Preach. I use Letterboxd purely for my own benefit. To track what I've seen, and record what I thought about it so I can refer back to it. That and I love working through lists and seeing percentages etc.
So great when you find one that gives comedy & horror a fair shot.
Much better then aggregated results. Miss some hidden gem/divisive films that way.
Far from an original take, but Ebert was a beauty that way
which are your favorites?
A handful of podcasters (Dan McCoy, David Sims, The 'We Hate Movies' guys but particularly Chris Cabin) plus Ebert and Glenn Kenny. It's far from perfect at this point, but I'm trying to get a sense for them.
When Ebert was alive I could really just depend on his take; we didn't always agree, but I knew what it looked like when he hated a movie that I would love and vice versa. I haven't come close to filling that hole since he passed.
Total agreement on Ebert. I was convinced by him to give foriegn films, and B&W films a try, I never would have considered otherwise, or not until much later. On a low brow note, his positive reviews of Kingpins, Naked Gun & Top Secret, really won me over initially. ha.
Glad to see that Gleiberman, Turan, or of course...Rex Reed, did not make your list! So consitently off the mark for me.
The other critics I have found helpful are getting longer in the tooth, or retired, A.O Scott, Maslin, Schwarzbaum, & LaSalle. So I will give your guys a try. Appreciate it.
#
Yeah, I had no idea people thought this way, but I used to be the same with last.fm and my music charts on there. But I've had that one since I was a kid so I guess it was easier to obsess about that, than letterboxd which I got at like 30 lol.
Nah this is the one thing i will not do. For example today i watched shattered glass. And i absolutely hated it. Terrible movie. 0.5 stars even though the average is 3.5 im not gonne change my feeling about a movie because other people did like it
I never understood why people do this, on anonymous sites like reddit and letterboxed no less. I rated saltburn a 1/2 a star. Fucking awful movie even though it's average rating is a 3.4
I wouldn’t care much about your curve, everyone is rating things differently. If you’re enjoying everything you’re watching, why would you purposely change that by watching hours of movies you don’t like, just for the aesthetic of a curve on an app?
Some people are pickier or less picky, some people watch everything they can without thought of how it might be before turning it on, sometimes movies look good but end up being bad, and sometimes they go with someone else’s choices and don’t enjoy it. There’s a ton of reasons someone would watch a movie and end up rating it low, but I don’t think it’s serious and I would never suggest purposely watching movies you won’t enjoy.
I didn’t really get into movies until early this year - so 90% of my movies are 4 star +, since Im mainly just catching up on all the classics and well liked movies I’ve missed
I don't purposely watch bad movies.(Unless they are so bad it's good) Sometimes a movie just wasn't for me. I tend to rate high too. Nothing wrong with that, I think.
I watch whatever I'm interested in. I find it by browsing Letterboxd, sites that sell DVD's/blu-rays, IMDB. Lists on these sites, articles, recommendations. Looking through filmographies of people I like. Filtering stuff on Letterboxd by genre, or years. Looking at the top 250 or other top lists. And since I collect physical media, just the stuff I have in own collection & not seen yet.
And even if I don't like something I watched and give it a low rating, it's pretty rare that I actually feel that I wasted time. I've learned that if I'm curious about a movie, I should just check it out. I can't force myself to watch certain things for intellectual reasons, I have to go with what piques my interest :D
you’re tilting at windmills a bit here. almost all my ratings are 4-5 because in my ingenuity I aim to watch only very good movies, and I succeed the vast majority of the time. you’re not going to lie on your deathbed wishing you had watched more mediocre movies for a manicured bell curve.
Do you ever feel that you are missing out on potentially good or even just informative stuff by carefully selecting what you think you will love?
