember much about, except I think I liked it. However, I *know* I liked Amelie, so it wins this one.

vs. Rurouni Kenshin (2012) - I think Amelie will still take this one because its story is told in a more unique way. I liked Rurouni Kenshin thematically and visually, but Amelie's quirkiness is just a tad bit more enticing to me.

vs. Whiplash (2014) - I loved Whiplash, especially its electrifying final scene. Nothing in Amelie held my attention the way those last 20 minutes did. Whiplash wins, dropping Amelie to #299.

vs. Schindler's List (1993) - I'm really glad this matchup happened, because I was mentally comparing Amelie to Schindler, as the other movie thus far in this challenge to drop drastically. (As well as the only other one so far I'd only seen one time.) But Schindler did have some wow moments. It was flawed, but there were some breathtaking scenes, and I didn't find scenes of that caliber in Amelie. Schindler wins this round, dropping Amelie to #447.

vs. Roxanne (1987) - I probably SHOULD choose Amelie here. It's clearly a more artistic movie. But I am so attached to the story of Cyrano, and Roxanne is a good modernized version that captures what I love about the original. It makes me feel more than Amelie did. Roxanne wins, dropping Amelie to #521.

vs. Quartet (2012) - I'll let Amelie win this one. Quartet is good but not great, and Amelie's creative storytelling pushes it a notch above.

vs. Shall We Dance? (1996) - I very much want to rewatch this one. I remember liking it a lot, but do I like Amelie better? I think we'll give Amelie the benefit of the doubt here and wait for a someday rewatch of Shall We Dance? to change its location.

vs. Waking Ned Devine (1998) - This movie is delightful. Is it as delightful as Amelie? It definitely made me laugh more. And it probably made me care more about the characters. Yeah, I think Waking Ned Devine is going to trump Amelie here, which pushes Amelie down to #530.

vs. Leap of Faith (1992) - Leap of Faith is probably too low here. I was fascinated by this story, which was much more profound than I expected it to be. Steve Martin wins over Audrey Tautou for the second time, pushing Amelie to #534.

vs. Notting Hill (1999) - Richard Curtis' writing is always funny, and the two stars are charismatic, but this movie never did all that much for me, so I'm going to give it to Amelie, which also didn't wow me but it attempted a bit more.

vs. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Hmmmm. I liked Mad Max, but I'm not sure I would have felt the same about it if I hadn't seen it in the theater. This is a really tough call. I think Mad Max is going to win for now because I don't remember being antsy while watching it the way I occasionally was with Amelie.

This gives Amelie a final ranking of #535, which is the lowest any movie in my original top 100 has fallen thus far. Sorry, Amelie!

My next movie from the top 100 that I'll be rewatching is my original #44: Rent (2005). I'll be writing about it no earlier than October 19th, so if you want to watch or rewatch a long with me and leave your own comments when I post that blog, go for it!

The Top 100: Beauty and the Beast

The Top 100 is a blog series where I rewatch and rerank the movies that were in my Flickchart top 100 at the beginning of the challenge. I'm watching them in a random order to be as unbiased as possible in terms of reranking.

Well, hi. Remember when I said I was initially going to be blogging about this? Yeah, that was June 15, which was the day I took the job at Marin Theatre Company and moved my entire life across the country and never had time to do anything. But now things have settled down a bit, I have some weekends free, and it's time to get back to work on this challenge.

Beauty and the Beast was #6 on my Flickchart when I began this challenge. Since Casablanca moved down the list, Beauty and the Beast moved up and is at #5 as of this viewing. For a long time, this has been my favorite Disney movie. Belle is my favorite Disney princess. These are most of my favorite Disney songs. It's one of my favorite Disney movie messages.

So it has a lot going for it, but I haven't seen it in a very long time. We're talking years, possibly a decade. Let's find out if it holds up after all this time.

Here are my live-blogged thoughts as I watch.

• Oh. Looks like I got my hands on the extended version. I've never seen this before.
• Oh, man. That opening castle shot is gorgeous.
• Ending of the prologue gave me chills.
• One reason I like Belle so much is that I always identified with her as a bookworm who doesn't fit in.
• And the townspeople don't even bother getting to know her. They just don't get her, so they give up.
• I also like that Belle stands up for the people she loves. Who the people around her also don't understand.
• I never noticed that the background music here was later used as the verse for "No Matter What" in the stage musical.
• Maurice seems so vulnerable in this scene in the forest. He started running & I immediately thought, "He can't possibly outrun the wolves."
• This opening intro to the servants is charming, and the intro to the Beast wonderfully ominous.
• LOL, I forgot Gaston has the entire wedding in place before proposing.
• Belle and Maurice have a puddle full of pigs directly outside their door?
• I remember even as a kid bring blown away by the visuals in the "Belle" reprise. They're so pretty.
• These far away shots of Belle exploring the castle are so atmospheric.
• As a child, I was terrified of that spider coach.
• I love that moment where you first sense Beast isn't entirely terrible, where he clearly has sympathy for Belle's loss of her father.
• "Gaston" was my favorite song to perform. Let's see if it's as fun here.
• This is a very minor detail, but I like that Gaston and the Beast both have blue eyes. Drawing that similarity is interesting to me.
• "I could be wrong, but that may not be the best way to win the girl's affection."
• I really like that the Beast's behavior is not excused as, "Oh, he's a tortured soul." Belle doesn't tolerate him being an entitled jerk.
• Interestingly, he then takes her rejection as a rejection of him PHYSICALLY, rather than his personality.
• Belle is the one person who might NOT judge him on his appearance and he's immediately alienating her with his behavior.
• Yay, big ensemble number!
• I really like that weird abstract shot of dancing plates and cups.
• The Beast's instant regret of his outburst in the west wing is really nice.
• Huh. I guess Philippe HAS been chilling at the castle, since the spider coach took Maurice home.
• Gosh, the animation on the Beast's wolf attack is stunning. That shadowy reaction shot of Belle... Wow.
• "Thank you for saving my life." "You're welcome." This is a lovely exchange.
• This scene with the asylum owner is the first step toward Gaston being a truly evil villain instead of just a narcissistic buffoon.
• Oh, how I used to dream of this castle library.
• The oatmeal scene is gorgeous. He tries to do what she wants, does it poorly, and she extends a compromise to help him save face.
• Ah, here's the extended scene that I've never seen before. 
• Oh right, "Human Again" was added to this version. Not my favorite song and since I'm not used to it in here it feels like an interruption.
• That above shot of dancing mops is lovely, though.
• I admit I can't take the "Learn how to read" subplot seriously since the Community horror story episode.
• Pretty sure the title song is one of the most romantic moments in all Disney movies. It looks and sounds so gorgeous.
• "He's no monster, Gaston. You are."
• The Mob Song is one of the scariest Disney villain songs to me. So much fear mongering.
• "Praise the Lord and here we go" is my favorite line in that song.
• "Fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong" is another good one.
• And here at the end, Gaston still makes it all about ownership of Belle. He hates the Beast for being the one she cares about.
• I like that the Beast doesn't deliberately kill Gaston. I think that's necessary.
• "At least I got to see you one last time."
• What I like about this is that while there is romance in it, their story is also heavily about friendship.
• The servants all turned into objects resembling themselves... Now I can't stop wondering what I would be.

