American Dreamer

Year 17, Day 4 - 1/4/25 - Movie #4,904

BEFORE: Four days in to the New Year, and it's time for the first Birthday SHOUT-out of 2025, to Michelle Mylett, born 1/4/90.  She's in a couple films on my list, but I'm not using her as a link because the other film is a Christmas film.  

Matt Dillon carries over from "Proxima". I worked at a screening of this film back in March of 2024, as part of that Tuesday night film appreciation class, but the film has an official release date of 2022, so it's possible that any theatrical release was delayed due to the pandemic, or problems finding a distributor, who can tell? 

THE PLOT: An economics professor dreams of buying a house above his pay grade. 

AFTER: Well, now I know what the word "adjunct" means, as in "adjunct professor", since the main characters here and also in "The Holdovers" have that as their job. It's a part-time faculty member, hired on a contract basis, they are staff but not "staff staff", meaning they don't have to go to staff meetings.  Some may have to work for several colleges in order to make ends meet. "Adjunct" itself means a thing added to something else in a supplementary way, not something that is an essential part.  OK, good to know - and if your main character is an adjunct professor, as in non-tenured, well your screenplay then practically writes itself, doesn't it?  All the drama you need is right there in that word, this is someone who's a teacher but also a temp, so they're starting the movie on some thin ice with their institution, once things start to go horribly wrong (as they always do) you can kind of guess that this is someone who's going to get into trouble and also be held responsible.  Surely a meeting with the dean and, at the very least, a stern rebuke is in this character's future. 

Yes, there's clearly a formula being used here - this is someone who's had some tough times, been around the block a few times, but at some point things started not going his way, and continued like that for a very long time.  And once you're in a rut like that, you can't really just EXIST your way out of it (trust me on this point), you have to take bold action, like an interview for a new job or perhaps just quit, cash in your retirement plans and go find a beach to live next to while you take a quick course in bartending.  Because every place there's a beach, people want to have drinks, right?  And it's cheaper to open a bar than a restaurant, right?  Or maybe just leave everything behind, find a job in Montana and live there, at least there will be nice scenery.  

But Phil's pipe dream is to own a home, to have four walls and a roof and maybe a lawn that he can call his, because that's the American dream.  Later in the film we're going to find out what exactly went wrong in Phil's life, why he's bitter and how he ended up where he is, but none of that keeps him from dreaming about a house.  So he goes to real estate events hosted by his friend (?) Dell, however exactly everything is out of his price range, because it turns out that if you make $50K a year, you can't really afford a house that costs $5 million, that's just math. And it's not that you'll be in debt for the rest of your life, it's that you won't even qualify for the mortgage, so it's never going to happen. You would think that an economics professor would understand this.  

Dell gives Phil the best advice about real estate, buy a small condo you can afford, stop wasting your money on apartment rent, and start building up some equity.  Maybe in 10 or 11 years if the housing market cooperates, you can sell that condo for four or five times your mortgage, then you can use that money for a starter home.  Sure, by the time you get the house you want, you may be ready for a retirement community, but at least you can say you were a homeowner for a period of time.  And you can't ensure there won't be a recession or a depression in there somewhere, when the bubble bursts you might have to stay in one place for a while until the market gets better. Nothing is guaranteed, after all. 

But Phil finds a unique short-cut, because at least on some level, he's able to spot a good deal. He sees a classified ad for a "live-in", which means he can buy a $5 million house for $240,000 but he has to live there in an upstairs apartment until the owner dies, at which point he can take sole possession of the property.  It sounds too good to be true, which probably means that it is.  But he relies on his real-estate guy to draw up a contract, and then cashes in all his accounts to buy the property.  Huge NITPICK point here, because Phil signs the deal without ever meeting the seller face-to-face, without ever seeing the interior of the property or conducting only a cursory inspection.  You'd think that anyone with a brain who's about to hand over such a large amount or money would do a little more research, and again, he's supposed to be smart about economics.  When we bought our house we had the place inspected by a professional, who gave us a "punch list" of things that might need to be repaired or upgraded, and we had to allow the buyer of our condo the same ability to inspect the property and figure out that out too. Caveat emptor. 

Of course, this creates the narrative tension and drama here, who is this mysterious owner, what's her deal and why would she sell her property to a stranger without ever meeting him?  Why would Phil move all his stuff over in a van to that upstairs apartment without being 100% sure of what he was getting into?  OK, so you can never be 100% sure of anything, but come on, if you're going to share space with someone, wouldn't you be the least bit curious?  Astrid turns out to be a complete character, she's been around and had a few husbands, she might have dementia or maybe she's just old, but exactly how old and how long will it be before Phil gets the house?  There are people hanging around the house who she calls her "kids", but are they really her children, because one claims to be a plumber and charges Phil cash to fix his shower.  So is this all some kind of scam to get the rest of his money?  

Meanwhile, Phil enters into a relationship with one of his grad students, which probably isn't a good idea since he's only an adjunct professor, and it's almost certainly against the rules.  And as things seem to get crazier with this house, after he invested all of his money into it, Phil's lectures about the American economic system are starting to reflect his frustration and his descent into madness.  Instead of discovering the joys of home ownership at last, Phil learns about the cost of home repairs, many of which are caused by his own clumsiness after he can't resist breaking into the main part of the house to investigate it.  Again, you'd think there would have been an appropriate time for him to see the house BEFORE he maybe sort of bought it, some time in the future.  

I'm guessing there's not a real estate professional in the world who would say that contract is a good idea, or even legit.  If Astrid has a valid will and leaves the house to any children or family members, then it might be up to a judge who gets the house - sure, Phil's got proof that he paid a certain dollar amount for the property, so Astrid's heirs might need to pay him some money as a buyout, and the film eventually does get around to addressing this, but still I'm not sure that the narrative here has any semblance of reality - not that it needs to. But even though the chemistry between the characters is there, points off for the narrative inconsistencies and for injuries sustained by both leads every time the movie needs a laugh.

Also starring Peter Dinklage (last seen in "Unfrosted"), Shirley MacLaine (last seen in "Mike Wallace Is Here"), Kimberly Quinn (last seen in "The Starling"), Danny Pudi (last seen in "Somebody I Used to Know"), Danny Glover (last seen in "Shooter"), Michelle Mylett, Peter Kelamis (last seen in "Killing Gunther"), Rebecca Olson (ditto), Garry Chalk (last seen in "Overboard" (2018)), Kimberley Shoniker, Raresh DiMofte, Rami Kahlon, Davin Tong, Peter New (last seen in "Black Christmas"), Donald Heng, Brendan Riggs, C. Ernst Harth (last seen in 'Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed"), Corina Akeson, Jennifer-Juniper Angeli, Masa Delara, Frank Warburton Bailey III, Clayton James Booi, Thaddeus Monckton

RATING: 6 out of 10 ham sandwiches from a vending machine

Proxima

Year 17, Day 3 - 1/3/25 - Movie #4,903

BEFORE: Sandra Hüller carries over again from "The Zone of Interest" and I'd never heard of this film until a few days ago, but it can serve as my path back to U.S. made movies, because it's got a mix of actors from France, Germany, Russia and one notable Hollywood actor.  That's good enough for my purposes, it's like that film "Okja" I watched a few years ago that made it possible for me to watch "Parasite" and then link back to the main chain. 

THE PLOT: An astronaut prepares for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station. 

AFTER: TGIF, I've been on this very weird schedule for the last two weeks, because of the winter holidays and where both Christmas and New Year's fell, on Wednesdays??  WTF, how can you have a holiday on a Wednesday, how do you even make a long weekend out of that?  So it's been one day of work, two days off, then one more day of work, three days off, one more day of work, two more days off, and so on.  I have not spent this much time at home since the pandemic ended - I've been staying up too late, sleeping too long, getting up at noon and asking my wife if I should grab us some lunch. Breakfast, what's that?  JK, we had a breakfast out at a diner one day, but it was probably lunchtime when we ordered it. 

So I worked today, now another two days off.  I had two strong dark beers when I came home, so I'm still feeling the effects, I'll try to muddle through.  If tomorrow's post is late then that means I crashed right after posting this, and slept on through.  

This movie came out of the blue, it's really only here because it links back from foreign films to material that is taking up space on my DVR or DVDs - eventually.  Actually it links to a film that was screened in the Tuesday night film appreciation class that I usually work (nobody else at the theater wants to work Tuesday nights for some reason, no wait, there is a reason, the professor who hosts the event is a bit difficult, and there are many seniors who need assistance into the theatre.  I'll take the shift, no problem, bring it on, it's like a standing gig every Tuesday night during the school year and I'm fine with it.).  Plus I get to see peeks of some current or even upcoming films and I can just add them to my list.  

But not "Proxima", I'd never heard of it until I was desperately seeking a link back from the two foreign films that I started my year with, and in a perfect world if everything goes well in January this will also lead me to "Dune: Part Two", "Joker: Folie a Deux" and "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" - also "Fly Me to the Moon", which is kind of on the same topic, only that film is a comedy and this one isn't.  This is also a multi-culti sort of film, made in France and Germany, but with a cast that also includes some Americans and I think some Russians as well. It's just the sort of thing I need to get back to my home turf and U.S. made films.

But really, who's in a hurry?  We're going to get there, plenty of (I assume) middling films this month that are just taking up space on my Netflix queue, really in addition to clearing space on my DVR I should be equally devoted to those Netflix films that have been languishing at the bottom of my list, because if I wait too long they could scroll off Netflix and then I'll have to hunt them down somewheres else.  Would rather watch them on Netflix, which is easier, I just go through the Sony Playstation and I don't have to risk my data getting stolen from some pirate site on the dark web.  Am I rambling?  I think I'm rambling, must be the beer talking.  Did I mention I read a book written by Seth Rogen, about his weird encounters with f. mous people? It was called "Yearbook" and it was a quick read, I think I read it on the way back from North Carolina and he was probably half-stoned when he wrote it - hell, he was probably half-stoned when everything he wrote about happened.  But that's OK, it's all legal now. 

Anyway, "Proxima", it's not a science-fiction story about astronauts, more like science facts, it details the training that astronauts need to undergo before they spend time on the I.S.S., and that's not just physical training but also mental training.  If they're going to spend a year apart from their loved ones, that's not going to be easy, so yeah, even though they can still communicate long distance with friends and family, it's still going to take some discipline, and getting used to living alone, but with other people around them. (Yeah, that's right.). I've been living with one domestic partner or another since 1991, except for 6 months in 1996 that I did not enjoy very much.  If I had to live alone again I might go crazy - but yet some people seem to prefer it, and some of those people become astronauts.  

This was released in 2019 but it seems very timely, because the U.S. has two people right now who are "stuck in space" at the I.S.S. beginning in June of last year because there were issues with the Boeing Starliner that brought them there, it was deemed unsafe to return them to Earth, so they're there until March 2025 at least, possibly longer, even though they've scrolled off the news cycle, they are still there and doing OK.  Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are their names, and they seem to be doing fine, they're assisting with experiments and have been watering the plants, vacuuming the air vents and even fixing a broken toilet, it's like they suddenly have all the time to do all the chores around the house that they've been meaning to get to, only they're also in orbit and they see 16 sunrises every day.  Ms. Williams is from Massachusetts originally, just like me, and is making the best of the situation, some time away from her husband, a former Navy aviator who is taking care of their dogs at their home in Houston.  

Mr. Wilmore, meanwhile, is missing his daughter's senior year of high school, but as we see in "Proxima", certain sacrifices have to be made if this is the career you've chosen for yourself. Sarah Loreau has to be away from her eight-year-old daughter for a whole year, and you just never get that time back, do you?  So in addition to undergoing extensive training, she has to make arrangements for her daughter to live with her ex-husband, who also works as an astro-physicist, so at least he understands - if you get selected for a space mission, you put your life on hold because this was the goal, this is what you dreamed of when you were a kid, looking up at the stars.  Well, OK, some people dreamed about being astronauts and others dreamed about being astronomers or astrophysicists, but hey, to each their own.

Sarah also has to endure the American captain of the mission, who would actually prefer to replace her with another man, perhaps he is worried about spending time in space with a woman, and he might be tempted to cheat on his wife, it's tough to say.  Or maybe he's just a male chauvinist.  I couldn't tell if the film was suggesting there was some kind of spark between Mike and Sarah or not, or maybe it was a one-way attraction.  Either way, training teaches Sarah that there is no such thing as a "perfect" astronaut, just as there is no such thing as a "perfect" mother, instead we all get the one(s) we have and we have to grow up with them and then all do the best we can.  

I'm pleasantly surprised that the film didn't force Sarah and Mike together as some kind of relationship of convenience, and I'm also pleasantly surprised that she made it to space, in spite of the misogyny she encountered from the American mission captain and also the Russian trainers.  There were probably a half dozen reasons to scrub her from the mission, including the fact that she broke her quarantine to show her daughter the rocket - and for some reason there were no repercussions for this, which almost doesn't seem right, except for the fact that finally her daughter seemed to understand WHY she had to spend a year without her mother in her daily life.  Well, suck it up, buttercup, because not every kid gets to be with their parents 24/7. My dad worked as a truck driver and he was always up early and out the door after a cup of coffee, well before I woke up for school.  Then when he came home he would sack out on the couch, so unless it was the weekend and we went to church, I barely saw him, and this went on for YEARS that way.  Meanwhile my mother was teaching elementary school music in the next town over (thank GOD not in the town we lived in...) and so I can't name one school function before my high school graduation that either of my parents went to. And yet somehow I survived.

