Finding honest movie reviews and reliable recommendations on what to watch next can be a challenge. Out of the various movie review sites, Letterboxd has become a popular social network for many movie lovers to discover and share their favorite movies. The app offers more engagement options than IMDb and more impromptu reviews than Rotten Tomatoes. Here you will find everything you need to know about Letterboxd and why it has become so popular.
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FAST ANSWER
Letterboxd is a free social media platform for movie buffs. Notable features include the ability for users to keep track of movies they’ve seen, write and share reviews, and compile a watchlist of movies they want to see.
KEY SECTIONS
What is Letterboxd and who is it for?
Letterboxd was first released in 2011, designed to fill a gap in the vast app offering; Where was the social networking site for movies? Founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow described how they used to use Flickr to share photos and Last.fm to share their love of music, but there was nothing like it for movies. While IMDb has an extensive database, it doesn’t have a social design. That’s why they created the social media network known as Letterboxd, which they describe as “Goodreads for Movies.”
In its early days, Letterboxd was largely a niche for passionate moviegoers eager to track their movie-viewing habits, create favorites lists, and write and post reviews. But in recent years, the app has gone mainstream, doubling its growth during the pandemic. Many people flocked to the site looking for something to watch while isolating at home, and the increased usage is a testament to Letterboxd’s ability to recommend something great.
A look at the reviews on Letterboxd
On Letterboxd, you can discover new movies to watch and new critics to follow, and it doesn’t separate the opinions of professional critics into a separate category.
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A first glance at the review section of any movie on Letterboxd will give you an idea of the app’s spontaneous candor. Top-rated critics aren’t concerned with the professional format of typical film critics; they range from making jokes and referencing aspects of the industry to offering short personal jokes. You can also access Letterboxd via mobile and desktop if you want to use a keyboard for longer reviews.
How does Letterboxd work?
To use Letterboxd, you need to sign up for a free account. Once registered, you can search what movies you have seen or are interested in seeing. Or you can search for popular movies from the Films tab. You will find a lot of information about a movie on its dedicated page. In the middle, you’ll find a synopsis of the movie, along with a list of cast and crew members, details like the studios involved and available languages, and what genres the movie fits into.
On the left side, you’ll find the official movie poster, and below it, stats for how many users have seen the movie, how many lists it appears on, how many people have liked the movie, and where it ranks at the top of Letterboxds. List of 250 movies if you made the cut. Below is a list of available platforms where you can watch the movie in your region, similar to the search function provided by JustWatch.
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Let’s look at the options in the box on the right side. The eye icon indicates whether or not you’ve seen or reviewed the movie (although, in this case, it’s the iconic googly eye from the movie everything everywhere at once, an example of some of the fun Easter eggs waiting to be discovered on the site). You can click the heart icon to like a movie or click the clock icon to add it to a watch list.
You can rate and write a review of the movie here if you want to. You’ll also find a graph showing the proportion of people who rated the movie between one and five stars with an average rating. At the bottom, you can see if your friends have reviewed the movie to read what they thought.
What else can you do?
The little lightning bolt symbol next to the Movies tab will show you recent activity from your friends and those you follow. the Lisa The tab on the other side will show you the top trending charts and give you the option to create your own. From Halloween horrors to cheesy rom-coms, it’s fun to organize movies into different categories or quickly find something you want to watch.
Adam Birney/Android Authority
the members The tab is where you’ll find the top trending reviewers if you’re looking for some avid moviegoers to follow. Lastly, the Daily The tab is where you can read industry news, interviews, movie reviews, and listen to the Letterboxd podcast. The green Sign In button on the far left gives you quick access to write a review, start a new list, or find your friends.
Why is Letterboxd so popular?
Most movie review parents only run on aggregated reviews and ratings, but what sets Letterboxd apart is the combination of a movie database and movie diary that uses a network-style follower model. Social. Users can write whatever they want about a movie and others can vote on their reviews. The unreleased spirit of Letterboxd can be fun and liberating. It gives readers an immediate idea of the movie without beating around the bush.
Another big part of why Letterboxd has become so popular is due to the intuitive user experience. Popular reviews are short and succinct, making them easy to read and more shareable. Many reviews have gone viral as the text can easily fit within the length of a tweet or Instagram story. You can link your Letterboxd account with your other social media accounts to post everywhere at once.
The rest of the information is clear and accessible; The shining star rating is tucked under the title, and the poster is perfectly formatted to the right. Co-founder Matthew Buchanan explained. “Single-sheet layout is one of the many aspects of cinematic art that we love, and putting a version of this front and center as a navigational focus has become part of the fabric of Letterboxd and, in turn, encourages Lots of social sharing. ”
The more Letterboxd reviews go viral, the more people will notice and become interested in the platform. Today, Letterboxd has approximately five million monthly visitors and continues to grow. The free nature of reviews and listings allows for almost as much creativity as the art films waiting to be discovered. In Letterboxd, the saying that “everyone is a critic” is not a bad thing, it is their greatest strength.
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frequent questions
You cannot watch movies directly from Letterboxd. However, you can find a full list of where a movie is available to stream or rent in your region.
Letterboxd isn’t just for movies. You can also find reviews of series, short films and documentaries.
Yes, Letterboxd will recommend movies based on your watch history and other movies you’ve liked. It will also show you recent movie reviews from the accounts you follow.
Yes there are! In fact, Letterboxd was inspired by one such site, Goodreads, the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations.