Tristan Ettleman
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ettletodd.bsky.social
Tristan Ettleman
@ettletodd.bsky.social
86 followers 85 following 440 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
Reposted by Tristan Ettleman
zepfanman.com
Please help me identify the women behind the scenes in #StudioGhibli films, particularly if you know Japanese. zepfanman.com/2026/01/help...
HELP! Who are the Ghibli women filmmakers? | Zepfanman.com
Since I can't read Japanese, it's hard for me to identify the women filmmakers at Studio Ghibli throughout the years. Please help me crowdsource the most frequent women contributors behind the scenes....
zepfanman.com
January 5, 2026 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Tristan Ettleman
ettletodd.bsky.social
The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1909 ends next week! What are your five favorite films of 1909 (or any)? Reply here or submit to www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list by Monday 1/5 to be brought into the collective list!
January 2, 2026 at 10:04 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with @malcolmcook76.bsky.social about PRINCESS MONONOKE for The Complete Catalog: Studio Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
January 3, 2026 at 6:56 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1909 ends next week! What are your five favorite films of 1909 (or any)? Reply here or submit to www.the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list by Monday 1/5 to be brought into the collective list!
January 2, 2026 at 10:04 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E16 of The Complete Catalog is live! @malcolmcook76.bsky.social joins me to talk PRINCESS MONONOKE, and boy, what an ep! We dig quite deep into this behemoth of pop culture and its profound themes. Plus: some talk about Ghibli's advertising work! Links 👇
January 2, 2026 at 7:00 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
The official Letterboxd “Wrapped” or whatever isn’t out yet but I have these 2025 stats here! I watch a lot of shorts. But I’m still disappointed I came in under my 2024 numbers 😔
January 1, 2026 at 9:27 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with Paul Flaig about FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR AIRPLANES IN BRESCIA for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1909. Links in quoted post!
January 1, 2026 at 6:39 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Happy New Year's Eve, 1909 E6 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! Professor Paul Flaig wrote a great book on the Weimar Republic and Hollywood slapstick, and although we're of course dealing with an earlier period, he works in German and American (and French!) comedy, plus more. Links👇
Image from First International Competition for Airplanes in Brescia showing a olde-timey plane wheeling forward on the ground
December 31, 2025 at 6:51 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On IS THIS THING ON?, Bradley Cooper’s latest film as director and his best yet
Part of what makes its depiction of stand up not fall into the trap that many other films about it do is that Cooper and his collaborators obviously depict Will Arnett’s financier as a clear novice with an endearing mien and a couple clever jokes, not as some sudden genius. Indeed, there’s a clever and subtle progress to his stand up that never crests into amazing territory; he just becomes slightly better! The resolution of IS THIS THING ON? is sweet and somewhat typical, but it feels earned. And the elliptical editing and aesthetic approach makes the movie feel like a “slice of life” effort without big sweeping statements or overwrought drama, as can be found in A STAR IS BORN and MAESTRO. Cooper, the actor, is at his best when he drops in and plays a weirdo (like in LICORICE PIZZA [2021]), as he does in this film. And in fact, IS THIS THING ON? is the best work from Bradley Cooper, the director, yet. Will Arnett in Is This Thing On, standing at a microphone against a brick wall with a sign saying Comedy Cellar
December 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Bradley Cooper's still fledgling directorial career has taken a pleasantly surprising turn with his latest, IS THIS THING ON?. Since I saw it, I've been thinking about it quite a bit, and so I also wrote about the guy's whole filmography so far.