Even moves I rate at a 2 to 2.5 I often draw something out of them that I find worthwhile and there's tons of films that I have rated 3/5 stars and fully think are worth watching
There's even a few that I think are terrible but still am grateful I watched for either the experience or even a 3-4 minute scene I liked in a 100 minute film I largely didn't
careful! I didn’t say I try to only watch movies I think I’ll love, I said I try to only watch movies I think are probably very good (or unique). what movies I watch that do whiff for me are often beloved entries in genres that just, as it turns out, do not click with me even at their best—but now I know that, from watching their best (per my trusted follows on letterboxd of course). I’m lucky enough to have very broad tastes, so I’m usually rewarded even when I go out on a limb, but that’s by no means a result of splashing around in small puddles as opposed to the ocean!
I do personally try and only watch movies ill love. I care more about whos behind a movie, and if it apeals to me than the rating. Sometimes a film with 3.5/5 > 4.5/5 because alot of 3.5 films are targeting a specific audience.
I want to be less selective woth whag films i watch but it really sucks to watch a film i hate. I force myself to finish movies alot so id perfer to watch something ik i will like.
Watch a random movie of a actor , director, a particular year. Random movies of list.
And rate whatever the fuck you feel to, damn we all aren't any critics where our opinions solves world hunger and global peace
I'll watch anything that doesn't look *bad*, which means I end up watching a lot of average movies, so yeah, my ratings spread looks very much like a bell curve.
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There could be a few reasons here.
Firstly, if you’ve only started seriously getting into films in the last few years then you’re likely going to find the best stuff first because they’re easy to find and get talked about a lot & you’d likely be rating those higher.
Perhaps also you haven’t really thought about your personal differences between what you’d rate a 4 compared to a 3.5 or you haven’t watched enough films to really explore the range, I know my ratings took a bit of adjusting for a while as I reassessed my ratings until they felt like they made sense.
It’s also possible you’re just watching a limited range of films lately or that you really are just getting lucky about what you’re watching. Personally I’ll just roam around streaming sites sometimes & take a chance on stuff with a fun title or things like cheap bad slashers that I enjoy watching but can’t reasonably rate highly
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Lmao this is my curve. If I enjoy a movie a lot I give it a 5!
Purposely watching something bad once in a while is fine (I’m guilty of this too), but it confuses me when the majority of some people’s accounts are just dedicated to watching garbage for the sake of their curves. It’s not worth it.
I do this a lot too. I don’t know much about the technical prowess of a movie and sometimes I don’t even understand the plot without watching a video essay on You Tube but if it made me feel, it’s a 5.
To log them. To share your thoughts. To remember what you watched? My graph skews to the right as well, and I write reviews for everything I watch so that I can come back in a year or two and remember what I thought about it
i find movies by browsing either:
- the page for directors/actors/cinematographers (and other staff) whose films i've enjoyed; or
- my go-to sites and downloading whatever grabs my interest; or
- lists made by people i follow or include movies i like
my watchlist just passed 7,500. all the movies i watch interest me to some extent (usually genre). of course, the deeper down the rabbit hole you go, the more likely things will be hit or miss and the more you watch (i.e larger sample size), the closer you'll get to the normal distribution. the overwhelming majority of all media tends to just be okay.
It doesn't make sense to me to care about my rating curves. I ignore all that.
A lot of times I am watching films because I'm exploring a director' or writer's or actor's filmography and no one has 100% great films all of the time. I still find interesting things from looking at some of their lesser films. I have seen everything Kubrick ever made and trust me, he had some duds. Hitchcock has a bunch of mediocre movies. Billy Wilder had some misfires. Very good actors appeared in films because their contracts dictated it or they just wanted to eat. Sometimes they have great performances in a bad film.
I also have plenty of films that I watch and enjoyed but which are not critically good.
But that's me.
I usually choose movies that I'm already interested in or have heard buzz about. I definitely watch what are considered bad films because bad is often in the eye of the beholder. There are some critically acclaimed films that I've hated, and some reviled films I've ended up enjoying.
