Letterboxd

[Mothravka]

When I have added a film to TMDb, I usually add it to Letterboxd directly too.

https://letterboxd.com/about/film-data/

Look under "Import shortcut".

[Fergenaprido]

So I just upgraded to Patron status. They had a Black Friday sale (making it even less expensive than I thought it was) and I'm a sucker for statistics. Loving the new stats page I have access to

I now pay for 3 film-related sites: icm, mubi, lb. I may break down and purchase netflix, eventually, but I feel that will cause me to spiral down the rabbit hole and never again emerge.

[Harco]

https://letterboxd.com/Harco/

I like Letterboxd very much. In time, it may just be the only film logging web site I'll end up using.

[Cinepolis]

What I don't dig about Letterboxd is the community.

[Onderhond]

What I don't dig about Letterboxd is the community.

I've been on there two months now, can't say I even noticed a community on there. Where does one go on Letterboxd to see the community?

[maxwelldeux]

Are there any interesting features of Letterboxd worth mentioning? I'm set up on ICM/IMDB/Trakt and can get most of (what I know) Letterboxd provides elsewhere, but are there some secret cool things I may not be aware of as a non-user?

[Fergenaprido]

What I don't dig about Letterboxd is the community.

I've been on there two months now, can't say I even noticed a community on there. Where does one go on Letterboxd to see the community?

I see it mostly in comments on lists, reviews, and comment threads on reviews. Agreed, community it hit-and-miss. Prefer the one here. But I don't use LB for the community, but rather for the film diary, visualization tools, and some of the lists. Plus it's the only place I'll post film reviews. Oh, and the stats. Love the stats (even if I disagree with some of their data, but not enough to create an account on tmdb to be able to go in and fix them). And the general film taste is different from imdb with more of a focus on foreign and arthouse pictures, I believe, so it gives something different for me to peruse. Compared to imdb, reddit, fok, and the other Top 250 lists we have on icm, the LB one is quite different and by far the one I've seen the least from.

[sol]

So, I just signed up for Letterboxd account -- mostly in order to have somewhere to post my film reviews (the weekly thread series is moribund) and I have few questions:

1. Letterboxd won't let me import my IMDb ratings since the csv file is too large. They suggest importing in batches of 1900 films. For me, that's going to amount to five different files and I don't know the best way to do that.

2. It looks like I cannot change my avatar unless I get a twitter account. And I don't know if it's worth signing up to twitter just to change the avatar. Or I can get a gravatar, but I have no idea how to change that either.

Is this really a worthwhile exercise or should I just be deleting the account?

[mightysparks]

I like Letterboxd for storing reviews and the stat stuff (but stat stuff is premium and with spreadsheet, IMDb etc you can get that info yourself. It’s just prettier and easier on Letterboxd). It’s probably only a few minutes work to deal with importing IMDb (just cut up your ratings file every 1900 films I guess) signing up with gravatar but I guess it depends if it’s going to be something particularly useful for your needs that isn’t already covered by IMDb/iCM/other.

[sol]

I like Letterboxd for storing reviews and the stat stuff (but stat stuff is premium and with spreadsheet, IMDb etc you can get that info yourself. It’s just prettier and easier on Letterboxd). It’s probably only a few minutes work to deal with importing IMDb (just cut up your ratings file every 1900 films I guess) signing up with gravatar but I guess it depends if it’s going to be something particularly useful for your needs that isn’t already covered by IMDb/iCM/other.

Yeah, I think that's the point. I don't see Letterboxd giving me any data that I couldn't otherwise easily get from iCM or IMDb. The only real attraction for me is the review storing feature - and the possibility of generating film discussion if someone comments on one of my reviews. As I mentioned to somebody else today, film discussion is the only part of my movie buff experience that isn't really proper met by the icmforum. I don't need Letterboxd for anything else.

So yeah, I don't know if it's really worth trying to cut up my ratings into five files, get gravtar etc if I'm only going to use the site for archiving reviews.

[mightysparks]

Yea and you don’t get notifications if people comment on your stuff so I get no discussion there either.

[Onderhond]

Yea and you don’t get notifications if people comment on your stuff so I get no discussion there either.