Immediate thoughts: This absolutely, absolutely holds up. The animation is gorgeous, the songs are great, and the love story is every bit as good as I thought it was as a child. Seeing it now as an adult, I'm struck (as I mentioned in my tweets) by how strongly this is about friendship. It's not just about Belle finding someone to love, it's about finding someone she connects with at all. When she laments to her father about being alone at the beginning, it's not that she is searching for a husband. She instead says, "There's no one I can really talk to." She wants a companion first and foremost, and so it makes sense that her relationship with the Beast flows naturally out of that companionship.

This movie is sometimes torn down for being essentially a romantic story of Stockholm Syndrome, compared to other women-and-their-monster-men stories like Twilight. But there's a huge difference between this and Twilight, or this and The Phantom of the Opera (which I love but think is a terrible love story). It's that the Beast's awful kidnapper behavior in the first half of the movie is not condoned or romanticized. His servants try to make excuses for him, but Belle will have none of it (and I think some of that is more for their own well-being than for his anyway; after all, if she gives him a chance, they may get back their human bodies). It's not until she calls him out on his bad behavior and he starts making an attempt to change that she starts falling for him.

At the beginning of the story, nearly everyone, including the Beast himself, puts all their emphasis on the outward appearance. When Belle rejects him, it's because why wouldn't she reject him, with the way he looks? And when Belle rejects Gaston, she clearly must be crazy. Belle and Belle alone is the person who looks beneath the surface. In the Beast, she sees potential for good. In Gaston, she sees self-centeredness and manipulation. In her father, she sees hidden genius. That makes her suspect and works against her in her own village, but it's what lets her find happiness with the Beast.

This movie still deeply resonates with me. I'm not as angsty now as I was as a child or a teenager, but I still am very aware that I get misinterpreted a lot by people (I don't think I'm that complicated, but apparently so). I understand Belle's frustration of having no one to talk to because no one gets her. And I understand how awesome it is when you find somebody who is willing to do the little extra digging necessary to understand you.

Easily still my favorite Disney movie. Let's see if it stays at #5.

vs. The Sunshine Boys (1996) - We could at least pretend this was a contest if it was the original 1975 version, but this one is pretty lackluster and Beauty and the Beast easily snatches away the win.

vs. Rurouni Kenshin (2012) - I watched this for my movie challenge last year, and while I remember it having some very lovely cinematography, it's definitely not going to win.

vs. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) - This was the first film to beat Schindler's List on my last Top 100 challenge. But it isn't going to beat Beauty and the Beast. I like ELAIC more than a lot of people do, but I'm not blind to its flaws. Beauty and the Beast has no such flaws. Or, well, if it does, I am blind to them.

vs. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - I really like Anchorman, though I think Anchorman 2 is more solidly funny. Beauty and the Beast would also beat Anchorman 2, so it's definitely beating Anchorman 1.

vs. The Remains of the Day (1993) - This is one I'd have to rewatch to be sure of how I feel about it. I remember liking it very much overall, but individual moments didn't speak to me as much as with Beauty and the Beast.

vs. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - Certainly my favorite of the Python movies, but, yeah, I'm disappointed by that ending. At least enough to give Beauty and the Beast the win.

vs. Back to the Future (1985) - This is the first one that might be a tough call, but, really, I didn't debate it for long. While Back to the Future is delightful and fun, it doesn't connect with me emotionally the way Beauty and the Beast does. I did not cry when Doc died and came back to life. I did for the Beast.

vs. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) - Now that we're pitting it against other top 20 movies, I have to seriously think about my matches. But though it may bounce back out when I rewatch it, for now, The Purple Rose is going to lose to Beauty and the Beast.

vs. Singin' in the Rain (1952) - Ouch. This is definitely a tough call. OK. I think if Singin' in the Rain didn't have the Broadway Melody sequence, or if it was only 2 1/2 minutes instead of like 15, I think Singin' in the Rain would win. But because that section drags down the film for me and there's nothing in Beauty and the Beast that drags, it's going to win.

vs. Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Ohhhhhhhhhhhh this is so difficult to choose. OK. OK. OK. I think for now I'm choosing Beauty and the Beast, which is the first chart shift of this reranking. But while I love Moulin Rouge! so so so much for its music and its visuals, it does fall down in the area of story. I don't care even a little bit about Christian and Satine. Beauty and the Beast, however, looks amazing, makes me care about the characters, and sounds fantastic. So... it's going to take the win here.

vs. Love Actually (2003) - OK. I think this is the only one I'm going to let Beauty and the Beast lose to right now. Because there is something transcendentally amazing about Love Actually that makes me happy every single time I watch it, and while I love Beauty and the Beast so, so, so much, it doesn't quite reach those levels. So Love Actually wins here. For now.

