Shows
The Letterboxd ShowIn the Screening Room with Michael MannFilmmaker Michael Mann joins Letterboxd in conversation about his favorite films, on the occasion of the launch of the Michael Mann Archives — Directing Ferrari.
Links:
Michael Mann's Letterboxd
Films talked about in this conversation
Michael Mann’s list of his 14 favorite films
Michael Mann Archives — Directing Ferrari
Mia Lee Vicino’s Letterboxd
Video version of this conversation on our YouTube channel
Credits:
The conversation was recorded by Eileen Ruiz and edited by Shannon Keirce.
Theme music: “Vampiros Danceoteque” by Moniker.
Producers: Brian Formo and Gemma Gracewood.
The Letterboxd Show is a TAPEDECK production.
Chapters:
2024-07-3153 min
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show Season 2 Finale: Letterboxd Goes to the OscarsFor our grand finale, the Best in Show crew heads to the 96th Academy Awards! Brian, who had a golden ticket to the ceremony itself, recaps how it felt for his eyes to see Al Pacino announce, “My eyes see Oppenheimer!”, while Gemma and Mia recount their hectic day on the red carpet and evening in the press room—plus dancing with the Anatomy of a Fall lawyers at the afterparty. Finally, we invite our London correspondent/Best in Show newsletter extraordinaire George Fenwick to reflect on the awards season as a whole, and to submit his winning pick for th...
2024-03-151h 10
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Chopping it up with Oppenheimer film editor Jennifer LameThis special episode includes interviews with two renowned film editors: first up, Letterboxd’s own video editor AJ tells us what makes good editing and lists his favorite examples of movie cutting from 2023. And then, one of AJ’s 2023 picks, Jennifer Lame, joins Mia Lee Vicino and Brian Formo for a chat about working with Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach and Ari Aster. Lame breaks down why she loves editing talking scenes and why she really wants to work on a comedy. And finally, because Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget has finally been released, Gemma Gracewood brings her...
2023-12-221h 01The Letterboxd Show‘Love Actually’ SpectacularSeason’s greetings! Join us as the Letterboxd crew sits down with their hot chocolate for a roundtable discussion about Love Actually.
Slim watches this “classic” for the first time in preparation and welcomes Gemma, Mia, and Ella into the Letterboxd Studio to walk down memory lane on their first-time watches, how viewings of certain movies change over time, favorite moments, and much more. Ella explaining the haunted inner workings of a Build-a-Bear workshop to Gemma will likely stay with you for several years. They also discuss how not to seduce someone, the bonkers fashion and musical choices, if Mr...
2023-12-191h 06
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Inside the Actor’s Studio with Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott and Jeffrey WrightThis special episode features multiple interviews with award-winning actors: first up, London editor Ella Kemp speaks with Oscar nominee and Letterboxd pal Paul Mescal about All of Us Strangers, his wider reflections on awards season and his “shady” Letterboxd account. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, our birthday girl Mia enjoyed a casual chat about movies with Paul’s co-star Andrew Scott at the film’s premiere, and in Atlanta, our East Coast correspondent Adesola Thomas rocked our centerpiece interview with Jeffrey Wright about American Fiction, André 3000 and Westworld. ACTING!
Sponsor: Disney Bundle
Credits: Recorded in Los Angeles...
2023-12-151h 05
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Screenplay Edition with May December Writer Samy BurchMay December screenwriter Samy Burch joins Mia and Gemma for a chat, fresh from her New York Film Critics Circle win for Best Screenplay. Topics range from Melanie Lynskey to Sister Act to Persona (and Burch’s favorite Letterboxd review), and how the presence of major tabloid figures such as Monica Lewinsky informed her themes of media obsession, performance and agency. We also welcome our London editor Ella Kemp and Best in Show newsletter scribe George Fenwick to give us the lowdown on their attending the British Independent Film Awards, including its big winner All of Us Strangers. Cheers!...
2023-12-0845 min
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Ringing in Awards Season 2023 with Sean FennesseyThe season two premiere of Best in Show kicks off with a very special guest: Sean Fennessey, Head of Content at The Ringer, co-host of The Big Picture podcast and fellow awards obsessive. Gemma, Mia and Brian interrogate Sean about his favorite films of the year so far, and he talks about finding Letterboxd more useful than Wikipedia (his words!) for the sheer encyclopedic knowledge of awards season available—all thanks to your lists—and the time he watched Sunshine with Drew Barrymore.
Sponsor: GKIDS/The Boy and the Heron
Chapters:
The Boy and the...
2023-12-011h 05
The Letterboxd Show‘The Exorcist’ SpectacularThe power of podcasting compels you to listen as the Letterboxd crew gathers for a roundtable discussion about The Exorcist.
Slim puts on his seasonable vestments and welcomes Gemma, Mia, Brian and Mitchell into the Letterboxd Studio to walk down memory lane on their first-time watches, favorite moments, and much more. They also spend time on The Exorcist: Believer, The Exorcist III, and offer up some other religious horror recommendations. Happy Halloween!
Chapters:
Opening credits (00:00:45)
The Exorcist roundtable (00:04:24)
Sequels (00:34:31)
Religious horror recommendations (00:43:16)
Closing credits (00:53:20)
Credits: Recorded in Auckland, Delaware, LA, and Philadelphia. Edited by Slim. Theme...
2023-10-3155 min
The Letterboxd Show‘No One Will Save You’ with Brian DuffieldHorror and alien fans, it’s our time. Slim sits down with Brian Duffield to chat about his movie No One Will Save You. Brian wrote and directed this alien home invasion story (with much more) and since release it’s been one of the most-watched movies on Letterboxd. Aliens, no dialog, great lighting, gorgeous house, Kaitlyn Dever…what more do you need? Brian and Slim talk about his horror inspirations, Signs (of course), the design of that house, Kaitlyn’s amazing performance, how he uses his own Letterboxd account, and much more.
Credits: Recorded in Philadelphia PA and B...
2023-10-1334 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Horrorville’s Brett Petersel: Waxworks, night breeds & zombiesIt’s a match made in hell as Horrorville editor Brett Petersel joins Gemma and Slim in a basement studio surrounded by zombies to talk through four of his favorite horror films: Clive Barker’s Nightbreed, Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation, Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool and Waxwork from Anthony Hickox. We’re talking uncomfortable dinner parties, single-location horror, Gemma’s terror of wax museums, Slim’s fear of terrible podcasting etiquette and how Brett’s love of Nightbreed could rescue people from cults. Plus: that one time Brett and Slim met Tom Cruise together.
Chapters:
Sponsored by the Disney Bu...
2023-10-101h 01
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Flynn Slicker: Wong Kar-wai, Weerasethakul, Sing Street and lost loveWe are Boonsong and Flynn Slicker is our Monkey Ghost. Letterboxd’s elusive social media manager joins hosts Gemma and Slim from the seaside for a deep chat about her four favorite films: Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, John Carney’s Sing Street and René Liu’s Us And Them. We celebrate siblings and hot people, commiserate about how hard it is to be alive, calculate how long Raphina and Cosmo would have taken to get to Wales in that tiny boat, normalize hanging out with ghosts and marvel at t...
2023-09-261h 13
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Claira Curtis: Twilight, menstruation, DILFs and MiyazakiIt’s Twihard season on The Letterboxd Show! We’re traveling all the way to Forks, Washington to bring on extraordinary Letterboxd member and House of Cinema podcast co-host Claira Curtis, who takes us through their four favorites: The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Eve’s Bayou, Howl’s Moving Castle and Honeymoon. Topics include: the Robert Pattinson masturbating cinematic universe, male protagonists Claira can beat up in a fight, the New Moon breakup montage, the DILF canon, Roger Ebert naming Eve’s Bayou the best film of 1997, talking about periods, Miyazaki the antiwar king, gender is everywhere, redhead discrimination and Mia br...
2023-08-011h 06
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Strike FAQ for film fansIs it crossing the picket line to go to the cinema? Is it scabbing to write a review on Letterboxd? Will cancelling a streaming subscription help writers and actors? Is this a good time to make that low-budget indie film? The Best in Show team—Mia Lee Vicino, Gemma Gracewood and Brian Formo—is back for a minisode about the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and what it all means for film fans, fall festivals, awards season, Letterboxd members and creative workers alike.
From the arrival of ChatGPT a mere 48 hours after the Oscars, to the damning statistics arou...