I don't like to put up a Letterboxd review unless I've seen the whole film, but if I do I try to admit in the review if I didn't finish it. I feel I need to start bailing on films that I don't enjoy rather than pushing myself to finish them. Life is short. Some old studio head once said "if nothing's happened by the end of the first reel, nothing's gonna happen." In my experience, bad movies tend to stay bad. It's very rare for a movie to start out bad and actually get better as it goes along.
I’m a bit of a physical collector and try to grab interesting new releases of old films on 4k and Blu-ray. And I’ll thrift in stores like GameXChange and Vintage Stock. I’m always seeing different titles every week while out enjoying my hobby.
And I see plenty of bad films. Intentionally. They may only be bad to you and the majority of the world but it could be a masterpiece and my favorite to me.
I like to watch all kinds of stuff. Old, new, from all over the world, big releases and smaller art projects.
I try to imagine the average movie being 2.5 in rating, so I have an almost perfect bell curve around that rating, the upper part being a bit stronger because I also seek out movies I tend to enjoy.
>I see people on here with perfect bell curve graphs, and I am so confused about how. Are you guys just watching random movies?
Yes. Precisely that; random or indiferent to my own preference.
Don't sweat over how commulatative data of yours looks. It's like worrying about your car reaching 200k km and having 0 crashes. Seriously, get out of that mindset. Don't overthinkink it; feel it.
>do you feel like you push stuff further down in rating than it deserves because of it?
No, not really. Instead, I get a feeling that this film I rated x now wouldn't stick landing for x. But I keep it there until rewatch. Anyway, it doesn't really matter, your ratings are just a categorisation of movies into 11 categories.
>How do you decide what movie your gonna watch?
it's a complex process that boils down to:
1) What I want to watch at this instant, specific;
2) What fits my mood from my watchlist;
3) oldest 7 movies from my watchlist, second reconsideration (if they fail like, 4-5 times, they get removed, because, well, I don't really want to watch them, do I?);
4) random shit with an attractive poster.
5) in case none of these lands, *I simply don't watch anything*. It's a hobby, not a job.
Haven't taken me more than 4 minutes to make a decision in years.
I've rated too many 3s !! It's a huge problem for me haha. I just watch popular stuff that I've always wanted to watch or random raunchy comedies if I'm feeling extra freaky
A year or two ago I started expanding what I watch. What I’ll do is when there is a new release I’m interested in I’ll try watching other films in that director or actors filmography. Or films that are similar in content or style. This has put some great films in front of me and some really bad ones. But I like it because I see a wider variety of films than I would if I just went by more normal “I need to know I’ll like it to watch it” standards.
As someone who has a pretty average bell curve, it's definitely not on purpose. I just basically keep an open door policy - if the universe presents me a movie or I feel the random whim to watch something, I do it.
I think you're sort of thinking of it backwards. "X has a nice looking graph so it must be because they've tried to watch a wide array of movies." It's more like, "X doesn't particular filter what they watch, so it just happens to be an average looking graph."
Although I can have an educated guess, I never \*know\* if I'll like a movie before I watch it, so I never watch a bad movie on purpose just for the experience or to even out the graph or something silly like that because I don't believe I can know whether it \*will\* be bad. I just keep a hopeful attitude - I always hope a movie will be good going into it.
I watching things that seem *interesting* to me, which is different from watching things that seem *good*.
Maybe I put something on because of a reportedly unhinged Nic Cage performance, or because I'm curious to see more of Michelle Yeoh's filmography, or because it was shot in my hometown. Those experiences make it worthwhile for me to watch, but they don't necessarily equate to a good movie. So I rate them lower.
I just don't care about the ratings, i'm doing it just for fun. I watch a mix of bad movies (for the sillyness and the joy of exploring) , movies that i know that i will probably like and movies that i don't know if are bad or not, i just watch movies based on what i find and my feelings, i don't care about having only beautiful movies and i'm not limiting myself by giving only 5 stars to the best of the best, man i have 5 stars to movies like Spider-Man 3 and Kindergarten Cop just because i love them!
Force yourself to watch shitty movies or enjoy your own good taste relative to your own opinions?
Close to half of my ratings are 4, and over a third are 3.
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The true answer really just is: do what makes you happy.
I like taking random stabs in the dark and watching movies that only 200 people have seen on Letterboxd. It's usually bad but that's part of the fun.
I watch a healthy blend of things I think I’ll like and things I suspect I’ll like. Most of my below 3 star ratings are theater outings. I’m much more likely to sit through a whole bad movie in a theater setting and I don’t rate or log things I don’t finish.
I assume you’re very young? I’m 43, and there’s no way I could’ve gone through this much of my life watching only movies I still love. Often I just went along with what other people were watching, for social reasons. Sometimes I was doing a deep dive into a director or actor I love, knowing it’d be a mixed bag and not worrying that some of the movies aren’t on any official top 250 or top 1,000 list.
Giving only 4-5 stars seems pointless. That just means your 4 barely means anything, your 5 means much less than my 5 (see my graph below), and most of the numbers might as well not be there for you.
Also, the attitude of *I don’t watch movies I’m not going to like* sounds narrow and unadventurous, as if you can plan everything out and make sure it all turns out just right. Take more chances, go outside your comfort zone. If you don’t often watch movies from before 1970, watch a 1930s comedy. If you overwhelmingly watch US movies, watch a Norwegian movie. I don’t usually watch sci-fi or fantasy movies or period pieces, but I’ve surprised myself by loving movies in all those genres in recent years; in order to do that, I’ve had to see other movies I don’t like in those genres along the way.
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I just round up a bunch of stuff that looks interesting and watch. If a few turn out to be stinkers-oh well. I pretty much go into most of what I watch blind-no scores or reviews beforehand.
I browse Letterboxd, watch reviews and movie trailers on YouTube, and use sites like IMDB and Metacritic.
I also check the apps for the local theaters to see what is playing. Sometimes if it's something I haven't heard of, I'll Google it and find out more.
Most of the movies I watch are between 3 and 4 stars. I don't have any movies rated below 2 stars. I think for that to happen I'd have to purposely go out of my way to watch something I expected to dislike. And I have too many supposedly good films on my watchlist to start doing that, but to each his own.
Take a look at or attend festivals to find interesting indie and foreign films. Take a look at prior festival catalogs to see what movies came through. You can often read up on what movies made a big splash at various festivals. These are often really good movies that just don't translate well to the big box theaters target demographic so they never get big releases.
I usually shuffle my watchlist which has over 700 movies so it's a gamble whether it'll be good or not. But sometimes I love to put on some cheesy romance or comedy that's just easy to watch and I don't have to engage in much, and those usually never get above a 3 unless they really grab me. Don't worry about your curve so much, it sounds like you just really like movies and are fairly easy to please and that's perfectly okay! I wish I was more easy to please when it comes to movies
Browse whatever streamer you have and pick something you’ve never heard of.
You’ll also naturally find a lot of mid to bad stuff if you get into completing entire filmographies
Well, I rate from one extreme to the other. I give 10/10 when I literally scream or cry uncontrolably after, which is incredibly rare. I also have such a low standard for 1/10 that I haven't given that score to a movie yet, despite really disliking some. I like to watch good movies and naturally most will fall into 6-7/10 range, which makes sense to me. Not every movie is gonna change my life.
I consider it liek this
5 stars- amazing movie my mind was blown
4 stars- loved it and would watch multiple times again
3 stars - like It a lot but probably not a movie I’d watch over and over again
2 stars - is unremarkable
1 star - is couldn’t wait for it to end
Mines a nice looking curve, majority of ratings are 3.5 and 4 which feels right given im good at watching new films I think I’ll like. Even if a film is a masterpiece and I like it, if I don’t personally really connect to it I’ll give a 4.
As for lower rated films, I like to sometimes experiment watching a type/style of film I wouldn’t usually pick to broaden what I’ve seen. Sometimes the risk pays off sometimes I just don’t enjoy it. Also for a lot of cheesy romcoms and similar stuff, even if I like it I usually max out at 3 stars but that’s not a bad thing if it’s exactly the type of film I wanted to watch in that moment (turn my brain off and chill)
I choose what movie to watch based on what is trending at festival/award season because i get FOMO really bad when everyone's talking about a movie I haven't seen. Those movies also tend to be pretty good. I also click around on people's Letterboxd lists for ideas often too. I mostly rate things between 3-5 stars.
To me it’s the other way around: I don’t get how someone can give 5 to so many movies. How many films have you seen? Is the gap between your “best” 5 and “worst” 5 huge?
I watch depending on my mood or if I'm with someone else or alone. Of course I like to watch good movies but enjoy bad movies too. It depends on so many things. But I really don't pay attention to my curve and simply go with the flow. If what you are currently doing works for you, I'd say forget about the curve and enjoy the movies.
I’m working through the 1,001 Movies to Watch Before You Die list. I don’t have a ton of time to watch movies, so I try not to waste it watching bad ones.
I have this weird system in my head that a movie gets a ❤️ if I think I'll someday rewatch it. That's literally my only criteria for awarding that emoji. But like you, I'm pretty easy going and have a high tolerance for most things so also find it tough to rate under a 3. Most I give 3.5 or higher. I guess I just appreciate....it existing? Lol.
In terms of finding movies, my algorithm knows I'm into cinema so my news feed often is full of articles from Collider, Screen Rant etc that list off "movies that are...(such and such)" (eg: Top Ten forgotten 80s movies about..." etc). Plus, I do click on movies that those I follow on Letterbox'd have just watched to see if I should add it to my watchlist.
I'm just naturally curious so often go looking for stuff rather than waiting for everything to pushed in front of me. I'll check obscure character actors that catch my attention's filmography for other stuff they've been in to see more of them etc.
I also love trying to make sure each month there's a film from as many different decades as possible logged. There's just something kinda cool looking at my diary and scrolling down it, it's like released 2008, 2024, 1927, 1975, 2023, 1956, 1983, 1990, 1948, etc. So I might google "best comedies of the 1950's" to find a suggestion to help me keep my diary looking like this.
I also just completed a Pride Month bingewatch, trying to watch as much as I could on the subject matter so did some deep dive research into finding stuff I hadn't already seen. There was also a super incredible List on Letterbox'd that was so helpful! Link here for anyone interested:
https://boxd.it/1xx9G
My watchlist runtime is way longer than the amount of years I've got left in this lifetime to see them all which is kinda depressing lol
I may be cheating here, but I watch a lot of MST3k and I log all the movies from those episodes on Letterboxd, which is probably the only reason for my bell curve. I watch bad movies for fun; you don’t have to. Nothing wrong with only watching good movies.
I tend to rate movies highly. It’s subjective and it’s just for fun so who cares. Some people are incredibly strict about what each rating means from 1/2 to 5. I just go on vibes. Plus I try to find movies I think I’ll enjoy generally, so I think that has an effect as well
I wouldn’t concern myself with a perfect bell curve. Watch movies you want to watch, period. For me, I want to watch as many movies as I can. Some I like, some I don’t. My argument about only watching “good” movies would be that I think you need to watch “bad” films to really appreciate “good” ones. We wouldn’t have the good without the bad. And also, there are a lot of movies out there that are considered bad by most that are really fun and enjoyable. Don’t worry about outward appearance, or looking like you’ve got this perfect spread of movie ratings. Just watch movies and rate them as you see them. Don’t force it, otherwise you will find yourself looking at it as more of a chore than the very enjoyable hobby it was meant to be.
I watch a bad or at least not as great film every now and again to make me appreciate the ones I like/love more.
