Matthew’s Letterboxd Watchlist
This week is a good mix of every type of film – a couple of classics, films I wanted to watch, a couple of recommendations, and some upcoming podcast viewings. It’s been pretty easy to get through them too, I’m thoroughly enjoying the spread of pictures at the moment.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Another upcoming podcast episode, which ended up being a much more enjoyable conversation than expected, which gave me a new way of viewing this film that I’d never had. I’ve always seen this as part of the six original movies, rather than as a film on its own after 10 years away, which makes the boring parts even more boring. So that’s going to be an episode that’ll be fun to hear back.
West Side Story
A classic that I’d never seen, because musicals of this kind aren’t my thing. You can see the movement away from ‘traditional’ musicals towards something with more plot and social commentary, but in general it didn’t work for me. I wasn’t convinced by any of the characters, and the terrible plotting of parts of Romeo & Juliet were left as is rather than taking the opportunity to improve them.
Mad Max 2
@thisaeshaw on Twitter recommended I do go back and watch Mad Max 2 and 3, despite not enjoying the original, especially since I think Fury Road is one of the greatest films ever made. I was surprised at the progression shown from the first one, and the story had more twists and actual plot than I expected from it.
Nashville
BWDR did a poll of the films people thought most represented America. This came top, and was already on my list of films to see, so the 5th July seemed the best time to watch it. I enjoyed it a lot, although I’m not sure it’s easy to recommend since there’s not really a plot, and the ensemble makes it hard to really engage with any particular character. I’d almost describe it as being like Love Actually with a larger cast, and being about success and power in America than romance. I’m very pleased to have seen it, and I think it’s another to go on the list of films to watch again next year.
True Grit
Continuing the Coen brothers watching, both versions of this came on Sky Cinema on the same day. I knew the more recent one was supposed to be the better so I watched it, which was a strange experience as I had already seen large swathes of it, including the ending. I have no recollection of watching it, but I’d definitely seen it before. By and large enjoyable, Jeff Bridges doing the thing he does as a gruff man.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
The third was less good in terms of the plot and action, but you can definitely see the through line from here to Fury Road’s scale and world. However I am baffled that they went from a $10 million budget for this to $150 million for Fury Road!
Addams Family Values
We left this on after the football on Saturday evening. It still holds up as one of the great sequels for me – Joan Cusack is superb, and the constant joking as it goes through delivers the majority of the time, and when it doesn’t, there’s another gag along in 30 seconds.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
I’d been looking forward to watching this since its release but missed it at the cinema. The film was a lot more nuanced than I expected, really exploring the elements of polyamory, love, and living in a society that does not respect your life choices. The women in particular were incredibly well done, both in the way they were written and performed.
Top Gun
Another upcoming podcast, which will be an interesting one. This film does action and tension really well, but the characters have no nuance, the dialogue is very hammy, and by and large the film does not surprise as it goes through.
Recommendation
I think the recommendation this week has to be Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Much less about the creation of Wonder Woman and much more about accepting and being true to yourself. I would love to see this same story delivered with the women as the focus of the plot rather than the man, especially his wife Elizabeth who had to come to terms with her own views and prejudices to accept herself.