Sometimes Mommy AND Daddy need to work so you can maybe afford to go to college one day.  So please, get over it. Yes, I realize most kids' Mommy or Daddy don't spend a year on a Space Station, but the principle is the same. 

What year is this supposed to take place?  Because the characters were all talking about the upcoming Mission to Mars, or building some kind of space station on the moon to launch to Mars from there.  My wife and I visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston and we got a look at the proposed capsules that would take astronauts to Mars, but that was back in 2018.  It's over six years later, and when is that Mars mission happening, exactly?  I just Googled it, and it looks like it won't be until the early 2030's at least. Come ON, what is the damn hold-up?

Also starring Eva Green (last seen in "Kingdom of Heaven"), Matt Dillon (last seen in "Asteroid City"), Zelie Boulant, Aleksey Fateev, Lars Eidinger (last seen in "High Life"), Trond-Erik Vassal, Nancy Tate (last heard in "On the Line"), Gregoire Colin, Igor Filippov, Svetlana Nekhoroshikh, Anna Sherbinina, Vitaly Jay, Thomas Pesquet.

RATING: 6 out of 10 personal items (placed in a shoe-box sized container)

The Zone of Interest

Year 17, Day 2 - 1/2/25 - Movie #4,902

BEFORE: We're about to head into Awards Season, and these first two films of Movie Year 17 prove that with the right Oscar campaign, the right film can be promoted toward a Best Picture nomination, and without the right promotion, well, probably not. While I've programmed a few films that were in contention last year, what about this year, is there anything current I should be watching?  Without going to the movie theater, that is.  One web site says there are really only 12 films in contention, and the top six are "Anora", "The Brutalist", "Emilia Perez", "Wicked", "Conclave" and "Dune: Part Two".  After that come films like "The Substance", "A Real Pain" and "A Complete Unknown".  Well, I've got the "Dune" sequel programmed and taking up space on my DVR, so I guess I'll start there, that could cover me on some of the technical awards.  But I'm not rushing out to see "Wicked", I'll see it when it streams, like I did for "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer". I've still got to watch "Killers of the Flower Moon" and last year's animated feature contenders like "Inside Out 2" and "Despicable Me 4". 

Sandra Hüller carries over from "Anatomy of a Fall". Two days into the New Year, and I'm already on Nazis. Is that some kind of a sign?  

THE PLOT: Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the camp.  

AFTER: This turns out to be a very dangerous film, because the intent from the start is to de-mystify the Nazis, it's based on a book by Martin Amis that dug deep into the lives of the family of Rudolf Höss, to prove that the perpetrators of the Holocaust weren't "mythologically evil", which sounds a bit too close to proving that they were humans.  It seems that Rudolf and his family lived very close to the concentration camp that he supervised, but they had a nice little set-up on the other side of the wall.  His wife set up a garden and greenhouse there, they had an in-ground pool with a slide and they often went on picnics or went swimming in a nearby lake or boating down a small river.  And like the family seen in yesterday's film, they liked to listen to 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." very loudly and on repeat. JK. 

Sure, for the family this was probably a great set-up, they could swim and have fun all day, and if they needed new clothes or a new pair of shoes there was always something available in their size that nobody seemed to be using.  Also there were plenty of loose teeth to examine, which would be fascinating for a young teen boy, I'm sure. And there were plenty of Polish servants to wait on them hand and foot, delivering them meals and drinks and shining their shoes several times a day, it sounds, great, right?  Who would have thought there would be adults who would look back on those idyllic childhood years spent living next to the Auschwitz camp and think, "Man, those were great times."  Yet that's where we find ourselves today.  

Hedwig (aka Mrs. Nazi Commander, aka "The Queen of Auschwitz") has a nice little set-up going, she spent months getting her garden into shape, organizing the vegetables (alphabetically, no doubt) or making sure the line of sunflowers doesn't block the sun from getting to the cabbage plants. She has her friends come over to visit and she points out that they've installed central heating in the house, and I can't decide if this is meant to be funny or ironic or just bad taste, bragging about the heating systems at Auschwitz. Then her mother comes to visit and Hedwig can't wait to show her how well things are going with Rudolf's job.

So when her husband gets transferred to go supervise ALL the concentration camps from the central office in Berlin and a new commander is expected to take over Auschwitz, it's the end of her world, they just spent all that time setting up the family at this house, there are enough bedrooms for their five children (to share, but still), they've got a nanny, and terrified servants galore, and so many coats to have repaired and sterilized before she can wear them!

So sorry, Nazis, for the inconvenience of having to move around every few years, but that's the chance you take when you work for the military, especially in a dictatorship. If Hitler says he wants you to go take over another concentration camp in Hungary that isn't making their labor quotas, then that's what you have to do.  Rudolf tries pulling some strings and having some of his contacts send in letters of support to keep him at the Auschwitz post, but nothing seems to work. Hedwig tries sending flowers from her garden to some of the top officials, to try to see if she can keep the family in this beautiful house conveniently located right next to the concentration camp while her husband is away on this new assignment. It's literally the first time in history that anybody has expended any energy at all to be so close to an internment death camp.  

Look, I get it, nobody ever wants to pack up and move AGAIN, and who knows, maybe there were good schools near Auschwitz, I don't know. History is rather silent on this issue.  But she's got a point, Rudolf is the one with the job, so why can't he commute?  The kids shouldn't have to make all new friends every two years just because Dad's doing well working his way up the chain with fascism.  And the new assignment might be temporary, anyway, Germany's going to have this war all wrapped up in the next few months, probably, and then they can finally find that farm they always wanted, somewhere out in the German countryside, away from all the hustle and bustle and sex clubs of Berlin. Bavaria is probably lovely in the spring, not to mention Oktoberfest, there's that to look forward to if Daddy's just willing to spend a little time away from his family and finish killing all the Jews, gypsies, gay people, cripples, immigrants and other undesirables.  

I'll admit this is a new take on Nazis, and a perhaps interesting point of view - but again it's too close to suggesting that they had normal lives, but what they did overall was nothing close to normal, and suggesting that they just carried on like nothing was wrong while people were being burned in furnaces a few hundred feet away is beyond belief. Rudolf reads his daughters a bedtime story, but unfortunately, it's "Hansel and Gretel". You know, the story where the evil ugly (probably gypsy) witch ends up burned alive in her own oven?  Yeah, if you look back on the old German fairy tales it would probably explain a lot about what led to the Nazis. Still, that's no excuse.  

There are signs, however, that this life is anything but normal.  At night a Polish girl sneaks out of her house and hides food at the work sites of the camp laborers.  (This was shot in night-vision style and then enhanced with effects, so it was difficult for me to tell what was going on.). Rudolf takes his kids on a boating trip down the river, and while he's fishing, he sees some form of human remains float by. So he's got to pack up the kids immediately and get them home so they can be scrubbed down by servants and thoroughly sterilized.  Hedwig's mother leaves without warning because (we assume) she can't stand the smell from the crematorium.  She leaves a note, but we don't get to read what it says, I guess it can't be good because Hedwig takes out her frustration on her servants. Of course.  These Nazis may be humans, but never forget they were terrible humans. 

Still, I'm not sure this film deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.  Was it just because of the Holocaust subject matter? Academy members may be conditioned to vote for any film that details the horrors of what the Nazis did, but is a nomination warranted in every single case?  Or was "Schindler's List" such a great film that all these years later, films on this topic are still being considered for Best Picture as a result?  

There were also language problems here - but not German to English, of course there were subtitles. I'm talking about the language of film, the cinematic grammar that's developed over the years, which we all kind of understand without thinking too much about it.  Like the rule about not crossing the axis, which means that when you see two people talking together, you imagine an invisible line between them, and for the purposes of editing, you need to keep the camera on only one side of this line, because cuttiing to the reverse shot could make the two people appear to switch places. Whoever edited "The Zone of Interest" is either unaware of these little rules or for some reason took delight in not following them.  There's also excessive, obsessive multi-camera coverage whenever someone walks down stairs - here there's a shot of the person approaching the stairs and walking down the first few steps, then a cut to the reverse shot from the landing below, which confirms that this person then walked down the remaining steps of that flight.  Once they start going down the next flight of stairs, at a precise moment they cut to the next reverse shot, so we see them on every step from the next lower landing, and so on.  But we all know how stairs work, you can actually cut a few stair steps out of the process and our brains will fill in the gap.  Not according to obsessive German film editors, I guess. 

It gets worse inside the house - if someone goes from the outside to the sitting room, first we need to see them entering the house from the outside garden, then the film cuts to the interior shot of them entering the foyer through that same door, then walk down the hall to the kitchen, and at a precise moment they cut to the interior shot from the kitchen so we can confirm that they did, in fact, use THAT doorway.  We see them walk through the kitchen and start to enter the dining room, another cut to the interior dining room to see them walking through that door from the other side.  God, how many rooms are there in this house?  Can the next room please be the sitting room so we can stop this never-ending process of cutting to the next camera angle?  Every night when Rudolf goes through the house and turns off all of the lights, there are hallways and doors and closets and it's an exacting, deliberate process, maybe we really get a feel here for how OCD all the Germans are.  

But, according to the language of film, there are things I just don't understand here - especially in the beginning and the end.  In the middle the editors got REALLY sneaky, because you never see the direct effects of the Holocaust, like you don't see a line of Jews being marched into a building and not coming out the other side.  Instead there's a train JUST over that tree-line, and from time to time you hear the noise of the train, or you see the line of smoke that the train puts out - but if you think about it you know what the train is bringing to the camp. Then there's a gunshot in the distance every once in a while, and your mind is left to fill in the details about who might be shooting who.  Then at night there's a bright light coming from the furnaces, and the loud sound of burning fire - but we know there's a wall between the Höss family home and the camp, so is this meant to be symbolic or what?  Why would they design the set-up of the camp so the crematorium was adjacent to their house?  Well, they wouldn't so perhaps this is artistic license, however any messing around with reality kind of impedes on the story, doesn't it?  

Worse by far are two things I can't explain - at the start of the film there's five full minutes of black, no image, just discordant noise, and it's enough to make you think that your TV is malfunctioning, or there's a problem with your cable service.  How many people will watch this film and call up the cable company to tell them they're not getting picture, and there's also something wrong with the audio?  There's absolutely no reason to do this - if I saw this in a theater I would contact the management to tell them there's something wrong with the projector, or maybe the projectionist fell asleep.  Then near the end of the film, there's a notable moment where Höss is going down the stairs in his obsessive German way by making sure he touches every step, and he stops on one landing and feels sick, maybe even throws up a bit.  There's a sudden flash-forward to the Auschwitz Museum in the future, where we see the pile of shoes from the Holocaust victims on display, another exhibit just of crutches and medical equipment, all as the staff is cleaning the glass before the museum opens for the day.  This would have been a great way to end the film, to cut suddenly into the present so we see that over time, the Nazis were not regarded as the saviors of their Master Race, but instead people remember the victims with a museum. 

But no, the film cuts back to Höss, after he's sick from walking down the stairs.  Did he experience the flash-forward?  Did he have some sudden realization or insight that the Holocaust would not be regarded in the future as a positive thing?  Was that what made him sick?  Well, it's impossible, he could not see 75 or 80 years into the future, and even if he did, his mindset was so into this plan to exterminate Jews into society that's it's extremely doubtful that this insight would change him one bit.  Although, he did mention that when he went to the reception with all the high-ranking Nazis, he did have an intrusive thought about how he would gas everyone in the room.  But again, now we're humanizing the Nazis just a bit, and that's still a very dangerous thing to do, it's one step away from justifying their actions.  

The director of this film got into some controversy when accepting the Oscar for Best International Feature, by speaking his thoughts on the war between Israel and Hamas. Umm, you know what, maybe stick to how bad Nazis are, because that's something everyone can agree on, even most modern Germans.  I think if there's a take-away here, it's that even people who worked at the concentration camps had daily lives, and we do kind of tend to pigeon-hole them all.  But they all had families, they went home from work and had dinner, maybe read a book to their kids, had sex with somebody who wasn't their wife and went to bed, then got up the next day and put in another shift at Auschwitz, like that wasn't even a thing. Any given day was a chance to speak up against the horrors of what was happening, but instead they just made it a part of their everyday lives.  What's going to happen if Trump puts this giant immigration deportation plan into place?  Something very similar - we'll have jobs galore for people willing to find all the illegal immigrants, transport them to some kind of holding area, maybe internment camps, and then there will be people hired to process them, feed them, give them medical care while they await deportation.  And those will be just normal American people doing those jobs, and they'll go home to their families, have dinner, maybe read a book to their kids, have sex with somebody and get up the next day and put in another shift. Is that really what we want for our country?

Also starring Christian Friedel, Johann Karthaus, Luis Noah Witte, Nele Ahrensmeier, Lilli Falk, Anastazja Drobniak, Cecylia Pekala, Kalman Wilson, Medusa Knopf, Max Beck, Andrey Isaev, Stephanie Petrowitz, Martyna Poznanski, Zuzanna Kobiela, Benjamin Utzerath, Thomas Neumann, Klaudiusz Kaufmann, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Antje Falk, Julia Polaczek, Imogen Kogge, Wiktoria Wisniewska, Paulina Burzyk, Anna Marciniszyn, Agnieszka Wierny, Tomasz Piwko, Marnius Fislage, Ralph Herforth (last seen in "Speed Racer"), Daniel Holzberg, Rainer Haustein, Daniel Hoffman, Wolfgang Lampi, Oscar Lebeck, Christian Willy, Freya Kreutzkam, Sascha Maaz, Ralf Zillman and Slava (the dog).

