Weekend Watchlist: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Fabelmans and Falling for Christmas

Episode notes

[Izon by Trent Walton fades in, plays alone, fades out]

MIA Hi! Welcome to Weekend Watchlist, a look at what’s screening and streaming brought to you by The Letterboxd Show. I’m Mia, he’s Slim...

SLIM Hello.

MIA And together we’ll dig through what’s dropping this weekend, last weekend, recent trends on Letterboxd and we’ll also take a peek at our own watchlists—all under 30 minutes or your money back.

SLIM Mia, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is back this week with Ryan Coogler in theaters and Steven Spielberg is making a movie about movies. Is this the biggest episode in history?

MIA Not just even Weekend Watchlist history, just in podcast history...

SLIM Audio history—let’s just say audio history.

MIA Audio, yes.

SLIM Nothing has ever been this big! So this week we’ll talk about [Black Panther: Wakanda Forever], The Fabelmans getting a limited release ahead of its wider release later this month, and a Lindsay Lohan Holiday rom-com hitting Netflix. We’ll also look back to see what everyone thought of last week’s releases, your own community reviews tagged ‘Weekend Watchlist’ and of course our own shuffled watchlists later in the show. And maybe—just maybe—we’ll hear from Paul Dano himself.

MIA It’s true. It’s true. We may hear from Paul Dano himself—I may or may not have spoken to him in person slam my first in-person, Slim, my first in-person scoop.

SLIM Before we even go on, I just have to say, it looks so cool seeing you in a highly produced video, sitting in a room with Paul Dano. I was reviewing the footage, you look great, you did great. It was amazing.

MIA Thank you. I had such impostor syndrome looking at that footage. I was like, ‘who is this television interviewer? Who is she, this Extra reporter?’ [Slim laughs] But before we get into Paul Dano, let’s see what’s going on over in Wakanda with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler. This is on a whopping 72,000 watchlists. And of course it will be going wide. “The people of Wakanda fight to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T’Challa.”

SLIM I’m the resident Marvel nerd—feel free to call me ‘the nerd’ on the show, the comic book nerd. I’ll accept it with happiness. But I’m excited to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. So as of recording, I have not seen it, but by the time this episode is out, I will have seen it, so maybe we’ll play a little clip of my thoughts later. But until then, I was a huge Marvel Cinematic Universe dweeb, like I loved [Avengers: Endgame], Endgame delivered in every way shape and form—I was that goober weeping in theaters. But I kind of have checked out since then. So when I first saw this trailer, I was like, ‘maybe I’m coming back. I need to see how they’re going to accommodate what happened with Chadwick years ago, how they’re going to lead this franchise into another era.’ So I’m excited to see it. Have you seen Black Panther? Is that one of the movies that you’ve delved into seeing in the Marvel Universe?

MIA It’s true, I have seen Black Panther. It is one of, I believe, four of the modern Marvel movies I’ve seen. So at least I actually know some of these characters, which is very exciting for me. Slim, do you think that maybe a title has to have ‘end’ in it for you to enjoy it? [Slim laughs] Like Avengers: Endgame, Halloween Ends...

SLIM The amount of grief I’m getting about my love for Halloween Ends—but I’ve been getting DMs constantly from people that are afraid to say publicly that they agree with me. And feel free to DM me, we can have a safe space in the DMs talking about how great Halloween Ends is. I’ll be vindicated in decades, once there’s a review of that movie.

MIA I’ve mentioned this to you off-air, Slim, but my dad wanted me to reach out to you personally and say that he really enjoyed Halloween Ends. [Slim laughs]

SLIM Thank you, thank you. His strength is fueling me, you know? Our love of cinema.

MIA The community exists, yes. [Slim & Mia laugh]

SLIM So there are some reviews for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever out already. GeeklyGoods: “My jaw is ON the FLOOR. A beautifully written epic that presents themes of grief, loss, lethargy, and vengeance well. Visually stunning, amazingly acted. Bassett, Wright, and Huerta are unbelievable. I am so moved.” I mentioned earlier that I haven’t seen it as a recording, but my son and I are going to see it tonight and I figured maybe I’ll record something to give my take on it, so maybe we have a clip right now from my future-self. Let’s hear what I have to say about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever...

SLIM Thank you, Slim, self. As I’m recording this, around 11pm Eastern time, my son and I just got back from seeing Wakanda Forever with a crowded theater. To quote my son: “I liked it more than Black Adam.” As I said earlier, I’ve been kind of out of a loop for Marvel movies and TV shows since [Avengers: Endgame] and maybe a few movies after that, like Spider-Man I saw. And there are a few times in this where I was scratching my head feeling like I missed a season or three of backstory of a character that was new to me. And that’s the first time I think I have felt that so far in a Marvel movie. I think it’s a three and a half star movie for me. It’s so hard to top Black Panther, especially with the loss of Chadwick on top of that. It has some truly incredible five star moments in it though, that I was tearing up and crying during. So at the end of it, my son and I had a great time laughing and talking about the movie we saw together afterward. And to be honest, that’s all I can ask for.

MIA Wow, Slim, that was the most eloquent I’ve ever heard you speak! [Slim & Mia laugh]

SLIM Oh my gosh, so keep an eye out for my review. I’ll probably have my review in the episode notes for Wakanda Forever—maybe I liked it, maybe I loved it, maybe none of the above.

MIA But in the meantime, we’ve got another superhero movie... the origin story of Mr. Steven Spielberg... Okay? [Slim laughs] The Fabelmans! **It is a superhero movie—I can say this because I’ve seen it. So The Fabelmans, directed by Steven Spielberg, this is on 55,000 watchlists. It has a limited release this weekend but is expanding November 23. You will have to wait till Thanksgiving to watch it, but it is well worth the wait. This is a coming-of-age story about a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves.

SLIM Oh my god. This, I am trying so hard to not get hyped. I’m trying to de-hype myself every week that I hear people talk about The Fabelmans. But you—is the rumor true? You’ve seen it already?

MIA Yes. And I can substantiate your hype. I can confirm it. It is a great film. It’s been—it’s my personal favorite Spielberg in... two decades, probably...

SLIM Wooow.

MIA Yeah, yeah! I haven’t really connected with a ton of his later work. But this really... I was moved. I was very moved in the theater. I was tearing up. Particularly Michelle Williams, she is giving one of the most empathetic performances of the year. I keep calling this movie ‘cute’ to people, which sounds really derogatory and condescending, but I don’t mean it in that way—I am pro-cute, it is a compliment when I’m saying it. And I am totally fine with this winning Best Picture.

SLIM Are you calling it? Best Picture front-runner?

MIA Word on the street is that this is the Best Picture front-runner. I think it would make sense for it to win and I would be totally fine with it winning because it is one of the better odes to the power of cinema.

SLIM Wow. We’ve referenced it earlier, but you actually sat down in a room with Paul Dano to have a conversation about this movie. How was that? Tell me more about this.

MIA I cannot believe you guys pay me to talk to these people. [Slim laughs] It’s insane. I don’t—I’m not complaining. [Mia laughs] Yes, it was my first in-person interview, very exciting. He was familiar with Letterboxd, which is always a thrill. Paul Dano Nation, it’s strong! [Slim laughs] But we talked about, you know, his reverence for Spielberg, everybody has a Spielberg picture that they really, that really resonates with them. So it was very gratifying to talk with him about that and balancing playing a fictional version of a real person, which is very difficult to do. So we had a great conversation about that—maybe we can even roll a clip from it.. Would that—

SLIM Oh my... Can we roll it? Do we have a clip? Can we roll the clip?

MIA Let’s try that.

[clip of Paul Dano interview plays]

PAUL DANO I tried to take as much as I could from Arnold and from Steven and bring that to Burt, but it’s also about where does Paul meet Burt as well. I think mimicry or imitation is just sort of nowhere in the recipe, right? So it’s about capturing some essence or spirit for this. Because he was an engineer, I think it was really about how do I build this life and how do I capture this life lived? I tried to let Arnold through me but I tried to let the beautiful words that Stephen and Tony, you know, wrote through me and Burt then. And somehow it’s Burt now.

MIA Paul... He is so thoughtful. And I’m proud of myself for only going “mhm, mhm,” twice in that clip. [Slim laughs] That’s an incredible record. [Mia laughs]

SLIM That was very well done, I will give you that.

MIA Thank you. It’s what we learned in journalism school. [Mia laughs]

SLIM That’s right. So Brian Formo, our own Brian left a review, before we move on: “Many of the best scenes of the year are in The Fabelmans. These include an attempt to inhale Jesus for a make out session (courtesy of a deviously smiley performance from Chloe East). Michelle Williams driving her children toward a tornado (and really any scene where it seems that Steven Spielberg’s mother is experiencing mania).”

MIA Yeah. Again, Michelle Williams is really giving it her all here. She reminded me of Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence, which is one of the highest compliments one can give.

SLIM From one fantastic actress to another—Lindsay Lohan, Falling for Christmas, directed by Janeen Damian. It’s on 2000 watchlists and it’s gonna be streaming on Netflix. “This holiday season, fall for the unexpected. A newly engaged and spoiled hotel heiress finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter after getting total amnesia in a skiing accident.” [Slim laughs]

MIA Oh, I didn’t realize this was an amnesia movie. Those are always fun. It’s always very convenient when they don’t .

SLIM It is very convenient. So we were talking about this movie in our DMs, I never would reveal DMs, but we were talking about the movie in our DMs. And I made a comment about the male lead, Chord Overstreet—

MIA Chord Overstreet, c’mon Slim! [Slim laughs] Chord?!