2023-07-2832 min
The Letterboxd Show‘Insidious’ with Patrick WilsonOn this special episode of The Letterboxd Show, Slim chats with filmmaker Patrick Wilson about his directorial debut Insidious: The Red Door, in theaters now courtesy of Sony. The horror movie follows the Lambert Family 10 years after the events of Insidious Chapter 2. They decided to completely block out those events…. BUT those forgotten memories have caused unforeseen problems over the years and their family life now kinda sucks... and Josh is off to college unable to find common ground with his dad. Patrick and Slim talk about focusing on a realistic family issues coming to the Lamberts, the importance of...
2023-07-0720 min
The Letterboxd ShowMagic Hour: Zoe Lister-Jones (Beau Is Afraid) and Emma Seligman (Bottoms) on hiring women, high school comedies, and conveying pleasureWelcome to a special Magic Hour brought to you by The Letterboxd Show! Magic Hour is our video series that has lived primarily on YouTube and it features two filmmakers having a conversation with each other. In this special audio episode, actress-writer-director Zoe Lister-Jones (Slip, Beau Is Afraid) chats with Emma Seligman (Bottoms, Shiva Baby). They discuss the difficult jump from indie to studio films, some words of advice from Ron Howard, Adam McKay and Elizabeth Banks, and sticking up for members from your indie film crew when trying to hire them onto the larger features.
Beau...
2023-06-141h 10
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Past Lives and the BoogeymanThis week Slim and Mia discuss their growing watchlists including Weekend Watchlist: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Past Lives and the Boogeyman. They also discuss not being NYC experts. After a quick look back at recent releases and community reviews they discuss their watchlists including one last look at their progress so far this year.
Weekend Watchlist – Updated Weekly list > movies mentioned in this episode.
Chapters:
Opening credits (00:00:00)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (00:02:20)
Past Lives (00:07:05)
The Boogeyman (00:11:08)
Last week (00:14:23)
Watchlists (00:20:09)
Letter time (00:28:03)
Letterboxd reviews and links mentioned:
Transcripts of podcast episodes available
Jack Facts’ Top 50 of 2023
Cinemonika & Casey Malone’s Spi...
2023-06-0133 min
The Letterboxd Show'In the Cut' 20th Anniversary Special with Jane CampionOscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion joins The Letterboxd Show for a very special episode, marking the 20th anniversary of one of Gemma Gracewood’s Four Favorites: In the Cut (2003). Campion’s erotic thriller stars height-of-her-fame box office darling Meg Ryan and pre-Hulk, pre-13 Going on 30 Mark Ruffalo as a literary professor and a detective, respectively, who dive headlong into a red-hot sexual romance, while a serial killer is on the loose in New York City.
In the Cut received an infamous CinemaScore ‘F’ grade on release, with many major critics panning the film. But the Letterboxd average rating has only...
2023-05-3137 min
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: The Little Mermaid, Your Hurt My Feelings and RealityThis week Slim and Mitchell discuss their growing watchlists including The Little Mermaid, Your Hurt My Feelings and Reality. They also discuss this show’s impending summer vacation. After a quick look back at recent releases and community reviews they discuss their watchlists including thinking your Jesus and also evil Sean Penn.
Weekend Watchlist – Updated Weekly list > movies mentioned in this episode.
Chapters:
Opening credits (00:00:00)
The Little Mermaid (00:02:50)
You Hurt My Feelings (00:06:08)
Reality (00:09:49)
Last week (00:12:54)
Top 50 of 2023 (00:15:03)
Watchlists (00:16:56)
Letterboxd reviews and links mentioned:
Transcripts of podcast episodes available
Jack Facts’ Top 50 of 2023
Zoe Rose Bryant & Jamie Jirak’s The Little Mermaid...
2023-05-2528 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with David Ehrlich: Letterboxd popularity, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the meaning of lifeYou don’t get to over 125,000 Letterboxd followers without making a few enemies… unless you’re David Ehrlich! IndieWire’s chief film critic joins Slim and Mitchell to discuss mortality across existential masterpieces and Apatow-produced rom-coms. As we make our way through his four favorite films (Ikiru, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Titanic) we hit a range of topics including: the pressure of David’s yearly video countdowns, how the canon has changed in “the age of Letterboxd”, stealing your mom’s credit card to buy movies, finding meaning in small and invisible acts, Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s...
2023-05-231h 01
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Fast X, Sanctuary and Master GardenerThis week Slim and Mia discuss their growing watchlists including Fast X, Sanctuary and Master Gardener. They also discuss smuggling a baked potato into a movie theater. After a quick look back at recent releases and community reviews they discuss their watchlists and young Al vs young Robert.
Weekend Watchlist – Updated Weekly list > movies mentioned in this episode.
Chapters:
Opening credits (00:00:00)
Fast X (00:01:01)
Sanctuary (00:08:12)
Master Gardener (00:11:41)
VOD (00:14:18)
Last week (00:15:17)
Watchlists (00:17:55)
Letterboxd reviews and links mentioned:
...
2023-05-1831 min
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: BlackBerry, Fool’s Paradise and The Starling GirlThis week Slim and Mitchell discuss their growing watchlists including BlackBerry, Fool’s Paradise and The Starling Girl. What Blackberry did Mitchell own as a kid? The answer make shock you. After a quick look back at recent releases and community reviews they discuss their watchlists and the greatness of Kathleen Turner.
Weekend Watchlist – Updated Weekly list > movies mentioned in this episode.
Sponsor:
This episode was brought to your by Bleecker Street and The Starling Girl, see it in theaters!
Chapters:
Opening credits (00:00:00)
Blackberry (00:02:38)
Fool’s Paradise (00:06:54)
The Starling (00:010:52)
Last week (00:13:06)
Top 50 o...
2023-05-1130 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Ariela Barer: Blade Runner, conformists, pipelines and AlmodóvarWe’re crying tears in the rain! The Letterboxd Show returns with actress and screenwriter Ariela Barer, star of How to Blow Up a Pipeline, whose faves include Blade Runner, The Conformist, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! In a shocking twist, Ariela makes hosts Gemma and Slim watch four hours of Love Exposure for nothing as she dramatically pivots live on air to Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days for her fourth fave!
We also praise film school nerds, discuss consent among movie characters, Ariela’s mom’s and sister’s important roles in her film education, remembers...
2023-04-251h 06
The Letterboxd ShowMagic Hour: Mark Jenkin (Enys Men) and Kyle Edward Ball (Skinamarink)Welcome to a special Magic Hour brought to you by The Letterboxd Show! Magic Hour is our video series that has lived primarily on YouTube and it features two filmmakers having a conversation with each other. In this special episode, Mark Jenkin (Enys Men) chats with Kyle Edward Ball (Skinamarink.)
Enys Men follows a wildlife volunteer on an uninhabited island off the British coast that descends into a terrifying madness as she loses grip on reality. Skinamarink is the experimental horror that all your friends were watching that’s now available on Shudder.
As we pr...
2023-04-0442 min
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Season One Finale Mailbag Extravaganza + SXSW AwardsSlim the mailman joins us in a bumper episode as Mia, Brian and Gemma answer listeners’ questions about awards season, from the Oscar category we’d like to see added to whether nominees are paid for all their campaigning to when genre films will have their day. We check in on both the 2023 SXSW Film Festival and Asian Film Award winners, and look back at how the Letterboxd buzz out of Everything Everywhere All at Once’s world premiere predicted the film’s eventual Oscar wins. Please participate in The Letterboxd Show Feedback Survey!
We also give Willem D...
2023-03-211h 41
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show goes to the Oscars! And Everything Everywhere All at Once Sweeps!Someone let us go to the Oscars! Mia and Gemma were in the press room at the 95th Academy Awards. They witnessed history as Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress and Mia got to pop a question to the reigning queen herself! Brian watched from home and highlights a few speeches and the theory of an ensemble cast hug that was required this year. Plus we chat the “hot editor” and the lack of Elvis wins.
We are also joined by Letterboxd friend and Senior Vice President of The Black List, Kate Hage...
2023-03-1458 min
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Scream VI, 65 and Luther: The Fallen SonThis week Mitchell and Slim discuss their growing watchlists including Scream VI, 65 and Luther: The Fallen Son. Mitchell also pitches Fun City on a future collab. After a quick look back at recent releases and community reviews they discuss their watchlists and determine if it’s possible to Raise the Titanic.
