The Letterboxd Show

Noirvember 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, old folks and young folks partying together, the best genre film of 2021, shout-outs to Shudder and Kier-La Janisse, and aiming for that ‘car-crash experience’ with cinema audiences.

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Noirvember continues with podcaster and new dad Sean Fennessey, whose four favorites feature “a lot of powerful men who are f—kin’ idiots”: The Third Man; Throne of Blood; The Candidate; and Juice. Sean also chats with hosts Slim (of 70mm podcast infamy) and Gemma (Letterboxd editor-in-chief) about Harry Lime’s cuckoo speech, the zither as a weapon of war, best cat in a movie?, Mifune the supreme performer, Noh theater, judging Macbeth adaptations by the ‘out, damned spot!’ scene, his hip-hop obsession, how a profound soundtrack can create a movie audience, gateway Ghibli for newborns, how actors build mythologies, handsome men, men in overalls, men in sneakers, men with accents, and dudes being dudes, generally. Sean is head of content at The Ringer, co-host of The Big Picture, and a frequent guest on The Rewatchables.

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For 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.

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Letterboxd’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 Paddington 3.

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Cinematic-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 perfection” and what that means for fat actresses on and off screen (her essay for Letterboxd is publishing soon).

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“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 their new vinyl, the new Candyman, “The Wire effect”, and why He’s All That is all that.

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“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.

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“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); and Times Square 4K when?

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We discuss the eternal charms of Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro with Jake Cunningham and Michael Leader, the co-hosts of the famed Ghibliotheque podcast, who have a delightful new book out about the Studio Ghibli universe. Plus: thirsting for Bob Hoskins and being terrified by Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade a better sequel-prequel than The Godfather: Part II? Also: Soot sprite crafting tips; Totoro cream puffs; are Slim and Jake “basic boys”? And Bluey feature film when?

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YouTuber, 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.

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