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Articles by Mitchell Beaupre
Shelter from the Storm: Jeff Nichols on the sincerity, anxiety and longevity of Take Shelter
Jeff Nichols began writing Take Shelterin 2008, right in the midst of a housing crisis that saw many people’s worst fears of everything falling apart underneath them come to fruition.
Growing Pains: Mike Flanagan on teenage cruelty and telekinesis in his adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie
Mike Flanagan is no stranger to taking shorter works of gothic fiction and elongating them across his own mindscape into captivating television series.
Ethan Hawke comfortably shoulders The Weight of a throwback '70s-style adventure
Deep in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest in 1933, a group of men trek through dangerous terrain while carrying hefty packs of stolen gold, forced into transporting it for the profit of others. Beyond the environment, they face danger both from the gun-wielding thugs assigned to monitor them, ensuring they won’t abscond with the fortune, and from the equally lethal assailants lurking behind the trees, who know what they hold and aim to take it for themselves.
Serpent’s Path Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa Puts a Fresh Spin on His Psychological Thriller
There are several reasons a director can decide to remake their own work. It could be an instance of having greater resources and being more confident in your skills, as was the case with Alfred Hitchcock revisiting The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Siege Mentality: Onslaught’s Adam Wingard on his super-soldier slasher’s slew of cinematic influences
By the time Adria Arjona’s Celeste, a retired Army sniper living in a New Mexico trailer park with her young daughter, ties a bandana around one wounded eye and picks up a chainsaw to defend her turf against armed intruders, it’s clear Onslaught isn’t abiding by any realistic rules of engagement. Instead, the playbook that writer-director Adam Wingard refers to throughout this relentlessly violent, grindhouse-guignol throwback was perfected in the ’80s by John Carpenter.
The Sun Never Sets Review: Joe Swanberg’s Return Is Stuck in a Rut
It’s been nearly a decade since Joe Swanberg last sat in the director’s chair. What does the preeminent king of mumblecore have up his sleeve now? More of the same, essentially. For those familiar with work such as Drinking Buddies, Digging for Fire, and Happy Christmas, the filmmaker’s The Sun Never Sets won’t pack many surprises; his low-budget, loose rhythm in assembling a set of characters and placing them under a quasi-rom-com premise to bicker and banter remains firmly intact.
Paths of Power: Kiyoshi Kurosawa on the castle intrigue of The Samurai and the Prisoner
Across Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s on-screen oeuvre—from acclaimed works of psychological horror like Cure and Pulse to the earlier, direct-to-VHS “V-cinema” on which he cut his teeth as a genre filmmaker—the now 71-year-old director has explored the ways in which one’s sense of self is inextricably linked to their environment.
Paths of Power: Kiyoshi Kurosawa on the castle intrigue of The Samurai and the Prisoner
Across Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s on-screen oeuvre—from acclaimed works of psychological horror like Cure and Pulse to the earlier, direct-to-VHS “V-cinema” on which he cut his teeth as a genre filmmaker—the now 71-year-old director has explored the ways in which one’s sense of self is inextricably linked to their environment.
Crossing the Threshold: exploring the deep impact of Spirited Away at 25
Near the end of Spirited Away, as the young heroine, Chihiro, prepares to leave the bathhouse that employs her to try to save the life of the boy she loves, her mentor asks the boiler man, Kamaji, “What’s going on here?” A fitting question, one you may ask yourself at least once while watching this tale full of folkloric spirits, transforming creatures, and otherworldly environments. Kamaji’s response is simple, yet pointed, “Something you wouldn’t recognize.
Remake Review: Ross McElwee’s Introspective Documentary Haunts with Humanity
“I used to call myself a filmmaker. I used to call myself your father.” These two sentences are repeated like a mantra through Ross McElwee’s latest searingly personal documentary, Remake, focused primarily on the devastating loss of his 27-year-old son Adrian to a fentanyl overdose in 2016.
Making History: Indiana Jones and the birth of a new classic with Raiders of the Lost Ark
Hollywood’s ability to make a new cinematic hero rather than diving into IP may as well be buried in an anonymous warehouse among nondescript crates. Even the great Indiana Jones almost never happened.