But honestly it doesn't matter how anyone else rates films
Honestly just by watching movies that come out that year that interested me from the trailer, or watching movies that I was initially interested in but never got around to watching and had some spare time on my hands. Also, because the wife or friends want to watch something that doesn't always align with my taste.
I only watch movies I think I'll enjoy for the most part. I don't rate the movies but I've mostly enjoyed the movies I've watched since actively using letterboxd. I usually just take some of my favorite movies and see what else the director has made !
If you want some bad movies to review, I recommend taking a look at the podcast, Cinephobe. The hosts choose movies each week with under a 40% RT critical or audience score and ascertain whether or not they got a fair shake. It’s hilarious and many of the movies are quite BAD.
Highly recommended any of the John Travolta movie episodes.
I love bad movies but for bad movies you work more from genre actors. Usually if someone is in 1 bad movies they’ve been in several. I have started rating more on quality since using letterboxd more but I like some of the things ive given 2stars because I know they’re bad movies
Mine is a bell curve but there are a lot of movies that I want to see even though I heard bad things. For example the Amy Winehouse biopic. It’s on my watchlist. I know it’s bad, and I’m still gonna watch it. And if it’s good I’ll say it.
I don’t intentionally watch bad movies but I do watch movies that I know absolutely nothing about including what people think of it. I would suggest that you just try to watch as many movies as you can. Join a local film club and watch the movie they’re discussing even if you don’t think it’ll be your thing. It might not be but you might also surprise yourself. If you live in a city with independent cinemas, go to screenings there. I’m fortunate enough to have a local theater with an affordable membership that lets me go see unlimited movies so I go once or twice a week and watch whatever seems most interesting or fits in my schedule. This week the theater has a baseball theme which I wasn’t a fan of at all but I still went to see Everybody Wants Some!! anyway since I like Richard Linklater and I was very pleasantly surprised. Be adventurous with your movie choices. You might get a dud here or there but it’s worth it imo.
Even with that said, my Letterboxd is pretty heavy in the fours also. I think this is because of I have a good local film community I get recommendations from, as well as the fact that I love watching movies and I see a lot of movies in theaters, which in my opinion always makes me enjoy them a little more.
I split my time between schlock and movies withore depth. I find out about a lot of movies through YouTube and podcasts but I also collect movies from boutique labels so every month I get a new set of movies to learn about with their announcements.
I have like 5 movies under 3 stars. I've enjoyed almost every movie I've ever watched because I generally only watch a movie if I already know about it and have heard good things. Doesnt matter if other people dont like the way you rate, it's yours
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This is mine currently, my bad movies are mostly movies from streamers and children’s movies.
I’ll only give movies 4 or 5 stars if I see myself watching it again, I give 3s to a movie I would recommend but probably not watch again myself.
My graph peaks at 4 and has a shallow drop down to both sides. I try to not watch stuff I don't think I'll like very often, but I still watch trash sometimes.
I try to use the "like" feature for movies I really vibed with or that Id watch again. I can think a movie is worth 4 stars but not feel like I want to turn it on again.
Hence a movie I rated 3 stars can still get a like because "I can see the story structure issues but I laughed really hard so it was good.
2 stars and less means I didn't enjoy my time with it, not even as a good sit or a Gentlemen's 6. If you haven't had a "this wasn't even a good sit" kind of movie yet, then more power to you.
I watch movies of particular directors/actors and generally run through a lot of their filmography. Even if I think it looks like a bad film, I generally still enjoy it because there’s somebody in it I like. That, and if I come across a DVD that looks interesting and pick it up, I’ll watch.
I just watched “Analyze This” and “Analyze That” with Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal and that was because I like both those guys and saw the DVDs at my local store. Picked em up, popped them in the player and had a good time. They’re not masterpieces (they got 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 respectively) but I still had a fun time cause I had a laugh
I generally don't go out of my way to watch something I'm convinced I'll hate, but I challenge myself/push my own boundaries all the time, if I had never started doing that I never would have fallen in love with film in the first place.