trettleman.medium.com/the-bradley-...
The Bradley Cooper Movies Ranked
Bradley Cooper sprang from handsome leading man in both comedies and dramas to director (and handsome leading man) with the 2010s…
trettleman.medium.com
December 29, 2025 at 8:01 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with Madeleine Clermont about WHISPER OF THE HEART for The Complete Catalog: Studio Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
December 27, 2025 at 10:21 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E15 of The Complete Catalog is live! My good friend Madeleine Clermont joins me to talk about WHISPER OF THE HEART, a sleeper favorite for best Ghibli film. And indeed, we both love it, based on its wonderfully understated yet emotional depiction of the creative process. Links 👇
Image from Whisper of the Heart showing a teenage boy and girl looking at each other as they stand over a city skyline
December 26, 2025 at 7:16 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Merry Christmas! Here is an excerpt from my conversation with Yuki Irikura about GOBAN TADANOBU (and really Japan’s first film star, Matsunosuke Onoe) for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1909. Links in quoted post!
December 25, 2025 at 4:29 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
1909 E5 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! Merry Christmas Eve: here's a great episode for you, whether you're alone, escaping family, or can catch up later! Professor Yuki Irikura joins me to mostly talk Griffith, but also old-school tricks and Japan's first film star. Links 👇
Japan's first film star, Matsunosuke Onoe, standing in traditional clothes and hair on set of an unidentified film
December 24, 2025 at 6:32 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On A TALE OF TWO CITIES, my #2 1935 film
As has been demonstrated, A TALE OF TWO CITIES has much to recommend it besides its star. While it drags in some of its attempts, or lack thereof, to address the political realities of the French Revolution, it never loses the appeal of its cinematography, sets, costumes, and supporting cast’s commitment. And yet, reviewing the film in full, it would never have entered my highest esteem of the best films of 1935 if not for Colman. He gives one of his best performances of his career in embodying an indelible character of classic literature, one of Dickens’ martyrs that has resonated with me more than most, in any medium. A TALE OF TWO CITIES truly thrives based on Ronald Colman’s divine close ups, his, at times, puppy dog eyes, his sardonic smiles, and his confident resignation to death, and his embodiment of Sydney Carton will certainly stick with me until my own end. An image from A Tale of a Two Cities showing Ronald Colman staring into the distance next to a guillotine
December 23, 2025 at 6:21 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
My #2 1935 film is A TALE OF TWO CITIES, a surprisingly effective Dickens adaptation. There's one big reason for that: Ronald Colman. My 1935 essay series continues!

trettleman.medium.com/a-tale-of-tw...
A Tale of Two Cities Is Made by Ronald Colman’s Stellar Performance
This is the hundred-and-eighty-second in a series of historical/critical essays examining the best in film from each year. Essentially, I…
trettleman.medium.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:06 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
This may not mean anything to most of my followers but: do we think Hideo Kojima is a lefty?
December 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here is an excerpt from my conversation with @zepfanman.com about POM POKO for The Complete Catalog: Studio Ghibli. Links in quoted post!
December 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
This is my experience with writing my whole life: I think I can't possibly ever get myself to start (sometimes for days), I write three sentences within 45 minutes (most of that spent on my phone nowadays), I make dinner and watch something, I come back and my fingers can't type fast enough.
December 20, 2025 at 5:02 AM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Studio Ghibli E14 of The Complete Catalog is live! @zepfanman.com and I talk about POM POKO, an eco-fable that simultaneously revels in silly humor and morbid reflections, even while it doesn't provide any easy answers to the destruction facing our natural environments. Links 👇
An image from Pom Poko showing a group of tanuki smiling on two others, one playing the guitar and another the harmonica
December 19, 2025 at 7:48 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
Here’s an excerpt from my conversation with @kathyfs.bsky.social for The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever: 1909 about THE MILL. Links in quoted post!
December 18, 2025 at 5:57 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
1909 E4 of The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever is live! @kathyfs.bsky.social wrote about early cinema audiences quite some time ago, and has since ranged in other subjects like radio history and back to silent film, and her picks similarly weave from morbid drama to eye-popping tricks. Links 👇
An image from The Mill with one miller tying up another on a wing of the mill
December 17, 2025 at 5:41 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
On THE NOISE OF SAY ANYTHING’S ROOM WITHOUT…, the band’s worst album
THE NOISE OF SAY ANYTHING’S ROOM WITHOUT… is definitely the band’s worst album. I don’t quite understand the provenance, but this 21 track, 105-minute record seems to have stemmed from a rash of “inspiration” from Bemis, which essentially results in a scattershot run of formless, dissonant, and messy songs. That is obviously the intent, but even if Bemis “successfully” executed an off-putting work, it doesn’t mean it’s something I really want to listen to. There are sprinkles of intriguing melodies, as in the back half of the ten-minute-long “Both,” but it does feel like a slog to listen to THE NOISE. The album is marked by rambling Bemis vocals and cryptic then obvious lyrics over grating beats and riffs. THE NOISE sometimes dips into admirable experimental territory, but it essentially stands as a wall of sound that seems to defy enjoyment. Album cover of The Noise of Say Anything’s Room Without, showing an illustrated pair of hairy legs below a growing wooden nose
December 16, 2025 at 4:38 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
I saw Say Anything last week and also discovered they (or Max Bemis) had just suddenly dropped a new record, THE NOISE OF SAY ANYTHING’S ROOM WITHOUT… I added my thoughts on it to my piece on their discography.

trettleman.medium.com/the-say-anyt...
The Say Anything Albums Ranked
Perhaps this is a conclusion, perhaps not.
trettleman.medium.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:39 PM
ettletodd.bsky.social
I’ve been trying to find words about the awful news about Rob and Michele Reiner and this thread captures my thoughts exactly
feminaridens.bsky.social Katie @feminaridens.bsky.social · 20d
really having a hard time even thinking about rob reiner's work rn, just too stuck on the reality & nature of the deaths themselves to feel anything else atm
December 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM