Volume 6, Issue 8: Together Through Life

"Something always keeps me coming back for more. I know these streets, I've been here before."

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Last week, and really every week so far of this exhausting, terrifying, interminable year, I have written about very serious issues—about living in what feels more and more like a pivot point in my life, your life and all of our lives. All told, I felt as if I had no choice; it would have been dishonest to pretend there was anything else consuming my mind.

After last week’s piece, a man who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota named Matt Becker, who has a newsletter of his own called Eleanor Avenue Review of Books, which is simply short reviews of the books he has read (which is the platonic ideal of how a newsletter should be written, I think), responded to my statement that “I’d rather be ranking Kelly Reichardt movies” with:

Writing from Saint Paul I’d really like it if you’d rank Kelly Reichardt movies right now. Number one has to be Old Joy. But I could see an argument for Showing Up. The Mastermind is a solid number three. Oof too many good ones. Anyway, it’s a nice distraction.

Now back to playing with my 4 year old who’s already expressed worry that the police are going to take his daycare friend Amir away.

I’ll repeat: he’s 4.

I was in the middle of working on this week’s newsletter when I saw this comment. (I’m a First Cow person, myself.) This newsletter was going to be about how American media has covered Trump and his “movement” over the last decade, how the incentives have pushed many otherwise reasonable people to abandon their basic principles of reporting and foundational ethics to chase audience share, clout and “relevance,” how many people I once thought were in this business for the right reasons turned out to be solely craven and opportunistic, out just for themselves this whole time. I still have some notes for this newsletter, and I will someday write it—maybe even soon.

But while I do not think these any of these issues have gotten less serious in the last seven days, Matt’s note reminded me that sometimes the best thing you can do during a tumultuous time is to give people something else to think about: To distract, to entertain, to let everybody take a breath. This is important, not just for people like Matt who are in the dead solid middle of this madness, but for all of us. And, frankly, I could use a break too.

So this week, to clear my head and hopefully to help clear yours: I’m going to rank Richard Linklater movies. It will help me, and I hope it will help you too. Maybe it’ll air this place out a little.

One thing my favorite filmmakers all have—from Paul Thomas Anderson to Martin Scorsese to Kelly Reichardt to Danny Boyle to, originally, Woody Allen—is a willingness, almost a compulsion, to constantly do different things, to chase whatever muse might happen to be catching their eye at that particular moment. They can make comedies, they can make dramas, they can make epics, they can make larks; the only thing all their movies have in common is that they are made by them. Linklater is canonical example of this: His movies are all driven by a deep and warm curiosity about the world, and what we all might possibly find in it. He experiments, he pushes himself out of his comfort zone, he’s always, uniquely, himself. He also is constantly working: He made two movies last year while still directing his ongoing Merrily We Roll Along project, which is filming different sections every few years (so the actors can age along with the characters) and is currently scheduled to be released in 2040. The guy is always Making Shit.

Grierson and I, back when we were reviewing movies for Deadspin, actually did a collective ranking of Linklater movies back in 2014, but: a) that was a collective ranking that featured compromises from both of us, and; b) that was 12 years ago. So this is my personal list. I’m also not including his documentary work, his shorts, his unreleased first film or his television series, if just because I haven’t seen all of them and I want this to be fun rather than exhaustive and exhausting.

I hope this helps give us all something else to think about it. It has already helped me.

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23. Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2019)

Linklater has made only four movies I can say that I do not like, and of the four, the reason I think this is the worst one is that it doesn’t feel like a Linklater film at all: I’m even not sure what he was trying to do with this one. It’s particularly strange because the book shares a lot of his sensibilities. Something just seems to have gone sideways with this one from the get go.

22. Bad News Bears (2005)

Again, another movie that seemed like a good fit for Linklater ends up falling in that uncanny valley that Linklater sometimes can get trapped in when he tries to do a crowd pleaser while also subverting it. Also, Billy Bob Thornton is an actor who should fit in the Linklater universe but ends up not really doing so. I do wonder, were there were one movie that Linklater could evaporate from his filmography, if this would be it.

21. The Newton Boys (1998)

Made right when Matthew McConaughey was becoming a big movie star—after of course getting his start with Linklater—this ends up making the mistake of a lot of early McConaughey movies: By trying to make him a traditional leading man, it drains him of most of what’s interesting about him. This real-life story feels like a test run for movies that Linklater would later get right.

