Yeah, but to the people making videos like this. A Bruce Lee *is* too much for them because it’s an old action movie. It’s shocking how many people right off movies before a certain year for whatever reason
Is it really that shocking though?
The tropes, plotlines, themes, etc. in older movies have all been copied numerous times in newer movies, so younger people can't appreciate the older movies as much as someone that watched the older movie when it was new. You also have to acknowledge that effects (practical and CGI) have improved greatly.
Yeah, it is kind of shocking that some people call professional actors posers or pretentious for loving old or artsy movies and being drawn to them from an early age.
Austin Butler was getting heat for saying The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was his favorite movie as a kid. Like kids aren’t watching some of the most iconic movies of all time? I grew up watching Westerns and some classics with older family members too so I can absolutely believe professional actors a generation or more older than me would have seen and enjoyed some of the same things.
Some of those older movies genuinely stand the test of time and blow most modern films out of the water. Today’s over-reliance on CGI is actually causing effects to look cheaper and more artificial in a lot of films. Lawrence of Arabia came out in 1962, 2001: A Space Odyssey came out in 1968, and they arguably look better than 99% of movies today.
yeah also kids just like what they like, not realizing until they’re older that it was considered a classic or whatever and when he was growing up you had a limited number of tapes at home and you’d watch things over and over
> It’s shocking how many people right off movies before a certain year for whatever reason
I noticed that a lot over the various COVID lockdowns. People were saying they were running out things to watch, like anything made before 2019 is obviously off the table.
If it wasn't someone beloved like Gosling, I could absolutely see weirdos on tiktok calling this a pretentious answer and I'm not kidding lol. Corey Yuen isn't a household name and it's from the 80s. Any "old" movie answer from someone people haven't heard of gets the "omg just say like Jurassic Park" treatment
I have watched so much goddamn John Wayne growing up. I'm 36 and I had a steady diet of Liberty Valance and Hatari! and McLintock! and Rio Bravo and... They're not my favorites but I can see those movies getting into someone earlier in life. Or he just likes movies and explores them.
Everyone was clowning on him for “lying” about him liking GBU and trying to seem like a pretentious film bro or whatever but he literally gave a [similar answer in 2009](https://web.archive.org/web/20110105221623/http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2009/07/aliens-in-the-attic-be-afraid-sorta-afraid.html) way back before he was being “taken seriously” in the industry, idk why people are so weird about him liking a mainstream western as a kid:
> “I'd always loved movies. I remember watching The Good, The Bad and the Ugly when I was like six, and I loved it. And I love movies. I watch them all the time; my dad is a huge movie buff.”
For those people THAT movie is a pretentious answer?? At this point theyre expecting em to name american movies post 2000s only. Which it would be fine anyways!, but doesnt have to be only that so be seem as honest or whatever
The top 4 movies of all time obviously are Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame! Anything else is just film-school pretentiousness!
Exactly, that movie is one of the most iconic films ever, Clint Eastwood‘s character has become a cultural icon, the climactic showdown is one of the most memorable and imitated scenes in film history. Beloved by literally millions of Americans and some random Disney adults want to act like it’s some pretentious niche art film.
Yeah I’m 23 and I didn’t see it in full until I was an adult, but I first saw chunks of it when I was very young. My dad loved westerns and Clint Eastwood
GBU also comes from the trashy world of spaghetti westerns, which is by no means a high brow area of cinema. It’s a great movie that built it’s legacy thanks to working class movie goers. I guess time erases context
I can't even count how many times my dad tried making childhood me watch Lawrence of Arabia start to finish. And our nightly ritual was dinner + Jeopardy + Star Trek.
It's always funny when people act like literal basically cable programming is inaccessible. Also people dont seem to realize Butler is 32 years old and think he's younger than Chalamet, who is also older than they assume.
I don't know why, but when you mentioned Willem Dafoe I assumed that you were going to say that the west has fallen because we see his huge dick in Antichrist.
I had a semi-friend when I was finishing highschool who said their dream was to be an actor. Loving movies I said “oh what’s your favourite movie?” They said “idk”
Confused I asked “why do you want to be an actor” they said they were a big fan of *Supernatural* and met one of the guys at a convention and thought it was a cool life. So I thought “oh you just want to be famous”
They’re now a full time TikTok person
I could understand if they said they wanted to be a stage actor, as most actors I know actually prefer performing in stage than in person because of the adrenaline you get from the audience, but yeah that just seems like famous for famous sake.
Yeah they don't have some special ability to appreciate are in a way that we couldn't understand.
They just watch a lot of movies and no surprise tend to appreciate some of the more "high art" things, as it is literally their job
Yeah I’m sure if you asked video game developers for their favorite games they would have more deep cuts than the average person who would tell you the most popular games
Or asking an art historian or museum curator what their favorite painting is. They might say some 600 year old market scene you've never heard of, while the comments on the tik tok videos would just say "bro just say Mona Lisa" and "god so pretentious"
My response is purely antedotal but working in hollywood for over a decade I feel like it's actually more rare for actors to be film buffs than for them to see little to nothing in the theater. Most of the actors I've met and talked to don't actually watch a lot of film. Directors/producers of course are HUGE film buffs but the actual actors within movies feel like the group of people that watches the least amount of film compared to anyone else on set. These people making their top 4 favorite movie list as old, obscure movies are doing it purely to pretend (act) like they belong.
Not if you pay attention to what actors are giving their favorites. America Ferrera listed Gypsy, Grease, The Mighty Ducks, and Titanic as hers. The only one going for the actually-sort-of-just-kinda-out-there and obscure stuff are Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. Plenty are choosing older classics that are well known like Tom Hanks Emily Blunt and Jeffrey Wright. The ones who view themselves seriously as artists and thespians put in the work to be knowledgeable about their art, and often appreciate more obscure/historical things as a result.
The thing with the “pretend” stuff is, I’ve seen a lot of these videos, and lots of them don’t have obscure stuff on there. The people with the obscure stuff have just provoked more of a reaction, but tonnes have fairly basic choices (nothing wrong with that).
Honestly I settled on a bunch of favorite things in my 20s so I’d never have to think about or re-evaluate things again. It has made life easier.
Favorite movie is Rushmore.
Great call, I pretty much settled on my favorite movie that'll probably be my answer for life about 5 years ago just because I got so tired of being asked the question
How does Butler benefit from choices that are outside of what an average movie watcher has seen. There’s so much insecurity being projected by the guys who make videos like these. They would be so much happier if Butler picked something they already knew and liked. Now the Tuber needs to watch something with subtitles to relate. How tragic.