No notifications, but there is an "activity/incoming" page where you can monitor.

My preferred use of Letterbox so far are the user lists, especially with the option to dim already seen films. Much easier/faster than ICM. Also way more varied.

[shugs]

I had some issues with the import functionality on Letterboxd, which may have been fixed in the meantime, but I'm not sure. It had trouble importing titles with non ASCII characters in the name, like Léon.
Recently, I also noticed it imported Voskhozhdenie na Fudziyamu instead of Voskhozhdenie and I think there were a couple of more strange situations like this one.

So, even if you manage to import your ratings, I'd double check them afterwards.

Otherwise, Letterboxd is pretty great. It's awesome going to a movie page and seeing what friends or people in this forum though about it. The diary feature is also pretty nifty. I don't feel like there is too much movie discussion going on, but you can occasionally read some good in depth reviews. It also loads fast (ICM seems to be getting infuriatingly slower with each passing day).

As it is, it's my favourite movie tracking app. If it had official lists and awards like ICM, it would be near perfect.

[Harco]

So, even if you manage to import your ratings, I'd double check them afterwards.

True! For me, I remember that instead of The Wire (the series), it checked Beirut (2018). With The Wire being a series, it should skip it altogether.

[sol]

Reading all that, I think I'll pass on importing my IMDb ratings for now. I'll try using it to log reviews for a few more days, see what I feel like and judge things from there.

[RedHawk10]

Letterboxd >>>>> Current IMDB

Not even a question for me. It's extremely accessible, you can make all the lists you want, and actually feels like something of a community. Fuck IMDB.

[sol]

While I share the same sentiments as your last sentence, Hawk, the biggest question for me is what Letterboxd can offer that iCM and the iCM forum cannot. iCM is easily the best platform that I come across for list-making and keeping track of list progress and the community here is generally friendly and welcolming - just not exactly film analysis oriented.

[Ivan0716]

Have you tried making lists on letterboxd yet? It's miles better than IMDb or iCM, it's quicker and cleaner, allows reordering by drag-and-drop and explicit numbering(instantaneous, unlike IMDb), but most importantly, the search function actually returns the damn film you're looking for. I maintain over 750 lists on letterboxd and have very little to complain about.

I wouldn't expect a lot of insightful discussions with the community though.

[DareDaniel]

What I don't dig about Letterboxd is the community.

I just follow people who share similar tastes with me, so my feed activity has a lot of good content most of the time to read and kill the time. I use the app a lot. I was able to watch Sion Sono's Phallus: The Man thanks to a user there. Also Madly which seems to be available only on passthepopcorn and I don't have an account there.
Obscure movies always have more interesting reviews than popular movies, but it has always been like that since imdb.

[DareDaniel]

Yea and you don’t get notifications if people comment on your stuff so I get no discussion there either.

You get that and other notifications on the phone app.

[sol]

Been used Letterboxd for a couple of weeks now.

A question: When I sort my reviews according to activity, it only places one of my reviews with "1 Like" at the top of my activity. However, I have two other reviews now that each have "1 Like" (1917 and Wheels on Meals), yet these remain in the chronological order that I reviewed them and do not float to the top. Is there some setting that I need to change? I would not have known about the Likes for those reviews had I not checked my 'stream'.

[Onderhond]

https://letterboxd.com/[USERNAME]/films ... /activity/ -> this maybe?

I just keep an eye on my activity stream though, the easiest way to see who's interacting with you.
https://letterboxd.com/activity/incoming/

[sol]

https://letterboxd.com/[USERNAME]/films ... /activity/ -> this maybe?

I just keep an eye on my activity stream though, the easiest way to see who's interacting with you.
https://letterboxd.com/activity/incoming/

Your first link is the link that I am complaining about not working.

This - https://letterboxd.com/solh/films/reviews/by/activity/ - should show 1917 and Wheels on Meals at the top of the list too.

But yes, the second link works.

I wonder if anybody who is bigger on Letterboxd can tell me if the first link is broken or whether there is some setting that needs to be changed?

[mightysparks]

https://letterboxd.com/[USERNAME]/films ... /activity/ -> this maybe?