20. Last Flag Flying (2017)

This “spiritual” sequel to The Last Detail ends up meandering and weirdly without momentum: It’s a road movie that never really gets moving. Also, it’s actorly in a way that Linklater is usually better about avoiding: Unlike, say, Blue Moon, you can feel all gears turning and grinding.

And this is the last Linklater movie on this list that I do not like.

19. SubUrbia (1996)

I know a lot of people who hate this movie and think it’s unquestionably Linklater’s worst movie, but I suspect that’s more because it’s one that feels more of someone else’s sensibility (Eric Bogosian, who wrote the stage play) than Linklater’s, which is a problem because it was made during an era in which we were specifically looking for Linklater to be The ‘90s Generation Guy. I get that—I like Bogosian, but I like Linklater more—but this movie is not without its charms.

18. Fast Food Nation (2006)

This adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s expose on how we eat in this country is sprawling and a little disjointed, but it has some very lovely little moments: This was a great precursor for what Patricia Arquette would be doing in Boyhood. Also, you know who’s awesome in this? Bruce Willis is awesome in this.

17. Bernie (2011)

I (along with Grierson, actually) am forever the low man on Bernie, a movie a lot of people love. The problem is Jack Black, who, frankly, I think is trying too hard: The performance is both too much and not enough. I would argue a better version of this type of performance is Zach Galifianakis in The Beanie Bubble. But I recognize we’re very much in the minority on this one. (And to be clear: It’s still good! Linklater makes good movies!)

16. Me and Orson Welles (2008)

Sort of a test run for both Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague, actually, this one speaks to Linklater’s “let’s put on a show!” ethos that’s mostly irresistible. (You’ll be able to resist Zac Efron, though.)

15. Tape (2001)

Shot entirely on a Camcorder in one hotel room with just three actors, this is sort of a ‘90s artifact made in 2001 that will make you wistful for when movies like this could exist. The ‘90s were full of movies like this. But this is how you make one right. (Also, a very underappreciated early Ethan Hawke performance.)

14. Nouvelle Vague (2025)

This is another of those Linklater movies that feel like more of an exercise at times than a movie, but what an exercise it is! The movie doesn’t play like a French New Wave film, but it will give you the same feeling as a New Wave film does: Like you want to run out and make a movie, immediately.

13. Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Sometimes a little bit too nostalgic for its own good—though far be it from me to tell Linklater not to take Netflix’s money to make a movie about his own childhood—it’s still absolutely lovely. And I think of this movie every time one of my kids falls asleep in the back of the car. I was too harsh on this movie the first time I saw it. Catch it on Netflix anytime, you won’t regret it.

12. Slacker (1990)

Impossible to separate from its moment, it still has a little bit of a “you had to be there” if you show it to someone who didn’t see it in theaters when it came out. But. If you did happen to be there …

11. A Scanner Darkly (2006).

For obvious reasons, I’ll always put this and A Waking Life right next to each other: They’re both terrific, if not necessarily my personal speed. (I like grounded Linklater more than trippy Linklater.) This one is second, if because it has a little bit more plot (unnecessarily) and because this one has Alex Jones ….

10. Waking Life (2001).

… and this one has Timothy “Speed” Levitch.

This movie is like listening to the planet, in all its beauty and insanity.

9. Hit Man (2023)

A total hoot, and a reminder that, if he had wanted to, Linklater could have been the biggest commercial hitmaker working.

8. School of Rock (2003)

And here is another reminder of that. When I am sad and in a dark place, I like to watch the closing credits of this movie. This is the Jack Black movie.

Go Zack Mooneyham, go!

7. Blue Moon (2025)

Just absolutely lovely, start to finish, and a wonderful paean to all those doomed, lovable, brilliant losers out there who, in the end, really may be just too damn pure for the world.

6. Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

So these are the truly great ones: These are the Big Six. This movie is fun and bawdy and hilarious, but I’m always a little surprised how emotional I get when I think about it. It is the crystallization of what it feels like to be living through the best time of your life, knowing it, and knowing it’s about to end while it’s happening. It’s so warm that it kinda breaks your heart.