Beauty and the Beast has moved from #6 on the original chart to #2 on my new chart. Wow. But, gosh, the movie's so good. The switching up of my top 20 continues.

Time to randomly choose my next movie to rewatch and rerank! Looks like I'll be checking out my original #49, a movie I've only seen once: Amelie (2001). I'll be writing about that no earlier than October 5th (and possibly a lot later, as was the case here), so feel free to rewatch it and discuss it along with me.

The Top 100: Schindler's List

It wasn't all that many years ago that I watched Schindler's List for the first time. Sitting down to rewatch it for this challenge (it originally sat at #93 on my chart), I really didn't remember that much about it other than that I liked it. But I also was skeptical that it would manage to remain in the Top 100. I had the sense that I'd ranked it that high out of respect and assumed obligation rather than because I actually liked it that much. Though there wasn't going to be any way of knowing until I watched it, though, so I got a copy and sat down to watch it.

Schindler's List, for any who do not know, is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German business owner whose factory safely employed over a thousand Jews during World War II, keeping them alive throughout the duration of the war. The 1993 movie was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ben Kingsley as his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, and Ralph Fiennes as the sadistic camp commander Amon Goeth. The movie was nominated for 12 Oscars and won seven of them, including Best Picture and Best Director. Neeson and Fiennes were both nominated for their roles but neither won.

I have to admit, I did not watch this under ideal circumstances. The movie is three hours long, which I had forgotten when I sat down to watch it, and I ended up unfortunately having to break it up into a couple chunks, due to unforeseen circumstances like falling asleep in the middle of it. So I didn't get as complete a rewatch as I would have if I had managed to just watch the whole thing straight through, but I'm often able to reimmerse myself in a story very quickly, so I don't think I missed out on too much.

Here were my live-blogged thoughts as I watched.

• Oh gosh. I forgot Schindler's List was 3+ hours long. Good thing I've carved out a whole afternoon to watch it!
• I know it's premature to say this, but I just don't anticipate this staying in my top 100. I feel it's there obligatorily.
• I am kind of fascinated by all the shots of items rather than people.
• Nicely done on this scene where the rich people move out and Schindler moves in. Very interesting contrast.
• I'm sad that Liam Neeson just does macho action flicks now. He's so interesting in this.
• Knowing how it ends, it's really interesting to see Oskar's disregard for people at the beginning.
• Oh, man. The scene with Goeth and the engineer woman is chilling. I forgot how good Fiennes is in this.
• "By this evening, those six centuries [of Jewish Krakow] are a rumor." Yikes.
• The score during the girl in the red dress' appearance is wonderful. Really gives the scene power.
• Oskar's expression when the woman says, "They say you are good." He doesn't want to be good, he wants to be successful.
• "Do you know who I am? I'm Schindler."
• There are moments where the camera looks at Goeth and he just seems so young. So full of hatred and so young.
• Goeth's brief foray into pardoning people is a fascinating section of the story, as is the moment when he decides he's done.
• The scene where the little boy tries to find a hiding place - sad and scary.
• The requiem is...astonishingly sad.
• "The list is an absolute good."
• There's something very moving about the scene where Schindler's workers confirm they're on the list.
• The "one more person" scene totally works for me. That he did so much & wasn't busy congratulating himself is important.

I think one of the things that is interesting about this movie is that while it portrays itself as being some sort of big epic movie about the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust, it really keeps its story arc fairly narrow: on one man who tried to do the right thing. Because of that, the movie has gotten a lot of criticism for making the Jewish people's suffering serve as someone else's plot device -- and understandably so. While there are long scenes of people running through the streets, being herded into cars, and crying in over-crowded barracks, very few of these have identifiable characters in them, much less characters that have any kind of development during the story, and as a result, it does seem a little sensationalized. If Spielberg had trimmed some of those scenes, what remained could have had a stronger impact, and he could truly have focused on fleshing out Schindler's character, which is a little lacking here -- but, oh, how I wanted it to be interesting, because what little is there is very good.

First-half-of-the-movie Schindler is a calculating businessman who hires Jews because they are cheaper than Poles, and is furious when his accountant hires people based on their need rather than their skills. Second-half-of-the-movie Schindler works tirelessly to save as many people as he can from death in the camps. Both these characters are fascinating, enigmatic, and intriguing. What's lacking is the transition.

There is a moment or two where Schindler is faced with the humanity of those being sent to their deaths, but we never really see, either in Neeson's performance or in the script, how or why that change takes place, so when he suddenly begins to fight for his Jewish workers, it's a little abrupt and took me by surprise. Perhaps it takes Schindler himself by surprise too, but that's never addressed. The movie is three hours long, and they couldn't fit in a line or two of transitional dialogue?

I've now spoken mostly of the film's shortcomings, so let me say some of the things I do love about it: The film is shot marvelously. The black-and-white images are haunting -- some hauntingly beautiful, others hauntingly ugly. Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth has some of the most interesting moments in the whole movie, as you sense that he's not just a purely evil stereotype, and you're constantly leaning in to his performance to catch the nuances. (He lost the Oscar to Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive, which is just silly as far as I'm concerned.)

As I said in my live blogging section, I really like Schindler's ending as well, though it gets a lot of flak as well. I like that as he's receiving the gratitude of so many people, he doesn't feel like a savior. He feels deeply unworthy and far from pleased with himself, because, perhaps for the first time, the magnitude of what they have all just live through. I like that Spielberg resisted the urge to let him give himself a congratulatory pat on the back and say, "Yes, why, that was good of me."