Weekend Watchlist – Updated Weekly list > movies mentioned in this episode.
Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. Try MUBI free for 90 days at www.mubi.com/letterboxd
Chap...
2023-03-0929 min
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Indie Spirit Awards, The Quiet Girl, Paul Mescal, and Movie SpoofsHello, Best in Show listener Paul Mescal! It smells like Indie Spirit (and bourbon) in here! Weekend Watchlist’s Slim joins Mia, Gemma, and Brian for an in-person debrief of all things Film Independent Spirit Awards. We were on the blue carpet, in the press room and inside the big tent on Santa Monica beach for all the wins. Slim reveals a fear of rollerbladers and spin classes on the sand, Mia meets her biggest fan (producer of the Filipino comedy Leonor Will Never Die), and everyone (and we mean everyone) gushes about Aftersun’s lead.
Gemma chats...
2023-03-071h 19
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Cocaine Bear, The Quiet Girl and EmilyThis week Mitchell and Slim discuss their growing watchlists including Cocaine Bear, The Quiet Girl and Emily. Mitchell also suggests a brand new co-pilot for theater viewing! After a quick look back at recent releases and community reviews they discuss their watchlists and maybe turning into an animal if you’re single. (Not our suggestion, FYI)
Weekend Watchlist – Updated Weekly list > movies mentioned in this episode.
Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by MUBI, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. Try MUBI free for 90 days at www.mubi...
2023-02-2329 min
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: At the BAFTAs, Banshees’ Carter Burwell and a Naatu Naatu afteRRR paRRRtyOur London editor Ella Kemp joins hosts Mia, Brian and Gemma from the BAFTA winners’ circle as we cover the victors and snubs. The Banshees of Inisherin composer Carter Burwell dives deep into his Twilight memories, and ‘Naatu Naatu’ songwriters M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose join us for an AfteRRR PaRRRty, along with RRR star Ram Charan, to tell us how they celebrated their Oscar nomination and whether we’ll see the hook step at the 95th Academy Awards!
We also hear from Triangle of Sadness star Dolly de Leon on the BAFTA red carpet; the brand new Mich...
2023-02-211h 11
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Academy CEO Bill Kramer, London update, Down with Love and bullyingAcademy CEO Bill Kramer talks with Mia and Brian about his fave movies, his award for being cheerful, plans to televise all the Oscar wins live this year, and M3GAN. Brian reports in from the Oscar Nominees’ Luncheon, where he rubbed shoulders and swapped love letters with various movie superstars. We recap the London Film Critics Circle awards and consider whether the new BAFTA and Oscar anti-bullying rules might reverse-engineer better behaviour in the film industry. Gemma explains why 3.5 (”the Gemma line”) is the perfect rating, and how Down With Love is going up in Letterboxd ratings. What happen...
2023-02-141h 00
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Catherine Martin, To Leslie data-dive, Sundance’s first grand jury winnerMia, Brian and Gemma talk with the most Academy Awarded Australian of all-time, Catherine Martin—production and costume designer of Elvis—about tight butts and Baz Lurhmann’s secret dance skills. We examine the Letterboxd data for To Leslie, from the film’s SXSW premiere last year through to its recent Oscar nomination for leading actress. And we revisit the first movie to receive the Sundance Grand Jury prize, Marisa Silver’s Old Enough. Plus: a news recap of the Grammys, ACE and AARP awards, bad moms get noms, the newest EGOT champion, Brian’s secret past as a tambourine-b...
2023-02-0759 min
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Sundance, making up Ana de Armas, and the first great rom-comIn episode five of Letterboxd’s limited series awards season podcast, Mia, Brian and Gemma examine the Sundance-to-Oscars pipeline, chat with John Carney, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emilia Jones in Park City, assess the Sundance Film Festival’s 2023 winners, chat with Ana de Armas’ hair and makeup team from Blonde—Jaime Leigh McIntosh and Tina Roesler Kerwin—and revisit the first film to win the “big five” Academy Awards: It Happened One Night. Tune in for garbled thoughts about Clark Gable’s shirtless chest, the hitchhiking scene that changed culture, and the stars who made us feel confident as baby red carpet journ...
2023-01-311h 19
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Oscar & BAFTA noms, campaign politics and sexy ghostsThe Oscar nominations are in, as are the BAFTAs, and all is now noisy on the western front as awards season shifts up a gear. Mia, Gemma and Brian look at how the nominees stack up against the Letterboxd community’s favorites, have a rant about snubs, fat-suits and the lack of Black and women directors, and a warm moment for all the tender men. Then we chat with Rotten Tomatoes’ awards editor Jacqueline Coley about what it takes to win an Oscar in campaigning terms, and she reveals Oscar host who ignited her awards season excitement. We also diss...
2023-01-251h 19
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Guilds, Globes, Puss in Boots and the 1976 Best Director revisitedAs a flurry of guild nominations land, Mia, Brian and Gemma discuss their fave noms and gongs from the directors’, art directors’ and cinematographers’ unions. A quick look at the Golden Globes leads to a discussion on which awards Letterboxd would love to live-stream. EE BAFTA Rising Star award public voting is open!
And it’s animation time: Turning Red director Domee Shi has a message for the Letterboxd community, and we go deep on Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman and Sergio Leone with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish director Joel Crawford. Then, we re-evaluate the 1976 Best Director...
2023-01-171h 14
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Year in Review Special with The Daniels & moreThe Daniels read 1-star and 5-star Letterboxd reviews! Jenny Slate, S.S. Rajamouli, Johnny Knoxville, Charlotte Wells and more Year in Review chart-toppers phone in with their thanks to the Letterboxd community! Hosts Mia, Brian and Gemma stare googly-eyed into the bagel to investigate the highest rated films of the past year. This supersized episode also sees Jack’s Facts joining for a deep dive into the themes of the winning films (he’s seen most of them!), and Slim and Mitchell sneak in the back door for the after party, where we find out who they’d love to wat...
2023-01-101h 33
The Letterboxd ShowBest in Show: Roger Deakins, Oscar math and the 2001 Best Picture revisitedDoes Roger Deakins ever lose his rag? Find out in the first full episode of Letterboxd’s limited series awards season podcast, in which Mia Vicino, Brian Formo and Gemma Gracewood go over the 95th Academy Awards shortlists, praise Kirsten Dunst’s Oscar voting diligence, talk to the G.O.A.T. of cinematography about Empire of Light and his work in animation, and form a fellowship of beautiful minds to revisit the 2001 Academy Awards Best Picture nominees. We love math and we are loose with our hearts!
Credits: Recorded in Los Angeles and Auckland. Edited by Slim. Fa...
2023-01-031h 01The Letterboxd ShowFive Festive Favorites with Letterboxd’s podcast hosts Gemma, Slim, Mitchell, Mia and BrianIt’s the great quintuple fist-pump high-five joining of the podcast forces for a yuletide cracker of festive delights. Hosts of The Letterboxd Show, Weekend Watchlist and our soon-to-launch Best in Show awards-season pod gather to get seasonally affected by Carol (Brian); Bridget Jones’s Diary (Mia); Eyes Wide Shut (Mitchell); Batman Returns (Slim) and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Gemma). Three podcasts, five hosts, five Christmas movies, one gloriously chaotic final episode of The Letterboxd Show Four Favorites for 2022.
Sponsor:
This episode is brought to you by Paramount Pictures’ Babylon. Damien Chazelle’s new film opens in theat...
2022-12-201h 02
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Aaron Yap: Local Hero, The Brainiac and films both strange and gentleIf you follow any of our social channels, you’re about to meet the genius behind the team behind the TikToks. Letterboxd’s head of social, Aaron Yap, joins Gemma and Slim to tell us about childhood memories of Malaysian DVD stores, and his four favorites: The Brainiac; Footprints; Local Hero and Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession.
Plus: Aaron’s early memories of bodily reactions to ’80s horrors, Slim’s first DVD player, what Gemma got Aaron from the Criterion closet, Gemma’s memories of buying blank VHS tapes, the obsolete sound of the DVD snapper, why The Brainiac...
2022-12-1358 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Cory Everett: French New Wave, Giallo, noir and RoboCopDead or alive, Slim is watching RoboCop. Cinephile: A Card Game creator, author and Letterboxd member Cory Everett joins Mitchell and Slim to tell us all about his new collection of children’s board books, My First Movie, curating his four favorites around them: RoboCop; The Bird with the Crystal Plumage; Pierrot Le Fou and Murder, My Sweet.