Imperial Wasteland: Lav Diaz on Magellan, imperialist cycles and digital freedom • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Becoming a household name was never on the cards for Filipino iconoclast Lav Diaz. The great chronicler of his country’s search for an identity amidst centuries of endless colonization has always been an outsider artist. While beloved by critics, the filmmaker’s work has often rejected the conventional wisdom attached to moviemaking. A typical Diaz film will clock in anywhere from four to five hours, and is almost always experimenting with form.
Funny Papers: Park Chan-wook on how Looney Tunes influenced the cartoonish comedy of No Other Choice • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Director Park Chan-wook has always been funny. Perhaps most well-known for his intricate weaving of beauty and brutality, of eroticism and revulsion, the latest masterpiece from the director of The Handmaiden and the Vengeance Trilogy, No Other Choice, fully leans into the dark humor and physical comedy that has—until now—been tastefully peppered into his work. It also delves into a different kind of desire: to retain upper-middle-class status.
Mitchell Beaupre’s Top 10 Films of 2025
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2025, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists. 2025 got off to a bang early with a double-header of distinctly delicious Steven Soderbergh genre exercises in the haunted house story Presence and the espionage thriller Black Bag.
To Build a Home: Joachim Trier on the polyphonic, emotional clarity of Sentimental Value • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
There is a Letterboxd review in which one person says they “lived a dozen lives while watching Sentimental Value”, explaining that Joachim Trier’s mature, wildly resonant latest film “held a mirror up to me from all angles. In it, I saw my many selves, and how they reflect similarly off of those I love.
In Dreams: Bi Gan on our fragmented reality and his epic Resurrection • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
A world where dreaming is outlawed is impractical on paper but transposes itself quite neatly onto ours. Think about it: it doesn’t matter where you waste your time scrolling, there’s always something fighting to rot our brains. If it isn’t someone blind ranking fast food restaurants on TikTok, somebody else on X is gleefully proclaiming that generative AI will destroy Hollywood.
Goodbye June Review: Kate Winslet’s Directing Debut is a Well-Meaning Misfire
If you read the headline of this review and are shocked that this is the first time you’re hearing that not only did Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet direct a movie, but it’s being released right now and in two weeks will be streaming globally on Netflix, you’re likely not alone.
Take Two!: a starter pack of twenty big swing sophomore features • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
If directors’ freshman features are viewed as a sort of mission statement, sophomore efforts can just as frequently be viewed as an artistic challenge: an invitation for the filmmaker to bring their most ambitious, idiosyncratic visions to life while they still have the industry’s attention—and the clout to do so.
The New World: Clint Bentley and Joel Edgerton on balancing the mythic and the intimate in Train Dreams • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Since the moment it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival nearly twelve months ago, Clint Bentley’s Train Dreamshas received praise across Letterboxd reviews including phrases such as “soul-igniting”, “therapeutic”, “sprawling, tender”, or as Chris succinctly puts it, “wow”.
The New World: Clint Bentley and Joel Edgerton on balancing the mythic and the intimate in Train Dreams • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Since the moment it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival nearly twelve months ago, Clint Bentley’s Train Dreamshas received praise across Letterboxd reviews including phrases such as “soul-igniting”, “therapeutic”, “sprawling, tender”, or as Chris succinctly puts it, “wow”.
Unplanned Obsolescence: Ethan Hawke on going to those dark places—while keeping it funny—in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Over the past 30 years, director Richard Linklater and star Ethan Hawke have made a whopping nine feature films together. So it’s only natural that they would eventually make a picture about the ebbs and flows of a similarly prolific creative partnership.
Eternal Sunshine: fifteen fantastic films to remember the late Robert Redford • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
“One of the lions has passed,” upon hearing that the inimitable actor, director, producer and undeniable saviors of American independent cinema Robert Redford had died. “Lion” feels like the right word to speak to the actor’s screen presence: powerful, majestic, singular, beguiling and just plain beautiful. You don’t really need anyone or anything else on screen, as long as you have Robert Redford. Nobody that Redford worked with was left unmoved by his talent.