RATING: 5 out of 10 Sturmbahnführers at the big meeting

Anatomy of a Fall

Year 17, Day 1 - 1/1/25 - Movie #4,901

BEFORE: Happy New Year!  All of the counters reset except the big one, the overall total, which is going to start inching closer to Movie #5,000 in - April?  I don't even know yet what that will be.  I spent a few hours yesterday coming up with a plan for January, only knowing where I wanted the month to start and where I needed it to end.  To make things a little easier for myself, I've increased the debt ceiling, the number of films on my "available on streaming" list is now 350 instead of 325.  This was done because of a sudden influx of movies, probably due to the upcoming awards season - however the danger is then having too many choices, and thus creating too many available linking pathways to choose from.  With the larger list, though, I was able to find a January plan in just a couple of hours, and then also link from the end of the romance chain to something very Irish for St. Patrick's Day, so really, I'm good for the next two and a half months now.  What a relief. 

And the path goes through several of the movies I mentioned in my 2024 preview, like "Dune: Part Two" and the recent "Joker" movie, so I'm looking forward to what's coming up.  If you want to play along at home, here are the links I came up with for January: Sandra Huller, Matt Dillon, Peter Dinklage, Mackenzie Lansing, Allison Janney, Stephen Root, Paul Walter Hauser, Paula Pell, Will Ferrell, Steve Coogan, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, Karl Glusman, Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Babs Olusanmokun, Eiza Gonzalez, Colin Woodell, Channing Tatum, Anne Hathaway, Bill Camp, Mamoudou Athie, Catherine O'Hara and Griffin Dunne. That should get me to right where I need to be on February 1. And I only had to add ONE film that wasn't already on my list, that was needed to connect tonight's film back to films with Hollywood actors in them. 

I probably won't have a chance to watch many films that will be competing in this year's award season, unless they pop up on streaming this month AND they fit in with my chain.  I could squeeze in "Venom: The Last Dance" because I'll have a Tom Hardy thing already going on, but for other films, it's less likely.  I don't even KNOW what films are Oscar contenders yet, I guess we'll all find out this weekend after the Golden Globes?  Or is that awards show no longer a thing? Didn't it get culture cancelled a couple years ago?  Anyway, I've seen a few films from 2024 already, so maybe I can just roll with that. 

You may remember "Anatomy of a Fall" from last year's award season - I remember my boss got many MANY e-mails for screenings, they really publicized this one hard.  And so even though the film was not nominated for Best International Feature, it somehow got a nomination for Best Picture.  And then there was one actress from this film who was ALSO in another Best Picture nominee, that's the kind of thing I notice, and I file that away in my brain in case it becomes important later - and it did.  I'll get to that film tomorrow, they formed a dyad of sorts, and so it's a no-brainer to watch them together at the start of the year, but then, umm, where do I go from there?  The problem was solved by adding that one film...

Oh, right, I forget to issue my annual dedication, sent out to someone who passed away last year - man, there's really a lot to choose from. David Soul, Chita Rivera, Carl Weathers, Richard Lewis, M. Emmet Walsh, Louis Gossett Jr., Roger Corman, Dabney Coleman, Morgan Spurlock, Willie Mays, Donald Sutherland, Bill Cobbs, Martin Mull, Shelley Duvall, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Shannen Doherty, Richard Simmons, James Sikking, Bob Newhart, Gena Rowlands, Peter Marshall, Phil Donahue, John Amos, James Darren, James Earl Jones, John Ashton, Maggie Smith, Kris Kristofferson, Pete Rose, Cissy Houston, Mitzi Gaynor, Teri Garr, Quincy Jones, Tony Todd, Chuck Woolery, Olivia Hussey, Jimmy Carter, and Linda Lavin.  Those are the names I remember from my travels and my movies.  While I'd love to send a shout-out to Donald Sutherland or James Earl Jones (who I tried once to track down to get his autograph for my collection) there's one person on the list who I met in person - several times, in fact.  

So my annual Really Long-Distance Dedication this year goes out to Morgan Spurlock, director of "Super-Size Me" and several other documentaries I watched. I'm sorry I never got to watch "Super-Size Me 2" or "Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?" and now it's kind of too late for both.  Spurlock directed 2 docs and produced a whole bunch more, but then in 2019 he kind of cancelled himself for his own sexual misconduct and disappeared from the public eye for a while, much like last year's appearances champion, David Letterman. 

THE PLOT: A woman is suspected of murder after her husband's death; their half-blind son faces a moral dilemma as the main witness. 

AFTER: When you add it all up - foreign film, Oscar-nominated, links to just one other movie on my list - how could I NOT pick this one to kick off the year?  Especially since a few weeks ago, I tripped and fell myself while on the job. My head hit either the ground or the building, I'm not sure which, but it was hard - really, I'm lucky that I wasn't seriously hurt, I just got a little cut and that was it.  No bump, no concussion, no permanent damage as far as I can tell, my shoulder is still sore, though, so it's nice to have this time off around the holidays before the next semester starts in a week or so, I'm catching up on my sleep and trying to not sleep on that shoulder so I'll be ready to set up tables and chairs again. During the Christmas party as I was saying goodbye to co-workers, I got a hug and someone asked me why I smelled all minty - umm, no I don't have a candy cane hidden in my shirt, that's the smell of Icy Hot, which allows me to walk around with less pain. You kids might learn about it in a few years. 

This film falls into the "Murder mystery" category, I think - I'm taking pro-active steps to play Sorting Hat with my movies this year, in hopes of making things a bit easier after Christmas when I have to write another wrap-up post.  The more work I do now, the less work I'll have to do then. Theoretically, at least.  I'm also placing this one on the "Longest movies" list, because it's two hours and 31 minutes long, which might not be the longest film of the year, but it could be in the top ten.  Still, that's way too long for a movie that really only asks one question, and then spends the rest of its time trying to not answer it.  Sure, there's a murder trial, and those can go on for a very long time, and if you watch this film, you're going to FEEL that - I had to take a break after 90 minutes and got very discouraged when I realized I still had an hour to go.  And I'd started well after the New Year's ball dropped, so really, I didn't finish until about 3 am - thank God I'm mostly at home this week, and I can sleep in every day.  Every day is Blursday for a while, it's like we're back in the pandemic.  

This is the kind of story that "Law & Order" or "CSI: Hotlanta" could solve in 44 minutes, and here it takes 150 minutes?  It's too long, no matter how you slice it. The trial instead chooses to highlight each new revelation that the lawyers discover about the relationship between writer Sandra Voyter and her now-dead husband, lecturer and non-writer Samuel Maleski, and use it as another thing to discuss for the next twenty minutes.  Their son had an accident that partially blinded him - OK, so what effect did this have on their relationship?  Sandra had started to see other people, and so what effect did THIS have on their relationship?  The lawyers find out that she took an idea from a book that Samuel abandoned and turned it into a best-seller, so what effect did THAT have?  And so on.  Naturally we can't deal with all of these things at once, so they have to come one by one, and each one is a game-changer.  But they all tend to distract from the main issue before us, namely did Samuel fall from the attic window, or did he commit suicide, or was he pushed?  

There's enough physical evidence - and enough forensic experts - to support each theory, making the whole process a bit maddening.  Something hit Daniel in the head before he landed, but was it an object wielded by someone trying to harm him, or did his head strike something on the way down?  Sandra brings up an incident from a few months before her husband's death when he'd come off of anti-depressants and tried to overdose on aspirin, which I didn't even know was possible.  Is she bringing this up to throw suspicion off of herself, or because it was a real thing that happened that could support the suicide theory? 

Now, a few months back, I saw what I thought was some kind of spoiler - I turned away or closed the browser window as soon as I could, but I thought I saw the words "The dog did it."  So as a result of this, I spent the whole time thinking that the dog was somehow responsible for pushing Samuel out of the window - but that's impossible, because the dog is a service dog and was out for a walk with Daniel at the time of the incident. Still, my brain kept trying to work out ways in which the dog was responsible, and it's just not part of the story.  (Or, is it?  JK).  The film opens with the dog, though, and ends with the dog climbing into bed with Sandra - that would be a really bad thing the dog did, though, to kill him just to get more alone time with her.  But this is NOT a bad dog, this is a really GOOD dog.  He might even be the most impressive actor in the whole film - he somehow won the "Palm Dog" at Cannes, but I'm not sure if that is a real award.   

The most revealing scene, however, is probably the flashback based on the recording and the transcription of the argument that Sandra and Samuel had the day before his fall. They really nailed the way that a married couple might argue, it feels like somebody was writing this from their own experiences - the way that people rewrite their own personal history in the middle of a fight, just to have more ammunition.  Some people might start blaming their spouse for their own failures, as Samuel did - while Sandra, the German wife, uses logical rebuttals to point out that he's doing this, which is very German of her.  How can Samuel be mad at HER for trapping him at home, doing renovations on the house and having no time to work on his own book, when it was his idea to move there in the first place?  Yeah, maybe I'm guilty of this myself, to some degree, and I'm willing to recognize that and own it.  I also realize it's not easy to live with a person of German descent, because we're all control freaks, though I've tried over time to be less like that.  

However, it's also a NITPICK POINT that this recording of the argument exists at all - who the hell sets their phone to record an argument they're about to have with their spouse?  Simply nobody - however, the movie then kind of bends over backwards to explain to us that since Samuel was a writer, maybe he wanted to get a recording of a REAL argument so he could write a fictional one.  They say "Write what you know," right?  So if he had an argument with his wife and could transcribe that into a novel, then it would feel really real?  That feels like cheating, but maybe he was desperate enough to do that.  Still, not cool - and also it raises the possibility that maybe he didn't really believe the things he was blaming his wife for, maybe he was saying them JUST to make her mad and fight back, and I don't recall any of the lawyers at her trial bringing this up, which they should have. 

One of the most stressful things that can happen to someone in life is the death of a parent or the death of a spouse - but then if you throw a child with a disability, a public murder trial, and a news media that's obsessing over every detail revealed in court, that's just stress upon stress upon stress. Living in a tri-lingual household can't be easy either, where he speaks French and she speaks German and they can only communicate in English, well that's probably not easy either. There's so much to unpack here, over two hours worth, so I'm going to give this film the benefit of the doubt, but I still maintain it could have been at least a half hour shorter.  Well, at least I watched it during the holiday break, when I really didn't have anywhere to be the next day.

Also starring Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Bentaieb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, Sophie Fillieres, Juljen Comte, Pierre-Francois Garel, Savannah Rol, Ilies Kadri, Cecile Brunet-Ludet, Antoine Bueno, Anne-Lise Heimburger, Wajdi Mouawad, Sacha Wolff, Kareen Guiock, Arthur Harari, Nola Jolly, Emmanuelle Jourdan, Messi (the dog)

RATING: 6 out of 10 thrown sticks

Year 16 Wrap-up / Year 17 Preview

Year 16, Day 364 - 12/29/24

Time for the annual Movie Year Wrap-up post where I try to remember all the things I learned this year, while I'm experiencing my own version of "The Holdovers", stuck inside during the holiday break between semesters.  Just kidding, really, because I am still working three days a week, or rather it's two, just Mondays and Fridays because of the big holidays that are on Wednesdays this time around.  

Honestly, I don't have a lot of time for this, because I've got so much to do to get ready for the next Movie Year.  More on that below at the end of the post in the "Preview" part, let me first focus on the "Wrap-up" part.  Another 300 movies have come and gone, and I find myself now just 100 films away from Big Movie 5,000, and I have no idea what it's going to be.  Something big and important, I hope.  Something worth ending on if I choose to end it there.  We'll see how I feel when it comes around.  

So many things I learned this year - like how John DeLorean was framed, and Harvey Weinstein was clearly very guilty ("She Said").  How a stand-up comic had a very interesting train ride in Russia years ago ("The Machine"), and how early Hollywood was so corrupt and perverse, it was like something out of ancient times ("Babylon").  The ladies from "Book Club" got themselves to Italy after the pandemic ended, meanwhile Jennifer Lopez had a disaster of a destination wedding interrupted by pirates ("Shotgun Wedding). I mean, really, who's surprised?  

I got to so many films that I've had on the back burner for YEARS, like "The Secret of Kells" and its two sequels, really I forgot about them for over a decade, but eventually I circled back. I put off "The Wolfpack" for many years, same goes for "The Strange Name Movie", the documentary "You've Been Trumped" and its sequel, plus the doc about Keith Haring - really, I'd just about written these films off, convinced that I would never get around to watching them if I maintained this linking nonsense. Nope, the trick to linking them was to add SO many more docs to my list that there was no way to NOT link to them, because all the docs use the same techniques, including footage from news broadcasts and the same talk shows.  

For fiction films, there are a few other films that I really thought I'd never get to, because I'd been unable to link to them for YEARS - "Speed Racer" fell through the cracks numerous times, so did "The Water Horse", "Made in America", "People Places Things", "Waiting to Exhale", "Kinky Boots", "Fire in the Sky" and that 2011 reboot of "Conan the Barbarian".  Jeez, I'd watched a bunch of films with Jason Momoa in them, why did I keep leaving THAT one out?  Oh, right, it's not that great of a movie. Really, the same goes for "Once Upon a Crime" and "Balls of Fury" and "The Last Tycoon", I wasn't expecting them to be great, I was really watching those JUST so I could cross them off the list, at long last.  Hey, if I have to hide "The Last Tycoon" in the middle of four other De Niro films, I'm going to do it that way, it's really the only solution to get rid of a stubborn film like that - and it's going to make the other four De Niro films look that much better, at least that's the theory.  

