I had great plans to take advantage of Netflix’s online movie service to create a theme night for New Year’s Eve, when we watch movies in order to keep our minds off of how sleepy we’re getting as we wait for midnight to arrive. This year, the theme was going to be ‘World War II prisoners in Asia,’ with Empire of the Sun and Seven Years in Tibet. Not the most cheery theme, but I was convinced that these films were underrated gems full of derring-do and historical context that would be both engaging and educational. I can now say with some certainty that they’re not: they’re flops.

To be fair, we never even made it to the end of Empire of the Sun, let alone Seven Years in Tibet. Empire of the Sun was unbearable, and since that film has been largely recognized as Steven Spielberg’s Big Flop, we decided to believe that Seven Years in Tibet was probably actually Brad Pitt’s Big Flop as well and just give it a miss. Which is no doubt why they were both available for free online viewing.

Instead, we regrouped and watched The Princess Bride for the umpteenth time. It remains hilarious, in case you were wondering.