Kindred Spirits: character actor David Strathairn reflects on building a career of substance • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
David Strathairn is a consummate actor—the kind of understated performer who quietly elevates every ensemble of which he’s a part but often appears content to blend seamlessly into the background, never taking up more of a scene than he needs to. You might recognize him as the sympathetic manager of a women’s baseball team (A League of Their Own), a calculating CIA spook (The Bourne Ultimatum) or the blind sound expert on a high-tech heist (Sneakers).
Seller’s Market: Kiyoshi Kurosawa on experimenting, action cinema and Cloud • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known by many as a master of horror, thanks to haunting turn-of-the-century features like Cure, which currently sits at number 193 on the Letterboxd Top 250, and Pulse, which was partly responsible for the wave of J-horror remakes that surged in Hollywood in the 2000s.
Arrested Development: Kenneth Lonergan reflects on 25 years of You Can Count on Me • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
One of the most lauded playwrights of the modern era, Kenneth Lonergan has directed only three films to date, spanning the course of two and a half decades since his debut, You Can Count on Me, premiered at Sundance in the year 2000 and won the filmmaker both the festival’s biggest honor, Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.
Get Into the Groove: the best party film you haven’t heard of • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Sometimes the petite grief of knowing I’ll never see every movie I might love surfaces. But that lamentation dissolves when I remember the equal and opposite truth: For all of us, any day now, something alchemical will transpire. Maybe at your local cinema or in your living room, you’ll watch a film for the first time and it will stay with you forever.
Run For Your Life: Edgar Wright breaks down the trailer for The Running Man • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
The last time The Running Manwas brought to the big screen, it was in the form of a bouldering Arnold Schwarzenegger, deemed a criminal after refusing to obey a murderous military command, and forced to run through dripping wet streets in a skintight leotard while dropping one-liners over the course of a single treacherous night.
Dawn of the Dads: the Letterboxd crew’s favorite cinematic fathers • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Dads can be anything. They can be a brash captain of the British Royal Navy. They can be Nicolas Cage as John Travolta as an FBI agent. They can even be an adorable cartoon Dalmatian. Again, dads can be anything! And the best ones—like Billy Elliot’s—assure us that we can be anything, too. For Father’s Day, we asked our contributors to write odes to their favorite filmic fathers (or father figures, in the cases of Morpheus and Maverick).
Remain in Light: Mike Mills on the films that influenced his Talking Heads video for “Psycho Killer” • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
If you had any doubt that the Talking Heads were foundational in the artistry of Mike Mills, look no further than his 2016 feature 20th Century Women. From the ‘Don’t Worry About the Government’ needle drop in the film’s opening to the Talking Heads: 77 shirt that leading character Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), who was based on Mills, wears and is subsequently beaten up for (a shirt Mills actually owns), the director’s appreciation of the band is all over his work.
Bennets, Balls and Boiled Potatoes: a celebration of the touching details behind Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Joe Wright wasn’t intending to create one of the most obsessed-over period pictures of the 21st century. He tells us he merely wanted to be “at the service of Jane Austen and her story.” So how did a close-up of Matthew Macfadyen’s fingers become so distractingly important as to pack out theaters twenty years later? Fans are squealing and doing backflips at the Hand Flex™, a gesture that has bewitched us, body and soul.
Magic Man: Josh Hartnett breaks down some of his most memorable roles • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
The Josh Hartnett renaissance is in full swing, and we’re all the better for it. The past few years have seen a major surge for the star who broke out at the turn of the century across horror hits (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, The Faculty), emotionally packed teen dramas (The Virgin Suicides, O) and major blockbusters (Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down).
Waxing Poetic: Jaume Collet-Serra and Stephen F. Windon on twenty years of House of Wax • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
So goes the iconic tagline for 2005’s equally iconic House of Wax, a watershed moment in the grunge horror era of early 21st century Hollywood cinema. While other films of this wave have seen their stocks falter as they age, Jaume Collet-Serra’s loose remake of André de Toth’s 1953 Vincent Price-starring chiller about a murderer who encases his victims in wax sculptures has only grown in stature.
