X is no longer a productive platform to talk about anything, let alone movies. Sure, you might want to check out Rotten Tomatoes to see the broad consensus over new releases, but there are so many targeted downvoting campaigns that it can be hard to determine what’s real and what's ... bot. Even IMDb, the internet’s greatest movie database, actually shut down its message board system after decades.
Letterboxd is a database as much as it's a social app, allowing users to connect with friends, strangers and celebrities who log the movies they watch. The app is made for the obsessive cinephile in everyone, and it has highly unusual curated lists, reviews of obscure titles and niche rabbit holes to follow. Although the sharing of sharp, clever reviews has become one of the site’s best-known functions, Letterboxd has successfully built a craze over its most identifying feature: the titles each user selects as their “four favorites” at any given time.
These choices say a lot about a person and Letterboxd has given us a whole new way to judge and be judged by others. If you pick four recent titles, you could be accused of being an illiterate populist who hasn't delved into true cinema. If you pick four obscure titles only known by film students, you’re going to come across as a snob who's trying too hard. Picking four titles from the same actor or director means you’re a try-hard fan who needs to expand your viewpoint. It’s too hard not to judge everyone when the internet makes it so accessible, so let's jump right in by taking a look at the favorite four from various actors and filmmakers from Texas.
Glen Powell's
Picks: Singin’ in the Rain, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jurassic Park, TootsieGlen Powell’s ascent to stardom has certainly been one of the biggest stories of 2024; between his awards-worthy role in the dark comedy Hit Man, the smash success of the blockbuster summer sequel Twisters and even a brief cameo on the most recent Halloween special for Family Guy, Powell is in the running for the unofficial title of The Next Tom Cruise. Powell’s Letterboxd favorites include some obvious picks (who doesn’t love Jurassic Park?), but his pick of Singin’ in the Rain brings up a very important question: Can he sing?? And if so, why has he not been cast in a musical yet?
Our ranking of the ranking: Highly respectable
Scoot McNairy
Picks: Heat, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Shining, The Last of the MohicansScoot McNairy may have been one of the quintessential “that guys” after his small roles in everything from Gone Girl to the third season of True Detective, but this year he had a major hit on his hands when he appeared alongside James McAvoy in Blumhouse’s acclaimed remake of the international horror film Speak No Evil. McNairy has another horror hit in his top four with Stanley Kubrick’s all-time classic The Shining, but he also curiously has two Michael Mann films with Heat and The Last of the Mohicans. Does that mean he is in contention to pop up in Heat 2 when it eventually goes into production?
Our ranking of the ranking: Mann-centric, but solid
Mckenna Grace
Picks: Romeo & Juliet (1996), Tangled, Priscilla, OppenheimerMckenna Grace has starred opposite Chris Evans (Gifted), Alison Janney (I, Tonya), Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), and now is leading the new Ghostbusters franchise — pretty impressive for an 18-year-old. Grace’s picks may lean a little bit to the newer, but given how consistently she’s been working, we’ll assume that she may have been too busy to check out anything made decades before her birth. We’ll also give her credit for picking Tangled, which Disney fans know is the superior princess movie to the overrated Frozen.
Our ranking of the ranking: Acceptable
Richard Linklater
Picks: The Long Goodbye, She Came Running, The Beaches of Agnes, The Godfather: Part IIGlen Powell would be nothing if it weren’t for Richard Linklater, the legendary Texas director who cast him in Fast Food Nation, Everybody Wants Some and this year’s Hit Man. Linklater has made a name for himself making very grounded, “slice of life” movies such as Boyhood and the Before trilogy, which is why it is so interesting that he picked a film as epic as The Godfather: Part II as one of his favorites. We want to see what a Linklater mob movie looks like!
Our ranking of the ranking: Excellent
J.J. Perry
Picks: The Godfather, Forrest Gump, Rocky, PhiladelphiaThe Texas stuntman-turned-filmmaker we interviewed two years ago has another hit on his hands, as this year he directed the action comedy The Killer’s Game, starring Dave Bautista and Terry Crews. One might expect an experienced martial arts expert such as Perry to be reverential toward action classics like Die Hard and the Lethal Weapon series, but his four favorites include three Best Picture winners and one of the greatest legal dramas ever made.
Our ranking of the ranking: Surprisingly great
Selena Gomez
Picks: One True Thing, The Fighter, Father of the Bride, ShrekLaugh all you want, but billionaire Selena Gomez is a legit thespian now. In addition to scoring an Emmy nomination (finally!) for her role in Only Murders in the Building, Gomez is going to be in the thick of the Academy Award race this year thanks to her performance in the musical Emilia Perez. Gomez seems to have fairly eclectic taste, but it's no surprise that she threw a nod to her Only Murders co-star, Steve Martin, by selecting Father of the Bride in her top four.
Our ranking of the ranking: Quirky, but good
Ethan Hawke
Picks: Do The Right Thing, All That Jazz, Reds, Paris, TexasWe love Ethan Hawke, and judging by his decades of experience as an actor, director, screenwriter, author, playwright and musician, we wouldn’t expect anything less than some all-time classics in his top four. Hawke has always been fairly outspoken politically, so seeing Reds and Do The Right Thing on his list is no surprise. However, we do think it’s nice that he threw his home state a nod with a mention of the Wim Wenders classic Paris, Texas.
Our ranking of the ranking: What we expected (not a bad thing, though)
Robert Rodriguez
Picks: Jaws, The Godfather, Escape From New York, Mad Max 2: The Road WarriorRobert Rodriguez is a cult filmmaker at heart, but he’s also been wildly successful when creating stuff for a mainstream audience; see the Spy Kids and Sin City franchises, for example. Rodriguez has some fairly established classics on his Letterboxd that no one will argue with, such as The Godfather and Jaws, but we may have to question his selection of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Can you even call it the best Mad Max movie when Mad Max: Fury Road also exists?
Our ranking of the ranking: Curious