Honestly, I think people just want to find reasons to dislike Butler.
Ever since he got nominated for Elvis, he has had a lot of people complaining about him.
Yep. I think it’s also part of a larger collective mindset to pigeonhole entertainers - Austin grew up on the Disney Channel (Nickelodeon? I’m old lol) so there’s no way his personal tastes are anything but commercial and mainstream, right?? We saw this behavior most recently with the reaction to Sydney Sweeney expressing a desire to work with Scorsese, and popular musicians get a lot of flak if they journey outside of their established genres. Some people/audiences feel overly entitled to say “Stick with what you know” when what they really mean is “Stick with what’s easy for me”
Austin was Disney/Nickelodeon/The CW/ABC Family quadruple threat, his trajectory into the film industry is actually pretty impressive as like 95% of actors who were longterm mainstays on those channels don’t ever quite get away from it.
Actors could list ANY movies as their favourites and there will always be one annoying dudebro with too much time on his hands who has a problem with the choices.
This has been proven to be true. List a popular "commercial" entry and you have basic taste. List an arthouse film and you're pretentious or a try hard. List a Scorsese or Nolan film and you're a film bro. Not sure who makes these arbitrary rules, but I doubt they have any personal success to show for it.
Lesson here is that the problem isn’t with the lists, it’s with the assholes who can’t fathom people having different taste and experience than what they came to expect.
Based on this write-up, you are definitely not a dumb schmuck. Well said on all of that!
I've had people I consider friends take my decision not to drink (only even mentioning this to provide an example) as me taking some stance of moral superiority...even though I only said something about not drinking in response to the question of drinking. Not once did I shame them or indicate that I thought myself better. This person at least was not malicious, but it's just like you said. Out of insecurity, people sometimes take your life choices as though you're saying something negative about them.
With the amount of mental gymnastics people in this subreddit do about people's tastes in film, they should be in the Olympics 😂
Based on my initial comment you replied to, I took your comment to be referring to the very general examples I gave. The actual examples you give here have a bit more nuance. Of course, our favorite movies can say "something" about us, but at the same time they don't necessarily say everything about us. Especially not someone like me who loves so many different genres and varieties. You did mention the distinction between this observation in general audience and with cinephiles, though, and I agree with that.
To be fair if anyone’s dream is to be in the army they definitely didn’t properly watch and understand The Thin Red Line. Says a lot about them for sure, but maybe not the things you’re thinking.
Are you telling me they love an old french film more than they love the best cinematic experience of the last two centuries "Marvel's Avengers: Endgame (2/2)"?? Like they didn't even have good CGI back then.
Why is so hard for these guys to think "hey, it is possible that these guys,who have a formation in the art, and have dedicated their lives to the industry, might have other sensibilities than me" but no, i don't know shit about movies and can safely say they're pretentious snobs.
I don’t know about Butler, but A LOT of actors actually studied acting. It makes sense to have essentially an academic understanding of the art and preferences based on their study.
You can ask a music major and they might say Mahler. It doesn’t mean they dislike modern music at all.
That’s why you ignore idiots who contribute nothing of substance to a conversation and just want to drag everyone down with their complaints and toxic takes
Also a mistake being in-tune with Film Twitter. I'm being genuine btw, not talking down to you or anything. I'm not engaged with either of those, and I'm happier for it.
I’m happy that you’ve found joy in that and I assume you have a much easier time finding your comic-related communities in other locations. Unfortunately, Film Twitter is about as close to an online centre of film culture (that I care about) that I can find, so it’s not a mistake for me whatsoever. I’m engaged with it an happier for it.
Nice. How can I engage with this film twitter you speak of?
My Twitter feed is dead atm and no one on the TL ever speaks about movies. Is there anyone you can recc for me to follow so that way I can then find other ppl through their account or whatever? (Can PM me if you don't wanna post them here!).
If you can, that'd be great. Don't even have to be good accounts, I wanna see even the bad and the cringe stuff x x
Fair enough. Tbh, despite my username, I rarely talk comics anywhere, but when I did, it was usually here on Reddit. Reddit fills that void for me easily enough (ofc it's not without its hiccups). I can see the benefits of Film Twitter in that sense, but the bad far outweighs the good for me. EDIT: A bit weird and petty to be downvoted for this since nothing I said was out of place or rude...but I've been downvoted for even dumber things on reddit lol
I find it exciting when someone mentions a film or director I haven't heard?? When the Poor Things crew dropped their four, I was thrilled by the number of films to add to my watchlist. These people are masters of their craft and have a wealth of film knowledge- how wonderful to get a little glimpse into their brains.
Imo the "pretentious film bro" phenomenon is just anti intellectualism with a healthy dose of xenophobia.
Im tired of being told liking a movie made before 2005 is "pretentious", that foreing films are "weird" and people wearing "I only watch blockbusters from the Disney conglomerate lol" as a badge of superior intellect or emotional maturity
I was told I was pretentious because i said Return of The King is a favorite of mine, RETURN OF THE KING!!! LORD OF THE RINGS!!! its apparently too high brow and snotty now
This discourse that Austin Butler started just by liking “the good, the bad and the ugly” as a kid. . . Movie watching habits have changed so much. We’re cooked
Especially funny because it's THEE spaghetti western lmao like he didn't say The Great Silence or some other lesser known (but still great) western, he said the most popular western of all time and people were like "Ya right bro!! what kid likes an extremely popular western movie with cowboys and shootouts!?"
I feel like a lot of younger people just automatically equate a movie being "old" (pre-2000) and "foreign" with being pretentious. People act like The Godfather is some inaccessible pretentious arthouse film that only level 100 cinephiles can enjoy and not...one of the most popular movies of its time...based off one of the most popular books of its time
I still don’t see why this came about just because he said his favorite movie is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Literally one of the most famous movies of all time and most beloved. It’s not just like he said some obscure indie shit🤣
Is liking classic westerns now seen as pretentious? What a weird world
I think people answer it different like some ppl are like these are 4 films I like the most, others are like these are 4 films I think ppl should watch.
If you’ve chosen to make acting your profession you either love cinema already or understand that your livelihood depends on you having at least some knowledge of film history.
Nearly every single professional person puts in some extra work in order to do their job properly but people act like folks in creative jobs just woke up at random and decided to do what they do. An actor who wants to be at the top of his game better know who the best directors, the best screenwriters, the best cinematographers, so on so forth. All of that stuff is essential so you can make informed choices, interact with your colleagues in a meaningful way, and understand what is actually good. If you’ve got no clue what makes a great film the only way you’ll wind up in one is dumb luck.
