‎Tom Spearing’s profile • Letterboxd

Favorite films

All

More

The Witch 2015

★★★★½ Watched by Tom Spearing 03 Aug 2020 3

Wouldn’t we all like to live deliciously?
It’s good to put things into perspective. Despite all the biblical-scale madness happening this year, be thankful you’re not a God-fearing peasant farmer living in the bleak 1600s, procreating uncontrollably, banished for your supposed misdeeds, forced to scratch a living off dirt, plagued by blighted crops, tormented by demonic livestock, and cursed by a satanic coven of witches who dwell in the creepy woods behind your house.
This is such an assured and…
The Seventh Seal 1957

★★★★½ Watched by Tom Spearing 04 Apr 2020

I would quite happily sit down and watch an extended bonus feature where Antonius Block and Death do little more than play a protracted game of chess, exchange the odd quip, and ponder the meaning of life.

More

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 1970

★★★★ Watched by Tom Spearing 26 Sep 2021

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from Dario Argento’s horror debut, but I don’t think I ever imagined it would be this reserved—reserved, that is, in comparison to the more flamboyant and theatrical stylings of the man’s later work. The colour palette is relatively muted, the gore is surprisingly limited, and the whodunnit narrative is remarkably measured. Not to say this doesn’t offer its fair share of surprises (and a few daft plot points to boot)—there is plenty…
Raw Deal 1986

★★½ Watched by Tom Spearing 26 Sep 2021 6

There are three things in particular I look for when watching an Arnie actioner. Ideally, it needs to be a bit dumb, be packed with an excessive amount of over-the-top action, and most importantly, it needs to have an overabundance of ridiculous one-liners. Sadly, this possesses almost none of these three qualities—it’s a tad too serious in tone, isn’t nearly stupid enough, and in the quips department it is distinctly lacking (the one exception being the enjoyable “you should not…

More

The Straight Story 1999

★★★★½ Watched by Tom Spearing 15 Sep 2021 10

“The worst part about being old is rememberin’ when you was young.”
This has to be the mildest Lynch movie I’ve seen yet. Further proof that the man doesn’t solely set out to fry our minds and haunt our nightmares; he can clearly turn his hand to more contemplative and introspective character work when the need arises. This is just lovely—a gentle and thoughtful road movie that retells the true story of Alvin Straight’s 1994 journey through the American midwest…
Unsane 2018

★★★ Watched by Tom Spearing 25 Sep 2021

The setup here feels very familiar—a woman, who appears at first to be of sound mind, is placed in a psychiatric hospital against her will, only for her mental state to rapidly deteriorate; exacerbated by her distress and those in charge who ignore her pleas for release and insist that it’s all for her own good. Merely signing the wrong bit of paperwork has landed our banker protagonist, Sawyer Valentini, in this institution—an unwitting error after she consults a counsellor…