This was also the year of "Barbenheimer", only I did NOT watch them together as last year's trend suggested, because they did not share any actors in common.  Yes, there were almost 200 people credited with roles in "Barbie", and another 150 in "Oppenheimer" and there was NO overlap.  Well, then, I'm not going to play your little double-feature game, am I?  You'd think statistically there would be one person who crossed over - nope.  So I watched both of those blockbusters from 2023, but with 25 movies in-between - for the record, there was one movie that could have linked those two films very easily, and that movie would be "Babylon", which had both Margot Robbie and 2 actors from "Oppenheimer", Pat Skipper and Ryan Stubo, in it.  But I'd already watched "Babylon" in January, before either "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" were available to me.  

But yeah, I watched a bunch of recent movies this year, too, not just the ones that had been hanging around on my list for YEARS.  I saw "Deadpool & Wolverine" in a real movie theater, that was just plain necessary - the biggest Marvel movie to come along in a while, but I think that and "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" were the only things I saw first run.  Anyway there's a list below of the 15 most recent films I watched this year, and also the 15 oldest ones.  Plus there's a list below of the other superhero films I watched, and I'm kind of giving you a breakdown of the year in the guise of a fake awards show.  So let's check the 2024 stats and then hand out some trophies!

First, the format stats for 2024: 

92 Movies watched on cable (saved to DVD)

56 Movies watched on cable (not saved) (so just under 50% still coming from cable)

66 watched on Netflix

3 watched on iTunes
18 watched on Amazon Prime
20 watched on Hulu

4 watched on YouTube
10 watched on Disney+
5 watched on Tubi:

1 watched on Pluto TV

1 watched on HBO MAX
3 watched in theaters (right, forgot about "Hangdog")

0 watched on Apple + TV (again, they can suck it)
6 watched on Peacock (including "Oppenheimer" and "Fatman")

1 watched on Roku TV

2 watched on Paramount + (new provider! welcome to the team!)

0 watched on commercial DVD (because who still does that?)
12 watched on random sites (where else can you see "Bathtubs Over Broadway"?)
300 TOTAL

And now to count down who had the most appearances this year, and for once, the winner is NOT either a Beatle or a U.S. President.  You probably remember how this works, I add up all the films an actor, actress (or historical figure, where documentaries are concerned) was in during the last 300 films, and I give a shout-out here to the ones most often seen. Of course, I'm the programmer, so if I choose to watch a bunch of Kevin Hart films, sure, he's going to do well in the annual rankings.  But of course I have little control over the final numbers, because there are dozens of people in each film who are along for the ride, and a lot of character actors build up some impressive numbers for all their efforts over the years in saying "Yes" to be in a lot of movies.  

But also, anyone who appears in a lot of documentaries has a clear advantage, and I tend to watch so many docs about musicians, so nearly ALL of their docs have a Beatle or four in there somewhere.  And Presidents are everywhere, they make appearances through archive film in a ton of docs, but also in a lot of fiction films too, the quickest way to make it clear that your film is set in the 1980's is to drop in some footage of Ronald Reagan, for the 1960's or early 1970's, the same goes for Richard Nixon.  BUT nearly every documentary about famous people also uses footage of their subjects appearing on talk shows, so everyone from Johnny Carson to Dick Cavett to Arsenio Hall also has a leg up here, every documentarian wants to show how famous their subject matter was, and the footage from talk shows is readily available for licensing, so for those reasons, this year's winner, with 11 appearances  in documentaries is: 

David Letterman - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Good Night Oppy", "Sr.", "I Am Chris Farley", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Bathtubs Over Broadway", "You've Been Trumped", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

5 people are tied for second place with 10 appearances: 

Johnny Carson - "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "Sly", "Butterfly in the Sky", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Dick Cavett - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Sr.", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "LennoNYC", "Moonage Daydream", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer", "Billie", "Call Me Kate"

Elton John - "If These Walls Could Sing", "LennoNYC", "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium", "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Wham!", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

John Lennon - "If These Walls Could Sing", "The Strange Name Movie", "LennoNYC", "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Wham!", "Stan Lee"

Paul McCartney - "I Am Chris Farley", "If These Walls Could Sing", "The Strange Name Movie", "LennoNYC", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Wham!", "Stan Lee"

9 appearances: 

George Harrison - "If These Walls Could Sing", "The Strange Name Movie", "LennoNYC", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Wham!", "Stan Lee"

Kevin Hart - "The Wedding Ringer", "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too", "Me Time", "Ride Along", "Ride Along 2", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Lift", "Die Hart"

Ronald Reagan - "Framing John DeLorean", "Balls of Fury", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Sid & Judy", "Armageddon Time", "Bandit"

Jason Statham - "Sly", "13", "Expend4bles", "The Meg", "Meg 2: The Trench", "The Beekeeper", "The Transporter", "Transporter 2", "The Mechanic"

8 appearances: 

Richard Nixon - "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "We Blew It", "LennoNYC", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "Stan Lee", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

Ringo Starr - "If These Walls Could Sing", "The Strange Name Movie", "LennoNYC", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Stan Lee"

Naomi Watts - "Penguin Bloom", "Insurgent", "Allegiant", "The International", "Ophelia", "Infinite Storm", "The Ring", "The Ring Two"

7 appearances: 

Robert De Niro - "Stanley & Iris", "About My Father", "Great Expectations" (1998), "1900", "The Last Tycoon", "Sly", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Merv Griffin - "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "The Real Charlie Chaplin", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Anthony Hopkins - "Man Up", "Sly", "Call Me Kate", "Armageddon Time", "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "The Son"

Mick Jagger -  "Belushi", "If These Walls Could Sing", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Wham!"

Liza Minnelli - "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Sid & Judy", "Famous Nathan"

Mark Wahlberg - "Father Stu", "Fear", "The Big Hit", "Pain & Gain", "Shooter", "Me Time", "Sr."

6 appearances: 

Awkwafina - "The Little Mermaid" (2023), "Quiz Lady", "Jackpot!", "IF", "MIgration", "Kung Fu Panda 4"

Dan Aykroyd - "Loser", "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

David Bowie - "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Wham!", "David Bowie: Out of This World", "Moonage Daydream", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Adam Brody - "Think Life a Man Too", "American Fiction", "The Ring", "Jennifer's Body", "Scream" (2022), "Ready or Not"

Stephen Colbert - "Dumb Money", "Good Night Oppy", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "American Symphony", "Money Shot: The Pornhub Story", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Toni Collette - "Clockwatchers", "Jesus Henry Christ", "Dream Horse", "Mafia Mamma", "Stowaway", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken"

Mel Gibson - "Dragged Across Concrete", "Father Stu", "On the Line", "Bandit", "Fatman", "Force of Nature"

Tony Goldwyn - "All I Wish", "Oppenheimer", "The Mechanic", "Plane", "Divergent", "Insurgent"

Theo James - "Lying and Stealing", "Mr. Malcolm's List", "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant", "How It Ends" (2018)

Anna Kendrick - "Stowaway", "The Company You Keep", "Rocket Science", "Alice, Darling", "Self Reliance", "Trolls Band Together"

Nancy Reagan - "The Dirt", "Framing John DeLorean", "Beauty", "Balls of Fury", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Paul Rudd - "Over Her Dead Body", "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire", "Prince Avalanche", "All Is Bright"

5 appearances:

Lucille Ball - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Famous Nathan"

Tom Brokaw - "Framing John DeLorean", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Ellen Burstyn - "All I Wish", "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "Nostalgia", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Pieces of a Woman"

Steve Coulter - "Shotgun Wedding", "Oppenheimer", "Fool's Paradise", "Hangdog", "We Have a Ghost"

Brian Cox - "Deadpool & Wolverine", "The Water Horse", "Quasi", "The Ring", "The Minus Man"

Walter Cronkite - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "We Blew It", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

Jane Curtin - "I Don't Know How She Does It", "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Jane Fonda - "Book Club: The Next Chapter", "Stanley & Iris", "Georgia Rule", "Call Me Kate", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken"

Brendan Gleeson - "The Secret of Kells", "Song of the Sea", "The Banshees of Inisherin", "Calvary", "The Company You Keep"

Arsenio Hall - "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Mark Hamill - "Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists", "The Machine", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "If These Walls Could Sing", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Jon Hamm - "Nostalgia", "Ira & Abby", "Unfrosted", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Sid & Judy"

Taraji P. Henson - "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too", "Coffee & Kareem", "Proud Mary", "No Good Deed" (2014), 

Emile Hirsch - "The Darkest Hour", "An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn", "Force of Nature", "Speed Racer", "Prince Avalanche"

Michael Jackson - "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "The Greatest Night in Pop"

John F. Kennedy - "Rustin", "We Blew It", "Stan Lee", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Sid & Judy"

Larry King - "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Stan Lee", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Call Me Kate"

Robert Klein - "The Back-Up Plan", "Ira & Abby", "Belushi", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

David Koechner - "Whatever It Takes" "Sex Drive", "A Guy Thing", "Balls of Fury", "Yours Mine & Ours"

Jennifer Lopez - "The Boy Next Door", "The Back-up Plan", "Second Act", "Shotgun Wedding", "Marry Me"

Sebastian Maniscalco - "Unfrosted", "Somewhere in Queens", "About My Father", "IF", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"

James Marsden - "Sex Drive", "Unfinished Business", "Disenchanted", "Unfrosted", "Deadpool & Wolverine"

Carey Mulligan - "Maestro", "Far From the Madding Crowd", "She Said", "Saltburn", "Spaceman"

Tig Notaro - "Your Place or Mine", "Together Together", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "We Have a Ghost", "Army of the Dead"

Gilda Radner - "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Keith Richards -  "Belushi", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Stephen Root - "Over Her Dead Body", "Stanley & Iris", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "Paint", "The Company You Keep"

Dinah Shore - "Sly", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Barbra Streisand - "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Billie", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Sid & Judy"

Olivia Thirlby - "The Darkest Hour", "The Wedding Ringer", "The Answer Man", "Oppenheimer", "Dumb Money"

Donald Trump - "You've Been Trumped", "You've Been Trumped Too", "We Blew It", "The Strange Name Movie", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

4 appearances:

Anne Bancroft - "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Great Expectations" (1998), "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Famous Nathan"

Jack Benny - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "The Beach Boys", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Chuck Berry - "The Beach Boys", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Billie"

Boy George - "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "Wham!", "Bandit"

Charlie Chaplin - "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Moonage Daydream", "The Real Charlie Chaplin", "Stan Lee"

Joe Chrest - "Quiz Lady", "The Dirt", "Clockwatchers", "The Ring"

Connie Chung - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Butterfly in the Sky", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Wham!"

Gary Cole - "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "The Bronze", "Blockers", "The Ring Two"

David Cross - "She's the Man", "Kill Your Darlings", "It's a Disaster", "Destiny Turns on the Radio"

Matt Damon - "Oppenheimer", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Drive-Away Dolls", "IF"

Doris Day - "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "The Beach Boys", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed"

Colman Domingo - "Rustin", "Drive-Away Dolls", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken", "All Is Bright"

Idris Elba - "Extraction II", "No Good Deed" (2014), "Beast", "Three Thousand Years of Longing"

Sky Elobar - "Under the Silver Lake", "An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn", "I Do... Until I Don't", "Self Reliance"

Cary Elwes - "Georgia Rule", "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"

Michael Fassbender - "The Killer", "Macbeth" (2015), "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Next Goal Wins"

Laurence Fishburne - "John Wick: Chapter 4", "All the Old Knives", "The School for Good and Evil", "Ride Along"

Carrie Fisher - "Belushi", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "If These Walls Could Sing"

Mia Goth - "High Life", "X", "Pearl", "Infinity Pool"

Rhoda Griffis - "The Last Song", "The Program", "Jerry and Marge Go Large", "Blockers"

Julie Hagerty - "A Guy Thing", "She's the Man", "Somebody I Used to Know", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Tony Hale - "Quiz Lady", "The Answer Man", "Because I Said So", "Unfrosted"

Regina Hall - "People Places Things", "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too", "Me Time"

Amber Heard - "I Do... Until I Don't", "3 Days to Kill", "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "Her Smell"

Jonah Hill - "You People", "Saltburn", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Rocket Science"

Dustin Hoffman - "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Kung Fu Panda 4", "The Holdovers"

Ashley Judd - "She Said", "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Keegan-Michael Key - "Wonka", "IF", "MIgration", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"

Martin Luther King - "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Stan Lee", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Vanessa Kirby - "The Son", "Pieces of a Woman", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", "Napoleon"

Burt Lancaster - "1900", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Cloris Leachman - "The Wedding Ringer", "Alex & Emma", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Remembering Gene Wilder"

Archie Madekwe - "Saltburn", "Heart of Stone", "Gran Turismo", "Beau Is Afraid"

Madonna - "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "The Greatest Night in Pop"

Andrea Martin - "Loser", "Sr.", "Bathtubs Over Broadway", "Black Christmas" (2006)

Freddie Mercury - "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Wham!", "David Bowie: Out of This World"

Bruce McGill - "Poms", "Ride Along", "Ride Along 2", "Belushi"

Michael McKean - "Beautiful", "Jerry and Marge Go Large", "Teaching Mrs. Tingle", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer"

Marilyn Monroe - "Under the Silver Lake", "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium", "Stan Lee", "Famous Nathan

Jenna Ortega - "Scream" (2022), "Scream VI", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", "X"

Patton Oswalt - "Nostalgia", "I Love My Dad", "Balls of Fury", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" 

Robert Patrick - "Babylon", "Tell", "Fire in the Sky", "Balls of Fury"

Elvis Presley - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Maggie Q - "Balls of Fury", "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Adam Ray - "The School for Good and Evil", "Second Act", "Barbie", "Jackpot!"

