Tristan Ettleman
LightNews LightNews
banner
ettletodd.bsky.social
Tristan Ettleman
@ettletodd.bsky.social
80 followers 82 following 380 posts
I teach and I write about movies and other things. Host of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever and The Complete Catalog podcasts.

Writing: https://medium.com/@trettleman
Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/3gXF3
Posts Replies Media Videos
ettletodd.bsky.social
Sure it’s Thanksgiving, but why not take a few minutes to get set up for another great season of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever? Here’s an excerpt from my intro for 1909. Links in the quoted post!
November 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
1909 E1 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! My brief introduction to the end of a decade gives some historical context before my conversations with five guests. A fun fact right at the top: their picks have the least overlap of any season of the show thus far! Links 👇
An image from The Airship Destroyer, a point of view shot through binoculars showing a fleet of blimps
November 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On KEEPER, Oz Perkins’ new movie
I’m finding I must be one of Perkins’ biggest cheerleaders, as the mixed reception to KEEPER is totally out of keeping with my own sentiments. This is in some ways a retread of the themes and dynamics of I AM THE PRETTY THING but made extremely more compelling. There are some incredible designs in the film that support Tatiana Maslany’s off-kilter performance, both eerily augmented by the stellar sound design and score. After the maximalism of THE MONKEY, Perkins reins things in to be more akin to the tone of the rest of the filmography, even while capturing darkly gorgeous images that feel distinct from those other movies. I love some good daytime horror, which accounts for about half of the movie. While some of KEEPER’s exposition is simultaneously befuddling and intriguing in its vagaries, its resolution of the oppressive and isolated feeling of the film makes it a strangely uplifting experience. An image from Keeper in which a man and a woman stand looking out large window in a wooded cabin
November 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt of my conversation with Garrett Arseneault about KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE for The Complete Catalog: Studio Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
November 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E10 of The Complete Catalog is live! My good friend Garrett Arseneault and I talk KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE, full of "cozy vibes" but also very real things to say about growing up, found family, and young womanhood. Links 👇
Image from Kiki's Delivery Service with the young witch laying in the grass and looking up at a blue sky with white clouds
November 21, 2025 at 6:29 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here are the five most selected films for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1908 (plus one from 1907). Links for the season finale and every submitted film in the quoted post!
List of 1908 top five for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever podcast. 1908 #1 The Last Days of Pompeii, Arturo Ambrosio and Luigi Maggi. 1908 #2 The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, Charles le Bargy and Andre Calmettes. 1908 #3 The Adventures of Dollie, D.W. Griffith. 1908 #4 Unterm Paraplui, unknown. 1908 #5 Get Me a Stepladder, unknown
November 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
1908 E7 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! As usual, I use the brief season finale to summarize the themes of the conversations and share the most picked films. "Prestige" is incoming! Links 👇
An image from The Last Days of Pompeii, showing a female and male Roman standing in an archway leading into a smoking arena
November 19, 2025 at 7:04 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On PREDATOR: BADLANDS, Dan Trachtenberg’s new movie
So in developing its story of a runt Predator (ahem, Yautja) named Dek, BADLANDS runs the risk of negatively demystifying something that’s always been intriguing about these films, at least to me. And it comes a little close, as the film embraces a “found family” theme and cutesy humor that seem out of step with the previous movies (it’s the first Predator movie to be rated PG-13 instead of R, for example). But I don’t judge my films based on the intensity of their gore, at least not exclusively. More importantly, BADLANDS balances its sentimentality with clever action plotting, which admittedly isn’t always rendered smoothly in a visual format that falls in with the flat lighting and greyness of modern blockbuster filmmaking. But the alien landscapes and creature designs rise out of that default and there are moments of quieter beauty. BADLANDS is not an unqualified success, but it demonstrates Trachtenberg’s ability to interpret Predator uniquely, and for the third time! An image from Predator Badlands, with the Yautja Dek screaming
November 18, 2025 at 5:27 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with @peutetre.bsky.social about GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES for The Complete Catalog: Studio Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
November 15, 2025 at 6:33 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E9 of The Complete Catalog is live! I was somewhat dreading revisiting GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, but as @peutetre.bsky.social and I discuss, that common sentiment of how great the movie is and yet is only a "one watch movie" may do a disservice to its power. Among other things! Links👇
Image from Grave of the Fireflies, in which a small girl and a teenage boy stand in a red field full of fireflies
November 14, 2025 at 6:55 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
This is the last but not least guest episode of the 1908 season, so what are your five favorite films of the year (or any amount)? Feel free to reply here or submit to the form at www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list by Monday 11/17 to be included in the collective list!