I just keep an eye on my activity stream though, the easiest way to see who's interacting with you.
https://letterboxd.com/activity/incoming/

Your first link is the link that I am complaining about not working.

This - https://letterboxd.com/solh/films/reviews/by/activity/ - should show 1917 and Wheels on Meals at the top of the list too.

But yes, the second link works.

I wonder if anybody who is bigger on Letterboxd can tell me if the first link is broken or whether there is some setting that needs to be changed?

Mine don't seem to be in order with some missing too

[sol]

Never mind; the system seems to have corrected itself. Maybe the Film Popularity area is only updated once every couple of days or something.

[Onderhond]

Like ICM, some data is probably not real-time and updated periodically. Sites that are that user-data heavy would either be extremely sluggish or extremely expensive to keep up. The full actively log is probably a separate database entry so it can be queried easily.

[mightysparks]

"We’ve gone monochrome for the day to celebrate the black-and-white release of Parasite — now playing in select US theaters."

Wtf? Why does Letterboxd have such a weird hard-on for this film?

[Teproc]

"We’ve gone monochrome for the day to celebrate the black-and-white release of Parasite — now playing in select US theaters."

Wtf? Why does Letterboxd have such a weird hard-on for this film?

It's ranked n°1 of all-time by their userbase and they got Bong Joon-ho to acknowledge it. It's also a cool, hip film to performatively love. It's good marketing, a little pushy yeah, but I don't mind it much.

[Ivan0716]

What is the point of re-releasing the film in B&W?

[St. Gloede]

96 people will see it, but 2147 will say "ah, cool" while another 50k will go "what is this all about then".

[Knaldskalle]

What is the point of re-releasing the film in B&W?

I guess it's the new "Director's Cut" craze. See also Mad Max: Fury Road Black & Chrome Edition.

[sol]

Letterboxd is finally back to normal. Gee, it was hard to read with that monochrome scheme.

I also only just found out today that the black and white Parasite is coming to my side of the world soon too.

[sol]

Some questions about Letterboxd etiquette / basic courtesy:

If somebody follows me on Letterboxd, is it polite to follow them back?

I'm currently following some forum regulars (mighty, Knalds, filmbantha) but also a couple of other folks who suddenly started following me. It seemed polite to follow them back, but I don't know what I am really getting out of it since neither of them are big on reviews and since I don't know them from the forum I have less interest in what they think of the films that I am looking up. I'm just asking this because I just got another follower today who I don't recognise from the forum.

On iCM, I have only accepted Friend requests from forum members (or IMDb message board alumni). That's a different kettle of fish though since iCM only shows a maximum of six friends who have seen any given film and I therefore I want to limit this to people who I know. Letterboxd looks like it has room to display a lot more "friends who have seen" so I guess it's not so much of an issue to have random strangers in there?

If somebody "likes" one of my reviews, it is polite for me to like one of theirs?

Common sense would say no, but one of my non-forum followers immediately liked five or six of my reviews after I liked one of hers. Is there some sort of unwritten rule with exchanging likes or something?

These questions seem silly to ask, but I don't want to be the Letterboxd pariah who refuses to interact with anybody who he doesn't know.

[Onderhond]

I can only speak for myself, but Letterboxd is very "modern" social, i.e. you follow and like a little left and right, but there's very little actual interaction between people. I tend to follow people back, but only because it has zero impact on how I use the site, and only like reviews if I actually like a review, not because someone liked mine.

I also feel I'm not really there as a "person", but more as a representative of my website. It feels very detached in some ways, but the site is much broader than other places and the lists are so much easier to navigate.

[GruesomeTwosome]

Some questions about Letterboxd etiquette / basic courtesy:

If somebody follows me on Letterboxd, is it polite to follow them back?

I'm currently following some forum regulars (mighty, Knalds, filmbantha) but also a couple of other folks who suddenly started following me. It seemed polite to follow them back, but I don't know what I am really getting out of it since neither of them are big on reviews and since I don't know them from the forum I have less interest in what they think of the films that I am looking up. I'm just asking this because I just got another follower today who I don't recognise from the forum.

On iCM, I have only accepted Friend requests from forum members (or IMDb message board alumni). That's a different kettle of fish though since iCM only shows a maximum of six friends who have seen any given film and I therefore I want to limit this to people who I know. Letterboxd looks like it has room to display a lot more "friends who have seen" so I guess it's not so much of an issue to have random strangers in there?