And, frankly, I like Schindler himself by the end. There's something inspiring to me about a prosperous businessman who loses everything he's earned to do the right thing. He leaves broke, wanted by the authorities, and feeling guilty that he couldn't leave with less money. Because sometimes doing the right thing takes everything you have, and you don't get your happy ending (an ending caption informs us that Schindler's marriage failed after the war, as did his future business attempts) but it's still worth doing the right thing.

So is it Top 100 material? No, definitely not. This was a case of me elevating the movie to a higher status than it deserved because it was prestigious and about Important Things, but it's pretty messy in places and certainly isn't the amazing movie I expect all my Top 100s to be. But let's see where it actually lands on my chart if I rerank it.

vs. A Star Is Born (1954) - That's another movie I really need to rewatch, because it's extremely hazy in my memory. In the meantime, Schindler's List wins this matchup. It may not belong in the Top 100, but it certainly belongs in the top half of my chart, probably in the top quarter.

vs. Argo (2012) - Argo is fun and interesting, but despite the flaws in Schindler's List, its best moments are better than Argo's best moments. It wins.

vs. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) - A lot of people HATE this movie, but I love it a lot. Unrealistic, unbelievable, and contrived? Absolutely, but that main kid character is a real, wonderful character and he makes the whole movie worth it. I think for now it's going to take the win over Schindler, though that might not stand up if I rewatched ELAIC.

vs. Nativity! (2009) - Oh, man, this is a tougher choice than it probably should be. Nativity! is a silly, but perfect-for-me little British movie about Martin Freeman putting together a ridiculous nativity play for a school, and it's delightful and insane. I think I want to vote for it, but I'm not sure that I should. But you know what? I've spent several years having Schindler's List too high because I felt it "should" be. If I overcompensate and it lands too low for a little while, then that'll just even things out. Nativity! wins.

vs. Billy Elliot the Musical Live (2014) - A good, but not a great, musical based on a great movie. If this was the original film this would be a different question altogether, but Schindler's is going to win here.

vs. The Basketball Diaries (1995) - I remember a single scene from The Basketball Diaries, and it's when Leo is begging his mom for money. That scene alone was enough to catapult the movie up into the top third of my chart, but that one scene can't beat all of Schindler's List.

vs. Hawking (2004) - This film is much too high, and I'm pretty sure it's because when I ranked it I was still hardcore crushing on Benedict Cumberbatch. That is less the case now. Schindler's List takes the win here.

vs. The Goodbye Girl (2004) - I do so like The Goodbye Girl. Both this TV version and the original 1970s version. It's such a great script. However, it's the Neil Simon script itself that is special more than this particular version, so let's give a nod to the more artistically done film: Schindler.

vs. The Bicycle Thief (1948) - This feels almost exactly on par with Schindler for me, actually, so this choice may be made somewhat arbitrarily. I think I'm going to go with Schindler for now because of the cinematography. The Bicycle Thief has an equally moving story (though on a much smaller scale), but Schindler is just stunning to look at sometimes.

vs. Bernie (2011) - My love for Linklater has pushed this a bit further up the charts than I think it deserves as well. It's a good movie, but Schindler's List is the clear winner.

vs. Kiss Me, Stupid! (1964) - I really enjoy this movie, but I find the second half pretty uneven. Plus, I really like the idea of Schindler's List being sandwiched between two ridiculous comedies whose names end in exclamation points. So Schindler's wins here.

After reranking, Schindler's List went from #93 to #443, which is a huge drop -- the furthest a movie's moved on this challenge thus far -- but it feels much more accurate to me. Now I'll just have to remember to evaluate it fairly on future rankings and not just automatically click for it to win over most movies.

Looking ahead, the next movie I will be watching is my #6: Beauty and the Beast (1991), which I will watch and blog about no earlier than June 15th, so you can all go ahead and watch/rewatch it with me!

In the meantime, leave your thoughts about Schindler's List in the comments section below.

The Top 100: The Sixth Sense

I watched The Sixth Sense long after I heard about the notorious twist ending, but, to be honest, it doesn't really matter. This is my third time watching this movie, and every time I think that the twist is more of a beautiful completion of a theme than some sort of Big Reveal. The most well-known premise of the movie isn't even revealed until almost halfway through, so if there was going to be a Big Reveal, it'd be that one.

So let me go ahead and tell you what this movie is about, and there will be spoilers throughout the review. If you haven't seen it, you can also go watch it on Netflix Instant, or just keep on reading -- after all, I knew both the important reveals in this movie before I watched it, and I've certainly known them every time since, and it hasn't lowered my enjoyment one bit.

The Sixth Sense was M. Night Shyamalan's first big hit and, in my opinion, his very best movie. (Others cite Unbreakable, but I think Sixth Sense blows that out of the water.) Watching this, it was easy to see why everyone thought back in 1999 that he would be one of the big, well-received, critically-acclaimed directors instead of... what happened.

The movie revolves around a very young boy, Cole (Haley Joel Osment), and his psychiatrist, Malcolm (Bruce Willis). Malcolm has for the most part abandoned his work in child psychology after a former patient breaks into his house, shoots Malcom, and kills himself. Several months later, when Malcolm meets Cole, the young boy's withdrawn and fearful nature reminds him of that former patient, and he takes on the case, hoping he can in a sense make amends for the boy he failed to help all those years earlier. It turns out Cole has the ability to see ghosts, and Malcolm helps him figure out how to reach out and help them. In the end, Malcolm discovers that he himself is also a ghost -- he died that night when his former patient attacked him -- and just as Cole needed him, he needed Cole to be able to forgive his past mistakes and move on.

Let's start off with the live-blogging.

