Latest news with #Letterboxd
Vogue
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
This Stupidly Simple Trick Helped Me Reduce My Screen Time by a Third
Earlier this year, I read a book that changed my life: Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing. First published in 2019 and gifted to me by a friend and colleague shortly thereafter (thank you, Emily Chan), I had initially resisted opening it because I'd assumed that it was a self-help book that would tell me to switch off and decamp to a yurt in the countryside, living off the land and staring at the sky for entertainment. But no: Odell's tome is actually an art book disguised as a self-help book. She is an artist, writer, and academic who uses examples within contemporary art to make us consider the mechanics of the attention economy—how it keeps us absorbed, addicted, anxious, and unable to fully focus on anything beyond our devices. It is, very staunchly, not a book filled with tips and tricks, but one which seeks to reframe your thinking and make you more aware of the digital stimulants constantly competing for your attention—the ads glowing brightly in an attempt to catch your eye, the apps designed to keep you scrolling endlessly, and the bombardment of notifications that compel you to work through them before you can do anything else. Since reading it, I've become so much more conscious of how I interact with my phone. It's all well and good to be on it, or on your laptop, when you actually have something to do, but what about when you don't? Why am I listlessly swimming through a stream of content when I don't need to be? It's how I realized that I love the Letterboxd app—it's generally pretty dark, unstimulating, and free of notifications, which means I can pop on to look at it and easily pop out again. It's also how I reassessed my relationship with Duolingo. The latter is an app designed to keep users coming back daily, with its emphasis on streaks and leaderboards, but I came to understand that I could just tap into it when I wanted to learn something and then choose to put it away at other times. Yes, the app punishes me for not maintaining my streak (I have often seen the green owl mascot crying at my lack of consistency), but this is my small, intentional act of resistance.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Carrie Coon Reveals Her Husband Tracy Letts' Unique Vice: 'He Doesn't Do Drugs or Buy Cars'
During a June 16 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Carrie Coon revealed that her husband Tracy Letts is a fervent collector of DVDs The White Lotus star said that he owns "over 10,000," adding that more "arrive every day" The couple and their two children watch the movies together and post reviews on LetterboxdCarrie Coon is supportive of her husband Tracy Letts' unexpected vice. During a Monday, June 16 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, theThe White Lotus actress, 44, spoke with host Jimmy Fallon about Letts' shockingly large collection of DVDs. According to her, he owns "over 10,000" of them and more "arrive every day." "He doesn't do drugs or buy cars. It's fine," Coon jokingly rationalized to Fallon. She also shared how Letts' collection has become something of a family affair. Coon explained that she and Letts, who she marred in 2013, have a shared Letterboxd account where they share reviews of the movies that they're watching. Their two children — son Haskell, 7, and a 3-year-old daughter whose name has not been made public — even join in on the fun. "We used to post them on X, but now it's a hellscape," Coon said about the reviews. "And so now we decided we had to go to Letterboxd because we wanted to continue the tradition because people like the movie-watching lists." "And it turns out a lot of film students don't know things," she added. "Like, they've seen a meme from Deliverance, but they've never seen Deliverance. Or they've never seen An Unmarried Woman. Anyways, tons of films." Speaking about Haskell, the actress said, "We've been posting reviews from my son also because he's the only 7-year-old I know who you put a movie on, and he goes, 'Yes! It's in black and white!' " While their daughter is "a little bit more traditional," Coon added that Haskell is "a total cinephile." Their kids have weighed in on surprising movies. Earlier in 2025, they watched a silent version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. "The kids were surprisingly into this. The boy gives it a thousand stars," she said, noting Haskell's high praise. "The girl gives it 12 stars (because 12 is her favorite number)." In a review of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the family wrote, "The boy gives it 100 stars, 'maybe more.' The girl made it nearly to the end and then called it quits." Coon confirmed that her kids did more than sit through the movie. She said her son "reads the titles out loud and kind of acts them out and then gets really excited. And my daughter sat through the whole thing. She's 3. I think she's just trying to impress her brother. She also likes Frozen, but, you know. One more obvious film that the family reviewed was 2024's The Wild Robot — "The boy gives it so many stars that he doesn't know how many stars he can give it." Another thing that Coon watched with Letts was the third season of HBO's The White Lotus, which she starred in. She told Fallon that the couple tuned in every week to watch the new episodes, adding that she forgot what had happened after filming. For a show that is notoriously shrouded in secrecy, Fallon wanted to know if Coon had a hard time keeping the plot a secret. "They collected our scripts in Thailand. We weren't allowed to have them out. But no, it was not hard because I don't see anyone or do anything or have any friends," she teased, adding, " And I think my parents watched the show, but they haven't mentioned it yet so I don't know for sure. So no, it was easy for me." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The White Lotus is now streaming on Max. Read the original article on People
