Letterboxd 4 Wednesday - 5/15
Hey everyone. Welcome to another edition of “Letterboxd 4 Wednesday”. The weekly series where I cover what films are in my top 4 on Letterboxd (mostly notably 4 of my favorite films) and share my mini thoughts on them. Let’s dive into what are those 4 picks for this week are, shall we?
The Incredibles (2004), dir. Brad Bird
Brad Bird crafted an ideal example of what a perfect film should be like like that goes beyond the medium of animation and the superhero genre as a whole. This superhero family drama has fantastic and rich writing that allows every scene and growth has importance to them, action sequences that exceptional both on an technical and an entertaining level, characters with real growth, depth, and personality to them, tone that strikes the lines of action packed, comedy, thriller, and drama in a perfect bow, a musical score that slaps both within the context of the film and on its own, themes that are relevant to today’s age and far more adult than a huge amount of films made for adults. Literally everything you want in a film and more is found in this masterpiece that 20 years latter has aged like fine wine.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980), dir. Irvin Kershner
Recently, I have been on a Star Wars binge by re watching the 8 films in the Skywaker saga of Star Wars (yes you heard me, 8 films) and it’s only fitting that I mention arguably the peak of the entire Star Wars franchise on this series. There isn’t much else to add that hasn’t been said by everyone else already. This film changed the sequel world forever and does what every great sequel should do in where it takes everything that makes the original so good and expanding upon it, while also taking the series into darker, more mature, and more emotionally profound ways that make every plot decision, character arc, new locations, action set pieces, filmmaking techniques (I need to say that even for 1980, this is one of the most beautiful looking films I’ve ever seen) and thematic depth feel earned by the end and make it feel like it’s own unique thing in the process. But in all honesty, you already know why it’s peak and I’m just going to leave it like that.
Alien (1979), dir. Ridley Scott
What happens you combine two of my favorite genre in films (sci-fi and horror) into one film? You get one of the most creative, most suspenseful, most terrifying, and most brilliant films ever to be crafted by mankind. Ridley Scott’s masterpiece is tragic tale about survival, losing people dear to you, and the fear of being alone while a terrifying creature comes and attacks you. On top with providing some of the most impressive production design, cinematography, and set design, affective scares, a haunting musical score, and one of the best characters in all of media within Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Literally you can’t ask for a better sci-fi horror film than with this gem.
Oppenheimer (2023), dir. Christopher Nolan
The most recent film to win Best Picture at the oscars, and funny enough, it also happened to be my favorite film to come out from last year and a strong contender for my favorite film directed by Christopher Nolan. This 3 hour biopic about Robert J. Oppenheimer goes beyond the limitations of what a typical biopic should be and allows for Nolan to play with his mastery tricks with time and his non linear structure to craft an in depth character study about Oppenheimer and the legacy he left behind both as the father of the atomic bomb and who he is a person with spectacular results. This is one of those films that I would love to cover it in an in depth review someday, because there’s so much to cover and discuss that it can’t be cover in these mini thoughts under any circumstances. All I can say that I’m so happy this film won Best Picture, Nolan won Best Director, and Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for this out of world performance he displayed here.
That’s my “Letterboxd 4 Wednesday” for this week. I hope you guys enjoy reading my picks for this week, and let me know what’s your top 4 on Letterboxd for this week.