• That opening scene with the former patient is really excellent - scary and heartwrenching.
• I can never remember whether it's established or even very strongly hinted at that Vincent could see dead people too...
• If there was ever a kid who looked like he was carrying the weight of the world, it's Hadley Joel Osment. Perfect in this.
• This is...a discordant soundtrack. Not sure what I think of it yet.
• Oh, man, and this interaction with Cole and his mom, where he's so scared of how she'll react. So good.
• "They don't have meetings about rainbows."
• Scenes with Malcolm and his wife are so obvious in hindsight but are artfully written to hide the twist.
• Cole's response to Malcolm's empowering speech: "You said the S word." Perfect tone.
• I really like the very solemn "I didn't know you were funny."
• I forgot how long it is until the movie's premise is actually revealed.
• Toni Collette is so great.
• This reveal is terrifying. Haley Joel Osment is SO GOOD in this. 
• Malcolm's compassion is absolutely needed for this movie. You feel that he really wants to help & desperately hope he can. 
• Cole's mom is great too. It can't be easy to have Cole as your kid, but she has such love & patience with him.
• Oh, man. "If you're not very mad, can I sleep in your bed?"  That exchange breaks me.
• Hearing Cole and Malcolm talk over visuals of Malcolm's wife was a wonderful gimmick.
• Oh, yeah, they do set it up that Vincent and Cole had the same thing going on.
• There really is SUCH compassion and empathy in this movie.
• The pacing of that whole funeral scene is off. Much slower than it should be.
• Immediately after Cole starts to deal with his fears, we see things changing for him. Just that one step grew his confidence.
• Cole and Malcolm's goodbye has an extra level of meaningfulness knowing the twist.
• I bawled through both Cole and Malcolm's endings. Gosh.

This movie is not really about ghosts and how scary they are. We really see very few ghosts -- in fact, we don't even know they exist until halfway through the movie. What we do see is Cole's fear, his solemn expression and wide, frightened eyes, and we hear his terrified whispers as he tries to explain what he sees. But the ghosts are only half of what scares him. He fears how the ghosts will shape his life: that his mother will reject him, that people will call him a freak, that they will stare at him, that Malcolm will hurt him somehow if he knows the truth.

The movie is about fear and about moving past fear not through aggression or barreling on through, but through helping others. Malcolm must work through his fear of failure and the fear that he's lost his wife by being willing to reach out once more before he can move on. Cole must be willing to listen to the ghosts and their anger and help resolve it before he can be free from fear.

All through the movie, this theme of compassion vs. fear comes up. Cole interacts almost solely with his mother (Toni Collette) and Malcolm, two people who are almost unwaveringly compassionate toward him, even when they don't understand what's going on. In a brief moment, Collette snaps when Cole denies doing some of the things the ghosts are doing, but later that night, fear pushes Cole out of his bed to ask if he can sleep in her bed if she's not angry, and she welcomes him back with open arms. Malcolm looks at Cole and cares sincerely about the young boy, not just for the sake of redeeming himself, but because he loves helping people and he loves reaching out to them and making their lives better.

The mechanics of the plot serve as a (beautiful) backdrop for this deeper story -- that loving others and helping others can help us begin to heal ourselves. The whole movie is dripping with compassion and empathy and the desire to listen. I suspect that's the reason I love this movie so much. As someone who frequently struggles with fear and believes firmly in the transforming power of compassion, this is a movie that speaks to me on a couple levels.

Not to mention it's just a freaking great story.

Let me rerank and see where it lands. It began at #22, and I can't imagine it'll fall far, if at all.

vs. Red Eye (2005) - Two thrillers up again each other! But Red Eye doesn't stand a chance.

vs. Argo (2012) - I hope it goes up only against thrillers. Nope, The Sixth Sense easily beats out Argo, although I did think Argo was pretty good.

vs. Heathers (1989) - As much as I love Heathers, it's not as profound or moving as The Sixth Sense. Though if this was a movie version of the musical Heathers, this might be a different story...

vs. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) - Last Crusade is listed unusually high on my list (probably in my top 100, so I'm sure I'll deal with it eventually) and definitely doesn't deserve to beat The Sixth Sense.

vs. The Remains of the Day (1993) - Another one I look forward to rewatching, but for now, The Sixth Sense wins.

vs. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - Man. This is a tough one. I think I'm going for Sixth Sense, because even though I enjoy Holy Grail, there are sections of it I just don't care about, and it certainly doesn't get to me emotionally the way Sixth Sense does.

vs. Company: A Musical Comedy (2007) - I'm pretty sure I have to give the nod to Company here. It's just such a beautifully coherent look at relationships and fear of commitment. Plus, Sondheim music.

vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - This is another tough call. Raiders is definitely better than Last Crusade, and I think me from 10 years ago would have certainly chosen Raiders... but I think The Sixth Sense is more enduring.

vs. Charlie Bartlett (2007) - Oh, man. I haven't seen Charlie Bartlett in awhile, but I still associate it with such a sense of fun and relatability. I'm not sure if it'll hold up, though, so... I think Sixth Sense gets the nod for now.

vs. Back to the Future (1985) - These are insanely difficult matches right now, since these are all my favorites... I think Back to the Future will win this round, since it's so delightful from beginning to end -- there's no "downtime" where I kind of tune out.

vs. West Side Story (1961) - I love the music for WSS so much, but the last time I watched it I remember being a tiny bit underwhelmed. Based on that and that alone, I'm voting for Sixth Sense this round. Don't worry, West Side Story, you can come back to win later!

And... The Sixth Sense moved from #22 to #21. Looks like I had it just about where it belonged!

Let's look ahead to the next movie I'll be watching. And the answer is... #93: Schindler's List. Meep. That's a little heavier than most of my choices thus far. It's also the first one in this challenge so far that I've only seen one time, so I'm not at all certain that it's earned that #93 slot. I'll be blogging about that on June 1, so if you want to watch or rewatch it along with me and offer your own comments -- go for it!