Robert Redford - "The Company You Keep", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "We Blew It", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Chris Rock - "Rustin", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "I Am Chris Farley", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Diana Ross - "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Benny Safdie - "Oppenheimer", "Good Time", "Pieces of a Woman", "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret."

Adam Sandler - "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "I Am Chris Farley", "Spaceman", "Leo"

Amy Schumer - "Bros", "Unfrosted", "Trolls Band Together", "IF"

Matthias Schweighöfer - "Heart of Stone", "Oppenheimer", "Army of the Dead", "Army of Thieves"

Tom Snyder - "Belushi", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Stan Lee"

David Spade - "Loser", "The Wrong Missy", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "I Am Chris Farley"

Dan Stevens - "Her Smell", "The Rental", "The Sea Beast", "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire"

Jon Stewart - "Good Night Oppy", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "IF"

Sharon Stone - "Beauty", "All I Wish", "Sly", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Ed Sullivan - "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "The Beach Boys", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Donald Sutherland - "1900", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "The Mechanic"

Elizabeth Taylor - "Ira & Abby", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Moonage Daydream", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Miles Teller - "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Alan Tudyk - "Disenchanted", "Peter Pan & Wendy", "Tell", "Wish"

Tina Turner - "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "David Bowie: Out of This World", "Moonage Daydream"

Jacki Weaver - "Poms", "Stoker", "Penguin Bloom", "Father Stu"

Gary Weeks - "Ride Along", "Die Hart", "Project Almanac", "Allegiant"

Orson Welles - "The Real Charlie Chaplin", "Stan Lee", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Billie"

Owen Wilson - "Marry Me", "Paint", "Free Birds", "The Minus Man"

Stevie Wonder - "American Symphony", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Wham!", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Shailene Woodley - "Dumb Money", "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

3 appearances:

Spiro Agnew - "LennoNYC", "Stan Lee", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Jason Alexander - "Ira & Abby", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Leo"

Kenny Alfonso - "No Good Deed" (2014), "Jerry and Marge Go Large", "Ride Along"

Woody Allen - "Sly", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Utkarsh Ambudkar - "Marry Me", "Ride Along 2", "Rocket Science"

La La Anthony - "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too", "You People"

Lauren Bacall - "Under the Silver Lake", "Sid & Judy", "Call Me Kate"

Kevin Bacon - "Space Oddity", "Murder in the First", "Belushi"

Alec Baldwin - "Tár", "An Imperfect Murder", "Framing John DeLorean"

Angela Bassett - "Waiting to Exhale", "Butterfly in the Sky", "Good Night Oppy"

Dave Bautista - "Army of the Dead", "Knock at the Cabin", "Army of Thieves"

Lake Bell - "Over Her Dead Body", "Man Up", "I Do... Until I Don't"

James Belushi - "Destiny Turns on the Radio", "Once Upon a Crime", "Belushi"

John Belushi - "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Jason Biggs - "Boys and Girls", "Over Her Dead Body", "Loser"

Cate Blanchett - "The School for Good and Evil", "Tár", "Call Me Kate"

Humphrey Bogart - "Whatever It Takes", "Sid & Judy", "Call Me Kate"

Bono - "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Wham!"

Desmin Borges - "Shotgun Wedding", "Hangdog", "All Is Bright"

John Boyega - "The Woman King", "Attack the Block", "They Cloned Tyrone"

Kenneth Branagh - "A Haunting in Venice", "Oppenheimer", "Stan Lee"

Marlon Brando - "Barbie", "Sly", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed"

Alison Brie - "Somebody I Used to Know", "Butterfly in the Sky", "The Rental"

James L. Brooks - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "I Am Burt Reynolds"

Mel Brooks - "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Bathtubs Over Broadway"

Clancy Brown - "John Wick; Chapter 4", "Dumb Money", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Danielle Burgio - "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Army of the Dead"

Carol Burnett - "Being Mary Tyler Moore",  "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed"

Bill Burr - "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Unfrosted", "Leo"

George W. Bush - "Butterfly in the Sky", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Stan Lee"

P.J. Byrne - "Babylon", "Because I Said So", "Somewhere in Queens"

Sid Caesar - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Famous Nathan"

Colleen Camp - "An Imperfect Murder", "Loser", "Father Stu"

John Cena - "Barbie", "Blockers", "Jackpot!"

Richard Cetrone - "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Army of the Dead"

Jeff Chase - "Pain & Gain", "Transporter 2", "The Mechanic"

Cher - "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life" "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

Dick Clark - "The Beach Boys", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "The Greatest Night in Pop"

Billy Clements - "Heart of Stone", "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Meg 2: The Trench"

Bill Clinton - "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "The Strange Name Movie", "Stan Lee"

Hillary Clinton - "You've Been Trumped Too", "We Blew It", "Stan Lee"

Cleopatra Coleman - "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Infinity Pool"

Jai Courtney - "The Exception", "Divergent", "Insurgent"

Courteney Cox - "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Scream" (2022), "Scream VI"

Bryan Cranston - "Jerry and Marge Go Large", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Kung Fu Panda 4"

Miley Cyrus - "LOL", "The Last Song", "Drive-Away Dolls"

Henry Czerny - "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", "Scream VI", "Ready or Not"

Keith David - "American Fiction", "Transporter 2", "Free Birds"

Dane DeHaan - "Oppenheimer", "Dumb Money", "Kill Your Darlings"

Rob Delaney - "The School for Good and Evil", "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"

Ana de la Reguera - "Army of the Dead", "Army of Thieves", "The Forever Purge"

Laura Dern - "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "The Son", "Year of the Dog"

Kirk Douglas - "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Robert Downey Jr. - "Oppenheimer", "Sr.", "Stan Lee"

Nora Dunn - "Together Together", "The Answer Man", "LOL"

Bob Dylan - "Belushi", "The Beach Boys", "The Greatest Night in Pop"

Alden Ehrenreich - "Oppenheimer", "Fair Play", "Stoker"

Ansel Elgort - "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

John Farley - "The Wrong Missy", "I Am Chris Farley", "Leo"

Will Ferrell - "Quiz Lady", "Barbie", "Strays"

America Ferrera - "Barbie", "Dumb Money", "It's a Disaster"

Patrick Fischler - "Under the Silver Lake", "Fair Play", "American Fiction"

Flea - "Babylon", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Nick Frost - "Attack the Block", "Kinky Boots", "Unfinished Business"

Allen Garfield - "Destiny Turns on the Radio", "Sr.", "Belushi"

Judy Garland - "Beauty", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Sid & Judy"

Whoopi Goldberg - "Made in America", "Moonlight and Valentino", "Butterfly in the Sky"

Kelsey Grammer - "Think Like a Man Too", "I Don't Know How She Does It", "The Marvels"

Cary Grant - "I Don't Know How She Does It", "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Call Me Kate"

Charles Green - "Quiz Lady", "Poms", "Freaky"

David Alan Grier - "They Cloned Tyrone", "Coffee & Kareem", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only"

Harvey Guillén - "Strays", "Blue Beetle", "Wish"

Bill Hader - "Belushi", "Beau Is Afraid", "IF"

Rebecca Hall - "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire", "The Night House", "Dorian Gray"

Dennis Haysbert - "Think LIke a Man Too", "Waiting to Exhale", "The Minus Man"

Ed Helms - "Together Together", "I Do... Until I Don't", "Coffee & Kareem"

Chris Hemsworth - "Extraction II", "Stan Lee", "Deadpool & Wolverine"

Jimi Hendrix - "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Rey Hernandez - "Pain & Gain", "Ride Along 2", "Force of Nature"

Bob Hope - "The Beach Boys", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

Djimon Hounsou - "Gran Turismo", "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver"

Rachel House - "Penguin Bloom", "Next Goal Wins", "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire"

Ernie Hudson - "I Am Chris Farley", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire", "Champions"

Rock Hudson - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "I Am Burt Reynolds", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed"

Toby Huss - "Balls of Fury", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "The Rental"

Hugh Jackman - "The Son", "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", "Deadpool & Wolverine"

Ken Jeong - "Pain & Gain", "Ride Along 2", "Fool's Paradise"

Jack Jessop - "Jesus Henry Christ", "Loser", "Moonlight and Valentino"

Brian Jones - "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Quincy Jones - "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Evan Jonigkeit - "Somebody I Used to Know", "Together Together", "The Night House"

Emma Jonnz - "She's the Man", "Ready or Not", "Freaky"

Janis Joplin - "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "The Beach Boys", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Danny Kaye - "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Sid & Judy"

Diane Keaton - "Book Club: The Next Chapter", "Poms", "Because I Said So"

Jacqueline Kennedy - "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Famous Nathan"

Jon Kenny - "Song of the Sea", "Wolfwalkers", "The Banshees of Inisherin"

Daniel Dae Kim - "Stowaway", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Greg Kinnear - "Loser", "The Last Song", "I Don't Know How She Does It"

Kayden Alexander Koshelev - "Me Time", "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver"

Zoe Kravitz - "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Thomas Kretschmann - "Gran Turismo", "Dragged Across Concrete", "Infinity Pool"

Leon Lamar - "They Cloned Tyrone", "No Good Deed" (2014), "Poms"

Phil Lamarr - "Quiz Lady", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "Kung Fu Panda 4"

Amy Landecker - "Project Almanac", "I Love My Dad", "All Is Bright"

Angela Lansbury - "Butterfly in the Sky", "Famous Nathan", "Call Me Kate"

Jennifer Jason Leigh - "Kill Your Darlings", "Sid & Judy", "Good Time"

Thomas Lennon - "A Guy Thing", "Balls of Fury", "Unfrosted"

Jenifer Lewis - "The Wedding Ringer", "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too"

Liberace - "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Famous Nathan"

Little Richard - "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Moonage Daydream"

Christopher Lloyd - "Framing John DeLorean", "Senior Moment", "Self Reliance"

George Lopez - "Balls of Fury", "Blue Beetle", "Fool's Paradise"

Jon Lovitz - "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "I Am Chris Farley"

Dolph Lundgren - "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "Sly", "Expend4bles"

Patrick Luwis - "Barbie", "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver"

Michael Malvesti - "American Fiction", "Madame Web", "The Holdovers"

Zosia Mamet - "Under the Silver Lake", "Trolls Band Together", "Madame Web"

Dean Martin - "Think Like a Man Too", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Sid & Judy"

Stuart Martin - "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Army of Thieves"

Groucho Marx - "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Brian May - "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "Wham!", "David Bowie: Out of This World"

Melissa McCarthy - "The LIttle Mermaid" (2023), "The Back-up Plan", "Unfrosted"

Wendi McLenon-Covey - "Over Her Dead Body", "Think Like a Man Too", "Paint"

Ed McMahon - "Sly", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Bathtubs Over Broadway"

Janet McTeer - "The Exception", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Fred Melamed - "Together Together", "Dragged Across Concrete", "Lying and Stealing"

George Michael - "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "The Greatest Night in Pop", "Wham!"