November 13, 2025 at 7:00 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here’s an excerpt from my conversation with @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1908. Links in quoted post!
November 13, 2025 at 5:57 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
I think John Ford’s MEN WITHOUT WOMEN has grown on me in this regard!
November 13, 2025 at 6:33 AM
ettletodd.bsky.social
1908 E6 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social's work focuses on scientific filmmaking, nontheatrical film, and animal studies, but with his picks, he branches out into fantasy and spectacle (and there are indeed a couple of threads to the research). Links 👇
Image from The Electric Hotel, showing a hair brushing a woman's hair on its own
November 12, 2025 at 5:07 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. IV, Ninja Sex Party’s latest album
As I’ve expressed, NSP’s cover albums share a general commitment to recreating the sound of the source tracks, so my enjoyment of them does really stem from the track lists. UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. IV is nearly the best in this department, and although I’ve described these records as same-y, the smoothness of the band’s sound has improved over the years. As we’ll see, there’s a power to the novelty of a band doing covers, and four installments in for NSP, UNDER THE COVERS has less power in that department. But the band’s interpretation of “Just What I Needed” approximates the power of that awesome Cars song and, minus “Walk the Dinosaur” (I viscerally dislike the song), the rest of the selections on UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. IV are strong, and in relation to the other cover albums, less rankling in their original forms. Album cover of Ninja Sex Party’s Under the Covers Volume 4, with Ninja Brian and Danny Sexbang lounging on a bed with pink curtains and flowery sheets
November 11, 2025 at 5:33 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
second David Lynch-related tattoo :)
November 9, 2025 at 8:20 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt of my conversation with @aetataureate.bsky.social about MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO for The Complete Catalog: Studi Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
November 8, 2025 at 6:16 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E8 of The Complete Catalog is live! @aetataureate.bsky.social and I go *deep* on MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO because how else are you supposed to approach such a renowned and beloved film? We do also discuss, though, how that wasn't always assured. Links 👇
An image from My Neighbor Totoro at a bus stop in a raining forest. A young girl holds an umbrella and a smaller girl on her back while standing next to the large grey creature Totoro.
November 7, 2025 at 6:07 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with Donald Sosin for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1908. Links in quoted post!
November 6, 2025 at 5:34 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
1908 E5 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! Composer and performer Donald Sosin and I fittingly talk about music ("silent movies were never silent!"), especially regarding a milestone in film scores, but also fluid animation and classic tales. Links 👇
Image from The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, with a large group of men in 1600s era costumes scheming in a baroque set
November 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On DUETS SPECIAL, Chrissie Hynde’s latest “solo” album and nearly her best
Hynde pulled together an eclectic array of collaborators for another record of covers, themselves representing diverse eras and genres of music: DUETS SPECIAL. The album’s production is a bit too smooth and the arrangements too bright in parts (or maybe the original song in question is just too great), but when DUETS SPECIAL is reflective and a bit more understated, it has some genuinely affecting moments. The best example of this is Hynde’s version of The Rolling Stones’ “Sway” with the great Lucinda Williams, which features a beautiful downplayed chorus. DUETS SPECIAL cements Hynde’s solo career as an interpreter of, presumably, a wide swath of music she admires, and while not every tune on it meshes especially well, its overall tone is one of appreciation. Album cover of Duets Special, which simply lists the title on a white background with large block letters above a target and the text Chrissie Hynde & Pals
November 4, 2025 at 6:38 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
no caption necessary
woman dressed as Gomez Addams and man dressed as Morticia Addams in a red lit room
November 1, 2025 at 8:26 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt of my conversation with @moviegoodmoviebad.bsky.social about THE STORY OF YANAGAWA’S CANALS for The Complete Catalog: Studio Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
November 1, 2025 at 6:48 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E7 of The Complete Catalog is live! @moviegoodmoviebad.bsky.social joins me to talk about perhaps Ghibli's most obscure feature, Isao Takahata's The Story of Yanagawa's Canals, the studio's only live-action and/or documentary film. Links 👇
Image from The Story of Yanagawa's Canals, showing a point of view from a boat in a canal with high walls to the left and right and a bridge overhead
October 31, 2025 at 5:14 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt of my conversation with @blomamsterdam.bsky.social for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1908. Links in quoted post!
October 30, 2025 at 5:11 PM