The Top 100: Casablanca

Today's Top 100 rewatch is actually the #1 movie on my Flickchart: Casablanca. I've named it as my favorite movie for a long time now, probably since middle school, and, truth be told, I'm wondering if it's time for it to give up its title. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fantastic film, but last time I watched it, it just didn't connect to me quite as strongly or as emotionally as some of the other movies in my top 20. But we'll give it a chance today to prove it belongs in the #1 slot.

Often listed in critics' "best films of all time" lists, Casablanca is a 1942 romantic war drama about a cynic named Rick (Humphrey Bogart) who runs a night club in unoccupied French Morocco, one of the last stops on the road for World War II refugees escaping to America. One night, a woman from his past (Ingrid Bergman) appears in his club and everything changes.

As before, I'll live-blog my movie thoughts as I watch (plenty of spoilers here!) and I'll write up a more complete review later.

• This opening music makes it seem much more like a swashbuckling adventure than it is.
• Love the shot of everybody mournfully looking at the departing plane. This movie is really lovely to look at.
• There's a fantastic contrast in this opening scene at Rick's. Such cheerful music but everybody in there is miserable and desperate. What great atmosphere.
• I like Bogart in a lot of films, but I think he's REALLY good here. Lots of nuance.
• When black and white movies make use of shadow, it's just gorgeous.
• This dialogue is really excellent. It's no surprise it gets quoted all the time.
• "As Time Goes By" is one of my favorite songs from a movie.
• Captain Renault is always fascinating. His casual charming flippancy makes him an interesting quasi-antagonist because he understands a lot more than his demeanor leads you to believe.
• "She's coming back, I know she's coming back." What a quietly heartbreaking line.
• The innocence and naivete of Rick and Ilsa's relationship in Paris is really interesting to me this time around.
• Ilsa's last speech to Rick before he leaves Paris is lovely and sad.
• "And what if you track down these men and kill them, what if you killed all of us? From every corner of Europe, hundreds, thousands would rise up to take our places. Even Nazis can't kill that fast."
• I like that Victor is given some depth of character and is not just the hero archetype.
• The scene with the young Bulgarian girl and Rick is a beautiful one. So compelling.
• Rick's constant fight between cynicism and his deeper sense of morality is wonderful to watch play out.
• Yay, the "La Marseillaise" scene. This is one of my favorite scenes of all time in any movie.
• I think one of the things that makes this dialogue so fascinating is the constant forced diplomacy, where people very carefully avoid making threats or promises, but the most innocent lines convey much more ominous purposes.
• Victor is really a very good guy. His interaction with Ilsa where he gives her an opening to talk about Rick makes me feel so bad for him, knowing she doesn't love him the same way.
• "One woman has hurt you, and you take out your revenge on the rest of the world."
• "Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."
• The foggy visuals in the whole airport scene are truly beautiful.
• What a wonderful ending.

As you can see, the movie still holds up. In fact, it is one of those that improves upon multiple viewings because the plot's pretty complicated, and once you have a good grasp on the plot, you can really admire the music and the cinematography and the acting and the writing and the depth of the whole shebang. Even if this doesn't end up staying in my #1 spot, there's no doubt it's really impressive. It might actually be a perfect movie.

So if I think it's a perfect movie, why would it possibly drop from #1 on Flickchart? Well, because as much as there is to admire and love about this movie, I don't feel that deep an emotional connection to it. The final scene is stirring, and the abovementioned "La Marseillaise" scene is an incredibly powerful few minutes of cinema, but overall I find myself drawn to it more on an analytical level than on an emotional one. That doesn't mean it isn't amazing, it doesn't even mean it's not deserving of my #1 spot, but it might mean that if I had to choose a single movie to represent me and my tastes or to be the movie I love most for the rest of my life... it might not be this one.

Of course, my feelings could change as I rank, when I'm forced to compare it to other movies I also love. So let me give it a shot and see where this ends up. Good luck, Casablanca.

vs. Where the Wild Things Are (2009) - Not even a tiny bit of a contest here. (As I suspect will be the case for most of my top 100 movies and the first match-up they encounter.) Casablanca steamrolls right over the creepy monsters from this movie.

vs. Argo (2012) - Argo was one of my favorite Best Picture nominees from a fairly weak year, but it's pretty fluffy, if fun, and doesn't seriously measure up to Casablanca.

vs. American Splendor (2003) - I remember thinking American Splendor was interesting but not stunning, so Casablanca wins again.

vs. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) - As much as I enjoy Last Crusade, it's not going to win here. It's just not as meaningful.

vs. The Lion King (1994) - So far, Casablanca has held onto its #1 spot, and... it will continue to do so against Lion King. The movie looks great and has amazing music, but I can't in good conscience let Casablanca lose to an animated movie that gets so many of its jokes out of anachronistic pop culture references, which is a trend I hate.

vs. The Odd Couple (1968) - OK, this is a much tougher call. I think this is Neil Simon's best script, and Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon knock it out of the park. That being said, Casablanca's still going to take it. The Odd Couple is light, fluffy fun, but, again, there's meaning to Casablanca, and I can't discount that.

vs. Into the Woods (1991) - This is a movie that is almost certainly higher than it should be, as it's sitting in my top 20 and should probably be much lower. Casablanca wins.

vs. The Truman Show (1998) - OK. This is where things get difficult. This is the first one I think Casablanca might actually lose. Now, I might be overestimating how much I love The Truman Show (and if it jumps further down when I rewatch it as part of this challenge, I'll reevaluate Casablanca as well), but from all the times I've watched it, I remember it being just... amazing. Both artistically intriguing and emotionally satisfying. And if Casablanca lost to it, it'd still be in my top 10. So... I think... I think I'm going to do it. Here goes. I think Truman Show is going to win this round.

vs. Hairspray (2007) - This is another incredibly tough call. Hairspray is light and silly but every second of it makes me happy, and it's one of my go-to "I'm having a crappy day and need to feel better" movies. So even though it'll knock Casablanca out of my top 10... I think I may need to go for it. Here goes.

vs. Mary Poppins (1964) - Though I dearly love Mary Poppins, it's not quite as consistent as Casablanca is throughout. After two losses in a row, Casablanca wins.

vs. Memento (2000) - A really excellent movie, but I'd have to see it again (as I will in the next four years) to be certain that it's as good as Casablanca. Casablanca wins.