5. Before Midnight (2013)

Deep down, I know this is probably the best pure movie of the trilogy: The most truthful, honest and painful, the wisest, the most clear-eyed. I just don’t always want Jesse’s and Céline’s story to be this clear-eyed. This is probably how their story would have turned out, even it might not have been what I, or they, wanted. It finishes the trilogy just right. Unfortunately. (Still, if they want to make another one, I’m not against it.)

4. Dazed and Confused (1993).

Can you believe this was his second movie? It feels like it has always existed: That it predates all of us, that it came from the ground. Here is your reminder to read Melissa Maerz’s incredible “Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused,” which is not just a perfect chronicle of the movie itself but the decade, and world, in which it was made.

3. Before Sunrise (1995).

I’m not sure young love has ever been captured any better.

2. Before Sunset (2004).

Linklater’s best two movies—and many of his others—are about time: Its confusin of its passage, the impossibility of ever getting your arms around it. There are times I think this is actually the perfect movie: It is, ironically, the movie I think of when I am most trying to make sure to live in the present.

Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.

1. Boyhood (2014)

I try to watch Boyhood every couple of years, just to see if I react any differently to it this time than I did the last time. I always do: The movie seems to grow with you—just as my kids do. I think if I watch this movie right before my kids graduate and go to college, it might kill me.

As I wrote in my original review: Boyhood comes as close as capturing actual human existence as any film I've ever seen. It will feel like you have watched a full life, fully lived. And the best part: As the film ends, Mason's life is only beginning. Everyone's always is.

OK. I needed that. Thank you for letting me do that. I’m very curious to hear your favorite Linklater movies. I am sure you have grown up, and older, with them as well.

Here is a numerical breakdown of all the things I wrote this week, in order of what I believe to be their quality.

1. What’s Next For Indiana and College Football?, The Athletic. My last college football column of the year for The Athletic, I’ve really had so much fun, I hope they’ll have me back.

2. There Is No One Like Curt Cignetti, The Washington Post. A little Indiana celebration.

3. NFL Playoff Rootability Rankings, New York. Kind of a rough year for the final four, I think.

4. Which Team That Missed the Playoffs Last Year Might Make It This Year? MLB.com. Choosing between the Pirates and the Cardinals was depressingly difficult.

5. Illini Power Rankings: Is This One of the Truly Special Illini Teams? Illini Board. Most of my brain power is currently concentrated on this.

6. Breaking Down the Bo Bichette Signing, MLB.com. Hey, good for the Mets.

7. Is the Runway Now Clear For the Cubs? MLB.com. Did not like having to write this one!

PODCASTS

Grierson & Leitch, we discussed “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” and “The Rip.”

Morning Lineup, I did Friday’s show.

Waitin’ Since Last Saturday, we wrapped up the season.

Also: Seeing Red is taping Monday morning, Cardinals fans.

Oh, and I got to be a guest this week on the podcast of CNN’s Audie Cornish, talking about the Olympics and the United States’ growing status as a global sports villain. You can listen to it here—you should subscribe to the show, Audie is great—or you can watch the whole thing here, if you can overcome the screenshot:

LONG STORY YOU SHOULD READ THIS MORNING … OF THE WEEK

“Your Friendly Neighborhood Resistance,” Kerry Howley, New York. This made me extremely proud to have worked for this magazine for nearly 20 years now.

ONGOING LETTER-WRITING PROJECT!

This is your reminder that if you write me a letter and put it in the mail, I will respond to it with a letter of my own, and send that letter right to you! It really happens! Hundreds of satisfied customers! I am finally all caught up on these! (For now.)

Write me at:

Will Leitch
P.O. Box 48
Athens GA 30603

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO

“A Good Idea,” Sugar. Sugar going on tour this fall! I will be seeing them here in Athens. How could I miss them?

Remember to listen to The Official Will Leitch Newsletter Spotify Playlist, featuring every song ever mentioned in this section. Let this drive your listening, not the algorithm!

Also, I ran the Classic City Half-Marathon this weekend, which I believe, if I am counting correctly, is my 20th half-marathon. I am also legitimately impressed they got the race in before we are all buried under ice for the next fortnight.

Have a great weekend, all. Please be safe.


Best,
Will