Larry Miller - "A Guy Thing", "Second Act", "The Minus Man"

Jason Momoa - "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "Conan the Barbarian" (2011), "Slumberland"

Garrett Morris - "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Elisabeth Moss - "Next Goal Wins", "Her Smell", "The Square"

Dermot Mulroney - "Georgia Rule", "Stoker", "Scream VI"

Eddie Murphy - "You People", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Butterfly in the Sky"

Bill Murray - "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

Kumail Nanjiani - "Money Shot: The Pornhub Story", "Migration", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

Willie Nelson - "Belushi", "Bathtubs Over Broadway", "The Greatest Night in Pop"

Laraine Newman - "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "Jim Henson: Idea Man"

Trevor Noah - "Butterfly in the Sky", "American Symphony", "Money Shot: The Pornhub Story"

Barack Obama - "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Stan Lee", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Conan O'Brien - "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Money Shot: The Pornhub Story"

Celeste O'Connor - "Madame Web", "Freaky", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

Nick Offerman - "Nostalgia", "Dumb Money", "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl"

Bill O'Reilly - "She Said", "You've Been Trumped Too", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Clive Owen - "The Song of Names", "The International", "Ophelia"

Gary Owen - "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too", "Ride Along"

Gwyneth Paltrow - "She Said", "Moonlight and Valentino", "Great Expectations" (1998)

Robert Pattinson - "The Rover", "High Life", "Good Time"

Guy Pearce - "The Last Vermeer", "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", "The Rover"

Rhea Perlman - "You People", "Barbie", "Poms"

Mekhi Pfifer - "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Joaquin Phoenix - "Napoleon", "Beau Is Afraid", "C'mon C'mon"

Prince - "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "The Greatest Night in Pop"

Richard Pryor - "Belushi", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Jack Quaid - "Oppenheimer", "Scream" (2022), "Scream VI"

Tony Randall - "Bathtubs Over Broadway", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

Rhian Rees - "Babylon", "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver"

Rob Reiner - "Alex & Emma", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Kevin Michael Richardson - "Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists", "Trolls Band Together", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"

Peter Riegert - "Sly", "Belushi", "You've Been Trumped"

Joan Rivers - "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed"

Nile Rodgers - "If These Walls Could Sing", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Tim Roth - "Bergman Island", "The Wolfpack", "The Song of Names"

Seth Rogen - "Dumb Money", "Kung Fu Panda 4", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"

Hiroyuki Sanada - "John Wick: Chapter 4", "Army of the Dead", "Speed Racer"

Sunny Sandler - "The Wrong MIssy", "Spaceman", "Leo"

Susan Sarandon - "The Company You Keep", "Blue Beetle", "Speed Racer"

Rob Schneider - "The Wrong MIssy", "I Am Chris Farley", "Leo"

Gene Shalit - "Belushi", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Molly Shannon - "I Am Chris Farley", "Year of the Dog", "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl"

Cybill Shepherd - "Once Upon a Crime", "Being Rose", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Pat Shortt - "The Secret of Kells", "The Banshees of Inisherin"', "Calvary"

Jimmi Simpson - "Under the Silver Lake", "Loser", "Fool's Paradise"

Sarah Silverman - "Maestro", "Marry Me", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Frank Sinatra - "Think Like a Man Too", "The Beach Boys", "Sid & Judy"

Christian Slater - "Murder in the First", "Unfrosted", "I Am Chris Farley"

Sylvester Stallone - "Barbie", "Sly", "Expend4bles"

Hailee Steinfeld - "Begin Again", "The Marvels", "3 Days to Kill"

Ray Stevenson - "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Jimmy Stewart - "Ira & Abby", "Call Me Kate", "IF"

Patrick Stewart - "Butterfly in the Sky", "Good Night Oppy", "Deadpool & Wolverine"

Ben Stiller - "Bros", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

Tika Sumpter - "Think Like a Man", "Ride Along", "Ride Along 2"

Jimmy Tatro - "The Machine", "The Wolf of Snow Hollow", "Strays"

Kenan Thompson - "Bros", "Butterfly in the Sky", "Trolls Band Together"

Leslie Uggams - "American Fiction", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Deadpool & Wolverine"

Vince Vaughn - "Dragged Across Concrete", "Unfinished Business", "Freaky"

Milo Ventimiglia - "Second Act", "Tell", "Sly"

Christopher Walken - "Balls of Fury", "I Am Chris Farley", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

Barbara Walters - "Framing John DeLorean", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

Andy Warhol - "LennoNYC", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "Famous Nathan"

John Wayne - "Sly", "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed"

Samara Weaving - "Babylon", "Scream VI", "Ready or Not"

Jonny Weston - "Project Almanac", "Insurgent", "Allegiant"

Oprah Winfrey - "Jesus Henry Christ", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

Henry Winkler - "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Sly", "Scream" (2022)

Reese Witherspoon - "Your Place or Mine", "Fear", "Being Mary Tyler Moore"

Bill Wyman - "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything"

Dwight Yoakam - "The Minus Man", "Cry Macho", "When Trumpets Fade"

Of course, in addition to being a famous rock musician or a late-night talk show host or an infamous President, there were other paths to making this year's countdown, too.  Almost anyone who was in the "Divergent" movies was automatically in, because most of those actors were in all three movies.  Anyone with a diverse career, like Paul Rudd, who appeared in 2 romance films, 1 documentary, 1 horror movie and a Christmas film, probably didn't even have to worry about it. That guy can do it all!  And if I used someone as a link between films, well, hell, that's two appearances and they're already 2/3 of the way there.  Also, having Adam Sandler as your dad and being in his movies would be another way to qualify.  A quick shout-out to Olivia Thirlby, who made it into FIVE movies the hard way, no two films were successive.

There was also a lot of crossover, where the documentaries were concerned. Anybody who was an early cast member on "Saturday Night Live" had great odds, because I watched docs about John Belushi, Chris Farley, and Albert Brooks (who was supposed to be the show's host but backed out).  Also, the Muppets were part of the first season of "SNL" so the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" turned up in the Jim Henson doc, too.  Oh, yeah, this was the year I realized that "The Muppet Show" just copied its whole format from "SNL".  There, I said it. Also, I learned that David Bowie idolized Little Richard, Elton John got John Lennon back into performing live, and Liza Minnelli was friends with Burt Reynolds, Rock Hudson, Marvin Hamlisch and enjoyed Nathan's hot dogs.  Hell, everybody loved Nathan's Famous hot dogs.

But who could have imagined that Anthony Hopkins would voice a character in two sci-fi films ("Rebel Moon")?  Who knew that Jason Statham made so damn many movies?  I sure didn't, I kept adding more and more until I realized I just had to move on. Who could have imagined that John Cena would turn up in more movies (3) than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson? (just 1?). For that matter, Sylvester Stallone (3) showed up more often than Arnold Schwarzenegger (2) and here some other notorious match-ups: 

Charlie Chaplin (4) over Buster Keaton (20)

Dean Martin (3) over Jerry Lewis (2)

Fred Astaire (2) over Ginger Rogers (1)

Cher (3) over Sonny Bono (1)

Matt Damon (4) over Ben Affleck (1) (and that was just in the "Deadpool & Wolverine" montage)

Courteney Cox (3) over David Arquette (1)

Mel Gibson (6) over Danny Glover (2)

Donald Trump (5) over Joe Biden (0) yeah, seems about right. 

And we've got a tie between the Canadian Ryans, both Gosling and Reynolds, with only 2 appearances each.  Edge to Ryan Reynolds, because one Gosling appearance was just archive footage from "Drive" in the Albert Brooks documentary.  Meanwhile, both Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had only one appearance each? Get back to work, you slouches!

This was also a hard year to get a handle on, thanks to films that are "Divergent", meaning they belong to more than one genre - like "Freaky", a slasher horror film that's also a body-swap comedy. Or "Army of the Dead", a zombie horror film that was also a heist film, and "Black Christmas", another slasher that was technically also a Christmas movie. I think there was an apocalypse film in there that was also a couples comedy, and by contrast a World War II film that's also an unlikely romance film seems positively normal.  Or sports films like "The Bronze" and "Next Goal Wins" that were also comedies, or at least they tried to be. But that modern comedy version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was probably never going to work out.  And we're all still waiting for a workable horror-romance combo, I don't think "Jennifer's Body" qualifies.  

But the ultimate example might be "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken" which is animated fantasy / monster-based high-school / romance comedy film. This means that film could be watched any time of year.  

Maybe this was appropriate for a mash-up year when Ash Wednesday fell on Valentine's Day, in the middle of Black History Month - like, how the hell am I supposed to program for that?  Easter Sunday was one day before April Fool's Day and Transgender Day of Visibility also fell on Easter, and conservative people lost their minds over that. Halloween was just five days before Election Day, which honestly might have been the scarier holiday.  

I think I did all right where the holidays are concerned, like I landed "The Secret of Kells" on St. Patrick's Day (followed by three other VERY Irish films) and the confluence of July 4 and the Documentary Block with "American Symphony".  I wish I could have landed more documentaries like "Wham!" and the ones about Rock Hudson, Little Richard, Keith Haring, Elton John and Billie Jean King during Pride Month instead of July, but it is what it is. 

So let's get to the awards!  I broke down things into categories, best as I could, and the one I rated the highest will be declared the winner, while the others are runners-up. 

BEST ROMANCE (High school or College edition)

WINNER: "Project Almanac"

RUNNERS-UP: "The School for Good and Evil", "Boys and Girls", "Loser", "A Walk to Remember", "Whatever It Takes", "She's the Man", "LOL", "The Last Song", "The Boy Next Door", "Teaching Mrs. Tingle", "Blockers"

BEST ROMANCE (Seniors, Widows, Divorced People)

WINNERS: "Ira & Abby", "Jerry and Marge Go Large"

RUNNERS-UP: "Senior Moment", "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Moonlight and Valentino", "Man Up", "Book Club: The Next Chapter", "Stanley & Iris", "All I Wish", "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "Being Rose", "Because I Said So"

BEST ROMANCE (While parenting, co-parenting or being pregnant)

WINNERS: "Begin Again", "People Places Things", "The Answer Man", "Marry Me", "I Could Never Be Your Woman"

RUNNERS-UP: "Made in America", "Your Place or Mine", "Together Together", "I Don't Know How She Does It", "The Boy Next Door", "The Back-Up Plan", "Second Act", "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "Yours Mine & Ours"

BEST ROMANCE (Interracial)

WINNERS: "People Places Things", "Somebody I Used to Know", "Space Oddity"

RUNNERS-UP: "You People", "Made in America", "Cry Macho"

BEST ROMANCE (Classic Lit)

WINNER: "Far from the Madding Crowd"

RUNNERS-UP: "Whatever It Takes" (Cyrano), "She's the Man" (Twelfth Night), "Great Expectations" (1998), "Ophelia" (Hamlet), "Quasi" (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

BEST ROMANCE (Ensemble)

WINNERS: "Think Like a Man", "Think Like a Man Too"

RUNNERS-UP: "I Do... Until I Don't", "Book Club: The Next Chapter", "Waiting to Exhale"

BEST ROMANCE (Love Triangles or Quadrangles)

WINNER: "Ira & Abby"

RUNNERS-UP: "Boys and Girls", "Loser", "The Wrong Missy", "Alex & Emma", "People Places Things", "Sex Drive", "A Guy Thing", "She's the Man", "Somebody I Used to Know", "Your Place or Mine", "LOL", "I Don't Know How She Does It", "Marry Me", "Mr. Malcolm's List", "Because I Said So", "Great Expectations" (1998), "The Last Tycoon"

BEST ROMANCE (It's Complicated)

WINNER: "Maestro"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Worst Person in the World", "Bergman Island", "The Little Mermaid", "Over Her Dead Body", "An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn", "Together Together", "The Answer Man", "Bros", "The Boy Next Door", "Man Up", "Begin Again", "Napoleon", "The Exception", "The Bronze", "Jennifer's Body", "Champions", "Bandit"

BEST LGBTQ+ FILM: 

WINNER: "Maestro"

RUNNERS-UP: "Tar", "Babylon", "Bros", "Beauty", "Saltburn", "Kinky Boots", "Kill Your Darlings", "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "Wham!", "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer", "Billie", "Good Grief", "Next Goal Wins", "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", "Drive-Away Dolls", "Disobedience", "Blockers", "Knock at the Cabin", "Dorian Gray", "Quasi", "Jennifer's Body", "Scream" (2022)

BEST SPORTS OR NON-LETHAL COMPETITION FILM:
WINNERS: "Dream Horse" (horse racing), "Next Goal Wins" (soccer)

RUNNERS-UP: "Quiz Lady" (game show), "She's the Man" (soccer), "Gran Turismo" (auto racing), "The Program" (college football), "Beautiful" (beauty pageants), "Poms" (cheerleading), "Father Stu" (boxing), "Balls of Fury" (ping pong), "Somewhere in Queens" (high-school basketball), "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over", "Rocket Science" (debating), "The Bronze" (gymnastics), "Army of Thieves" (competitive safe-cracking), "Champions" (basketball), "Speed Racer" (auto racing)

BEST SPORTS FILM WHERE A DISGRACED COACH OR ATHLETE HAS TO MENTOR AN INEPT OR CLUELESS ATHLETE OR TEAM: 

WINNER: "Next Goal Wins" (soccer)

RUNNERS-UP: "The Bronze" (gymnastics), "Champions" (basketball)

BEST LETHAL COMPETITION FILM:

WINNERS: "Self Reliance", "Jackpot!"

RUNNERS-UP: "13", "The Forever Purge", "Ready or Not"

BEST FILM ABOUT SPIES, ASSASSINS, HIT-MEN OR MERCENARIES:
WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine"

RUNNERS-UP: "John Wick: Chapter 4", "All the Old Knives", "Extraction 2", "Shotgun Wedding", "Heart of Stone", "3 Days to Kill", "Proud Mary", "The Killer", "The Big Hit", "Shooter", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", "Expend4bles", "The Beekeeper", "The Transporter", "Transporter 2", "The Mechanic", "The International", "Army of the Dead", "Fatman"

BEST (NON-HORROR) FILM ABOUT KILLERS, SERIAL KILLERS, VIGILANTES OR BOUNTY HUNTERS:
WINNERS: "Self Reliance", "Jackpot!"