Well, that settles it, guys. Casablanca moved from #1 down to #14 -- not that significant a shift, but it feels significant to me, because it hasn't been anywhere but #1 in a loooooot of years. It feels weird to suddenly see it in the middle of the chart.

With that accomplished, let's look ahead to my next rewatch. According to my randomizer, I'll be watching #22: The Sixth Sense. After two romances, this'll be a slightly different choice. I'll be writing about that on May 18th, so if you want to rewatch that along with me and share your own thoughts, you're more than welcome to do so!

The Top 100: Sleepless in Seattle

I'm settling in to rewatch Sleepless in Seattle right now. This was a favorite of my mother's growing up, and one of the rom-coms my dad liked as well, and given my mom's tendency to watch her favorite movies over and over and over again, I saw this one a lot. I watched it only once or twice as an adult and remember liking it, but today we get to see whether my love for it is real or brought on by some sort of movie Stockholm syndrome.

For anyone who isn't familiar with this movie, it's a 1993 romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks as a man whose wife died about a year and a half ago. His eight-year-old son calls into a radio advice show saying his dad is sad and needs a new wife, even getting his father to talk about it on-air for a while. Meanwhile, Meg Ryan, who lives on the other side of the country, hears this on the radio and finds herself strangely drawn toward this man, despite the fact that she's never met him and is engaged to someone else. And like all rom coms, it's about the two of them getting together.

I'll be live-blogging any thoughts on the movie here, and then at the end I'll address it as a whole.

• I forgot how dark this opening is. It's so sad for a cheery movie
• This soundtrack is awesome. Do I own it? If not, I should.
• Oh, hey, Marc Shaiman did music for this!
• Tom Hanks is way better than Meg Ryan so far. His performance in this is really lovely.
• Seriously, this soundtrack is the best.
• I always kinda feel bad for Walter in this movie.
• The New Year's scene where he talks to his wife is beautiful and sad.
• What? I forgot she checks him out with a private investigator. That's super stalkery. I like her much less than I remembered.
• I feel bad for Tom Hanks too. His kid is trying to write his life for him.
• It makes a difference to me that Hanks sees Ryan and is drawn to her without knowing who she is. Makes the destiny aspect actually work instead of just being stalkers everywhere.
• "Is this crazy?" "No. That's the weirdest part about it." Rosie O'Donnell is incorrect.
• Oh, that's the fun that the music there is the theme from "An Affair to Remember." That's a nice touch. I tell ya, this soundtrack is great.
• Jonah's expression as his aunt or whoever is talking about An Affair to Remember is hilarious.
• Were people really into An Affair to Remember in the 90s? Before this movie, I mean? EVERY girl has seen it.
• Hanks finding his son is great. That torrent of panicked release is really gorgeous. Again, he's the best part of this movie.
• I suppose she could have just waited by the down elevator, but then they wouldn't get their romantic moment on top.
• As the two of them leave and keep staring at each other as if they can't quite believe it... that's a really nice moment.

Overall, I do think this is a bit high on my chart. It's a nice rom com, but it's no Love Actually in terms of warm fuzzies. I think a lot of my issues have to do with Meg Ryan, who I just don't find as charming as I'm supposed to. Annie seems flighty more than anything, and I don't sense that this relationship means something to her the way it does to Sam. Now granted, the stakes are higher for him -- he's learning to love again or whatever -- but he also brings a level of sincerity to the role that she just doesn't manage to grab onto.

There's still a lot to like about it. The dialogue is funny and snappy. There are a lot of great side characters. As I gushed in my live blog, the soundtrack is wonderful. One of my very favorites. And Hanks himself is really amazing in this movie. It's a light, fluffy movie, and he could have just phoned it in, but he does a great job creating this character who's just trying to figure out his life after losing the person he loves most.

As I noted above, the movie also does a good job of establishing that fate, rather than stalking, really is driving these characters. The two run into each other a couple times about halfway through the movie (Annie knows who Sam is, but he doesn't know who she is) and there are two great moments where Sam finds himself really drawn to her for no reason. That sounds like a small thing, but that helps to cement the story firmly as a story of destiny, and it makes Annie's actions much more sympathetic than they would be in a story that was more realistic.

So while it's good, it's not as good as I remembered it being. It is almost certainly not #83-level quality. Let's rerank it on my Flickchart and see where it ends up.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Two for the Money (2005) - An easy win for Sleepless here. It's charming and delightful and memorable, while Two for the Money faded quickly from my memory.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Eat Pray Love (2010) - This is a closer comparison, but Sleepless still gets the win here. While Eat Pray Love connected with me in a way I didn't expect, it's not as delightful throughout, and it doesn't have nearly as likable a male lead.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. American Splendor (2003) - I do need to rewatch American Splendor some day, because I remember liking it but can't recall anything that will clue me in as to how much I liked it. For now, we'll give Sleepless the benefit of the doubt and let it win.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) - My second favorite Indy movie is pretty delightful, and its two leads combined are more likable than Sleepless' two leads combined. I think this is the first one Sleepless is going to lose.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Jurassic Park (1993) - This is a really difficult ranking for me, because they're such different movies and I love such different things about them. Jurassic has some long slow scenes at the beginning, though, so I'm going to give this one to Sleepless for being pretty consistently entertaining.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - My favorite Studio Ghibli is a wonderful blend of fantasy and realism, and it gets to me on an emotional level Sleepless doesn't quite reach. Totoro takes the win here and knocks Sleepless down a peg or two.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. The Rocketeer (1991) - Oh, man. Another tough choice, as these are two movies I loved in childhood. I remember The Rocketeer being pretty scattered, though, so we'll let Sleepless take this round.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Shaun of the Dead (2004) - Shaun of the Dead is too high on my Flickchart. I like it, but Sleepless easily wins. Now if it was World's End, this could be another story.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Shadowlands (1993) - Shadowlands is also slightly too high, and it's one of those movies that I think I like better after having seen it than while watching it. Sleepless is fun throughout, so it's going to win this round.