If somebody "likes" one of my reviews, it is polite for me to like one of theirs?

Common sense would say no, but one of my non-forum followers immediately liked five or six of my reviews after I liked one of hers. Is there some sort of unwritten rule with exchanging likes or something?

These questions seem silly to ask, but I don't want to be the Letterboxd pariah who refuses to interact with anybody who he doesn't know.

My short answer is: no, you shouldn't feel any "obligation" regarding either question. I typically only follow people from the forum here or from the IMDB FG days (and a few film critics and filmmakers that are on Letterboxd). A few random, unfamiliar people have given me a follow at times and I take a look at their profile first before deciding if it's worth following them back.

Oh, and about your statement that on ICM you can only see a maximum of 6 friends that have seen a given film: you know that you can click the "See more friends" link right below that Friends list to see the total number (if it's more than 6) of your friends that have seen the film in question, right?

[Fergenaprido]

It may be "polite" but I wouldn't consider it necessary/required. On LB I follow people who have film tastes that I'm interested in; they fall mainly in 3 categories: real-life friends, forum members, and random people I've come across whose film tastes seem to line up with mine. I don't automatically follow back people who follow me, especially if it's someone I don't know.

For reviews, I think people like them if they enjoy/agree with them. I don't think it makes any sense to like one of their reviews back just out of reciprocity. There isn't much space on LB for interaction between users (mainly limited to commenting on lists and reviews, and I find that rather ineffective), so I wouldn't worry about becoming a pariah. I think that would only happen if you start offending people in the comments section. That person who liked you back may simply have seen your like, checked out your profile, and then started looking through your reviews and found a bunch she liked.

[Teproc]

I feel no obligation to do either of these things, though I do check out people's feed when they follow me, and if they seem interesting I do follow them back. I mostly use the "activity" page, so it does matter as their reviews and other activity will pop up. I am definitely not aware of an "exchanging likes" rule, no.

[sol]

I tend to follow people back, but only because it has zero impact on how I use the site.

Yeah - that's kind of what I'm figuring. As long as it doesn't clog up my screen whenever I click on a movie title, it probably doesn't matter if I am following a million people... but it does seem a bit Facebook Friendish to be following hundreds of people who you don't really know.

Oh, and about your statement that on ICM you can only see a maximum of 6 friends that have seen a given film: you know that you can click the "See more friends" link right below that Friends list to see the total number (if it's more than 6) of your friends that have seen the film in question, right?

Yes, I know that, but if I'm looking up the iCM page of something niche like an older horror movie, I like to be able to see at first glance whether mighty or peeps have seen it, rather than having to click on the "see more friends" link and scroll through dozens of names that I don't recognise. I don't know. Maybe I'm just weird like that.

That person who liked you back may simply have seen your like, checked out your profile, and then started looking through your reviews and found a bunch she liked.

Yeah, I guess that's possible. Just the way it came - IIRC, three likes before I followed her back, three more likes after I followed her - it just seemed like weird behaviour.

I feel no obligation to do either of these things, though I do check out people's feed when they follow me, and if they seem interesting I do follow them back. I mostly use the "activity" page, so it does matter as their reviews and other activity will pop up. I am definitely not aware of an "exchanging likes" rule, no.

Thanks for the tips. I'm 200 reviews in and still feel like I'm just getting the hang of Letterboxd culture.

[Onderhond]

Yeah - that's kind of what I'm figuring. As long as it doesn't clog up my screen whenever I click on a movie title, it probably doesn't matter if I am following a million people... but it does seem a bit Facebook Friendish to be following hundreds of people who you don't really know.

Hmmm, with Facebook stuff will start to clutter your wall, so I'm quite strict there. With Letterboxd it's just the posters on the homepage, but they appear anyway regardless of how many friends you have. Any maybe the "reviews by friends" section on the movie detail pages, but that's so far down it doesn't really matter really.

[shugs]

I actually blocked people that followed me that I didn't know. I don't write reviews so I don't know how they got to me. But I got tired of doing that, so I just leave them there without following back.