Season’s greetings film lovers,

We’ve made it to the end of 2017, and what a year for the entertainment industry. A year of silence breakers, of Oscars being awarded erroneously (seems so long ago now), of wonder women and cutesy Porgs. Our sixth-annual Year in Review—which we’ll publish in early January—will celebrate your year in film: the best, the worst, the most divisive. Our final calculations will be performed at midnight (Pacific) on December 31, so be sure to get all your ratings entered before then, to ensure they count.

This holiday edition of Call Sheet features some of our favorite seasonal lists, a Star Wars: The Last Jedi one-star vs five-star fight, and recent reviews of classic Christmas movies. Speaking of Christmas picks, there’s still time to get yours in for this week’s Showdown: Bad Santas.

And if you’re panicking about gift ideas, our Holiday Gift Guide is here for any last-minute shopping. Our gift to you this month is this Q&A we did with Sean Baker, director of The Florida Project and Tangerine, who kindly answered a bunch of your questions. Also, this totally accurate list of Harrison Ford films ranked by how much he wants you to get off a plane. You’re welcome.

Happy watching,
The Letterboxd crew

Opening Credits

In cinemas and coming soon
The Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman

Our favorite wolverine closes out the year as show business godfather P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. “Breaks traditional biopic standards by not being unbearably boring,” writes Josh, while Tommy faint-praises the film as “a cutting metaphor for the current American political climate while simultaneously providing the nation with a drug it has gone without for too long: Zac Efron singing. And performing scarf choreography.”

All the Money in the World

Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World, about the kidnapping of the grandson of one-time richest living American J. Paul Getty, features Christopher Plummer as a hastily-replaced Getty. Read all about his rapid nine-day re-shoot here. Our favorite bit: “Just learn your lines, for crying out loud, as quickly as you possibly can. And stay off the booze for the first three days at least, so you have a clear mind.”

Molly's Game

Dear Santa, this year for Christmas we would like to see Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba together in a movie written by Aaron Sorkin, which he also directs. Thank you.

Star Wars

One star vs five stars, fight!
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

★ “I’m 38 years old and this was more disappointing than The Phantom Menace. Huge fan of the director, big fan of The Force Awakens, love the new characters but here it’s all thrown on the fire. Opportunities are squandered, it’s emotionally detached, pointless new characters come in who fail to make an impact and, worst of all, every new planet introduces a cutesy new animal for you to buy next time you’re in the shop… The central plot between Rey and Ren is what we’re here for but that moves at a glacial pace before peaking into a glorious confrontation scene. It reminds me of listening to post-rock music: 10 minutes of build up for a 30 second climax.” —Ghostsmut

★★★★★ “Chewbacca is the most relatable character in this movie because I would also be easily influenced to adopt a shit ton of porgs and let them live in my ship… I upped my rating from 4.5 to 5 on second viewing (groundbreaking, I know) because I was struck by how many things I was looking forward to this time around… I adore how Rian Johnson has so much respect for this universe but he’s using his own voice to tell his own version of this story. And yes, it still feels very Star Warsy and all that, but unlike TFA (which I love) that simply replicated and appealed to our nostalgia feels, this is a step in a new direction, there is a sense of ownership, and exploring the grey between the light and the dark, which I very much appreciate, it feels so refreshing…

“The fact that nine films and however many decades later, we’re still showing up for Star Wars is a testament to how well this franchise is crafted. There is just so much love and passion around these films and it’s so infectious, every detail, from the costumes, to the creatures, to the incredibly detailed sets and the blink and you’ll miss it cameos, it’s all designed by fans for the fans.” —annamckenzie

Lady Bird

Lady Bird

★ “I know I am going to be in the minority here, but simply put, I could not stand this film. I found most of the people in the film truly horrible and I simply could not stand to be in their company, let alone for 94 agonising minutes. It’s not all bad though: Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf give great performances, but neither are good enough to make me want to sit through this pretentious, navel-gazing, hipster nonsense again.” —Paul Perkins

★★★★★ “This story is one of the few that can transcend identity politics and become universal. Honestly, I suppose I’m just jealous, but I do wish that there was an Asian or mixed-race Greta Gerwig who could tell my coming-of-age story with such tact, such wit, such honesty and candidness. Guess it’s up to me to write it!