SLIM That’s how unfamiliar I am with him! And then I was like, I was destroyed in the DMs because I have never watched Glee. I revealed myself as being so ignorant of his previous work. So Chord, I’m offering a public apology. I’m sorry Chord.

MIA I can’t believe you’ve been calling him Chord in your head this whole time. [Slim & Mia laugh]

SLIM I was! I was. I do have an advanced review from LG that we wanted to spotlight: “this is about to be the cheesiest, corniest, cringiest, absolute worst romcom of the year but it’s the start of the lindsay lohan renaissance so it will get nothing less than 5 stars from me.” That’s on Netflix.

MIA I know Mitchell is really looking forward to this one, and anything that makes Mitchell happy makes me happy. So... [Mia & Slim laugh]

SLIM Yes.

MIA In addition to Falling for Christmas, we have another Netflix film coming out this weekend, it is called Is That Black Enough For You?!? directed by Elvis Mitchell. This is a look at the Black revolution in 1970s cinema, from genre films to social realism, from the making of new superstars to the craft of rising auteurs. If you listened to the James Gray Four Faves episode, he recommends Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and this film dives into that film, as well as a really huge treasure trove of Black films—highly, highly recommended.

SLIM Luke Hicks left a review: “like opening a treasure chest — essential, largely untold film history. Black people constantly being shut out of the industry and having to find new ways to do things, innovating out of necessity and changing the game in the process.” So I’ll add this to my watchlist, for sure.

MIA Now let’s take a look back at the previous week and let’s see how the movies that came out last weekend fared, some physical releases and what our community is saying. , if you want your review or list potentially featured on an episode of Weekend Watchlist, just add the tag ‘#WeekendWatchlist’.

SLIM I’ve seen so many [The] Banshees of Inisherin tagged, so lots of people finally seeing that movie in theaters. It was cool to see them and they’re flowin’ in. It’s like—what’s the rating? Did I write it down? It’s like a 4.2 or something insane right on Letterboxd.

MIA Really?

SLIM Yeah, it’s high!

MIA [gasps] The power of Colin Farrell’s eyebrows. [Slim laughs] Wow.

SLIM It’s another big Colin Farrell week, because I watched The New World, which we’ll talk about later.

MIA Ahh! Okay, I’m excited for that. [Mia laughs]

SLIM And also TÁR is getting another—so I’m seeing a ton of TÁR reviews in my feed. Kate Rose, left a TÁR review, a friend of mine: “About an hour into the movie, an older man behind me very loudly asked his wife ”when is this movie over?!” And I related to that man on a deep level.” So I—[Slim laughs] Mia’s face is just cracking me up. She’s pursing her lips together, it’s like the meme, the clenched fist meme. So I was joking with my friends about the TÁR backlash, some three stars coming in, but still very high. People love TÁR. I don’t know when I’m going to see it, maybe when it hits VOD, but I need to get in there, I need to make a decision on my own.

MIA You got to see TÁR, you got to see TÁR. I cannot condone Kate’s review, but I respect it. [Slim laughs] I respect that we need to have fair and unbiased reporting, have a wide variety of perspectives, even those we disagree with... So... [Mia laughs]

SLIM TÁR’s like four hours long, right? It’s a long movie.

MIA I believe yes, it’s a four hour long film. [Slim laughs]

SLIM Mia’s not having any of my BS talking about four hour length.

MIA It’s two hours, 38 minutes—we can do it!

SLIM Shorter than The Batman, before anyone yells at me in my DMs about that, so I’ll say that much. What about you? You had a busy week. You went to AFI Fest. What is AFI Fest, first of all, and what’d you see?

MIA AFI stands for American Film Institute, they’re a highly respected Film Institute and they have an LA-based Film Festival that I got to attend for the first time ever. I saw six films at the festival, my favorite of which being Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio... Very exciting.

SLIM How was it? How was it?

MIA I really enjoy—I actually just posted a review of it. I really enjoyed it.

SLIM Ohh!

MIA They also put me front row at this event, so I was five seats away from Guillermo del Toro himself. I was like ten feet away from Christoph Waltz. I cannot believe this happened to me, it was an insane weekend.

SLIM Six movies, that’s like one TÁR.

MIA Yes, yes, that is equivalent to one TÁR, yeah... [Slim laughs]

SLIM I’m just—all the TÁR-heads out there, I’m just kidding! These are all jokes. We’re all friends here. I just found your Pinocchio review—four stars!

MIA And a heart.

SLIM That’s high praise. Very high praise.

MIA It was my favorite film of the festival—second being The Eternal Daughter by Joanna Hogg starring Tilda Swinton in dual roles

SLIM review: “A parody of a Weird Al Yankovic biopic like a Weird Al Yankovic biopic should be. Could’ve gone without the meaningless fat jokes.” I do , there’s that song that was popularized back then, they do reference it in a scene with his mom and it just felt like maybe we probably could have cut this out in 2022, doesn’t really vibe very well. But yes, very fun movie, I thought.