Hard Boiled: Tom Hardy and Gareth Evans on the influences and animalism of Havoc • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
When a director is responsible for what Letterboxd members describe as “single-handedly the best action movie I [have] ever seen,” you make sure to stand to attention whenever they’ve got a new release coming. After spending some time in the world of television with Gangs of London, Welsh action maestro Gareth Evans (The Raid, The Raid 2) is back to feature filmmaking.
The Fixer: Tony Gilroy on cracking the codes of Michael Clayton, Andor and more • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Tony Gilroy can do it all. Born in Manhattan to an award-winning playwright father and a sculptor-writer mother, for many years he pursued a career as a musician before abandoning tunes when he discovered his knack for screenwriting. Gilroy saw his work on screen for the first time at the age of 36 with 1992’s ice-skating rom-com The Cutting Edge, following it up with a stunning run of success from aching dramas (Dolores Claiborne) to operatic thrillers (The Devil’s Advocate).
Real Genius: fifteen memorable films from the late Val Kilmer • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
“I always marveled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” Heat director Michael Mann said of Val Kilmer’s immense talents upon news of the actor’s passing last week at the age of 65. From absurd spoof comedies to sky high blockbusters to deep reflections of the soul, Kilmer traversed myriad genres across the course of his four decades on the big screen, a lightning rod of charisma few could hold a candle to.
Love Is Harder Than Crime: for twenty years, D.E.B.S. has blurred the lines between hero and villain • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Angela Robinson made her spy spoof gay rom-com D.E.B.S. the year after Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle hit theaters. As Roger Ebert noted in his 1.5-star review, Robinson’s lesbian spin on hot girls with guns felt like a direct response to that revitalized franchise. But D.E.B.S. wasn’t just a queering of the recent Charlie’s Angels films—or other new female action franchises like Lara Croft and Resident Evil—it was a satire.
Everybody Knows: Atom Egoyan on the collective grief and cathartic healing of Exotica • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
From the beginning of his career, even as far back as his 1981 short film Peep Show, Atom Egoyan has been interested in the act of watching. What observation of others tells us about them, but just as much so what it says about ourselves. Rarely has that theme been more potent than in Exotica, released 30 years ago and standing strong as the director’s highest-rated film on Letterboxd.
Absolute Power: fifteen memorable performances from the late Gene Hackman • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
“This week, our community lost a giant,” Morgan Freeman said at the 97th Academy Awards, speaking to the passing of his former co-star and “dear friend” Gene Hackman. “Like everyone who has ever shared a scene with him,” the actor continued, “I learned he was a generous performer, and a man whose gifts elevated everyone’s work.
Fix Your Heart: the Letterboxd community celebrates the art life of David Lynch • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
“In heaven, everything is fine.” In David Lynch’s 1977 debut feature, Eraserhead, the Lady in the Radiator sings these words. In 2025, at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, California, a piece of cardboard at the foot of the Big Boy statue spells them out in capital letters. It’s one amongst hundreds of other offerings for the late filmmaker, who dined here “for seven years every day at 2:30” and who passed away January 15—five days before what would have been his 79th birthday.
Carry-On Review: Jaume Collet-Serra Delivers A New Christmas Crime Classic
Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” plays out as we pan down from the sky to find a mysterious man we’ll know only as Traveler (Jason Bateman) arriving to make a deal for an ominous suitcase, murdering everyone on sight before he acquires it. Within moments, Jaume Collet-Serra establishes the new Netflix action thriller Carry-On as festive fanfare that doesn’t fuck around.
Gold Rush: National Treasure and the last hurrah of the high-concept blockbuster • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
In a line that has rattled around our collective cultural consciousness for more than twenty years, Nicolas Cage’s blockbuster hero Benjamin Franklin Gates solemnly intones his plan to protect one of America’s most treasured documents. By stealing it. “I’m going to steal the Declaration of Independence,” warns Gates, as he gazes over the legendary document while standing in the National Archives. In that pivotal moment of National Treasure, cinema history was made.