Daily Mirror
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's ‘underrated' thriller now streaming
An underrated crime film from over 10 years ago starring two of Hollywood's biggest stars is currently streaming Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's forgotten team-up from 2013 has just been added to Prime Video. The A-list Hollywood duo are best known for portraying love interests in the romantic-comedy Crazy Stupid Love and the Oscar-winning musical La La Land. However, they co-starred together in between these two hits in a wildly different film that's been all but forgotten. Helmed by Venom and Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, Gangster Squad received middling reviews when it was first released and was not a huge hit amongst movie buffs. Gosling stars as Sergeant Jerry Wooters, a WWII veteran tasked with bringing down Los Angeles mob leader Mickey Cohen (played by Sean Penn), along with fellow cop Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin). Stone features in the film as Grace Faraday, an etiquette teacher close to Cohen who eventually falls for Jerry in this glossy send-up of hard-boiled noir thrillers. While Gangster Squad didn't capture audiences' imaginations as much as their other two collaborations, Gosling and Stone fans should definitely take this opportunity to give it another go now it's on Prime Video. Plenty of fans have reassessed the film as an underrated gem, with a Letterboxd reviewer saying: 'Definitely underrated as a movie and I definitely didn't expect it to get such bad reviews on several famous platforms... 'Although its script and plot were nothing out of the ordinary and original the film's vibes and noir genre were definitely what I loved about it!' Another wrote: 'This one smashed it out of the park for me. I had low expectations going in but came out very pleasantly surprised and to be honest, pretty damn impressed. 'Great cast, superb production design, fantastic shootouts and overall, really well made and hugely enjoyable. I loved it.' Get 30 days of Prime Video totally free £8.99 £0 Amazon Get Prime Video here Product Description And someone else asked: 'What did this movie ever do to you guys to receive all bad ratings?' The film received a similar appraisal from a recent Reddit post, as a moviegoer argued: 'Gangster Squad (2013) is actually pretty good. 'This one really surprised me... And just to clarify right off of the bat, I'm not saying I think it deserved any Oscars or anything, but it's way more fun than I was expecting the gangster-movie from the director of Zombieland, Venom, and Uncharted to be... (man, Ruben Fleischer has an odd filmography.)' There are also scores of five-star Google reviews for the film, including one calling it 'CRIMINALLY UNDERATED'. 'This is the modern day untouchables,' it continued. '1940s LA is such a beautiful setting. The writing for the characters is great. 'A true sense of brotherhood. Sean Penn portrays a terrifying Mickey Cohen. The action is top notch.' Don't let Gangster Squad fall off your radar if you've not yet checked out Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's most misunderstood cinematic team-up.
Cosmopolitan
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
The 16 Best Movies by Female Filmmakers
There's a well-worn (read: tiresome) myth that there just aren't that many great films directed by women. We've gathered here today to shatter that illusion into a million glittering, high-frame-rate pieces. From dreamy indie gems to Oscar-anointed powerhouses, these are the female-directed films that critics adore, film students dissect, and your friend with the Letterboxd addiction is using to impress boys in Brooklyn. This list is far from exhaustive—but it's a solid start. Céline Sciamma's slow-burn queer romance between a painter and her subject unfolds on the windy edges of 18th-century France, simmering with erotic tension and serving some of the most beautiful visuals committed to film. Also, zero men. It's perfect. Stream Now Come for Paul Mescal's short shorts, stay for the devastating emotional autopsy of memory and fatherhood. Charlotte Wells gives us grief as memory, and love as a camcorder flicker. You won't cry until three days later in the shower. Stream Now A dreamy, melancholic portrait of suburban ennui and adolescent mythmaking. Still her most haunting—and debatably best—film. Stream Now Agnès Varda made existential dread look chic before it was cool. This French New Wave classic follows a pop singer in real time as she awaits medical results—and questions everything. Black-and-white, but make it deeply interior and defiantly feminist. Stream Now Now tell me why Twilight feels like an indie. Say what you want, but Catherine Hardwicke kicked off the YA vampire craze with blue-tinted angst and Kristen Stewart's best lip-bite acting. The remainder of the franchise was helmed by a rotating selection of men, but hey, at least we had Forks. Stream Now Chloé Zhao turns economic collapse into a spiritual odyssey, while Frances McDormand poops in a bucket and finds transcendence on the open road. Bleak? Sure. But also strangely liberating. Stream Now Ava DuVernay's blistering documentary connects the