Plus: Cinephile as a lifeline for social engagement; Cory’s unforgettable encounter with Spike Lee; seeing RoboCop at age five; the 6000 SUX and NUKEM family game; bring in the perverts; movies with that “la la la” score; Tubi ad breaks...
2022-12-061h 04
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Jamelle Bouie: Black Dynamite, political thrillers, baby’s first art filmPodcaster, The New York Times columnist and Letterboxd member Jamelle Bouie joins Gemma and Slim to talk about American political thrillers and his four Letterboxd faves: Children of Men; Black Dynamite; The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Touch of Evil.
Plus: why is filmmaker David Lowery starstruck by Jamelle, the two faces of Harrison Ford, the days of loafing around watching TBS and TNT, why the world needs more star-driven, character-actor-saturated, mid-budget thrillers, why movies with people in meetings shouting at each other is Jamelle’s sweet spot, baby’s first art film, the many tale...
2022-11-2957 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Ryan Connolly: nineties action heroes, FincherFilmmaker and YouTuber Ryan Connolly of Film Riot joins Gemma and Slim to throw some Dutch angles on his four Letterboxd faves, which all happen to be action films of the 1990s: Speed; Die Hard with a Vengeance; The Game and The Matrix.
Plus: why Speed has the greatest film score of all time, how did that bus jump that gap, Jeff Daniels and Dennis Hopper cheek-to-cheek, how Keanu reinvented the masculine action hero, how Michael Douglas reinvented it right back, sequels that are better than originals, being able to smell the stink on John McClane through...
2022-11-221h 07
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Kier-La Janisse: psychotic women, Matt Dillon, Bee Gees and cockfightsAuthor and filmmaker Kier-La Janisse joins Slim and Mitchell to discuss the tenth-anniversary expanded edition of her book House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography Of Female Neurosis In Horror And Exploitation Films, as well as taking a dive through her four favorite films: Over the Edge; Melody; Cockfighter and The Last Wave.
Plus: Kier-La’s trick to seeming so productive; Matt Dillon’s iconic outfits; knife fights in the woods; twelve year olds on acid; parents just don’t understand; Jack Wild’s preternaturally youthful looks; the dulcet sounds of the Bee Gees; the masterpiece that is Littl...
2022-11-1552 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Fran Hoepfner: classical kings, theater queens and kissing socialists“I am fed up to the teeth with all these old, dead legends.” Writer and classical music fan Fran Hoepfner joins Gemma and Mia to talk us through her four favorite films on Letterboxd: Miloš Forman’s Amadeus; Merchant-Ivory’s A Room With a View; Mike Leigh’s Topsy-Turvy and Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women.
Plus: why we can’t stop talking about TÁR (and what Fran would love to hear Lydia conduct next); the political and economic realities of creating art; why the world needs more pink; what cinephilia owes to The Simpsons; Daniel Day-Lewis’s finest underdog...
2022-11-081h 04
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Scott Derrickson: Suspiria, Poltergeist, The Black Phone and America’s appetite for revengeThis week, spooky season continues so we picked up The Black Phone and called in a sinister filmmaker known for raising hell. Writer and director Scott Derrickson talks to Gemma and Slim about growing up at the drive-in, and how his four favorite films (Poltergeist; Suspiria; Carrie and I Saw the Devil) have influenced his filmmaking career.
Plus: that Sinister jump-scare, being too scared to go on ghost hunts, learning about horror films from episodes of Community and The Simpsons, how Poltergeist is Spielberg’s raciest story, why the first act of Suspiria is the best cinema ev...
2022-10-1158 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Jay Bennett: Face/Off, The Lighthouse, sweater weather and movie postersGet out the knitwear, it’s When Harry Met Sally… season. Movie-poster designer and Londoner Jay Bennett joins hosts Gemma and Slim to discuss his four Letterboxd favorites: Saw; The Lighthouse; Face/Off and Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron’s iconic rom-com.
Plus: Jay’s very specific Letterboxd lists, why he holds right back on five-star ratings, why Danny Glover is a terrible detective in Saw, the power of negative space on a film poster, the scourge of floating heads, getting DMs from A24, was 2019 the greatest year in cinema ever?, The Lighthouse as a lockdown favorite, how bad...
2022-08-301h 03
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Karen Han: Bonghive, Ping Pong, DePalma and Michael ShannonBonghive, rise! We have cinema disease and Karen Han has the cure. The cultural critic, scriptwriter and Bong Joon-ho expert joins hosts Slim and Gemma to talk about her four Letterboxd faves: Phantom of the Paradise; Take Shelter; Ping Pong and The Host. Karen’s new book, Bong Joon-ho: Dissident Cinema, is out in November from Abrams Books and Little White Lies.
You can upgrade to Pro/Patron at 20% off the normal price using this special URL: https://letterboxd.com/pro/redeem/paradise/. Upgrade to Pro/Patron to get rid of ads, customize your streaming services, view de...
2022-08-231h 06
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Rebekah McKendry: absurd horror, Hedwig, Suspiria, The ’BurbsNever tumble-dry a bra! Film professor, director, Colors of the Dark podcaster and absurdist horror-comedy fan Rebekah McKendry joins hosts Slim and Gemma to gleefully dig into her four Letterboxd favs: Hedwig and the Angry Inch; The ’Burbs; Suspiria and Survive Style 5+. Plus: the download on Glorious, her new “classy glory-hole movie” for Shudder, starring Ryan Kwanten and JK Simmons.
Also: soap-opera amnesia, rewatching Old, the perfect horror rating, terrible neighbors, why Letterboxd’s Suspiria reviews are the best reviews, our thirst for Jessica Harper, important choreography chat, how to make a $50K movie, how to get JK Simmo...
2022-08-161h 05
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Paul Scheer: time traveling and ghostbusting with 1980s American menBeware the ectoplasmic residue! Comedian, actor, podcaster and Letterboxd member Paul Scheer joins hosts Slim and Gemma to celebrate American men of the 1980s via his four Letterboxd favorites: Beverly Hills Cop; Ghostbusters; Back to the Future and Planes Trains and Automobiles.
You can upgrade to Pro/Patron at 20% off the normal price using this special URL: https://letterboxd.com/pro/redeem/mcfly/. Upgrade to Pro/Patron to get rid of ads, customize your streaming services, view a customized stats page just for your own account, and much more. That URL automatically adds our special discount code “mc...
2022-08-091h 06
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Jack’s Facts: Dog Day, Mike Leigh, La La Land and the midway Top 25Give us a cuddle, Maurice! Letterboxd head of platform content Jack Moulton, the man behind The Letterboxd Show’s “Jack’s Facts”, joins hosts Slim and Gemma for a chat about our favorites of the Top 25 films of 2022 so far and Jack’s four Letterboxd faves: Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon, Mike Leigh’s Secrets and Lies, Matthieu Kassovitz’s La Haine, and the movie that did not win the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land.
Plus: attractive sweaty Al Pacino, how lockdown helped Jack complete several film circles, long film runtimes, heist movies, what...
2022-07-051h 20
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with So Yun Um: Fellini, Wong Kar-Wai, Justin Lin and KeanuFilmmaker and Letterboxd member So Yun Um joins hosts Slim and Gemma for a chat about her new Tribeca sell-out documentary Liquor Store Dreams, and her four Letterboxd faves: Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love; Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow; Federico Fellini’s 8½ and the Wachowski Sisters’ The Matrix.
Plus: throwing caution to the wind and becoming a filmmaker, the fleeting moments that give us life, getting around Netflix’s screenshot ban, sexy noodles, who we would date from the Better Luck Tomorrow cast, So’s Johnny Tran prequel pitch (are you listening, Justin Lin...
2022-06-211h 08
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Elizabeth Purchell: Trans menaces, Chocolate Babies, mulleted lesbians and radical cinemaFilm historian and Letterboxd “adult task force” member Elizabeth Purchell joins hosts Slim and Gemma to unearth four absolutely under-seen historic favorites on The Letterboxd Show for Pride Month: Rosa Von Praunheim’s City of Lost Souls, Jack Deveau’s Drive, Stephen Winter’s Chocolate Babies and Juliet Bashore’s Kamikaze Hearts, along with a chat about her Ask Any Buddy film and podcast.