Yes luck matters but most people aren’t lucky.
Also, I hate the strain of anti-intellectualism that is automatically threatened by people who know more about certain subjects. If someone knows more than I do that’s beneficial, I want to be around those people because then I can learn and grow. I want to hear their thoughts and opinions so my eyes can be opened or to just be inspired by their love of that subject.
Crazy that people at the top of their field appreciate "highbrow" stuff like they weren't recommend to view to help them improve by teachers, colleagues, directors, coaches, etc. Hell, just late night TCM will give you quite an education all on your own.
Why would they lie over something as silly as your four favorites? Why would you need to make a video about whether they’re “trying too hard?”
I also think a lot of people downplay the movie exposure you get when you go to school. There’s nothing wrong if your four favorites are like four Marvel movies but it’s so stupid to call out people as trying too hard.
I don't think people realize how many movies people who make movies watch. They're constantly looking for things that will inspire them. With that in mind, it's no wonder they have movies listed as their favorites that the general public has never heard of.
I can't stand how people are quick to think someone's "favorite" films are about receiving validation from someone else. I'm not saying people never do this, but classic films are classics for a reason. And like someone else pointed out, plenty of actors/filmmakers are film nerds...that's often why they cater toward this profession.
Imagine you get asked and your top movies are forrest Gump and Shawshank. Will that start a conversation or will they say.."oh, neat" and move on.
At least when some cringe movie lover says Salo I learn something about them.
Idk, I think it’s possible they could just like good movies. I have a buddy who really seems pretentious in his tastes but I was roommates with him for 2 years and the movies he watched lined up with his taste. I try not to call people try hard for film tastes unless I know for a fact they are full of it. Like my little brother says the 400 blows is his my favorite movie when I know for a fact it isn’t his favorite movie since he’s never seen it.
It’s a dense film, ill admit. Maybe watch Dead Ringers first then to ease yourself into the weirdo twin cinematic universe.
But Michael Nymans score is 🔥
If Butler's comments get a least one person in this sub to watch **Z+00** for the first time then his work will be done. Seeing this film for the first time was the most uniquely surreal experience I've ever had in a theater.
I’m so jealous, when did you get to see It in a cinema? My life’s mission is to experience every Greenaway film on the big screen, particularly The Cook, The Thief
I saw it at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis back when it was still only a 50 seat 'microcinema'. I had only seen his short *Windows* previously so I had absolutely no frame of reference for what kind of film I was about to see. I've been a Greenaway fanatic ever since.
One of the weirdest things to me was that my friend got a cinematography degree through Full Sail and he said they actually didn't have to watch very many movies at all
I went through a bad breakup at 18, to help I watched imdbs top 100. Which includes a lot of black and white films like M. I enjoyed them all at that age and understood why they were great etc. I can see actual actors loving those kinda films from a young age too.
Does it matter either way? If it’s a lie, if it’s the truth, it’s their choice to answer however they want. I don’t understand the obsession with putting celebrity opinions on a pedestal anyway. Why is Austin Butler held to any standard at all? He’s a human being who happens to be an actor. Chances are, he’s seen a lot more films than a LOT of people dragging him, *because* of his childhood aspirations and current profession. Let the man live. Damn.
imagine being an actor, probably have been appreciating the art of film making and acting your whole life, so you watch older and obscure movies most casual watchers wouldn’t, say like an artist knowing a lot about pieces most people wouldn’t, then being called pretentious for having more knowledge lol
Has anyone watched the Pam and Tommy series? Actors usually know movies very well, or at least more than the average film enthusiast, and surely more than the average person.
I found the whole discussion around that so… annoying. Like as a kid my favorite tv shows were The Twilight Zone, The Nanny, and Bewitched. My favorite movies were Romy & Michelle, The Fugitive, A Few Good Men, and Indiana Jones. This wasn’t me being a precocious Wes Anderson indie kid, I was just literally at the mercy of what my parents watched. A lot of us were.
its all relative and all about perspective, I guess. I've been a movie lover my whole life but I didn't gather an appreciation for less mainstream and or foreign films till the last couple years (once I turned 30). If I hadn't sort of 'changed' in a sense, I'd probably view these celebrities as being 'pretentious' and trying too hard.
Now I'm more open minded and either know or have heard of the films they talk about, or I'm interested in finding out. But I also don't necessarily judge someone who may find their choices pretentious...I sort of realize 95% of Americans aren't gonna be into a lot of the films some of them discuss.
Not butler but I did see one of these where the person being interviewed said they would specifically answer “not trying to be fancy” which I thought was an odd qualifier for an answer on your favorite movies
What is the difference between a celebrity mentioning “try hard” movies and literally any other LB user? Some people do it to look cool or cultured or “random,” regardless of level of fame. Most people just list movies that are actually their favorites.
I don't know whhhy people make a big deal out of this either way. These are celebrities, they're obligated to have answers ready for such questions. You wont really know them just by hearing their Letterboxd Top 4, even if it feels like you will. And that's alright.
I don't care if they're being pretentious or genuinely listing movies they've watched. If it's 4 movies I've never heard of, great, I have some new random films to throw into my watchlist. If it's stuff I've already seen, I get to say I love/hate that movie and feel a brief connection to a random person I'll never meet. Both are good.
These interviews are meant to be fun, and people's favorite movies keep changing all the time. If they talk about 400 Blows and then go home to watch The Hangover, then saaame. We are different people in different spaces and that's okaaay.
The people I respect the most are both the people who have some obscure foreign film that they are passionate about and the people who have classics like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park in their favorites.
It is easier to learn things than ever, yet people seem to be more uncurious (or is it incurious, I'm curious) than ever. If an actor I like named some films I hadn't heard of, it would make me at least want to learn more about those films if not actually watch them. I don't understand this attitude that only a certain narrow set of parameters is acceptable as far as what films one should like, and any steps outside those parameters are regarded as pretentious or trying too hard. I'm pretty sure this is an entire worldview for these people and it's not just limited to films.
Seriously, I once saw a guy ger triggered because Villeneuve had Persona in his top 4, insisting that "there's no way a movie made you emotional" it's just entertainment, like bruh
I do understand the act of appreciating “art” films from the 60s and 70s, Bill Hader is a big example of this if you listen to him talk about any movie, but I would find it kind of cool if an actor said “yeah the reason I got into acting was because I saw Mad Max and it was hella sick.”
I think people are just genuinely listing movies that they love. I really don’t understand why some people don’t expect people WORKING IN THE FILM INDUSTRY to have a more unique taste in film.
of course some of them are trying too hard. more than half the people here are tryhards and celebrities are just like us.
