Scream (2022): Each Main Cast Member's Best Movie, Ranked by Letterboxd
Over 10 years after the franchise's last installment, Scream is finally back with another blood-curdling sequel and a whole new cast of exciting characters. Although the returning favorites are all still here, this self-titled 'requel' opts instead to focus on a new, younger generation of Ghostface's victims.
The latest Scream sees a daunting return to Woodsboro, where yet another bloodthirsty killer has donned the signature mask and begun targeting a group of teenagers in an attempt to expose the town's secrets and resurrect the classic story. It's a thrilling and gripping addition to the franchise, and one that sees plenty of great actors and actresses making their Scream debuts.
Lane 1974 follows a young girl who is forced to keep her family together in the absence of their mother, who moves sporadically through the dusty backwoods of Northern California. It's a beautifully quiet film that uses striking imagery and sweeping landscapes to tell an important story of family and childhood.
The film is described as a drama/adventure, which feels fitting considering the contrast between its grand scale and intimate story, which balances close familial relationships with a harsh landscape that acts as a good contrast to this.
Jappeloup is a striking French drama that captures the wild adventure of Pierre Durand and his horse Jappeloup, legendary stars in the world of equestrian sport on their way to the Olympics. The film also deals with the tense relationship between Durand and his father, whose footsteps he follows.
Alongside being an exciting sports drama, the film also gives a lot of time to the relationships between its characters, particularly between Durand and his father. It has a lot to say about the bond between father and son, and how much pressure can come from being in the constant shadow of success.
Catching Fire is the second installment in the critically-acclaimed Hunger Games franchise, and it's one that raises the stakes at every point possible. The scale is bigger, the characters are bolder, and the games themselves are infinitely more intense.
Quaid only appears briefly in Catching Fire, in a scene where Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss has a lucid flashback of killing his character Marvel in the 74th Hunger Games. She visits his family in District 1 on her victory tour, and clearly has mixed emotions about her encounter with Marvel, in one of Katniss' saddest scenes.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's In The Heights may have started off as a Broadway musical, but the story hit the big screen last year with Jon. M. Chu's cinematic adaptation with Anthony Ramos in the lead role. The movie follows his character Usnavi as he navigates the difficulties and joys of everyday life as a Puerto Rican in Washington Heights.
The film was met not only with great critical acclaim, but also with audience raves. Believed by many to be the best summer blockbuster of last year, this is a film that will be remembered for a long time. And it will hopefully propel Barrera to even more great projects in the future following her standout performance from the rest of In The Heights cast.
Dinner in America is an extremely aggressive and in-your-face road trip movie that centers around Gallner's punk-rock Simon and a young woman obsessed with his band as they travel through the suburbs of the Midwest together. It's a unique kind of rom-com that manages to pull at your heartstrings without ever succumbing to romantic stereotypes.
The film has an intense energy that runs from the very first frame until the moment that the credits roll, but its sharp screenplay still manages to play off the leads' chemistry and create a compelling relationship that completely contrasts the film's overall tone.
An extremely recent addition to this list, Meghan Park's The Fallout is a coming-of-age drama that's set to the backdrop of a tragic school shooting. The film follows Ortega's character Vada as she grapples with grief, isolation and even survivor's guilt in a tender exploration of the often-forgotten children who make it through these traumatizing events.
What makes The Fallout feel so authentic and special is its authenticity to the modern world - particularly teenage culture today. The young characters truly feel real, and Ortega's raw and vulnerable performance truly elevates this film to a whole other level of tragedy.
Quentin Tarantino is a director known for his grand world-building and narrative complexity, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is absolutely no different. The film centers around Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth, but there are plenty of supporting characters and cameos that often manage to steal the show.
It's a stunning celebration of cinema, and it harks beautifully back to an era of classic Hollywood that's often seen in film through rose-tinted glasses - but Tarantino manages to make his film equally entertaining as it is accurate, with a plethora of memorable characters to keep audiences entertained.
Booksmart may be full of classic teen comedy tropes, but the film's witty screenplay and relatable characters easily set this apart from the competition when it comes to the best coming-of-age movies of the last decade. Everything that happens in Booksmart is so painfully relatable and accurate that it hardly even feels like you're watching a movie, but rather spending time with these fun characters and their exciting lives.
Gooding's Nick plays a huge part in Booksmart, as the host of the film's central party and one of the boys that protagonist Molly harbors a secret crush towards. His character adds an extra layer of complexity to the film's inventive plot, and Gooding's performance truly brings him to life.
Denis Villeneuve's gritty drama Prisoners has been hailed by many as one of the greatest thrillers of last decade, and it's hard to disagree. The film is incredibly intricate and precise, and full of outstanding performances that bring that story to a whole new level of intensity.
Villeneuve's considered direction and writing make the film entirely captivating from start to finish, and Roger Deakins' immaculate cinematography brings every single visual detail to the forefront and gives it special importance to the film's narrative. Prisoners closes with one of the most chilling and haunting endings recently put to film, and there's no surprise it made its way so far up this list.