dots between slavery and the modern prison-industrial complex with clarity and conviction. Required viewing that doubles as a cinematic mic drop. Stream Now A Western for the modern era, Campion uses the genre to explore repression, queerness, and toxic masculinity—plus, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a cowboy with layers (of emotion and textiles). Stream Now Lorene Scafaria's stripper crime saga is Goodfellas meets Magic Mike, with pole-dancing as economic resistance. in this film is a moment, a movement, a manifesto. It's also a recession story, which feels…timely. Stream Now Possibly the quietest horror film ever made, Kitty Green captures the banality of evil via printer paper and passive-aggression. A single day in the life of a junior assistant at a Weinstein-esque firm becomes a subtle warning about complicity and silence. Stream Now A bisexual panic attack of a film, Emma Seligman traps us in the most claustrophobic Jewish funeral this side of Curb Your Enthusiasm and lets anxiety do the talking. If you've ever been trapped at a family function with your ex and your sugar daddy, you'll relate. Stream Now Kathryn Bigelow's high-octane war thriller drops you into Iraq with a fuse already lit. It's testosterone cinema, sure—but filtered through a woman's gaze that interrogates addiction, masculinity, and the futility of control. Stream Now This is coming-of-age storytelling at its sharpest and most specific. Greta Gerwig's semi-autobiographical teen dramedy is a perfectly imperfect ode to mothers, Catholic school, and Sacramento ennui. Every line is a quote, every feeling a gut punch. It's not boring—it's Sacramento. Stream Now A talky film that shouldn't work—but absolutely does. Sarah Polley's Mennonite #MeToo chamber drama is essentially a 90-minute moral philosophy debate—and it's riveting. Quiet fury, radical forgiveness, and the power of choosing your own exit. Stream Now An iconic meet-cute on a basketball court, this coming-of-age film is singular. It's a sports movie that is also a rom-com that is also a generational Black love story. We still quote 'double or nothing.' Stream Now Eliza Hittman crafts an odyssey out of necessity in this quietly radical, observational tale. Two teens, one unplanned pregnancy, and a bus ride to New York that becomes a study in sisterhood, strength, and the systemic failures of reproductive care. Again, timely. Stream Now
Irish Daily Mirror
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Daniel Craig's 'excellent' war film has quietly become a Netflix hit
Netflix has added the acclaimed wartime saga Defiance to its library, starring none other than Daniel Craig alongside Liev Schreiber. This gripping tale, based on the 2008 historical drama, has garnered a loyal set of fans over time, with new viewers hailing it as "one of the best films ever." Defiance chronicles the incredible story of the Bielski brothers — Tuvia, Zus, Asael, and Aron — four Jewish siblings who led a rebellion against the Nazis by setting up a guerrilla base in the Belarusian woods. The film paints a cinematic portrait of their daring mission to provide a safe haven for over 1,200 Jews, essentially crafting a village in the forest while living under the constant menace of Nazi discovery. Taking the lead as Tuvia, the oldest of the Bielski brothers, is Daniel Craig, with Liev Schreiber portraying the fiery resistance fighter Zus, Jamie Bell as middle brother Asael, and George MacKay, famed for his role in 1917, playing the youngest sibling Aron, reports the Express. Edward Zwick, known for his work on The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond, directed Defiance, which debuted just in time to be in contention for awards season at the end of 2008, earning itself an Oscar nod for Best Original Score for composer James Newton Howard, with a Golden Globe nomination to boot. Shot in Lithuania, a mere 200 kilometres from where the real events occurred, the film crew tapped into natural forest settings and even recruited locals with ancestral ties to the Jewish people saved by the Bielskis for Defiance. Although its initial run in a limited number of cinemas was modest, Defiance picked up pace during its general release, raking in $52 million globally. The critical consensus was lukewarm; however, viewers have gradually come to celebrate the movie over the years. A Letterboxd user gave a glowing five-star review stating: "Must watch 10/10. Whenever you have Daniel Craig (Bond) and Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) play two Nazi-hunting Jews navigating a group of a thousand displaced Belorussian Jews through the Yarden forest, facing the ultimate adversity - you have me sold". Meanwhile, another said: "Action-packed, great quotes, accurate, and a thrill ride from start to finish. You'll be rethinking how powerful a sense of community is. (People forget!)". The film, which now available to stream on Netflix, has garnered acclaim for its emotional depth, adeptly juggling the epic tale of survival with poignant moments of personal struggle. It delves into the complexities of leadership when faced with harrowing odds, especially as the ensemble grows from a few combatants to a congregation exceeding a thousand. One viewer shared their thoughts, saying: "For me, one of the best films ever. So inspiring and tragic at the same time. Worth watching." Meanwhile, another viewer was puzzled by the lack of widespread acclaim, commenting "I still find it crazy that this film is not considered a modern classic, with its stunning cinematography, fantastic performances, and gripping story". You can now stream Defiance on Netflix.