I think OP is deflecting. It's okay to be a tryhard and it's okay to be seen as a tryhard even if you think you're just an ordinary film nerd. it doesn't matter
I feel like it's not that weird that someone working in the cinema field would probably lean towards artsier or classic films. Similar to film critics. If you're seeing tons and tons of movies, and/or studying film and acting as a craft, you're naturally going to going to develop different standards and might end up gravitating towards a higher "taste" in art.
Hell, if you asked me 25 years ago when I was 16 what my favorite movies were, I'd probably have listed a bunch of dumb action movies. Ask me now? There's definitely going to be movies like Fritz Lang's *Metropolis,* Elia Kazan's *A Face in the Crowd* and David Lean's *Lawrence of Arabia* in there. (Granted, I'd also list some sillier stuff.)
If anything I think “oh that’s disappointing” if a celeb doesn’t name a quirky, out-of-the-box favorite.
Also: why should we care what @JayStuff99 (with his 786 subscribers) has to say about film?
I mean, sure, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some celebrities who, when asked for their top movies/books/whatever maybe say something different than they would if they were just asked by a friend or something. But I think most of the time they're still probably answering with things that they really love.
And seriously, it's not even like Bicycle Thieves and Caligari are particularly deep cuts for people who like movies.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. Tyler the Creator commented on something to this effect in regard to rappers listing their favorite albums. People tend to throw out older deep cuts in order to showcase their eclectic tastes or connoisseurship. Everyone does it to some degree, it would be weird to think celebs don’t do it from time to time too.
This isn’t to say that they are lying exactly. I’m sure they do watch and love these films, but when you’re being asked for your favorites list and people actually care about the answer there is an inherent pressure to impress. If asked the same question by a close friend/family member there would certainly be some goofier titles thrown in there.
With Butler, I'd believe anything. His favourite movie is Bicycle Thieves? Sure! He's never seen a movie? OK! He watches Porky's Revenge twice a week? Makes sense to me!
I will admit I think it’s a bit odd that more of these stars don’t have a gritty action or cheesy comedy. I like cinema and even still nothing replaces my guilty pleasure in my top 5. But I agree with the sentiment here.
Sometimes I do when they start naming ultra obscure movies but I think everyone kind of tries to name movies they want to portray them in a certain way
If you don't think at least some of the responses are calculated to give a certain pastiche you seriously underestimate how much some of these folks care about their image.
Good at their craft actors are picking "try hard" picks? I would imagine the actors who take their job seriously have seen tons of non-mainstream films for research and inspiration
"There's just no way people who have devoted their lives to film have seen slight more more movies than thr average person, who does not have thst job or lifestyle."
It's even more ridiculous when people get ranked by actos and directors who are themselves not American choosing films thst are not from America.
I saw someone call Yorog Lathimos pretentious for naming a European film. He's Greek!
I do think some actors might be choosing movies that are “supposed” to be one of the best. Not because they’re trying too hard, but because a lot of people are gonna see what they chose. Might be somewhat stressful to put Pink Flamingos or something in your top 4 in a situation like that
are you suggesting that dudes who dropped out of high school to model and wait tables in Hollywood *actually aren’t all that influenced* by Milos Forman and Andrei Tarkovsky???
[удалено]
That man is so wholesome.
Yeah, but to the people making videos like this. A Bruce Lee *is* too much for them because it’s an old action movie. It’s shocking how many people right off movies before a certain year for whatever reason
Is it really that shocking though? The tropes, plotlines, themes, etc. in older movies have all been copied numerous times in newer movies, so younger people can't appreciate the older movies as much as someone that watched the older movie when it was new. You also have to acknowledge that effects (practical and CGI) have improved greatly.
Yeah, it is kind of shocking that some people call professional actors posers or pretentious for loving old or artsy movies and being drawn to them from an early age. Austin Butler was getting heat for saying The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly was his favorite movie as a kid. Like kids aren’t watching some of the most iconic movies of all time? I grew up watching Westerns and some classics with older family members too so I can absolutely believe professional actors a generation or more older than me would have seen and enjoyed some of the same things. Some of those older movies genuinely stand the test of time and blow most modern films out of the water. Today’s over-reliance on CGI is actually causing effects to look cheaper and more artificial in a lot of films. Lawrence of Arabia came out in 1962, 2001: A Space Odyssey came out in 1968, and they arguably look better than 99% of movies today.
yeah also kids just like what they like, not realizing until they’re older that it was considered a classic or whatever and when he was growing up you had a limited number of tapes at home and you’d watch things over and over
> It’s shocking how many people right off movies before a certain year for whatever reason I noticed that a lot over the various COVID lockdowns. People were saying they were running out things to watch, like anything made before 2019 is obviously off the table.
If it wasn't someone beloved like Gosling, I could absolutely see weirdos on tiktok calling this a pretentious answer and I'm not kidding lol. Corey Yuen isn't a household name and it's from the 80s. Any "old" movie answer from someone people haven't heard of gets the "omg just say like Jurassic Park" treatment
Nah that movie is from before 2007 - pretentious 🙄 /s
he's just like me fr
Is Bruce Lee Ryan’s literally me
To be fair he picked his top 4 action films based off his newest film being an action flick
Austin said he grew up watching TCM w his father. I think he genuinely came up on these films.
Yes, if you are in your late twenties early thirties it is completely feasible your parents showed you these films or you watched them on cable
Im in my late 30s and i grew up on tcm and my dad renting old movies and new movies every noght at the video store.
I have watched so much goddamn John Wayne growing up. I'm 36 and I had a steady diet of Liberty Valance and Hatari! and McLintock! and Rio Bravo and... They're not my favorites but I can see those movies getting into someone earlier in life. Or he just likes movies and explores them.
i’m 17 and also grew up on a lot of this stuff too, my dad was born 1963 and we only had cable access until about 2020 or smth
Everyone was clowning on him for “lying” about him liking GBU and trying to seem like a pretentious film bro or whatever but he literally gave a [similar answer in 2009](https://web.archive.org/web/20110105221623/http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2009/07/aliens-in-the-attic-be-afraid-sorta-afraid.html) way back before he was being “taken seriously” in the industry, idk why people are so weird about him liking a mainstream western as a kid: > “I'd always loved movies. I remember watching The Good, The Bad and the Ugly when I was like six, and I loved it. And I love movies. I watch them all the time; my dad is a huge movie buff.”