“PS. I love love love that so many Letterboxd reviews of Lady Bird are from girls and women who feel like their lived experiences are actually being represented on screen! Truly, my heart is so full. After everything we ladies have been through this year, we deserved this masterpiece!” —brat pitt

Old School

Recent reviews of the classics
Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis

“It’s just cinema at its best really—a perfectly executed, light, funny and also wickedly dark film with one of Judy Garland’s most compelling performances and the character that most makes me go ‘it me’—Tootie. I just really, really, really love this film.” —grace b-p

The Apartment

The Apartment

“It’s a comedy, alright, but I wasn’t nearly prepared for the emotional bunker it plunges into around the halfway mark and doesn’t really crawl out of until the film’s final moments. Jack Lemmon’s C.C. Baxter for the most pitiful movie character of all-time? You can’t help but love him here, despite (or, maybe, because of) his doormat tendencies… The fundamental premise of The Apartment is moralistically racy even now, it’s kind of incredible this thing was made back in 1960 (and lauded so highly, to boot).” —Tony (tectactoe)

The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol

“My umpteenth rewatch, and I can’t help but marvel at how well the movie balances all its competing elements—the spooky fairytale storytelling, the sentimentality, and of course, the Muppet-based anarchy. As was the case with The Muppet Show, the human straight-man is the key, and here, in Michael Caine, they have a fine one. Caine plays heartless miser Ebenezer Scrooge with complete sincerity, never once letting on that his co-stars are a bunch of fuzzy puppets.” —stuartinnes

Tangerine

Tangerine

“Hysterical, absolutely (Donut Time scene is the greatest), but more importantly it’s beautifully humanistic. Baker recognizes his characters’ ugliness and shortcomings, but he never loses sight of the fact that what they do doesn’t make them bad people. They’re just people, no less deserving of redemption, forgiveness, and sympathy than the rest of us. Let’s all add this as a keeper to the Christmas movie canon.” —Andrew McMahon

This Is The End

Die Hard

Seriously? We’re still debating whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Yippee-ki-yay, mother-flippers: it’s certainly popular amidst our Bad Santas Showdown of non-traditional holiday films. Good enough for us.

Alien Hunter

Never mind Santa’s naughty list—are you on Naughty’s Shit List?

Better Watch Out

If you like your festive season movies with a side of gore, Harrison’s list of Christmas Horror Movies will get you started. “They help me a lot to get through a period normally filled with stress and enforced positivity.”

Maciste in Hell

“Because you can only watch It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street so many times,” writes Abforeman, she has created this guide to alternative Christmas movies. Likewise, Rudolf’s alternative Christmas list has “plenty for everyone—dystopian Christmas (Brazil), sweaty Australian Christmas (Wake in Fright), a hitman lost in Christmas spirit (Blast of Silence), Eric Rohmer Christmas (My Night at Maud’s), a cheesy Christmas tearjerker (Love Story), Christmas set in modern day Romania (Tuesday After Christmas), upper-class New York Christmas (Metropolitan) and more.”

A Wish for Christmas

Finally, two of our all-time favorite Christmas movie lists, because we love you crazy kooks and your stunning attention to detail (and because, every year, more movies are added to these lists). Firstly, Alex’s epic list of Christmas movie posters with white heterosexual couples wearing red and green. It’s a thing.

Love the Coopers

And secondly, Christmas has really gone to the dogs. Thanks for the list, Austin. (If those aren’t enough dogs for you, see also: Rembrandt’s Letterbarked list. And the new poster for Wes Anderson’s forthcoming film Isle of Dogs. Woof.)