RUNNERS-UP: "An Imperfect Murder", "Under the Silver Lake", "The Boy Next Door", "Murder in the First", "No Good Deed", "Kill Your Darlings", "Once Upon a Crime", "Stoker", "Fear", "The Minus Man"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT BANK ROBBERS, SMUGGLERS, THIEVES OR CON ARTISTS:

WINNERS: "Lying and Stealing", "Lift", "Bandit", "All Is Bright"

RUNNERS-UP: "Precious Cargo", "Tell", "Destiny Turns on the Radio", "Pain & Gain", "Good Time", "Drive-Away Dolls", "Army of the Dead", "Army of Thieves", "Force of Nature"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT KIDNAPPERS, MOBSTERS OR DIRTY COPS: 

WINNER: "Dragged Across Concrete"

RUNNERS-UP: "Mafia Mamma", "The Machine", "Coffee & Kareem", "Teaching Mrs. Tingle", "Pain & Gain", "Ride Along", "Ride Along 2"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT PRISON or CONVICTS:

WINNERS: "The Last Vermeer", "Bandit", "All Is Bright"

RUNNERS-UP: "Murder in the First", "Sex Drive", "Book Club: The Next Chapter", "Great Expectations", "High Life", "Good Time", "Black Christmas" (2006), "Jennifer's Body", "Infinity Pool"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT PIRATES: 

WINNER: "Shotgun Wedding"

RUNNER-UP: "Peter Pan & Wendy"

BEST MURDER MYSTERY:
WINNER: "A Haunting in Venice"

RUNNERS-UP: "An Imperfect Murder", "Once Upon a Crime", "We Have a Ghost", "Scream" (2022), "Scream VI"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT NAZIS/WWII: 

WINNERS: "Oppenheimer", "The Exception", "The Last Vermeer", "The Song of Names", "A Royal Night Out"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Water Horse", "When Trumpets Fade", "A Midnight Clear"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT OTHER WARS IN OTHER COUNTRIES:

WINNERS: "The Woman King", "Napoleon"

RUNNERS-UP: "Macbeth" (2015), "1900"

BEST WESTERN: 

(no qualifying entries this year)

BEST (NON-ROMANCE, NON-HORROR) MOVIE ABOUT GRADE SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL, HIGH SCHOOL, OR COLLEGE:

WINNERS: "The Holdovers", "Project Almanac"

RUNNERS-UP: "Saltburn", "Teaching Mrs. Tingle", "The Program", "Stoker", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "Armageddon Time", "The Son", "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken", "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.", "Rocket Science", "Leo"

BEST FILM ABOUT BEING JEWISH:

WINNERS: "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Song of Names", "Stan Lee", "Armageddon Time", "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", "The Last Vermeer", "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.", "Disobedience", "A Midnight Clear"

BEST FILM ABOUT SPACE TRAVEL:
WINNER: "Space Oddity"

RUNNERS-UP: "Stowaway", "Good Night Oppy", "High Life", "Spaceman"

BEST FILM ABOUT TIME TRAVEL:
WINNER: "Project Almanac"

RUNNERS-UP: "See You Yesterday", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "Free Birds"

BEST ALIEN INVASION or APOCALYPSE FILM:
WINNERS: "Attack the Block"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Darkest Hour", "Fire in the Sky", "It's a Disaster", "The Rover", "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant", "Knock at the Cabin", "How It Ends" (2018)

BEST SCI-FI FILM (Non-superhero, non-alien invasion or time-travel)

WINNER: "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire"

RUNNERS-UP: "Stowaway", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Infinity Pool", "High Life", "Spaceman"

BEST CLONE/DOPPELGANGER/LOOK-ALIKE FILM (includes all instances of one actor playing multiple roles)

WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine"

RUNNERS-UP: "They Cloned Tyrone", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", "Insurgent", "Kung Fu Panda 4", "Fool's Paradise"

"Quasi", "X", "Infinity Pool"

BEST FANTASY FILM:

WINNERS: "Wonka", "Slumberland"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Little Mermaid", "The School for Good and Evil", "The Secret of Kells", "Song of the Sea", "Wolfwalkers", "Three Thousand Years of Longing", "Disenchanted", "Peter Pan & Wendy", "Barbie", "Trolls Band Together", "IF". "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", "The Sea Beast", "Dorian Gray", "The Water Horse", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", "Fatman", "Speed Racer"

BEST SUPERHERO OR COMIC BOOK FILM (includes GRAPHIC NOVELS):

WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine"

RUNNERS-UP: "Extraction 2" (based on "Ciudad"), "Marry Me" (based on a graphic novel), "The Marvels", "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "Conan the Barbarian" (2011), "Slumberland" ("Little Nemo"), "The Killer", "Blue Beetle", "Stan Lee", "Madame Web", "Speed Racer"

BEST ANIMATED FILM:
WINNERS: "Wolfwalkers", "Leo", "Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget", "Kung Fu Panda 4"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Secret of Kells", "Song of the Sea", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken", "Migration", "The Sea Beast"

LOSERS: "Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists", "Wish", "Trolls Band Together", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", "Free Birds"

BEST PARTIALLY ANIMATED FILM:

WINNER: "Slumberland"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Little Mermaid", "Disenchanted", "Strays", "Belushi", "Beau Is Afraid", "IF", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", "Speed Racer"

BEST FILM ABOUT SINGERS, MUSICIANS OR CONDUCTORS (Fictional or Semi-Fictional)

WINNERS: "Tár", "Begin Again", "The Song of Names", "Marry Me"

RUNNERS-UP: "An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn", "Beauty", "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "Destiny Turns on the Radio", "Her Smell"

BEST FILM (BIO-PIC) ABOUT SINGERS, MUSICIANS OR CONDUCTORS (Non-fictional)

WINNER: "Maestro"

RUNNER-UP: "The Dirt"

BEST FILM ABOUT ACTORS OR AUTHORS OR FILMMAKERS OR TV MAKERS (Fictional):

WINNERS: "American Fiction", "Paint"

RUNNERS-UP: "Bergman Island", "Quiz Lady", "She Said", "Babylon", "I Could Never Be Your Woman", "Alex & Emma", "Somebody I Used to Know", "The Answer Man", "Kill Your Darlings", "Die Hart", "The Last Tycoon", "Self Reliance", "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", "Fool's Paradise", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", "X"

BEST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SINGERS, MUSICIANS OR ARTISTS:

WINNER: "The Greatest Night in Pop"

RUNNERS-UP: "American Symphony", "If These Walls Could Sing", "LennoNYC", "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman", "Love to Love You, Donna Summer", "The Beach Boys", "The Stones and Brian Jones", "Little Richard: King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", "Little Richard: I Am Everything", "Keith Haring: Street Art Boy", "Wham!", "David Bowie: Out of This World", "Moonage Daydream", "Billie", "Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love", "Sid & Judy"

BEST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ACTORS OR AUTHORS OR FILM-MAKERS:

WINNERS: "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

"RUNNERS-UP: The Wolfpack", "Sly", "Being Mary Tyler Moore", "Sr.", "I Am Chris Farley", "Belushi", "We Blew It", "I Am Burt Reynolds", "The Real Charlie Chaplin", "Stan Lee", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "Sid & Judy", "Call Me Kate"

BEST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ATHLETES: 

WINNER: "Yogi Berra: It Ain't Over"

RUNNER-UP: "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer"

BEST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT POLITICIANS OR REPORTERS: 

WINNERS: "You've Been Trumped", "You've Been Trumped Too", "Mike Wallace Is Here"

BEST MOVIE ABOUT MAKING PBS SHOWS OR PUBLIC RADIO?: 

WINNER: "Paint"

RUNNERS-UP: "Butterfly in the Sky", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Jim Henson: Idea Man", "C'mon C'mon"

BEST FILM ABOUT PEOPLE SAVING THEIR JOB OR COMPANY OR TOWN OR TIMELINE WITH AN UNLIKELY DESPERATE TRIP: 

WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Wrong Missy", "Your Place or Mine", "I Don't Know How She Does It", "Unfinished Business", "Jerry and Marge Go Large", "Allegiant", "X", "All Is Bright"

BEST FILM ABOUT PEOPLE SAVING THEIR JOB OR COMPANY BY CHANGING WHAT'S BEING MADE AT THE FACTORY: 

WINNER: "Wonka"

RUNNERS-UP: "Kinky Boots", "Unfrosted", "Barbie", "Fatman"

BEST WILLY WONKA OR NATHAN HANDWERKER:

WINNER: "Wonka"

RUNNERS-UP: "Remembering Gene Wilder", "Famous Nathan"

BEST FILM BASED ON A BOOK:

WINNERS: "A Haunting in Venice" (Agatha Christie's "Hallowe'en Party"), "American Fiction" ("Erasure")

RUNNERS-UP: "The Little Mermaid", "The Dirt", "All the Old Knives", "The School for Good and Evil", "Far from the Madding Crowd", "She Said", "Think Like a Man", "A Walk to Remember", "The Last Song", "Sex Drive" ("All the Way"), "I Don't Know How She Does It", "Stanley & Iris" ("Union Street"), "Waiting to Exhale", "Mr. Malcolm's List", "Oppenheimer" ("American Prometheus"), "Three Thousand Years of Longing" ("The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye"), "Dumb Money" ("The Antisocial Network"), "Penguin Bloom", "Shooter" ("Point of Impact"), "The Company You Keep", "Great Expectations" (1998), "The Last Tycoon", "The Last Vermeer" ("The Man Who Made Vermeers"), "Spaceman" ("Spaceman of Bohemia"), "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", "The Meg". ("Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror")

"Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.", "Disobedience", "The Exception" ("The Kaiser's Last Kiss"), "Divergent", "Insurgent", "Allegiant", "We Have a Ghost" (based on short story "Ernest"), "Knock at the Cabin" ("The Cabin at the End of the World"), "Dorian Gray" ("The Picture of Dorian Gray", "The Water Horse", "Quasi"  ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), "The Ring" (based on Japanese novel "Ring"), "The Minus Man", "Cry Macho", "Bandit" (based on "The Flying Bandit"

BEST FILM BASED ON A PLAY or STAND-UP COMIC ROUTINE or PERFORMANCE ART:
WINNER: "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Whale", "The Machine", "Whatever It Takes" (Cyrano), "She's the Man" (Twelfth Night), "Macbeth" (2015), "Peter Pan & Wendy", "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only", "Unfrosted", "The Son", "The Square", "Pieces of a Woman", "Ophelia" ("Hamlet")

BEST FILM BASED ON A TOY OR GAME OR VIDEO-GAME OR VIDEO-GAME STOCK: (more?)

WINNERS: "Gran Turismo", "Dumb Money" (based on the GameStop stock market thing)

LOSERS: "Barbie", "Trolls Band Together", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", "Ready or Not" (based on Hide and Seek)

BEST FILM BASED ON WEIRD THINGS TO BE BASED ON: 

WINNER: "Jerry and Marge Go Large" (based on playing the lottery)

RUNNERS-UP: 

"Nostalgia" (based on dead collectors)

"Kinky Boots" (based on a real struggling shoe factory)

"Penguin Bloom" (based on a family adopting a bird)

"Father Stu" (based on a boxer/actor becoming a priest)

"Paint" (totally not based on the life of Bob Ross)

"Unfrosted" (based on the creation of Pop-Tarts)

"Jackpot!" (based on a non-existent lottery in the future)

"IF" (based on non-existent imaginary friends)

BEST SEQUEL:  

WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine"

RUNNERS-UP: "John Wick: Chapter 4", "Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget", "Extraction 2", "Think Like a Man Too", "Book Club: The Next Chapter", "The Marvels", "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "A Haunting in Venice", "Disenchanted", "Ride Along 2", "Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", "Expend4bles", "Meg 2: The Trench", "Transporter 2", "Insurgent", "Allegiant", "Kung Fu Panda 4", "Army of the Dead", "The Forever Purge", "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire", "The Ring Two", "Scream" (2022), "Scream VI", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

LOSER: "Trolls Band Together"

BEST PREQUEL: 

WINNER: "Wonka"

RUNNERS-UP: "Army of Thieves", "Pearl", "Madame Web"

BEST REMAKE OR REBOOT:  

WINNERS: "Next Goal Wins" (remake of documentary), "The Mechanic"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Little Mermaid", "Peter Pan & Wendy", "Once Upon a Crime" (remake of "Crimen"), "Yours Mine & Ours", "Great Expectations" (1998), "Ophelia", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", "Dorian Gray", "Quasi", "The Ring", "Black Christmas" (2006), "Champions" (remake of 2018 Spanish film), "Prince Avalanche" (remake of 2011 Icelandic film "A annan veg")

BEST MOTHER'S DAY MOVIE or MOVIE ABOUT MOTHERS:

WINNER: "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"

RUNNERS-UP: "Jesus Henry Christ", "I Don't Know How She Does It", "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "Beautiful", "Being Rose", "Because I Said So", "Georgia Rule", "Stoker", "Penguin Bloom", "Yours Mine & Ours", "Beau Is Afraid", "The Ring", "The Ring Two", "Madame Web"

BEST FATHER'S DAY MOVIE or MOVIE ABOUT FATHERS:

WINNER: "Slumberland"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Whale", "Made in America", "Beast", "Fear", "Me Time", "Project Almanac", "I Love My Dad", "Yours Mine & Ours", "Somewhere in Queens", "About My Father", "Sr.", "IF", "Knock at the Cabin", "All Is Bright"

BEST MONSTER MOVIE: (Godzilla, sea monsters and/or Kong?)