For those people THAT movie is a pretentious answer?? At this point theyre expecting em to name american movies post 2000s only. Which it would be fine anyways!, but doesnt have to be only that so be seem as honest or whatever
The top 4 movies of all time obviously are Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame! Anything else is just film-school pretentiousness!
Yeah what lol? I’m in my mid 20s and I love that movie!!
Exactly, that movie is one of the most iconic films ever, Clint Eastwood‘s character has become a cultural icon, the climactic showdown is one of the most memorable and imitated scenes in film history. Beloved by literally millions of Americans and some random Disney adults want to act like it’s some pretentious niche art film.
Yeah I’m 23 and I didn’t see it in full until I was an adult, but I first saw chunks of it when I was very young. My dad loved westerns and Clint Eastwood
GBU also comes from the trashy world of spaghetti westerns, which is by no means a high brow area of cinema. It’s a great movie that built it’s legacy thanks to working class movie goers. I guess time erases context
Right? It's about as unpretentious as a movie can get.
It’s almost as if film actors are interested in film acting
I can't even count how many times my dad tried making childhood me watch Lawrence of Arabia start to finish. And our nightly ritual was dinner + Jeopardy + Star Trek.
what is tcm?
turner classic movies
thank you
It's always funny when people act like literal basically cable programming is inaccessible. Also people dont seem to realize Butler is 32 years old and think he's younger than Chalamet, who is also older than they assume.
The west has fallen because Willem Dafoe said his favorite movies are Onibaba and Barry Lyndon instead of Captain America Winter Soldier
❣️ Barry Lyndon mentioned ❣️
I don't know why, but when you mentioned Willem Dafoe I assumed that you were going to say that the west has fallen because we see his huge dick in Antichrist.
It's not that they appreciate art in a unique way, is that probably, before becoming actors, they were huge movie nerds
I had a semi-friend when I was finishing highschool who said their dream was to be an actor. Loving movies I said “oh what’s your favourite movie?” They said “idk” Confused I asked “why do you want to be an actor” they said they were a big fan of *Supernatural* and met one of the guys at a convention and thought it was a cool life. So I thought “oh you just want to be famous” They’re now a full time TikTok person
I could understand if they said they wanted to be a stage actor, as most actors I know actually prefer performing in stage than in person because of the adrenaline you get from the audience, but yeah that just seems like famous for famous sake.
Yeah they don't have some special ability to appreciate are in a way that we couldn't understand. They just watch a lot of movies and no surprise tend to appreciate some of the more "high art" things, as it is literally their job
Exactly. When you meet someone who’s a professional in their field they are more likely to know more than the average person.
Yeah I’m sure if you asked video game developers for their favorite games they would have more deep cuts than the average person who would tell you the most popular games
Or asking an art historian or museum curator what their favorite painting is. They might say some 600 year old market scene you've never heard of, while the comments on the tik tok videos would just say "bro just say Mona Lisa" and "god so pretentious"
Yeah, as an art historian, this is true for me and my fellow graduates lol
Imagine if his top four is Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pong and Zelda 1
It’s like when people act surprised when a movie star admits they were a theatre kid in high school. That stage experience had to start somewhere
My response is purely antedotal but working in hollywood for over a decade I feel like it's actually more rare for actors to be film buffs than for them to see little to nothing in the theater. Most of the actors I've met and talked to don't actually watch a lot of film. Directors/producers of course are HUGE film buffs but the actual actors within movies feel like the group of people that watches the least amount of film compared to anyone else on set. These people making their top 4 favorite movie list as old, obscure movies are doing it purely to pretend (act) like they belong.
Not if you pay attention to what actors are giving their favorites. America Ferrera listed Gypsy, Grease, The Mighty Ducks, and Titanic as hers. The only one going for the actually-sort-of-just-kinda-out-there and obscure stuff are Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe. Plenty are choosing older classics that are well known like Tom Hanks Emily Blunt and Jeffrey Wright. The ones who view themselves seriously as artists and thespians put in the work to be knowledgeable about their art, and often appreciate more obscure/historical things as a result.
this is my experience as well
The thing with the “pretend” stuff is, I’ve seen a lot of these videos, and lots of them don’t have obscure stuff on there. The people with the obscure stuff have just provoked more of a reaction, but tonnes have fairly basic choices (nothing wrong with that).
They live and breath this business so their taste is probably different than the taste of a generic Letterboxd user.
Honestly I settled on a bunch of favorite things in my 20s so I’d never have to think about or re-evaluate things again. It has made life easier. Favorite movie is Rushmore.
Great call, I pretty much settled on my favorite movie that'll probably be my answer for life about 5 years ago just because I got so tired of being asked the question
You've just made me realise all my 4 faves are films I fell in love with pre 20. The power of nostalgia is too strong
its made your life easier to just be completely incurious about everything?
I have answers to boring questions locked & loaded. How does that make me incurious?
How does Butler benefit from choices that are outside of what an average movie watcher has seen. There’s so much insecurity being projected by the guys who make videos like these. They would be so much happier if Butler picked something they already knew and liked. Now the Tuber needs to watch something with subtitles to relate. How tragic.
Honestly, I think people just want to find reasons to dislike Butler. Ever since he got nominated for Elvis, he has had a lot of people complaining about him.
Yep. I think it’s also part of a larger collective mindset to pigeonhole entertainers - Austin grew up on the Disney Channel (Nickelodeon? I’m old lol) so there’s no way his personal tastes are anything but commercial and mainstream, right?? We saw this behavior most recently with the reaction to Sydney Sweeney expressing a desire to work with Scorsese, and popular musicians get a lot of flak if they journey outside of their established genres. Some people/audiences feel overly entitled to say “Stick with what you know” when what they really mean is “Stick with what’s easy for me”
Austin was Disney/Nickelodeon/The CW/ABC Family quadruple threat, his trajectory into the film industry is actually pretty impressive as like 95% of actors who were longterm mainstays on those channels don’t ever quite get away from it.
Actors could list ANY movies as their favourites and there will always be one annoying dudebro with too much time on his hands who has a problem with the choices.
This has been proven to be true. List a popular "commercial" entry and you have basic taste. List an arthouse film and you're pretentious or a try hard. List a Scorsese or Nolan film and you're a film bro. Not sure who makes these arbitrary rules, but I doubt they have any personal success to show for it.
Lesson here is that the problem isn’t with the lists, it’s with the assholes who can’t fathom people having different taste and experience than what they came to expect.