Plus: radical cinema, radical portraits, radical activism, the prolific Rosa Von Praunheim, the best mullet ever seen on film, wangs in jars, trans icons, adult films about Jesus, the endless joys of Jess Franco movies...
2022-06-141h 04
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Lucy May: Portrait Nation, Amélie, Maika Monroe and Parker PoseyVideo editor, writer and Letterboxd member Lucy May joins hosts Gemma and Slim for a MegaSound 8000 influencer session on her four favorite films: Amélie; It Follows; Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Josie and the Pussycats.
Plus: Why Lucy’s dad is the best Letterboxd dad. Glass men and brittle bones. Getting serious about It Follows, for once. Opinions about elevated horror. Slim’s boys’ night out at Portrait. The power of Parker Posey. The best present Lucy ever received. The best band managers in movies. Modern Archie comics. Why Saw V is saw-ly underrated. An apol...
2022-06-071h 11
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Mitchell Beaupre: Horny nerds in suits, Agnès Varda, David Lynch, ’80s cinemaGet the Letterboxd Show disease in you as film quiz queen, gritty essay king, Letterboxd Journal senior editor and Weekend Watchlist co-host Mitchell Beaupre joins hosts Gemma and Slim for a conversation about their favorite films: Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Agnès Varda’s Le Bonheur.
Plus: missing the pre-Covid days of all-night wacky shenanigans, gritty New York films, life below 14th Street, the family viewing potential of Blue Velvet (hear us out), video-store nostalgia, dad films, men movies, the joys of pants-down noodling, The Slumb...
2022-05-311h 17
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites with Selome Hailu: Holes, Emile Mosseri, Roe v. Wade and Gemini seasonVariety reporter and Austin native Selome Hailu joins hosts Gemma and Slim to discuss why her Letterboxd profile is only for people who support Holes being her number one movie, and to celebrate the finer points of her other favorite films: The Last Black Man in San Francisco, The Young Girls of Rochefort and Saint Frances.
Plus: the perfect rating, the need for a five-star-plus-“unlike” emoji on Letterboxd, Emile Mosseri’s transcendent soundtracks, Gemma’s defense of Geminis, Slim’s religious experience with Last Black Man’s skateboarding scenes, the urgent conversation around incarceration that Holes brings up, t...
2022-05-101h 08
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Dual and Paris: 13th DistrictWeekend Watchlist is Letterboxd’s weekly show focused on new movies dropping in theaters and streaming. Join us every Thursday as we discuss our growing watchlists. We’ll get through this. Together. This week Mitchell and Slim talk about Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Dual, Paris: 13th District and look back at Ambulance, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, All the Old Knives, and Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, We also peep some physical releases including RoboCop and C’mon C’mon. Finally, we shuffle our watchlists and Mitchell tells us their thoughts on Ghost of Mars.
Our than...
2022-04-1429 min
The Letterboxd ShowEverything Special: Daniels on Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, kindness and cryingEverything Everywhere All at Once writer-directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert join hosts Gemma and Slim for an unabashed conversation about love, empathy, crying, dopamine, their movie’s stars, and whether “this butt-plug action movie is better than The Godfather”.
Plus: time travel logic, anime adoration, Yuen Woo Ping, Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s The Sirens of Titan, imposter syndrome, how they filmed the rock scene, how music videos helped get their new film made, Scheinert’s wild Indiana Jones pitch, the joy of movies that take big swings, The White Stripes, fanny-pack supremacy, Cloud Atlas, the real enemy of E...
2022-04-1239 min
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Ambulance, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and All the Old KnivesWelcome to Weekend Watchlist; Letterboxd’s weekly show focused on new movies dropping in theaters and streaming. Join us every Thursday as we discuss our growing watchlists. We’ll get through this. Together. This week Mia and Slim talk about Ambulance, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, All the Old Knives, Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off and look back at Everything Everywhere All at Once, Morbius, The Bubble, and Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood, We also spotlight the movers and shakers on Jack’s weekly Top 50 of 2022 list including Mad God, and the new champion of Dave’s Letterboxd Top 250 Narrative...
2022-04-0725 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Oscars Fever with Kate Hagen and Matt NegliaThe Black List’s Kate Hagen and Next Best Picture’s Matt Neglia join hosts Gemma and Slim to send off awards season once and for all with our four favorite Oscar-nominated movies of the 94th Academy Awards, whether or not they won (most of them didn’t): Spencer, CODA, Nightmare Alley and Cyrano.
Plus: Kate has has a word with Jane Campion in the Oscars press room, Slim rates CODA thirty stars, Matt is all over Kristen Stewart’s work as Diana, Princess of Wales, Gemma is obsessed with the production of Joe Wright’s Cyrano, our pitch...
2022-04-051h 06
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Morbius, The Bubble and Apollo 10½: A Space Age ChildhoodWelcome to Weekend Watchlist; Letterboxd’s weekly show focused on new movies dropping in theaters and streaming. Join us every Thursday as we discuss our growing watchlists. We’ll get through this. Together. This week Mitchell and Slim talk about Morbius, The Bubble, Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood, and look back at Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Lost City, and Memoria. We also spotlight the movers and shakers on Jack’s weekly Top 50 of 2022 list. Maybe a little watchlist shuffle, too.
Letterboxd reviews and links mentioned:
Transcripts of podcast episodes available; Mitchell and Matt’s Apollo 10...
2022-03-3129 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Blank Check Pod’s Griffin & David on Star Wars, Sully, Hulk and robotsGriffin Newman and David Sims—two Letterboxd members who are well known to any serious lover of podcasts about movies—join hosts Gemma and Slim to lower the average rating of films on our Four Favorites seasons. From their renowned Blank Check Podcast, they select four of the best talking-point films: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Hulk, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and, in a Letterboxd Show exclusive, a long-awaited Blank Check Pod Sully discussion.
Plus: Vin Diesel—our weirdest living movie star? David’s four-faves behaviors; the boys have a soft spot for sad, existential robot movies; will Gri...
2022-03-291h 17
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: The Mank Couple on Moonstruck, Billy Wilder and the Before trilogy“Movies give us a love language of our own.” Romance is the theme on this episode, in which Letterboxd’s Mank Couple—film aficionado Erica Marquis and documentary filmmaker Ben Crew—join hosts Gemma and Slim to talk through their four romantic Letterboxd favorites: Before Sunrise, Moonstruck, WTC View and The Apartment, with a side-serving of Hitch and Love & Basketball. CW for mention of suicide.
Plus: wild opinions on Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love, what has happened since Erica and Ben originally hooked up, seeing Linklater’s Before trilogy in theaters, Cher’s best hair, food as a...
2022-03-221h 00
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Mia Vicino on Elaine May, Ewan McGregor, stoner movies and Kill BillScriptwriter and film columnist Mia Vicino (aka Brat) joins hosts Gemma and Slim to discuss her four Letterboxd favorites: Mikey and Nicky, Down with Love, Smiley Face, Kill Bill Volume 1. Mia also talks about reality vs perception in being a high-profile Letterboxd member, and her role as a co-host of our new weekly show, Weekend Watchlist.
Plus: Elaine May’s Hollywood battles, everybody’s crush on Ewan McGregor, our severe screwball rom-com drought, stoner movies, handheld ’90s camcorder vibes, being gay and doing crime, Adam Brody with dreadlocks, getting a contact high from watching movies, feminist buzzkill vibes...
2022-03-151h 04
The Letterboxd ShowWeekend Watchlist: Turning Red, The Adam Project and UltrasoundWelcome to Weekend Watchlist, brought to you by The Letterboxd Show! A brand new weekly show focused on new movies dropping in theaters and streaming. Join us every Thursday as we discuss our growing watchlists. We’ll get through this. Together. This week Mitchell and Slim talk about Turning Red, The Adam Project, Ultrasound, and look back at The Batman and After Yang. We also spotlight The Last Farmer which has jumped up Jack’s new weekly Top 50 of 2022 list.
Sponsor:
You can try MUBI free for 90 days at www.mubi.com/letterboxd. With MUBI, each and...
2022-03-1027 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Gemma & Slim on Pee-Wee, Austin Powers and machismoThe Letterboxd Show returns with more movie-lovin’ conversations about our four favorite films. In this season 3 premiere, hosts Gemma and Slim discuss their childhood faves: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Superman the Movie and Bloodsport. Was Christopher Reeve the most handsome human in history? How many times can Slim say “machismo” in one episode? Why does Bloodsport fall into Gemma’s female-gaze good books?