Sleepless in Seattle vs. Spirited Away (2001) - Spirited Away is right below Totoro on my list, but it leaves me colder and must draw more on the creativity of the world to connect with me. It does a pretty good job, but Sleepless in Seattle still wins.

Sleepless in Seattle's new, definitive ranking is at #184, which is much closer to where it probably belongs.

My random number generator has determined that the next top 100 movie I'm going to rewatch is... my #1, Casablanca. I'll be watching and writing about that no earlier than May 4, so if you want to watch that along with me, you have at least until then!

The Top 100: Intro

I've been wanting for some time to rewatch some of my favorite movies. There are several that either launched themselves into my heart earlier in my life and I haven't seen them in several years, or I watched them once, loved them dearly, and never saw them again -- although those are less likely to be called my all-time favorites. Some I've seen multiple times but they continue to connect with me every time.

I also find that when I do rewatch these, they're my favorites for a reason. They are refreshing. They make me laugh. They make me cry. They resonate in my soul. And when I'm done, I feel I want to talk about them.

So I'm going to start a little project here. I'm calling it The Top 100. I'm going to rewatch each of the movies in my current top 100 on Flickchart. After each movie, I'll write about it -- the things I love, any things I wish were different, maybe my history with the movie. I'll also rerank them on Flickchart. I sometimes find that I'm too hesitant to change the rankings in my top 100, and I'd like to shake that up. Maybe some of these movies are better in my memory than they are in actual watching, and I'll end up with completely different movies at the top of my chart. We'll see.

I'm going to aim for two a month, which would have me finished in a little over 4 years, though given my track record with scheduling projects, I fully expect to fall behind. But the point is that eventually I'll finish it. And at that point, maybe my top 100 will look completely different.

To avoid watching this in perceived declining order (though every movie on here is one I love), I'm going to watch these in a random order. I'll also announce with each blog post what my next one is going to be, so if you'd like to follow along and watch or rewatch some of my absolute favorite movies with me so we can talk about them later when I blog about them, I would love that.

My current top 100 looks like this:

1. Casablanca (1942)
2. Love Actually (2003)
3. Moulin Rouge (2001)
4. Annie Hall (1977)
5. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)
6. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
7. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
8. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
9. Rear Window (1954)
10. The Truman Show (1998)

11. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

12. Fight Club (1999)

13. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

14. Hairspray (2007)

15. Memento (2000)

16. Mary Poppins (1964)

17. Noises Off (1992)

18. Company: A Musical Comedy (2007)

19. Into the Woods (1991)

20. Back to the Future (1985)

21. West Side Story (1961)

22. The Sixth Sense (1999)

23. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

24. Charlie Bartlett (2007)

25. WALL·E (2008)

26. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2003)

27. The Music Man (1962)

28. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

29. Waiting for Guffman (1996)

30. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

31. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

32. The Princess Bride (1987)

33. Groundhog Day (1993)

34. American Beauty (1999)

35. Donnie Darko (2001)

36. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

37. The Odd Couple (1968)

38. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

39. 12 Angry Men (1957)

40. The Last 5 Years (2014)

41. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

42. Charade (1963)

43. The Court Jester (1956)

44. Rent (2005)

45. Newsies (1992)

46. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

47. Amadeus (1984)

48. The Prince of Egypt (1998)

49. Amélie (2001)

50. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

51. Star Wars (1977)

52. Bringing Up Baby (1938)

53. Lost in Translation (2003)

54. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

55. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

56. Bug (2006)

57. Before Sunrise (1995)

58. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

59. My Fair Lady (1964)

60. Star Spangled Girl (1971)

61. Angels in America (2003)

62. Legally Blonde: The Musical (2007)

63. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

64. The Seven Year Itch (1955)

65. Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

66. Cyrano De Bergerac (1990)

67. Wit (2001)

68. Up (2009)

69. Frost/Nixon (2008)

70. Ladyhawke (1985)

71. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

72. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

73. Billy Elliot (2000)

74. The Lion King (1994)

75. The Remains of the Day (1993)

76. Doubt (2008)

77. Proof (2005)

78. Ordinary People (1980)

79. Vanilla Sky (2001)

80. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

81. All the President's Men (1976)

82. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

83. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

84. Dave (1993)

85. Back to the Future Part II (1989)

86. Desk Set (1957)

87. While You Were Sleeping (1995)

88. The History Boys (2006)

89. 1776 (1972)

90. Midnight in Paris (2011)

91. Peter Pan (1953)

92. Chicago (2002)

93. Schindler's List (1993)

94. Shrek (2001)

95. Harvey (1950)

96. The Philadelphia Story (1940)

97. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

98. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

99. Tootsie (1982)

100. The Producers (1968)

Some of these movies will remain. Some will leave. Some will shift all around and land higher or lower on the list.

Choosing my first movie with a random number generator, it looks like my first movie is... #83, Sleepless in Seattle.

So I'll be watching that in the next couple weeks, reranking it, and writing about it, and I'd love to invite you all to watch it and talk about it with me! I'll post about it no earlier than April 20, so you have at least until then for a watch or a rewatch.