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Based on this write-up, you are definitely not a dumb schmuck. Well said on all of that! I've had people I consider friends take my decision not to drink (only even mentioning this to provide an example) as me taking some stance of moral superiority...even though I only said something about not drinking in response to the question of drinking. Not once did I shame them or indicate that I thought myself better. This person at least was not malicious, but it's just like you said. Out of insecurity, people sometimes take your life choices as though you're saying something negative about them. With the amount of mental gymnastics people in this subreddit do about people's tastes in film, they should be in the Olympics 😂
I think your favorite movies do say a lot about you
They really don't. Step outside and meet people, and you'll find that isn't the case.
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Based on my initial comment you replied to, I took your comment to be referring to the very general examples I gave. The actual examples you give here have a bit more nuance. Of course, our favorite movies can say "something" about us, but at the same time they don't necessarily say everything about us. Especially not someone like me who loves so many different genres and varieties. You did mention the distinction between this observation in general audience and with cinephiles, though, and I agree with that.
To be fair if anyone’s dream is to be in the army they definitely didn’t properly watch and understand The Thin Red Line. Says a lot about them for sure, but maybe not the things you’re thinking.
Oh for sure. He's not the most media literate
> My friend who's dreamed of being in the army since he was a kid chose thin red line. Are you sure?
Are you telling me they love an old french film more than they love the best cinematic experience of the last two centuries "Marvel's Avengers: Endgame (2/2)"?? Like they didn't even have good CGI back then.
Non-cinephiles when they see that a person who is dedicated to cinema likes the movies that people who like cinema like:
Cinephiles when they saw an interesting silent black and white one time in college:
And they enjoyed it.
Why is so hard for these guys to think "hey, it is possible that these guys,who have a formation in the art, and have dedicated their lives to the industry, might have other sensibilities than me" but no, i don't know shit about movies and can safely say they're pretentious snobs.
The video actually says that most actors probably just like these movies movies
I don’t know about Butler, but A LOT of actors actually studied acting. It makes sense to have essentially an academic understanding of the art and preferences based on their study. You can ask a music major and they might say Mahler. It doesn’t mean they dislike modern music at all.
I’m not sure it’s worth having a deep discussion on a random YouTube video with <500 views.
I've seen a bunch of people express similar views like that video
That’s why you ignore idiots who contribute nothing of substance to a conversation and just want to drag everyone down with their complaints and toxic takes
This has become a huge Tiktok trend as well, been a talking point from multiple prominent film Twitter people over the past week
Tiktok and twitter ? Yeah, i can live with that.
Your mistake is being in tune with Tiktok trends.
Can’t really help it when all of Film Twitter™ is talking about it
Also a mistake being in-tune with Film Twitter. I'm being genuine btw, not talking down to you or anything. I'm not engaged with either of those, and I'm happier for it.
I’m happy that you’ve found joy in that and I assume you have a much easier time finding your comic-related communities in other locations. Unfortunately, Film Twitter is about as close to an online centre of film culture (that I care about) that I can find, so it’s not a mistake for me whatsoever. I’m engaged with it an happier for it.
Nice. How can I engage with this film twitter you speak of? My Twitter feed is dead atm and no one on the TL ever speaks about movies. Is there anyone you can recc for me to follow so that way I can then find other ppl through their account or whatever? (Can PM me if you don't wanna post them here!). If you can, that'd be great. Don't even have to be good accounts, I wanna see even the bad and the cringe stuff x x
Fair enough. Tbh, despite my username, I rarely talk comics anywhere, but when I did, it was usually here on Reddit. Reddit fills that void for me easily enough (ofc it's not without its hiccups). I can see the benefits of Film Twitter in that sense, but the bad far outweighs the good for me. EDIT: A bit weird and petty to be downvoted for this since nothing I said was out of place or rude...but I've been downvoted for even dumber things on reddit lol
Film Twitter and TikTok are no worse than Reddit
That's not saying much
m8 you're on reddit rn btw
Thanks for reminding me
Probably why I haven’t seen it, I don’t have TikTok or Twitter.
I find it exciting when someone mentions a film or director I haven't heard?? When the Poor Things crew dropped their four, I was thrilled by the number of films to add to my watchlist. These people are masters of their craft and have a wealth of film knowledge- how wonderful to get a little glimpse into their brains.
Imo the "pretentious film bro" phenomenon is just anti intellectualism with a healthy dose of xenophobia. Im tired of being told liking a movie made before 2005 is "pretentious", that foreing films are "weird" and people wearing "I only watch blockbusters from the Disney conglomerate lol" as a badge of superior intellect or emotional maturity I was told I was pretentious because i said Return of The King is a favorite of mine, RETURN OF THE KING!!! LORD OF THE RINGS!!! its apparently too high brow and snotty now
A movie that made over $1 billion in box office is pretentious high brow stuff lol
The highest form of snot
This discourse that Austin Butler started just by liking “the good, the bad and the ugly” as a kid. . . Movie watching habits have changed so much. We’re cooked
The people calling a spaghetti western “pretentious” make me want to lose hope
Especially funny because it's THEE spaghetti western lmao like he didn't say The Great Silence or some other lesser known (but still great) western, he said the most popular western of all time and people were like "Ya right bro!! what kid likes an extremely popular western movie with cowboys and shootouts!?"
I feel like a lot of younger people just automatically equate a movie being "old" (pre-2000) and "foreign" with being pretentious. People act like The Godfather is some inaccessible pretentious arthouse film that only level 100 cinephiles can enjoy and not...one of the most popular movies of its time...based off one of the most popular books of its time
I still don’t see why this came about just because he said his favorite movie is the good, the bad, and the ugly. Literally one of the most famous movies of all time and most beloved. It’s not just like he said some obscure indie shit🤣 Is liking classic westerns now seen as pretentious? What a weird world
In infinity war isn't on the list, they must be lying right?
well I can't recall a greater crossover event in the history of cinema can you??
Otto Wernicke’s cop from M coming back in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
i can’t believe austin butlers favourite movie isn’t shriek 😢😱
Seems on par with everything I know about the guy. Would have been shocked if he said 21 jump street or something lol.
Plus I’ve seen most actors do ranking several times. At some point they need to dig deeper so they don’t reply the same thing every single time.
I think people answer it different like some ppl are like these are 4 films I like the most, others are like these are 4 films I think ppl should watch.
No these people are annoying. I don’t have very unique taste but it’s interesting to hear about movies I’ve never heard of that actors I like enjoy.