Plus: our hosts’ nanogenre personalities, journalistic ethics in action movies, the missing contours of The Batman, ’80s movie censorship, and Letterboxd Twitter poll winner Lewis on his two childhood f...
2022-03-081h 21
The Letterboxd Show2021 Year in Review RoundtableIt’s a 2021 Year in Review extravaganza! Hosts Gemma and Slim open the Letterboxd Hotline to experts on the three highest-rated films of the year: Matt Singer (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Juan Barquin (Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time) and Bintang Lestada (Yuni)—all of whom take a moment to plead for justice for Barb & Star, woefully ignored in the Letterboxd 2021 Year in Review. Senior editor Mitchell Beaupre and London correspondent Ella Kemp also join for discussion of Year In Review favorites. Topics include: unabashed crowd-pleasers, rethinking Andrew Garfield, how to comfort a hedgehog, movies and mental health, recency bias, the...
2022-01-101h 58
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Will Collins on Aliens, Wolfwalkers and wonderful livesIrish scriptwriter and Letterboxd member Will Collins dives into his four Letterboxd favorites: Jaws; Fargo; Aliens; and, because it’s holiday season, It’s a Wonderful Life. Also in this chatty episode: how to use the Letterboxd heart; Gemma fangirls over Will’s work on Cartoon Saloon films Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers; Will fanboys over Letterboxd (“I love the lists!”); Slim fanboys over graphic novels and slips in a li’l Tom Cruise; Will gets Fargo’s Mike Yanagita scene off his chest; and the best synopsis of the season so far (“There’s a shark at the beach but nobo...
2021-12-011h 17
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Lars Nilsen on Weird Wednesdays, Switchblade Sisters and Buster KeatonNoirvember continues with Austin Film Society lead programmer and exploitation genre fan Lars Nilsen, who dives into the muck and the grime, the farts and the fights, the stunts and the songs of his four Letterboxd favorites: Touch of Evil; The Switchblade Sisters, The General; and Phantom of the Paradise. Lars chats with hosts Gemma and Slim about his new memoir of the Alamo Drafthouse’s Weird Wednesday series—Warped & Faded: Weird Wednesday & The Birth Of The American Genre Film Archive—on sale now from Mondo. Also in the conversation: tiny men doing huge stunts, the cult of Jessica Harper...
2021-11-171h 11
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Angelica Jade Bastién on Possession, neo-noir, rage, and beautiful menFor Noirvember, we celebrate the new 4K release of Possession with Vulture film critic and spooky dame Angelica Jade Bastién, who joins hosts Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) and Slim (of 70mm podcast) to discuss her four favorites, which also include Le Samouraï; The Passionate Friends; and The Handmaiden. Plus: the ‘Feminine Grotesque’, that subway scene, “Possession pink socks meaning”, Keanu Reeves, the people on Angelica’s time-travel f—k-list, why directors should make shorter films, mental health in movies, neo-noir shortcomings, saying what you really think, and her cat’s fave Paul Newman film.
Links:
The Letterboxd list...
2021-11-031h 03
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Ella Kemp on Moulin Rouge!, Magnolia, CMbYN and Marmite moviesLetterboxd’s London film correspondent Ella Kemp joins hosts Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) and Slim (of 70mm podcast) to discuss her four favorites: Moulin Rouge!; Magnolia; Call Me by Your Name; and Singin’ in the Rain. Plus: Ella’s top picks from the BFI London Film Festival, making peace with problematic favs, what your favorite films reveal about you on dates, Slim’s Luhrmann aversion, Tom Cruise’s tighty whities, Debbie Reynolds’ gruelling dance classes, Gene Kelly the sadist, jukebox musicals, Marmite movies, how Gerwig and Guadagnino created a Letterboxd tipping point, Ella’s many theories about CMbYN, and the long wait for...
2021-10-2759 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Kate Hagen on cinematic sex, David Lynch and 80s vampire WesternsCinematic-sex sleuth, Kate Hagen (director of community for The Black List) discusses her four favorites—Near Dark; Baby It’s You; Wild at Heart; and Morvern Callar—with hosts Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) and Slim (of 70mm podcast). Also: the genius of how Bigelow stages action; Verhoeven’s kink for unisex shower scenes; the unacceptable decline of sex scenes in American movies; an awkward conversation about David Lynch’s films; the worst movies with the best sex scenes; Oscar Isaac thirst; the rarity of male frontal nudity; why you should get a region-free Blu-ray player. And, Kate unpacks Hollywood’s “cult of perfect...
2021-10-201h 07
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Chvrches on The Exorcist, Wes Craven, Carrie and ’90s teens“You find a lot out about yourselves from watching films.” Lauren, Martin (aka Dok) and Iain from Chvrches talk about the horror movies that influenced their new album Screen Violence, why they dropped album hints on their Letterboxd profile, and their five (!) favorite films: The Exorcist (“you can still get people with that film”); A Nightmare on Elm Street; Scream; Carrie and Get Out. Plus, they tell hosts Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) and Slim (of 70mm podcast) about remixing John Carpenter, Lauren’s career as a multiplex employee, Kevin Williamson and ’90s teen supremacy, watching movies on tour, the secret etching on t...
2021-10-131h 20
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Letterboxd founders Matthew & Karl on Arnie, Edgar and turning 10“We love doing this.” Letterboxd’s co-founders Matthew and Karl take hosts Slim (of 70mm podcast infamy) and Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) through two each of their four favorites (Commando; Short Circuit; Shaun of the Dead and Badlands), on the occasion of their creation turning ten. Also: how Letterboxd Easter eggs get made. Why Arnie is the ultimate movie dad. Celebrating Rae Dawn Chong. Is Edgar Wright on Letterboxd? Karl’s complicated relationship with his watchlist. Rethinking brown-face. American men and guns in movies. Rating films purely on enjoyment.
Links:
The Letterboxd list of all films mentioned in this...
2021-10-061h 04
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Jenni Olson on lesbian spies, Eddie Murphy and LGBT film history“I never learned how to make movies, I learned how to watch them,” says non-fiction filmmaker and film historian Jenni Olson as she talks lesbian runaways, spy spoofs and radical acts of love via her four Letterboxd faves: D.E.B.S.; Times Square; News from Home and Tongues Untied. Also: lesbian film tourism; men and their feelings; the joys of 16mm; Tim Curry as a New York DJ; Gemma drops some hot Letterboxd stats; what to watch for LGBT History Month; Slim re-thinks Eddie Murphy; our plans for a D.E.B.S. spin-off series (Amazon, Netflix, call us...
2021-09-2959 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Karsten Runquist on Fantastic Mr. Fox, Kaufman, Reichardt and ClimaxYouTuber, filmmaker and Letterboxd member Karsten Runquist takes hosts Slim (of 70mm podcast infamy) and Gemma (Letterboxd’s editor-in-chief) through his four Letterboxd favorites. Karsten’s top four change often, but his all-time faves are: Fantastic Mr. Fox; Synecdoche, New York; Wendy and Lucy; and Gaspar Noé’s Climax. Also: queuing for the wrong movie at film festivals, turning off Letterboxd comments for your mental health, being overcome by the A24 fog, the importance of dogs, and revisiting “before-Letterboxd” ratings.
Links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Karsten’s Fantastic Mr. Fox video essay
Revie...
2021-09-1555 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Jonah Feingold on rom coms, Robin Williams and sweater weatherWriter, director, hopeful romantic and Letterboxd member Jonah Feingold chats about how Jurassic Park influenced his rom-com feature debut Dating & New York, and his four Letterboxd favorites: Hook; When Harry Met Sally…; The Lion King; and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Also: Meg Ryan’s glorious back-lit hair, filming New York with a Pro-Mist filter, cold-emailing Hans Zimmer for a job, being filmmaking besties with Aneesh Chaganty, and the emotional rollercoaster of being on Letterboxd with a new movie out (“I celebrate all the reviews of my film. Some of the five star ones made m...
