Introducing… the new host of Truth & Movies | Little White Lies

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Intro­duc­ing… the new host of Truth & Movies

29 Apr 2022

Words by David Jenkins

A man in dark clothing holding a weapon, standing on a ledge in a dark, orange-lit setting.
A man in dark clothing holding a weapon, standing on a ledge in a dark, orange-lit setting.
Leila Latif slinks into the pre­sent­ing hot seat of LWLies’ week­ly film review podcast.

It is a sad day at LWLies HQ, as Michael Leader, our trusty pod­cast host for some four years, has decid­ed to hang up his head­phones and head to pro­fes­sion­al pas­tures new. His avun­cu­lar nerdery, his love of heavy rock and online mes­sage boards cir­ca 2008, will be great­ly missed, plus the fact that, on the show, he was a very hard man to please, sel­dom if ever award­ing a film the cov­et­ed five-star treat­ment. You’ll still be able to hear his dul­cet Man­cun­ian tones on his own pod­cast, Ghi­b­lio­theque, and maybe he’ll jump into the T&M stu­dio again as a future guest.

For now, the cur­rent order of busi­ness is to intro­duce our new host: the bril­liant Leila Latif. Reg­u­lar lis­ten­ers will already know the acer­bic, knowl­edge­able and charm­ing Leila, who picked up the slack while Michael was off beaver­ing away on a secret project (more on which you’ll hear about soon). Now, she’s here full time, and will be mar­shalling the dis­course (and no doubt insert­ing some of her own sharp opin­ions) in her own inim­itable manner.

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And what bet­ter way to intro­duce you to Leila than a movie-themed pop quiz? So, take it away Leila…

1. What was the first film poster you bought and hung on the wall of your bedroom/​house?

Attack of the 50ft Woman, a film I am still yet to see.

2. What is your most lis­tened to film soundtrack?

Trainspot­ting, as a mil­len­ni­al it seemed a legal require­ment to own this sound­track. I still have the urge to run through the streets of Edin­burgh when I hear Lust for Life by Iggy Pop.

3. When was the last time you dressed up as a char­ac­ter from a movie, and who/​what was it?

My go-to Hal­loween cos­tume is Annie Hall. No one ever gets it and just assumes I came from work and am slight­ly rude­ly wear­ing a hat indoors.

4. What was the last film you saw in 3D?

Star Trek Into Dark­ness which I believe was the nadir of the form.

5. Favourite pod­cast that isn’t T&M?

You Are Good host­ed by Sarah Mar­shall and Alex Steed with a guest each week. It is ​“a feel­ings pod­cast about movies”. I love the idea of just tack­ling a film based on the way it makes you feel and being freed of the soci­etal expec­ta­tions of what sorts of sto­ries are worth­while. When I first start­ed doing film crit­i­cism it seemed like there was a right answer I was try­ing to give with a review and it’s love­ly to be remind­ed that there isn’t.

6. Star Trek or Star Wars?

Star Trek: The Next Gen­er­a­tion > Empire Strikes Back > Star Trek Orig­i­nal Series > The Last Jedi > A New Hope > Wrath of Khan > First Con­tact > Deep Space 9 > Rogue One > The Man­dalo­ri­an > Star Trek: Voy­ager > Picard > Star Trek The Motion Pic­ture > Return of the Jedi > The Force Awak­ens > The Search for Spock > Solo: A Star Wars Sto­ry > The Book of Boba Fett >Revenge of The Sith > The Phan­tom Men­ace > The Undis­cov­ered Coun­try > The Final Fron­tier > Attack of The Clones > The Rise of Sky­walk­er > Star Trek (2009) > Star Trek Into Darkness.

7. Favourite Mar­vel movie?

Spi­der-Man: Into The Spi­der-verse and it isn’t close

8. Favourite Mur­nau movie? 

Nos­fer­atu but it is very close

9. Dream movie world interview?

Either Steve McQueen.

10. Film you’d bury in a nuclear hold­ing tank at the bot­tom of the Atlantic Ocean to rid from all humanity?

Louis CK’s I Love You Dad­dy which is thank­ful­ly not far off what hap­pened to it.

11. Film you’d want to be buried with to watch in the afterlife?

Ikiru.

12. A com­plete­ly meh film which you love for rea­sons that are whol­ly per­son­al to you.

Star­ship Troop­ers par­tic­u­lar­ly since its desex­u­alised neo-fas­cist heroes just feel increas­ing­ly rel­e­vant to the cin­e­mat­ic landscape.

Truth & Movies is a Lit­tle White Pod­cast, with a new episode drop­ping every Fri­day morn­ing. Sub­scribe now through Acast or your pod­cast provider of choice.

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