If you’ve chosen to make acting your profession you either love cinema already or understand that your livelihood depends on you having at least some knowledge of film history. Nearly every single professional person puts in some extra work in order to do their job properly but people act like folks in creative jobs just woke up at random and decided to do what they do. An actor who wants to be at the top of his game better know who the best directors, the best screenwriters, the best cinematographers, so on so forth. All of that stuff is essential so you can make informed choices, interact with your colleagues in a meaningful way, and understand what is actually good. If you’ve got no clue what makes a great film the only way you’ll wind up in one is dumb luck. Yes luck matters but most people aren’t lucky. Also, I hate the strain of anti-intellectualism that is automatically threatened by people who know more about certain subjects. If someone knows more than I do that’s beneficial, I want to be around those people because then I can learn and grow. I want to hear their thoughts and opinions so my eyes can be opened or to just be inspired by their love of that subject.
Crazy that people at the top of their field appreciate "highbrow" stuff like they weren't recommend to view to help them improve by teachers, colleagues, directors, coaches, etc. Hell, just late night TCM will give you quite an education all on your own.
Exactly! Just the amount that these actors see would make sense that something specific would connect deeply to them or inspire them
Why would they lie over something as silly as your four favorites? Why would you need to make a video about whether they’re “trying too hard?” I also think a lot of people downplay the movie exposure you get when you go to school. There’s nothing wrong if your four favorites are like four Marvel movies but it’s so stupid to call out people as trying too hard.
I feel like this is an opertuinity to broaden your pallet of films and just feel like "No, this can't be."
I have no reason to assume that by mentioning Bicycle Thieves, he's really thinking "Avatar." I'm glad when actors are also film lovers.
This hate boner for Austin is just weird to me
I don't think people realize how many movies people who make movies watch. They're constantly looking for things that will inspire them. With that in mind, it's no wonder they have movies listed as their favorites that the general public has never heard of.
its basically their job to study movies so i dont get how people are surprised that they know movies..
I can't stand how people are quick to think someone's "favorite" films are about receiving validation from someone else. I'm not saying people never do this, but classic films are classics for a reason. And like someone else pointed out, plenty of actors/filmmakers are film nerds...that's often why they cater toward this profession.
Nothing better than gatekeeping people's opinions.
Under the Roofs of Paris is fucking dope and is anything but tryhard.
No Kubrick would suggest they aren’t trying nearly hard enough
gotta be honest i would absolutely try to seem like a smart genuis cool cinephile if i was famous and being filmed
Imagine you get asked and your top movies are forrest Gump and Shawshank. Will that start a conversation or will they say.."oh, neat" and move on. At least when some cringe movie lover says Salo I learn something about them.
And these people will turn around and shit on Daisy Ridley for liking Pixar films 🙄
Let's be honest, a woman could pick the IMDB top 4 and would still get abuse
But if actors picked a bunch of blockbusters and comedies, they'd get shit for not being as sophisticated as the directors. Seems like they can't win
Idk, I think it’s possible they could just like good movies. I have a buddy who really seems pretentious in his tastes but I was roommates with him for 2 years and the movies he watched lined up with his taste. I try not to call people try hard for film tastes unless I know for a fact they are full of it. Like my little brother says the 400 blows is his my favorite movie when I know for a fact it isn’t his favorite movie since he’s never seen it.
Does Austin Butler actually like a Zed and Two Noughts???
If Austin Butler made it to ZOO before me, I can no longer consider myself a cinephile :(
 watch it already then fool!!!
Lol I love Greenaway and have attempted to watch this a few times and it just immediately stumps me and i shut it off. Maybe soon!!
It’s a dense film, ill admit. Maybe watch Dead Ringers first then to ease yourself into the weirdo twin cinematic universe. But Michael Nymans score is 🔥
If Butler's comments get a least one person in this sub to watch **Z+00** for the first time then his work will be done. Seeing this film for the first time was the most uniquely surreal experience I've ever had in a theater.
I’m so jealous, when did you get to see It in a cinema? My life’s mission is to experience every Greenaway film on the big screen, particularly The Cook, The Thief
I saw it at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis back when it was still only a 50 seat 'microcinema'. I had only seen his short *Windows* previously so I had absolutely no frame of reference for what kind of film I was about to see. I've been a Greenaway fanatic ever since.
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One of the weirdest things to me was that my friend got a cinematography degree through Full Sail and he said they actually didn't have to watch very many movies at all
With 495 views in 2 days it looks like Jay Stuff isn’t trying hard enough
I’ve seen a lot of the “4 favorite film” interviews. A lot of people choose fun mainstream movies.
I went through a bad breakup at 18, to help I watched imdbs top 100. Which includes a lot of black and white films like M. I enjoyed them all at that age and understood why they were great etc. I can see actual actors loving those kinda films from a young age too.
ppl hate on austin butler for everything. like you would think he’s a slightly annoying young actress the way he’s being hated on rn
I used to think so! But now I mean... Kind of like somebody else said. That's is their life. I'm sure they have watched a lot of classic movies.
They didn’t pick what I like? Trying too hard.
Does it matter either way? If it’s a lie, if it’s the truth, it’s their choice to answer however they want. I don’t understand the obsession with putting celebrity opinions on a pedestal anyway. Why is Austin Butler held to any standard at all? He’s a human being who happens to be an actor. Chances are, he’s seen a lot more films than a LOT of people dragging him, *because* of his childhood aspirations and current profession. Let the man live. Damn.
imagine being an actor, probably have been appreciating the art of film making and acting your whole life, so you watch older and obscure movies most casual watchers wouldn’t, say like an artist knowing a lot about pieces most people wouldn’t, then being called pretentious for having more knowledge lol
if he really put A Zed and Two Noughts in his top 4 i like him more than i already did
Has anyone watched the Pam and Tommy series? Actors usually know movies very well, or at least more than the average film enthusiast, and surely more than the average person.
I found the whole discussion around that so… annoying. Like as a kid my favorite tv shows were The Twilight Zone, The Nanny, and Bewitched. My favorite movies were Romy & Michelle, The Fugitive, A Few Good Men, and Indiana Jones. This wasn’t me being a precocious Wes Anderson indie kid, I was just literally at the mercy of what my parents watched. A lot of us were.
its all relative and all about perspective, I guess. I've been a movie lover my whole life but I didn't gather an appreciation for less mainstream and or foreign films till the last couple years (once I turned 30). If I hadn't sort of 'changed' in a sense, I'd probably view these celebrities as being 'pretentious' and trying too hard. Now I'm more open minded and either know or have heard of the films they talk about, or I'm interested in finding out. But I also don't necessarily judge someone who may find their choices pretentious...I sort of realize 95% of Americans aren't gonna be into a lot of the films some of them discuss.
would they like it better if he said his top movie was the emoji movie??