2021-09-0859 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Justin LaLiberty on Breathless, Dolph Lundgren and Snoop Dogg horrorOn this episode, film archivist and adult-movie enthusiast Justin LaLiberty (of Vinegar Syndrome) unleashes the Dogg for his four Letterboxd faves: Showdown in Little Tokyo; Bones; Breathless (the Richard Gere remake); and SexWorld. We also discuss the wildly underrated action star Dolph Lundren, the wildly underrated director Ernest R. Dickerson, why it’s stupid that remakes get a bad rap, the experience of seeing Cronenberg’s Crash far too young, working in video stores and movie theaters, Justin’s recent curatorial work on Letterboxd’s adult titles, and—again!—why Babe: Pig in the City is a five-star film.
Rel...
2021-08-2557 min
The Letterboxd ShowBillie Piper Special: Rare Beasts and rom comsActor, writer and director Billie Piper talks to Gemma Gracewood about the filmic influences behind her ‘anti-rom-com’ directorial debut, Rare Beasts, a black comedy about dysfunction, misogyny, grief and tap-dancing also starring Leo Bill, Kerry Fox, Toby Woolf, David Thewlis and Lily James. Plus: the movies that got Piper’s family through multiple lockdowns, the chaotic splendour of Paul Thomas Anderson, her love of Busby Berkeley and Pina Bausch, plus Cassavetes, Curtis, Dunham, Beyoncé, and the only celebrity she has ever been starstruck by. Rare Beasts is now in select US theaters and on demand, as of August 20, 2021.
Rela...
2021-08-2328 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Marya E. Gates on Little Women, Jane Campion and denim buttsClassic film enthusiast, writer, California native, and prog rock fan Marya E. Gates discusses her four favorites: Little Women (the Winona Ryder one); Bright Star; Under the Tuscan Sun; and Crossing Delancey. Also: the joys of a nice ass in a pair of tight denim (“I firmly believe that almost anybody’s butt looks good in a nicely fitted pair of jeans”), 4K butts, Pickle Man appreciation, Jane Campion’s mastery of chaste eroticism and the hotness of Gabriel Byrne.
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Marya’s Letterboxd story on denim in c...
2021-08-1858 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Grace Spelman on West Side Story, Bob Fosse, WhiplashComedian, musician and The Ringer Music Show podcast host Grace Spelman discusses her four Letterboxd faves (West Side Story; All That Jazz; In the Loop and Whiplash) with hosts Slim and Gemma. Also: party bangers, scary music teachers, bad movie dates, unapologetic laptop movie-watching, Alan Partridge, and Steven Spielberg’s upcoming West Side Story remake. Plus: why is All That Jazz so hard to find? And, who would win in a dance battle between theater kids and A24 nerds?
Related Links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Grace’s People dancing to Steely Dan...
2021-08-111h 02
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Jim Cummings on Children of Men, Tom Hanks and indie cinema“I should have never agreed to this podcast,” says indie filmmaking champion Jim Cummings as he sobs his way through his four Letterboxd faves (Inside Out; Krisha; Children of Men; and The ’Burbs) with hosts Slim and Gemma. Also: arm wrestling, humiliating characters, being an actor-director, DILFs, a Halloween Kills scoop, Tom Hanks’ comedy chops, exploding plates, and Jim’s next feature film, The Beta Test, which is coming out this fall via IFC Films.
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Ugly Cry! list
Demi’s review of Thunder Road
Sub...
2021-08-0453 min
The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Isabel Sandoval on sensual cinema, Punch-Drunk Love and blue ballsThis episode, quadruple-threat filmmaker Isabel Sandoval talks to Slim and Gemma about cinematic edging, sensual slapstick, nuns on screen, modern Filipino cinema, Verhoeven’s camp supremacy, audience blue balls, and, of course, her four Letterboxd favorites: Hiroshima Mon Amour, Jeanne Dielman, In the Mood for Love and Punch-Drunk Love. Slim, meanwhile, googles “French New Wave” while Gemma pours yet another coffee. Isabel wrote, directed, edited and starred in Lingua Franca, and more recently the sensual short Shangri-La.
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Isabel’s Sensual Cinema essay
French New Wave
Criterio...
2021-07-2849 minThe Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Brian Formo on Cannes, Eyes Wide Shut, Almodóvar and moreThis episode, we get high and turn the Yo-Yo Ma up to eleven with Letterboxd’s Cannes correspondent Brian Formo, whose four favorites (Eyes Wide Shut; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; Darkman; The Skin I Live In) all feature surgeons of some sort. Plus: Cannes applause explained, bad movie dates, Russell Crowe’s luscious locks, how much we love Sally Jane Black, and Pig—the spiritual sequel to Babe: Pig in the City.
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Letterboxd’s Festiville HQ
Brian’s review of...
2021-07-2156 minThe Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Josh Ruben on Jaws, Darkman, Werewolves Within and Patrick Wilson’s assThis episode, we hit the sweet spot with actor, writer, director and Letterboxd member Josh Ruben, whose new comedy-horror Werewolves Within is out now on video on demand. Josh takes hosts Slim and Gemma through his four favorites: Darkman, Jaws, Little Children and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. We praise Steve Martin’s dramatic roles, Spielberg’s “little mumblecore fish movie”, the secret to directing horror-comedy and why Ghost gets a “five all round” from Josh.
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Chopper Fireball’s exploding helicopter megalist
The highest-rated, most obsessive...
2021-07-1452 minThe Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Demi Adejuyigbe on I, Tonya, Lady Bird and the true meaning of loveThis episode, we do a f—kin’ triple with Demi Adejuyigbe; screenwriter, comedian and, quote, “not a critic”. Demi runs hosts Slim and Gemma through his four Letterboxd favorites: I, Tonya (“every scene is like candy to me”), Ocean’s Eleven (the Soderbergh one), Hot Rod (“the last truly great American goofball comedy”), and Lady Bird (“it literally changed my life”). Plus: the joy of Mary Poppins, the fear of rating movies in public, and the pleasure of watching F9, in costume, with 34 of your closest friends.
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films mentioned in this episode
Malco...
2021-07-071h 06The Letterboxd ShowFour Favorites: Gemma Gracewood & Slim on Strictly Ballroom, Robocop and human nipplesA podcast hosted in fear is a podcast half-hosted—so now we have two hosts! Slim and Gemma introduce a new format, in which we interrogate a guest about their four Letterboxd favorites. First in the hot seat: the hosts themselves. Slim makes Gemma watch Vanilla Sky, while Gemma puts Slim through his bago-pago with Strictly Ballroom. Plus: Daniel Day-Lewis’s most surprising role, Paul Verhoeven’s normalization of the nipple, and Mark Ruffalo can be anything you want. Finally, the pressing question: are you Team Tom or Team Nicole?
Related links:
The Letterboxd list of films...
2021-06-301h 03The Letterboxd Show18: Nomads and ForgeriesNomadland author and “newbie cinephile” Jessica Bruder joins host Gemma Gracewood for a chat about her favorite films, working night-shifts at Starbucks with Christina Ricci’s brother, Chloé Zhao’s unique directing magic, and why Shaun the Sheep Movie is way too stressful. The Last Vermeer star Guy Pearce drops by to talk about the intoxicating joys of interrogation scenes, the greatest Australian film ever made, and Letterboxd reviews of Memento. And, our Hollywood correspondent Dominic Corry on the Golden Globes, canapés, Coming 2 America, and the gender inclusivity of Interstellar fandom on Letterboxd. Plus, our NEON-Letterboxd 2021 Awards Bundle.
Rela...
2021-03-141h 02The Letterboxd Show17: Year in Review 2020In this bumper episode, Letterboxd mutuals Demi Adejuyigbe and Mia Vicino (AKA Brat Pitt) join Gemma Gracewood to talk about the top films in the 2020 Year in Review, their favorite Letterboxd features, the highs and lows of being ‘Letterboxd famous’, and why jobs are stupid. This episode also features a load of butt-talk, courtesy of The Kid Detective writer-director Evan Morgan and star Adam Brody (who also appears Promising Young Woman—both titles feature in 2020’s highest-rated crime films). And, McKenna drops in to tell us what she learned from her 366-day Twilight odyssey.
Related links
The Lett...
2021-01-181h 35The Letterboxd Show16: Shitlists and BangersHost Gemma Gracewood and guests Slim (70mm Podcast), Hannah Woodhead (Little White Lies’ Truth & Movies podcast) and Tim Batt (The Worst Idea Of All Time podcast) gather on the first Catsiversary of Tom Hooper’s mewsical misfire to look back at the so-bad-it’s-good films that got us through 2020, plus: our favorite “5-Bangers” of the year.
