To celebrate the 14th birthday of the hippest movie diary platform - and cohost Sammy finally joining earlier this year - we dive into how to best enjoy Letterboxd, the best accounts, challenges and lists to follow and how to write/rate what you watch + we host a Bracket featuring listener's contrarian movies. Join certified Hater (Sammy), Critic (Allix) and Enthusiast, our guest Zach Brooks, cohost of The Movier Ladder Podcast.
Some Letterboxd recs in the episode:
(1) Zach (brooksza + Movie Ladder), Allix (all_ix) and Sammy (gosnowso).
(2) Accounts: TimBrayton, NotPaulineKael, DemiAdejuyigbe, AndyHerren, MrDrenzaria (Dr Morbius), Shut Up Tim.
(3) Lists: add to your profile a masterlist like this. Check out: Anxiety Inducing Cinema, Movies Under 90mn, and Movies on Youtube.
(4) Challenges: Zach recs Criterion, Library Ladder, and Watchlist.
(5) Here and Here for free websites with extra recs and fun stats based on your Letterboxd history.
Outre is The Letterboxd Song by Luna Xoa, 2024 - EXCERPT only, shared in the context of cultural commentary so there is NO licensing or rights violation.
This month we zero in on arguably the biggest release of the year, PTA's latest One Battle After Another, and then reveal where it stacks up with with all his movies with Allix and Sam sharing how they rank the 10 movies of PTA.
SPOILERS start at minute 13:30.
Outre is "River of Hills" from the OBAA soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood
Allix joins the pod as cohost, to celebrate he shares his "MovieBio," the movies that tell the story of a life + he reveals how Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas and the others in the new movie Eden would do on the tv-show SURVIVOR.
Also review recent 2025 releases: Weapons (21:20), Eden and the Survivor strategies (27:00), Ne Zha 2 (39:10), The Naked Gun (42:30), Highest 2 Lowest (44:30), KPop Demon Hunters (47:12), Sorry Baby (47:40), Misericordia (48:05).
CLASSICS CORNER (49:06): Elizabeth (1998) Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
No SPOILERS in this episode.
Outro is Friend Like Me, Robin Williams, 1992
WAY BACK in May 2022, then cohosts Sam & John invited Paco Uybarreta - an experimental test pilot and USAF pilot - to unpack aerial thrills and frills of Tom Cruise's blast from the past, Top Gun Maverick.
FFW to 2025 and after the episode was mistakenly deleted, we've blasted this back from the past as a 2025 Matinee.
WAY BACK in 2020 June, then cohosts Sam & Av discussed Spike Lee's latest, Da 5 Bloods, before sharing their 5 most impactful movies on police racism from this list of 20+ on the subject.
After the EP was mistakenly deleted, now republishing as a "Matinee."
Outre is 1971's What's Going On by Marvin Gaye
WAY BACK in 2019 October, then hosts Will & Av invited on Zach Brooks to discuss the newest DC release, JOKER.
Little did they know a bad sequel would follow OR that Spotify would mistakenly delete this original episode, prompting a republishing ("Matinee") now in August 2025.
The bracket to determine the best movie of 1975 - joined by Allix and special guest Justin Purwitsky, along with listener callouts naming their favorite of 1975.
See the bracket featuring the 18 movies competing, see here.
Mild SPOILERS for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, Barry Lyndon, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Story of Adele H. and 3 Days of the Condor
Outro is Show Me The Way To Go Home, 1925 ditty by James Campell and Reginald Connelly, 1975 cover.
Classics Corner takes over the podcast for a special episode devoted to the Apu trilogy, the three celebrated Indian movies directed by Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali, Aparajito and The World of Apu. Joining us from Asia is Prof. Shai Chester for a spirited debate on experience vs purpose and a competitive draft of best characters from across the ACU (Apu Cinematic Universe) .
Outre is Ravi Shankar's "Improvisations On The Theme Music From Pather Panchali" (1999)
The new summer blockbuster F1 needs Brad Pitt and we need movie superfan Benji Gotfried - alongside The Movie Ladder Podcast cohost Zach Brooks and listener John to cover new releases from June 2025, headlined by the formula one flick as well as The Phoenician Scheme, The Life of Chuck, Materialists, and a bunch of murder movies: Echo Valley, 28 Years Later, Predator Killer of Killers and I Don't Understand You.
Minor SPOILERS only for F1 at 11:00 for 30 seconds.
Outre: Morning Evening by Tom Basden on the OST of The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
With a megastar like Tom Cruise bringing back his 8th Mission Impossible movie, we call upon a major guest in Zach of the Movie Ladder Podcast (+ Allix!) to unpack the summer blockbuster + recent releases like the comedies Mountainhead and Friendship and very different takes on "action" with MCU's Thunderbolts* and the Iraq War portrayal Warfare.
Mild SPOILERS for Mission Impossible Final Reckoning.
Outro is Aquarela do Brasil, also called Brazil, composed 1939 by Ary Barroso, recorded 1985 by Michael Kamen with Kate Bush
Sammy's three siblings join him to highlight their favorites from the "40 at 40" list he prepared for his 40th birthday: choosing one movie that was released in each of the past 40 years that most resonates with him today.
For the full list of 40 movies over 40 years, see: https://letterboxd.com/gosnowso/list/40-at-40/
Outre: 40 Years Old, 2018, Casey Lowry ft. Rothwell
A24 superfan Aaron of Why We Love Horror returns to figure out once and for all which of the two arthouse movie studios has produced the best of the bunch. We run through a bracket -- see here for the bracket visual! -- featuring 16 movies, 8 from both A24 and Neon. As the kids say these days, Who Will Win?
ALSO, we highlight a few April movies: Sinners, Freaky Tales, The Assessment, Bring Her Back and Borderline.
Outre: With Plenty of Money and You, With Plenty of Money and You” composed in 1937 by Harry Warren for the movie Gold Diggers of 1937 , covered in 1959 by Tony Bennett.
2025 has begun with a BONG and so back is Kyle King - cohost of the gaming and movie podcast Board Game Box Office - to unpack the modestly mid and mildly mid movies from the first 3 months of the year, and 24m into this ~30m episode, a deep dive into the followup to Parasite, Mickey 17.
Movies discussed: Captain America Brave New World, Death of a Unicorn, Holland, Grand Theft Hamlet, Last Breath, September 5, Bring Them Down, Black Bag, MICKEY 17
Classics Corner: Hoosiers, Agemonia
NO spoilers in this episode.
Outre: "Rejoice in the Lord" (2025), Mickey 17 OST - EXCERPT AS PART OF A CULTURAL REVIEW SO DONT SUE SPOTIFY
Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we released 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket. These episodes reduced the bracket to 8 movies, an Elite 8, and in this episode we roll to the end and name the bracket champion! At the end, all the listener clips are included naming their favorite 2024 movie.
The bracket was also released as a complete episode complete with listener submitted clips, available here.
To discuss and decide the Elite 8, Grace Leeder and Aaron Brooks. returned, joined by another earlier 'judge,' Allix.
Grace writes about movies and pop culture for Parade and cohosts the podcast The Tastemakers. Aaron cohosts Why We Love Horror, a youtube channel for horror movies and tv, which in 2025 is running a weekly horror movie challenge.
The 8 movies in the Elite 8 are [SPOILERS for the prior rounds of the bracket]...
The Brutalist, Dune Part 2, The Promised Land, The Animal Kingdom, Robot Dreams, Flow, A Real Pain, Anora
No spoilers in this episode!
The Bracket can be found here.
The bracket to determine the best movie of 2024 is here - after releasing the bracket in separate episodes, here you can tackle the ENTIRE (3 hour!) bracket!
Joined by guests including Allix, Zvi, Grace Leeder of Parade and the Brooks Brothers, Zach of The Movie Ladder Podcast and Aaron of Why We Love Horror, as well as many clips from listeners naming their favorite of the year.
SPOILERS only for these movies: The Brutalist and Dune 2.
The 32 movie Bracket can be found here.
Outro is You Are My Destiny, 2022, sung by Mina, composed by Paul Anka (1957)
Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!
The 4th and FINAL bracket corner welcomes Grace Leeder and Aaron Brooks. Grace writes about movies and pop culture for Parade and cohosts the podcast The Tastemakers. Aaron cohosts Why We Love Horror, a youtube channel for horror movies and tv, which in 2025 is running a weekly horror movie challenge.
The 8 movies featured include ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, EMILIA PEREZ, BIRD, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD and more!
No spoilers in this episode!
The Bracket can be found here.
Outro is Una Goccia Nel Mare, 2024, Valentino Santagati, soundtrack of La Chimera.
Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!
The third bracket corner - joined by Zach of the Movie Ladder Podcast and Zvi who went to see Dune 2 in theaters 2x in one week - has no shortage of contenders: The Brutalist, Dune Part 2, Nickel Boys, A Different Man, The Substance, Love Lies Bleeding, Furiosa (Fury Road 2) and The Apprentice.
Mild SPOILERS for The Brutalist from minute 32:00!
The Bracket can be found here.
Outro is Pump it Up!, 2019 remix by Endor, composed by Danzel in 2004, soundtrack of The Substance
Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!
The second bracket corner - joined by Aussie Adam - is chock full of 'adult' animations like Robot Dreams, The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, Flow and pseudo animations like The People's Joker and the Tollywood extravaganza Kalki 2898. Also: Hit Man and The Order.
No spoilers in this episode!
The Bracket can be found here.
Outro is My Walking Stick, 1974, sung by Leon Redbone, composed by Irving Berlin, soundtrack of Hit Man
Every year we host a bracket to determine the best movie of the year -- this year we are releasing 4 separate episodes for each 'corner' of the bracket, culminating with a final episode compromising the entire bracket!
The first bracket corner - joined by movie pros Allix and Zvi - includes movies like Anora, A Real Pain, Challengers, A Complete Unknown, Babygirl, Hundreds of Beavers, The Last Stop in Yuma County, Sing Sing and the movie that earned the top seed based on critics scoring, Ghostlight.
No spoilers, save for minor comments on Anora.
The Bracket can be found here.
Outro is I Don't Regret Anything (Ne Zhaleyu ni o Chyom)
2024 Anora Soundtrack, sung by AnDy Darling, Composed by Anastasia Dunaeva
TWBP comes back from hiatus to run down the most disappointing movies of 2024, those that we had such high hopes for... and failed us ;-(
No Spoilers in this episode.
This episode was recorded on Dec 30 and due to complications, uploaded only in Feb 2025.