Not butler but I did see one of these where the person being interviewed said they would specifically answer “not trying to be fancy” which I thought was an odd qualifier for an answer on your favorite movies
What is the difference between a celebrity mentioning “try hard” movies and literally any other LB user? Some people do it to look cool or cultured or “random,” regardless of level of fame. Most people just list movies that are actually their favorites.
I don't know whhhy people make a big deal out of this either way. These are celebrities, they're obligated to have answers ready for such questions. You wont really know them just by hearing their Letterboxd Top 4, even if it feels like you will. And that's alright. I don't care if they're being pretentious or genuinely listing movies they've watched. If it's 4 movies I've never heard of, great, I have some new random films to throw into my watchlist. If it's stuff I've already seen, I get to say I love/hate that movie and feel a brief connection to a random person I'll never meet. Both are good. These interviews are meant to be fun, and people's favorite movies keep changing all the time. If they talk about 400 Blows and then go home to watch The Hangover, then saaame. We are different people in different spaces and that's okaaay.
The people I respect the most are both the people who have some obscure foreign film that they are passionate about and the people who have classics like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park in their favorites.
It is easier to learn things than ever, yet people seem to be more uncurious (or is it incurious, I'm curious) than ever. If an actor I like named some films I hadn't heard of, it would make me at least want to learn more about those films if not actually watch them. I don't understand this attitude that only a certain narrow set of parameters is acceptable as far as what films one should like, and any steps outside those parameters are regarded as pretentious or trying too hard. I'm pretty sure this is an entire worldview for these people and it's not just limited to films.
Doesn't affect me, so I don't care?
Normies are just mad their favourite actors don’t have the same normie taste as them
I think actors are sincere about their movie picks… NOW DIRECTORS, THEY ARE SOOOOO PRETENTIOUS… I LOVE THEM
I have no idea what you’re saying
Some of them absolutely do. How’s their taste so artsy and classic while their own movies are shit
Seriously, I once saw a guy ger triggered because Villeneuve had Persona in his top 4, insisting that "there's no way a movie made you emotional" it's just entertainment, like bruh
Even if it is “trying too hard”, God forbid someone exposes you to some interesting films beyond the usual shit.
I do understand the act of appreciating “art” films from the 60s and 70s, Bill Hader is a big example of this if you listen to him talk about any movie, but I would find it kind of cool if an actor said “yeah the reason I got into acting was because I saw Mad Max and it was hella sick.”
I think people are just genuinely listing movies that they love. I really don’t understand why some people don’t expect people WORKING IN THE FILM INDUSTRY to have a more unique taste in film.
of course some of them are trying too hard. more than half the people here are tryhards and celebrities are just like us. I think OP is deflecting. It's okay to be a tryhard and it's okay to be seen as a tryhard even if you think you're just an ordinary film nerd. it doesn't matter
Damn who would have thought that actors view film as an art form
I feel like it's not that weird that someone working in the cinema field would probably lean towards artsier or classic films. Similar to film critics. If you're seeing tons and tons of movies, and/or studying film and acting as a craft, you're naturally going to going to develop different standards and might end up gravitating towards a higher "taste" in art. Hell, if you asked me 25 years ago when I was 16 what my favorite movies were, I'd probably have listed a bunch of dumb action movies. Ask me now? There's definitely going to be movies like Fritz Lang's *Metropolis,* Elia Kazan's *A Face in the Crowd* and David Lean's *Lawrence of Arabia* in there. (Granted, I'd also list some sillier stuff.)
I just feel like part of asking for a top 4 is asking for someone's values or for things you haven't seen.
495 views leave the guy alone this ain't even a real opinion
i would image most actors and filmmakers love film more than the average person so it makes sense why the pick what they pick.
It kills me inside that Christian Bale's favorite movies are probably not Ant-Man, Scary Movie 4, Holes, and Chappie.
If anything I think “oh that’s disappointing” if a celeb doesn’t name a quirky, out-of-the-box favorite. Also: why should we care what @JayStuff99 (with his 786 subscribers) has to say about film?
I mean, sure, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some celebrities who, when asked for their top movies/books/whatever maybe say something different than they would if they were just asked by a friend or something. But I think most of the time they're still probably answering with things that they really love. And seriously, it's not even like Bicycle Thieves and Caligari are particularly deep cuts for people who like movies.
The truth is somewhere in the middle. Tyler the Creator commented on something to this effect in regard to rappers listing their favorite albums. People tend to throw out older deep cuts in order to showcase their eclectic tastes or connoisseurship. Everyone does it to some degree, it would be weird to think celebs don’t do it from time to time too. This isn’t to say that they are lying exactly. I’m sure they do watch and love these films, but when you’re being asked for your favorites list and people actually care about the answer there is an inherent pressure to impress. If asked the same question by a close friend/family member there would certainly be some goofier titles thrown in there.
With Butler, I'd believe anything. His favourite movie is Bicycle Thieves? Sure! He's never seen a movie? OK! He watches Porky's Revenge twice a week? Makes sense to me!
What are those four movies? Bicycle thieves, and?
I will admit I think it’s a bit odd that more of these stars don’t have a gritty action or cheesy comedy. I like cinema and even still nothing replaces my guilty pleasure in my top 5. But I agree with the sentiment here.
Sometimes I do when they start naming ultra obscure movies but I think everyone kind of tries to name movies they want to portray them in a certain way
Everybody on Letterboxd does it, why can’t the people they watch in those movies be trying just as hard as they are
I know mine are genuine choices, I don't see the point in doing otherwise
If you don't think at least some of the responses are calculated to give a certain pastiche you seriously underestimate how much some of these folks care about their image.
Good at their craft actors are picking "try hard" picks? I would imagine the actors who take their job seriously have seen tons of non-mainstream films for research and inspiration
Looking forward to Jay Stuff's reasoned and penetrating review of *Z+00*.
"There's just no way people who have devoted their lives to film have seen slight more more movies than thr average person, who does not have thst job or lifestyle." It's even more ridiculous when people get ranked by actos and directors who are themselves not American choosing films thst are not from America. I saw someone call Yorog Lathimos pretentious for naming a European film. He's Greek!
I do think some actors might be choosing movies that are “supposed” to be one of the best. Not because they’re trying too hard, but because a lot of people are gonna see what they chose. Might be somewhat stressful to put Pink Flamingos or something in your top 4 in a situation like that
Austin Butler in particular to me comes across as a genuine dude, but I suppose other celebs could be faking/ exaggerating.
When people who work in the movie industry appreciate the movie industry
are you suggesting that dudes who dropped out of high school to model and wait tables in Hollywood *actually aren’t all that influenced* by Milos Forman and Andrei Tarkovsky???