Highlights include: Slim’s The New Mutants nightmare, Tim’s 2020 trophies, Hannah’s … Has Fallen spree, Gemma’s mum’s Cats commentary, Kyle McLachlan’s Showgirls stand-in’s very nice ass-cheeks, a Tom Hooper in New Zealand rumor, and the celebrity animals that got us through...
2020-12-231h 05The Letterboxd Show15: Animators and WolfwalkersLetterboxd editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood hosts animation heads Toussaint Egan and Kambole Campbell, together at last, for a ramble through their all-time animation faves. Wolfwalkers director Tomm Moore on myths, hallucinogens, Wes Anderson and the joys of the Frozen soundtrack. Highlights include: all the love for Akira and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; Kambole’s short-lived stop-motion career; is Ghibli “basic”?! Should Arendell have fallen? The small matter of Disney and cultural imperialism; and Toussaint Egan’s best Mickey Mouse-as-the-banker-from-Network impression! Plus: a news exclusive on the Puffin Rock feature film.
Links
The Letterboxd list of all the films me...
2020-12-152h 02The Letterboxd Show13: Sound of MetalTears flow as writer-director Darius Marder and actor and ASL rocker Paul Raci join Letterboxd’s editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood to talk about their new film Sound of Metal, in which Ruben (Riz Ahmed), a punk-rock drummer suffering hearing loss, turns to adult deafness coach Joe (Raci, the son of deaf parents). We talk disability representation in movies, the Serenity Prayer as film structure, heavy-metal sign language, making producers’ brains hurt, and releasing your debut feature at the worst time in human history. Plus: other music movies for you to soak up before 2020 crawls back into its hole.
Film...
2020-11-2030 minThe Letterboxd Show12: Shithouse, Fall Festival RoundupOur London correspondent Ella Kemp joins Letterboxd’s editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood to talk about their highlights from the fall festival season. Later they’re joined by actor, writer and first-time feature director Cooper Raiff and his Shithouse co-star Dylan Gelula to talk college, crying, comfort films, and Dylan’s Letterboxd habits.
Films and links mentioned:
Synchronic
David Byrne’s American Utopia
Lovers Rock
I Carry You With Me
Shiva Baby
Shithouse
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Kajillionaire
I Used to Go Here
Revenge of the Nerds
St Elmo’s Fire
Right Now, Wrong Then
Lost in Translat...
2020-11-071h 07The Letterboxd Show11: Jim CummingsActor, writer and director Jim Cummings joins Letterboxd’s editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood to talk about his brand new film The Wolf of Snow Hollow, Robert Forster’s final role, toxic masculinity, tears, montages, werewolves, Fight Club, Fincher, turning shorts into features, his Letterboxd favorites, and the enduring emotional power of Inside Out’s Bing Bong.
Films and lists mentioned:
Rope
Rear Window
Beast Beast
Greener Grass
The Social Network
Zodiac
Fight Club
Thunder Road
The Robbery (short)
Blue Valentine
Rebel Without a Cause
Shithouse
What We Do in the Shadows
Napoleon Dynamite
An American Werewolf in London...
2020-10-1151 minThe Letterboxd Show10: The RealnessLetterboxd’s editor in chief Gemma Gracewood and lists editor Jack Moulton discuss their favorite docs of 2020 so far. Letterboxd members call in with their own top-doc picks, and we’re joined by Eli Despres and Elyse Steinberg, two-thirds of the directing team behind The Fight, which follows ACLU lawyers as they argue for major social justice issues including trans rights in the military and abortion access. Elyse also reveals she once acted in a Todd Haynes film. (We’ve kept in interruptions by children for pandemic documentary realness!)
Films and lists mentioned:
Official Letterboxd Top 100 Docume...
2020-09-151h 11The Letterboxd Show9: Alex WinterActor, documentarian and excellent human Alex Winter joins Letterboxd’s Gemma Gracewood and Jack Moulton to talk about his three new films: Showbiz Kids, Zappa and the long-awaited Bill & Ted Face the Music.
Films mentioned by Alex:
Bill & Ted Face the Music
Showbiz Kids
Zappa
Land Without Bread
The films of Stan Brakhage and Chris Marker
The Rolling Stones: Cocksucker Blues
Leaving Neverland
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Lost Boys
The Empire Strikes Back
Superman
Jaws
The films of Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire
Once Upon A Time... in Hol...
2020-08-301h 03The Letterboxd Show8: Lockdown FilmmakingFrom pitching to studios via video to filming in confined spaces, the filmmakers behind found-footage favorites Searching (Aneesh Chaganty) and new browser-horror Host (Rob Savage, Jed Shepherd and Gemma Hurley) share their best tips for making movies in quarantine. Plus, Rob and Aneesh reveal their heavy-duty Letterboxd habits, Aneesh talks about casting his next film, Run, and his roommate Blake pops in to explain their elaborate method for how to choose what film to watch.
Films mentioned by Jed, Rob and Gemma
As Above, So Below
Ghostwatch
Night of the Comet
Your Name. (君の名は。)
The Innocents
Films ment...
2020-08-151h 26The Letterboxd Show7: Ghibli Magic MomentsSince the roll-out of Studio Ghibli films on Netflix and HBO Max this year, there’s been an explosion of Letterboxd activity around the famed studio’s films. Our Ghibli-loving guests couldn’t be happier. David Jenkins (Little White Lies), Tasha Robinson (Polygon) and Adam Kempenaar (Filmspotting) share their Ghibli obsessions and discuss whether to “sub or dub”. Letterboxd members phone in with their favs. Plus: Little White Lies turns 15.
Links
David Jenkins’ review of My Neighbor Totoro
Polygon’s best Studio Ghibli scenes survey
@c0mmunicants’ Ghibli tweet
The Official Letterboxd Top 250
Letterboxd members’ top 20 favorite comfort f...
2020-07-011h 17The Letterboxd Show6: Black Life on FilmThis episode is dedicated to films about the Black experience. Our guest is Letterboxd member Adam Davie, creator of the extensive Black Life on Film list. Adam explains why he has spent three years creating the list and why it includes “the good, the bad and the ugly as it relates to the Black experience”.
Links
Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, 1989)
The Story of a Three-Day Pass (Melvin Van Peebles, 1968)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Rodney Rothman/Peter Ramsey/Bob Persichetti, 2018)
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck, 2016)
13th (Ava DuVernay, 2016)
Get...
2020-06-101h 06The Letterboxd Show4: Lockdown ThirstHas lockdown got you thirsty? This is the episode you need. Inspired by film writer Justine Peres Smith’s popular ‘Best Horny Movies for Quarantine’ list, Letterboxd editor Gemma Gracewood, Montreal-based Smith, and The Black List’s Kate Hagen dive deep into several erotic thrillers from the past two decades: Jane Campion’s In The Cut, Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden and Yann Gonzalez’s Knife + Heart. And we ask: where’s all the hot sex in Western film these days? Plus: Cronenberg, PTA, Roeg, Marilyn Monroe and more.
Links
Horny movies:
Kate’s Essential Erotic T...
2020-04-271h 10The Letterboxd Show2: Feeling GoodLocked down and looking for comfort, Letterboxd editor Gemma Gracewood, London-based film and music writer Ella Kemp and LA-based musician and writer Demi Adejuyigbe explore why Paddington Bear, Donald O’Connor and Talking Heads are deeply uplifting in these strange times, nominate their favorite actors-doing-things-on-the-internet, and find film-watching solutions to the attention-span issues that come with staying home.
Links
Pixar director recommendations for children:
All Ages
7 to 12 Years
12 Years and Over
The Letterboxd Feel-Good Showdown
Our interview with Paddington and Paddington 2 writer-director Paul King
Edgar Wright’s 100 favorite comedies
2020-04-0445 min
The Letterboxd Show1: 2020 Oscar Pre-ShowA panel discussion ahead of the 2020 Oscars, hosted by Letterboxd editor Gemma Gracewood with guests Kate Hagen, Demi Adejuyigbe and Dominic Corry. We revisit our favorite films of 2019, figure out why we still love the Oscars, award some additional trophies, and talk maybe a little too much about Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Links
Letterboxd’s downloadable Oscars Ballot: JPEG or PDF
Letterboxd 2019 Year in Review
2020 Oscars — All nominated films
2019–2020 awards season winners
The best years for Best Picture nominees, ranked (thanks to Jack Moulton)
Kate...
2020-02-061h 20