Movies

LeSamourai said:
I'm always curious about who wins the awards each year, but I can't bring myself to care too much in any way because I'm not even willing to rank movies, books, music for myself anymore. I don't know what happened, but a some years back I was working on a list at the end of the year and something just broke (it was also around the time I deleted all my social media and accounts like Goodreads and such, maybe I was in the midst of a visceral reaction to the quantified life). Like, Letterboxd looks cool, but also weirdly exhausting?

I do like seeing everyone else's lists mainly in the hopes of finding something good, though!
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I find Letterboxd weirdly theraputic, but I agree with you in general.
 
LeSamourai said:
I'm always curious about who wins the awards each year, but I can't bring myself to care too much in any way because I'm not even willing to rank movies, books, music for myself anymore. I don't know what happened, but a some years back I was working on a list at the end of the year and something just broke (it was also around the time I deleted all my social media and accounts like Goodreads and such, maybe I was in the midst of a visceral reaction to the quantified life). Like, Letterboxd looks cool, but also weirdly exhausting?

I do like seeing everyone else's lists mainly in the hopes of finding something good, though!
Click to expand...
If it was all about ranking I might feel the same way, but it's a platform that lets you be infinitely creative about how you use it! I enjoy seeing different people's approaches to how they review/log/convey their watches.

I don't feel the need to assign a rating to everything I watch unless I feel strongly about it (low, mid, or high). You could forgot ratings together and use it purely as a record of what you've watched (and when if you're logging as you go). You could approach reviews seriously or simply make throwaway one-liners (which seem to garner quite a lot of likes from the community). I know folks whose review format always starts with how they watched it (in theaters, blur-ray, VOD, streaming subs, edition, etc.) since they often revisit movies in alt/remastered mediums.

Rankings are something I struggle with because the way I feel about titles differs day to day. Even the idea of the Top 4 on our profiles is a challenge for me as I could rotate a good 6–8 as my absolute faves. Some folks put in their profile that their Fave 4 isn't their all-time faves but an actual rotation of recent top views, etc.

Letterboxd does a really great job of inspiring a variety of lists as well through their regular Showdowns where they set a theme and ask for your ten favorite examples, then they average out the community responses to uncover the ten most favorite movies that fit the theme. I've made a list with the goal of collecting every winter horror/thriller movie regardless of quality. I also took inspiration from the many joke lists I've seen that put a spotlight on unusually specific themes across unrelated movies to create this small but amusing connection: Bad situations get significantly worse when little Danish girls lose a rabbit named Ninus

It's also been a helpful tool to alert me when items on my watchlist appear on my preferred streamers.

As someone who has also struggled with the weight of social media, I'd have to say Letterboxd has really risen to be my favorite. I know this is a lot you may not have been asking for, but I'm sure others here would love to have you join us there!
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Really hoping Poor Things or Killers provides an upset. I liked Openheimer a lot when I first watched it, but the longer I've sat with it, the further its dipped down my end of year list.

I realize I'm in the minority but:

Openheimer is an entertaining and meticulously made biopic with a muddled third act because it doesn't know what it wants to say or didn't know how to communicate it. It also features, in what is becoming a clear pattern for Nolan, poorly written women characters.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a meticulously made film that has a TON to say about America's past and how it relates to current times. It is an uncomfortable watch but one that nails what it is trying to communicate thematically.

Poor Things might be better than both of them. Because it's also meticulously made and thematically rich... while also being wildly entertaining and imaginative. But I feel like it's too abrasive in its content to actually win.
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Personally, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with Oppenheimer. I respect it as a very well-crafted movie in the hands of obviously very capable people, but that’s about it.

Poor Things is fucking art (literally!). Perfect film imo.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
Really hoping Poor Things or Killers provides an upset. I liked Openheimer a lot when I first watched it, but the longer I've sat with it, the further its dipped down my end of year list.

I realize I'm in the minority but:

Openheimer is an entertaining and meticulously made biopic with a muddled third act because it doesn't know what it wants to say or didn't know how to communicate it. It also features, in what is becoming a clear pattern for Nolan, poorly written women characters.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a meticulously made film that has a TON to say about America's past and how it relates to current times. It is an uncomfortable watch but one that nails what it is trying to communicate thematically.

Poor Things might be better than both of them. Because it's also meticulously made and thematically rich... while also being wildly entertaining and imaginative. But I feel like it's too abrasive in its content to actually win.
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I agree on the Oppenheimer / Killers of the Flower Moon. Haven’t seen Poor Things yet. But Oppenheimer is pretty remarkable that it was such a big blockbuster. It’s so well made and has some great sequences, but as a whole I think it’s a bit flawed. Though it’s number 10 for me. Killers of the Flower Moon deserves so much more acclaim than it’s getting as we get closer to the Oscars. It’s a movie that really does a lot, says a lot, and manages to be incredibly engaged for 3.5 hours.
 
LeSamourai said:
I'm always curious about who wins the awards each year, but I can't bring myself to care too much in any way because I'm not even willing to rank movies, books, music for myself anymore. I don't know what happened, but a some years back I was working on a list at the end of the year and something just broke (it was also around the time I deleted all my social media and accounts like Goodreads and such, maybe I was in the midst of a visceral reaction to the quantified life). Like, Letterboxd looks cool, but also weirdly exhausting?

I do like seeing everyone else's lists mainly in the hopes of finding something good, though!
Click to expand...

I'm basically the millenial love child of Daria and Bill Simmons. Cynical, sardonic, pop-culture and basketball obsessed... and I love making lists. It's like, therapeutic or something.

I also followed specific critcs closely as a kid and teen (AO Scott and Ebert specifically) and my dad was a big Leonard Maltin guy. So I've always associated star ratings with films.

I use them on Letterbox both as a way to contribute to the site ratings but also as a way to try and actually measure my feelings on a film and pencil it into place until the next time I return to it (if its a film I have mixed emotions on).

But you don't have to rate the films. Most of my friends in the industry don't because they don't want to accidentally alienate a potential employer.

And the diary is fun. Ditto digging through community reviews and finding people with similar taste to follow for recs. Most importantly, Letterbox is 100% the best way to curate a watchlist.

As to awards... the Oscars have always been flawed due to the politics and a historically homogenous voting block. Particularly when it comes to the winners of best picture and director.

But the films that get nominated are far more likely to be remembered long term and, at least used to, get a big boost in the # of people who see a film.

It also helps spread awareness of and to celebrate the various departments that go into making a film. And cetain cateogries are voted on my the actual guilds so there is far more legitimacy to the celebration of craft when compared to something like the Grammys.

And the since they extended the # of voters, the taste of the Academy has become far more varied and honestly better. The 10 best picture nominees have been a pretty solid representation of the years best filmmaking since about 2016... though you still get some headscrathers AND the splintering of votes resulted in the extremely medicore Green Book and Coda winning.

On the other hand you also had the very deserving Moonlight, Parasite and Everything Everywhere winning which never would have happened 10 years ago.
 
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After being isolated from the real world while living in Disney World, I’m back home and watching some movies before readjusting to a regular schedule again tomorrow. In relation to my trip, I just watched Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time. I rode the new ride twice and had such a blast I wanted to give the film series a shot. Anyway, I don’t keep up with any of the Marvel films but this one was pretty fun. Already started on Vol. 2 and I like it even more. The deepening of these characters, their relationships to each other, and their individual personalities is so much more gratifying than I expected it to be.
 
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