WINNER: "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Wolf of Snow Hollow", "Beast", "The Meg", "Meg 2: The Trench", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken", "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", "The Sea Beast", "The Water Horse"

BEST HORROR MOVIE: (Witch, Ghost, Zombie or Demon)

WINNER: "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"

RUNNERS-UP: "We Have a Ghost", "Army of the Dead", "Army of Thieves", "The Night House", "The Ring", "The Ring Two", "Jennifer's Body", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

BEST HORROR MOVIE: (killers or serial killer)

WINNERS: "The Night House", "Pearl", "Freaky", "The Rental"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Wolf of Snow Hollow", "Knock at the Cabin", "The Forever Purge", "Black Christmas" (2006), "Scream" (2022), "Scream VI", "X", "Infinity Pool", "Ready or Not"

BEST HORROR MOVIE NOT WATCHED IN OCTOBER: 

WINNER: "The Meg"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Wolf of Snow Hollow", "Beast", "Stoker", "Meg 2: The Trench"

BEST THANKSGIVING MOVIE: 

WINNER: "Free Birds"

BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE:

WINNER: "The Holdovers"

RUNNERS-UP: "A Midnight Clear", "Fatman", "All Is Bright"

LOSER: "Black Christmas" (2006), 

BEST FILM SET IN IRELAND OR SCOTLAND (with or without Brendan Gleeson)

WINNERS: "Wolfwalkers", "The Banshees of Inisherin"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Secret of Kells", "Song of the Sea", "Calvary", "Macbeth" (2015), "The Water Horse"

BEST FILM SET IN AUSTRALIA (or similar Outback-like wasteland):

WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", "The Rover"

BEST FILM ABOUT LIVING IN A LIGHTHOUSE OR BEACH HOUSE OR LAKE HOUSE OR BEING STUCK ON A SMALL ISLAND: 

WINNER: "Slumberland"

RUNNERS-UP: "Bergman Island", "The Last Song", "Song of the Sea", "The Banshees of Inisherin", "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "3 Days to Kill", "Calvary", "American Fiction", "The Killer", "Peter Pan & Wendy", "Barbie", "Penguin Bloom", "Yours Mine & Ours", "The Company You Keep", "Wish", "Great Expectations" (1998), "The Last Tycoon", "Next Goal Wins", "Napoleon", "Plane", "Hangdog", "Knock at the Cabin", "The Rental", "The Sea Beast", "The Night House", "The Ring", "Infinity Pool", "The Minus Man", "Force of Nature"

BEST FILM WITH SINBAD (either the mythical sailor or the comedian) or DJINNS or MERMAIDS or SELKIES:

WINNERS: "Three Thousand Years of Longing", "Self Reliance", "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Little Mermaid" (2023), "Song of the Sea", "Peter Pan & Wendy"

LOSERS: "Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists", "Barbie", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken"

BEST FILM ABOUT SAVING ENDANGERED TURTLES OR LIZARDS OR INJURED OR CAPTIVE BIRDS OR STRAY OR LOST DOGS: 

WINNERS: "Hangdog", "The Mechanic"

RUNNERS-UP: "Senior Moment", "The Last Song", "Penguin Bloom", "Me Time", "Strays", "Year of the Dog", "The Rover", "Leo", "Migration", "The Rental", "Champions", "Free Birds"

BEST FILM ABOUT WINNING THE LOTTERY OR HORSE RACES OR A REALITY SHOW: 

WINNERS: "Dream Horse", "Jerry and Marge Go Large", "Project Almanac"

RUNNERS-UP: "Self Reliance", "Jackpot!"

BEST FILM WITH ALBERT EINSTEIN or MARILYN MONROE: 

WINNER: "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life"

RUNNERS-UP: "Oppenheimer", "Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium", "Stan Lee", "Famous Nathan"

LOSER: "Under the Silver Lake"

BEST FILM WITH DONALD TRUMP or FRED TRUMP: 

WINNER: "The Strange Name Movie"

RUNNERS-UP: "You've Been Trumped", "You've Been Trumped Too", "We Blew It", "Mike Wallace Is Here", "Armageddon Time"

BEST MOVIE WITHIN A MOVIE?: 

WINNERS: "Scream VI", "X"

RUNNERS-UP: "Scream" (2022), "Fool's Paradise"

BEST MOVIE WHERE EVERYTHING GOES WRONG:

(Category cancelled, due to a 200-entry tie.  Really, this is EVERY movie.)

BEST ROAD-TRIP (or WORST VACATION?) MOVIE:  more ?  split?

WINNERS: "The Holdovers", "Jerry and Marge Go Large"

RUNNERS-UP: "Bergman Island", "The Machine", "The Wrong Missy", "Think Like a Man Too", "Your Place or Mine", "Shotgun Wedding", "Book Club: the Next Chapter", "Sex Drive", "Saltburn", "Beast", "Once Upon a Crime", "Being Rose", "Georgia Rule", "Me Time", "I Love My Dad", "About My Father", "Good Grief", "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", "C'mon C'mon", "Drive-Away Dolls", "The Rental", "X", "Infinity Pool", "How It Ends" (2018), "Cry Macho"

BEST MOVIE WITH A.I. TAKING OVER:  more ?

WINNER: "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"

RUNNERS-UP: "Heart of Stone", "Insurgent"

BEST REBEL OR EMPIRE MOVIE:

WINNERS: "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire", "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire"

RUNNERS-UP: "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire", "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver"

BEST MOVIE WITH A CAST MEMBER FROM "It's Always Sunny in Phildelphia":

WINNER: "Deadpool & Wolverine" (Rob McElhenney)

RUNNERS-UP: "Fool's Paradise" (Charlie Day + Glenn Howerton), "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" (Danny DeVito), "Champions" (Kailtin Olson), "Migration" (Danny DeVito)

LOSER: "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" (Charlie Day)

BEST MOVIE WITH SOMETHING in the TRUNK or an UNEXPECTED PASSENGER: 

WINNER: "The Transporter"

RUNNERS-UP: "Stowaway", "Sex Drive", "The Rover", "Drive-Away Dolls", "Spaceman", "The Minus Man", "Cry Macho", "Speed Racer"

BEST MOVIE SET UNDERWATER:

WINNERS: "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom", "The Meg"

RUNNERS-UP: "The LIttle Mermaid" (2023), "Meg 2: The Trench", "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken", "The Sea Beast", "Song of the Sea"

BEST ACTION SEQUENCE ON A TRAIN:

WINNER: "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"

RUNNERS-UP: "The Machine", "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One", "Insurgent", "Scream VI", "Madame Web"

LOSER: "Once Upon a Crime"

10 LONGEST MOVIES WATCHED THIS YEAR:

1. "1900"  5 hr. 17 min.

2. "Babylon".  3 hr. 9 min.

3. "Oppenheimer"  3 hr. 

4. "Beau Is Afraid" 2 hr. 59 min.

5. "Elton John Live: Farewell form Dodger Stadium" 2 hr. 54 min.

6. "John Wick: Chapter 4"  2 hr. 49 min.

7. "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"  2 hr 43 min.

8. "Dragged Across Concrete"  2 hr. 39 min.

9. "Napoleon". 2 hr. 38 min.

10. "Tár". 2 hr. 38 min.

10 SHORTEST MOVIES WATCHED THIS YEAR: 

1. "The Strange Name Movie" 52 min.

2. "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer" 1 hr.

3. "Elton John: Becoming Rocketman"  1hr.

4. David Bowie: Out of This World"  1 hr.

5. "An Imperfect Murder" 1 hr. 11 min.

6. "The Secret of Kells" 1 hr. 15 min.

7. "You've Been Trumped"  1 hr. 19 min.

8. "You've Been Trumped Too"  1 hr. 19 min.

9. "Kevin Hart & Chris Rock: Headliners Only  1 hr. 22 min.

10. "Migration" 1 hr. 23 min.

15 OLDEST MOVIES:

1. "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1975)

2. "The Last Tycoon" (1976)

3. "1900" (1977)

4. "Stanley & Iris" (1990)

5. "Once Upon a Crime" (March 1992)

6. "A Midnight Clear" (April 1992)

7. "Fire in the Sky" (March 1993)

8. "Made in America" (May 1993)

9. "The Program" (Sept. 1993)

10. "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994)

11. "Murder in the First" (Jan. 1995)

12. "Destiny Turns on the Radio" (April 1995)

13. "Moonlight and Valentino" (Sept. 1995)

14. "Waiting to Exhale" (1995)

15. "Fear" (1996)

15 NEWEST MOVIES: (check this again at end of year)

1. "Hangdog" (Oct.)

2. "Beetlejuce Beetlejuice" (Sept.)

3. "Jackpot!" (Aug.)

4. "Deadpool & Wolverine" (July)

5. "Jim Henson: Idea Man" (May 31)

6. "The Beach Boys" (May 24)

7. "IF" (May 17)

8. "Unfrosted" (May 3)

9. "Butterfly in the Sky" (April 30)

10. "Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver" (April 19)

11. "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" (March 29)

12. "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" (March 22)

13. "KungFu Panda 4" (March 8)

14. "Spaceman" (March 1)

15. "Drive-Away Dolls" (February 23)

EDIT: Wesley Snipes is, I think, the only person who appears in one of the oldest films ("Waiting to Exhale") and one of the newest ("Deadpool vs. Wolverine").  Respect. 

MOVIES WITH THE SHORTEST TITLES

1. "X"

2. "IF"

3. "13"

4. "Sr."

5. "Leo"

6. "LOL"

7. "Sly"

8. "Tár"

9. "Bros"

10. "Fear"

11. "Lift"

12. "Poms"

13. "Tell"

14. "Wish"

15. "1900"

16. "Wham!"

MOVIE WITH THE LONGEST TITLE:

1. "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (41 characters)

MOVIES WITH THE SMALLEST CASTS: (probably)

1. "Stowaway"  6 people

2. "An imperfect Murder" 10 people

3. "Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists" 10 people

4. "The Whale" 11 people

5. "Pearl" 12 people

6. "Song of the Sea" 12 people

7. "Prince Avalanche" 13 people

8. "X" 13 people

9. "Infinte Storm" 14 people

10. "American Symphony" 15 people

11. "It's a Disaster" 15 people

12. "The Wollfpack" 15 people

MOVIES WITH THE LARGEST CASTS: (again, probably)

1. "Babylon". 480 people

2. "Tár" 303 people

3. "Allegiant" 232 people

4. "Barbie" 198 people

5. "Insurgent" 198 people

6. "Divergent" 185 people

7. "Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire" 180 people

8. "Rustin" 156 people

9. "Pain & Gain" 153 people

10. "Napoleon" 152 people

11. "Oppenheimer" 152 people

Well, I guess all that's left is to give you a preview of the upcoming Movie Year. As in previous years, I can't really start January until I know where February starts, because that will give me my first linking destination.  I called up my list of romance films to try to make some sense of it, but I'd left it in shambles after this past February.  The longest chain I had mapped out was only 11 films long, and that's just not going to get me through the month.  Fortunately I'd marked every actor who appears on the list twice in a separate color, so I had some hope that I could assemble a few smaller chains together and maybe extend that number a little longer, after a little work I'd extended two chains to 13 films long, could I possibly combine the two somehow and create a 26-film chain?  Well, yes and no, because I found a way to connect the chains, but it meant trimming four films off the end of one, because there are only so many entry points. At first I was only able to get the chain up to 23 films - OK< that's better, but it still wasn't a full month.  

The solution came by digging deeper into the cast lists, going past the actors listed on Wikipedia in the main roles, finding those actors in the supporting roles and cameos listed on the IMDB, and being aware of the other ways those unconnected films on my list could be linked.  Adding more films would have been another possible solution, but then that doesn't help clear the films already there.  I did add one film when I realized Julia Roberts was in a film on one end, I figured the chances were good there was at least one romance film with her in it that I hadn't seen yet - and there was ONE.  So that movie's in, and it allowed me to tack on another three movies, but then I saw how the last movie connected back to an earlier part of the chain, and if I flipped around a 20-movie section, then the chain would end with a different film with more connections.  Bottom line, I've now got a 35 or 36 movie romance-based chain that I assembled out of scraps. But it's what I do. 

So now I've got a starting point for February - actually two, because I could always flip the entire chain around. This doubles my chances of landing on a movie for January 31 that connects with this chain.  Now I can pick candidates for the first movie of 2025 and see if they'll connect.  I don't have much time, so I may just have to start somewhere and hope to make the connections later. Since I'm starting a new chain, the pick for January 1 is a great opportunity to get a movie that links to only one other movie off my list. I've gotten rid of "Parasite", "Whale Rider", "Nomadland", "Narrowsburg" and others that way.  Something indie, maybe foreign, yet still with some award-level cred, that's what I need.  I thought of the perfect choice last week, but then realized that the movie I would need to connect it back to mainstream movies was "Speed Racer", and I'd just watched that.  I think I may go ahead with it anyway, because I would just need to add ONE very obscure movie to connect back to something with a couple Hollywood actors in it.  Since I don't have a better plan, it looks like what I'm going to roll with, so here's hoping. 

Some movies I'd really like to get to in 2025 are "Dune: Part Two", "Furiosa: A Mad Max Story", "Joker: Folie a Deux", "Civil War", "Dream Scenario", "The Fabelmans", "5-25-77", "Bad Boys: Ride or Die", "Borderlands", "Inside Out 2", "Despicable Me 4", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Hit Man", "Killers of the Flower Moon", "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes", "Poor Things", "The Equalizer 3", and "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare", but really, I'm not sure how many of those I can get to before February rolls in.  And I'm sure some of this year's Oscar contenders are going to start popping up on streaming platforms, so I'll have to keep my eyes open to see. ifI can work them into the mix.

I'm thinking I'll hit some Liam Neeson films around St. Patrick's Day and maybe a chain. of Eddie Murphy near Father's Day, but I've got to work all of that out.  Meanwhile another Doc Block is taking shape, but just like with the romance films, I've got to dive DEEP into the credits if I'm going to link everything together.  So here's hoping, I'll see you back here in two or three days.