Where the Heart Is: the communal, nourishing strength of Steel Magnolias at 35 • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Before I even answered the phone, I knew what terrible news was waiting on the other side of the line. In December 2017, my dad rang me on a Sunday afternoon to share that my cousin Michele had died, long before she should have. It was more of an inevitability than a surprise, but my heart was still shattered, particularly for her children—and her mother. When I got back to the silence of my own apartment, the enormity of the loss came crashing down on me.
Woman of the Watchlist: Anna Kendrick on four films that influenced her directing debut • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
When you think of Anna Kendrick, chances are your mind goes to her wicked fast whip in films like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, her musical prowess in Pitch Perfectand Into the Woods, or her Oscar-nominated mixture of frailty and fire in Up in the Air. So, when you settle in to watch the actor’s directing debut, you most likely aren’t expecting an unnerving true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), who murdered women throughout the 1970s in Los Angeles.
‘A Different Man’ review by Mitchell Beaupre • Letterboxd
My disabilities inform so much of my life. I’ve been living with a physical disability for the last 15 years, and (at least knowingly) a mental disability for the last 12. Each comes with its difficulties, and each has impacted so much of how I operate in the world — not only how I function outside of my own home, but just as significantly what my perception of myself is within my own mind.
The Wright Stuff: the Letterboxd community ranking of Edgar Wright’s films • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
While Edgar Wright made his feature debut in 1995 with the little-seen A Fistful of Fingers (less than 5,000 Letterboxd members have marked it watched), it was his sophomore effort, Shaun of the Dead, that blossomed him into the stratosphere (over 1 million logs for that one, for what it’s worth).
Killer Queen: the deep, delicious impact of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
It was a flop. The facts and fiction that made up the life of Marie Antoinette may never stop being disputed, but one truth is indelible: Marie Antoinette, on the big screen, did not thrive. The 2006 film’s director, Sofia Coppola, says so unashamedly. Box office takings weren’t great, reviews were mixed, the shoot was hard. While the process and final product were amazing and enlightening, the whole thing was so taxing that Coppola nearly gave up on filmmaking.
What the Chuck: the toe-tapping, heart-bursting first reactions to TIFF award winner The Life of Chuck • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
Mike Flanagan’s name is synonymous with those ghastly terrors that keep you up all hours of the night. From his chilling Netflix series like The Haunting of Hill Houseand Midnight Massto films including The Shining sequel Doctor Sleepand home-invasion thriller Hush, this is a man who has developed a knack for sending chills down your spine.
Best of the Best: ten memorable performances from the late James Earl Jones • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
“That booming voice. That quiet strength. The kindness that he radiated. So much can be said about his legacy,” wrote Kevin Costner of his Field of Dreams co-star James Earl Jones the day after the actor’s passing this week at the age of 93. With lines like Darth Vader’s “No, I am your father,” Jones’s voice resonates in the annals of cinema history as forcefully as his incandescent visage.
Macabre Maestro: the Letterboxd community ranks all twenty of Tim Burton’s freaky features • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine
We swoop into a model community, an imperfectly perfect suburban neighborhood. Curvy lines that should be straight; pale faces with kooky dark hairstyles. We’re greeted by familiar credits on the screen, legends in their craft: score by Danny Elfman, production design by Bo Welch, costume design by Colleen Atwood, writing by John August. These are just a few of the many imaginations that invite you into the whimsical world of Tim Burton.
‘The Last of the Mohicans’ review by Mitchell Beaupre • Letterboxd
Threw on The Last of the Mohicans last night after finishing listening to the fantastic Michael Mann episode of Screen Drafts with Bilge Ebiri, Brandon Streussnig and Roxana Hadadi. Hadn’t seen this in nearly twenty years. Didn’t remember anything about it. Now I’ll never forget it. Just about 24 hours post-viewing at the moment, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Images, sounds, moments coming into my brain like waves, keeping me on the verge of tears for the entirety of the last day.
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