Matthew’s Letterboxd Watchlist
I had secretly wanted to have a week where I watched at least 14 films. I’d come close on a couple of occasions but thought it might just be too much. This week however I managed it – 14 films, 12 of them new, and 4 from the BFI channel on Amazon that are ‘classics’ I’d always wanted to watch. A good week.
Metropolis
One of the most famous films, especially in the sci-fi genre. It’s every bit as good as you might imagine. The performances lack an element of nuance, but so early in cinema’s history you can forgive that. The story is an interesting one, the concepts and ideas presented on screen would still be good now, and all told it’s a pretty impressive feat.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
If I think the performances in Metropolis can be forgiven for lacking nuance, this film is the reason they perhaps shouldn’t. Some wonderfully internal stuff going on, particularly from our protagonist, alongside some great over the top villainy from the court. That this was taken from actual court documents about Joan of Arc is superb, and I think I’d put this with Twelve Angry Men as an example of a film unfolding as you watch and seeing interesting things occur.
Don’t Breathe
The premise to this sounded interesting enough and it was recommended recently. It goes a fair amount beyond what I expected as you get into the second half of the film, and then gets even more disturbing. I watched this on the train which isn’t the ideal scenario for a dark and tense thriller, but I could still see how this was pretty effective at being both uncomfortable and engaging.
Punch-Drunk Love
Mark Kermode talking about this on his recent series, and I’d often heard that it was a romantic comedy worth watching. I’m still not sure. It’s definitely different than the norm, and clearly the filmmakers put a huge amount of time into the stylistic presentation of the colour, sounds, themes, and overall imagery. But at the same time I didn’t really care about anyone in the film or feel sympathetic towards them.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
One of my favourite Star Trek films, we’re covering this on Pop Culturally Deprived so it should be a good conversation about why this film is lumped with the other ‘odd-numbered’ films in the series. Some great performances, still with a chuckle in most lines as well as some pretty well delivered emotional points.
Wayne’s World
Another film being done on Pop Culturally Deprived, I think this film hasn’t aged as well as others like Bill & Ted. Some of the comedy is absolutely top drawer, and it does a lot with a very little.
M
Another BFI channel film that I’d wanted to see for a very long time, this was a superbly made thriller. The use of the leitmotif to identify the killer, the fact he’s not revealed for so long, and the pervasive feeling of tension and disquiet all make it a terrific watch. Then the fact that the film takes so many viewpoints – businesses, police, criminals, children – really sets it apart from similar films.
Pitch Perfect 3
I wasn’t expecting great things but I got even less than that. This felt like the wrong film was made – rather than the girls being in yet another competition and antagonising the other bands I wanted to see them learning to actually enjoy what they do for the sake of it, whilst also growing up and being prepared to commit to other parts of their lives. That would have been easily supported by the John Lithgow story, but neither side worked for each other and it just ended up a weak film, containing bad accents, offensive jokes, and lacklustre performances.
Justice League Dark
We’re talking about this on Across The Arrow-Verse since we’re in the hiatus and watching other material. Matt Ryan is a great Constantine, and casting him in this was inspired. The film doesn’t do much to explain all the backgrounds here, you’re expected to know a lot of the key players, but the story is excellent and much more grown up (and dark) than is normal for these films.
Paris, Texas
I think I have to respect the film-making talent on display here as much as I didn’t enjoy the watch of this film. There are some beautiful shots that hold the sequence for so long, and allow the actors to do some really interesting, and difficult, things on screen. The slowly unfolding story and relationships is well done, but the pacing was just too slow for me to really enjoy it.
Do You Want To Win?
I like a good football documentary, and this was billed as ‘Leeds United and Manchester United fight it out to win the last Division One trophy before it becomes the Premiership’. It’s not that at all. This is talking heads about Leeds going from near the bottom of Division Two to winning Division One in two seasons. Which might be interesting, but there was very little actual football shown, and the focus was entirely on Leeds, meaning it will only be of interest to fans of that club.
Horus, Prince of the Sun
Billed as ‘the earliest Studio Ghibli film’, which is isn’t, this is still a really good story. But then it gets a bit weird, and unclear about who’s actually doing what, and then there are static images being panned across the screen for the fight sequences. Worth watching from a historical perspective but there is better.
The Little Hours
As much as I like Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza on the TV shows they’ve done (Mad Men/Community and Parks & Rec/Legion respectively), I’ve not seen a film with either in that I’ve really enjoyed. This was essentially my last time seeing if either would be able to sell me on their big screen efforts, and it really isn’t good enough to make me want to see more. The joke of people in the Middle Ages swearing and talking in a modern fashion is funny for a brief period, but the joke never goes beyond that. In the end a pretty forgettable film.
Passport to Pimlico
I’d been intrigued about this after reading the story behind the development of Wayne’s World 2, and lo it comes onto Amazon Prime. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, which has a lot of very English humour that I suspect would be lost on anyone not from the UK. Indeed I think a lot was lost on me just being too young to really see everything in it. But it’s a good story, some funny characters, and the final gag makes it all worthwhile.
Recommendation
M has just come onto Amazon Prime and I urge everyone to watch it. A really intense film that in some ways invents the thriller genre, as well as delivering a much more expansive film than might be expected.