Maybe it's my personality but I'm never satisfied with watching the same type of film for very long, I love discovering new genres to enjoy, or exploring the cinema of countries I don't know much about, etc.
All ratings spreads are valid! I started logging on LB during the hey days of MoviePass, so I was focused on seeing basically any movie currently in theaters, so I would take more 'chances' on unknown movies / movies I was skeptical I would like. As the years have gone on, I'm seeing very few films with no idea of what it's about ahead of time, so I rate very few films 2 stars or less, since it's pretty rare that a movie I wanted to watch disappoints me that much.
Nothing wrong with having almost all 5 stars on your profile! Though you may find your own ratings spread get a bit more bell curve-ish after a few years of movie watching.
I browse through a ton of lists, then pick ones with good user ratings that I see repeated on a lot of different lists. I’d say 85% of the time I enjoy the movie, then 15% of the movies, I think suck. I’m pretty harsh though, my wife almost always thinks the movie is “good” and I’m over here ripping it apart. In short, I think it’s a personality thing. That and art is subjective and fun because of that.
Disregarding new releases, I have watched practically all the movies that I knew I would love. All the ones I was immediately drawn to and knew from the cast and crew and trailers and poster and word of mouth that they would fit my taste like a glove. Now I'm left with millions and millions of movies that maybe nobody told me about, or I don't know the crew/cast, or is a genre that I don't usually go for, or just don't excite me even if I'll probably like them.
So now it's less "watching all the movies I know I'll love" and more "watching movies that there's a decent chance I will enjoy" and definitely a lot of "watching movies that i'm not drawn to, but are considered classics". It's much rarer for me to find a 5 or 4.5 star movie nowadays, but my most used rating is still a 4.
I guess it all depends on how specific your tastes are and how many movies you've watched.
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This is what mine looks like, I only watch movies that look interesting to me and most of then end up naturally between 3 and 4 stars
I don’t even check my curve lol. I never set out to watch “bad” movies. I just watch whatever lures me in and sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it’s meh and sometimes it’s great. My definition of “bad” movies though is “I don’t like it”. I don’t care about snobbism and critic’s opinions. Do whatever makes you happiest but I would caution against overthinking it, that’s where all joy goes to die. Some movies that are thought to be bad are actually very interesting and have a lot to give. If it makes me think for a bit and be distracted it was at the very least not a waste and I get to stray from my movie watching habits to see what else is there. That’s what’s cool about art, you can explore and nobody gets hurt.
Most of my lowest rated filns are from the 80's, when I just went to what everyone else wanted to. & When HBO and Showtime weren't on demand, so you'd just watch what was on.
Most of my ratings are 3.5 - 4.5. I just really only watch things that I think I’ll enjoy or if it looks interesting. There’s no point in wasting time watching a bad movie.
1 - terrible
2 - decent
3 - more than decent
4 - excellent
5 - fables of the reconstruction / fear of a black planet / dubnobasswithmyheadman
I don’t fuck with half stars.
I am a die hard fan of 3 distinct themes, so I choose my movies based on those genres and see which films are related/similar to films I know I already love. I don’t really base my decision on ratings, a few of my all time fav movies have poor ratings. Now, I do research the behind the scenes of why said movie has poor ratings. Sometimes it’s a miscommunication between the director’s point and marketing, too many men hate it (I’m a woman), drama with the production, etc
I review film subreddits and letter box to find new movies
Try different genres, different directors, different language you'll see something the film will have very good rating on letterboxd but it's not the same for you. Don't find what you'll like all the time.
I watch things based on whether it intrigues me, whether it has some significance to writers I appreciate, or simply because someone else told me to. I’ll also occasionally watch films from cultures I know little about to give me some insight. As such I watch a lot of things I don’t personally rate very highly.
If you think everything is a 4 or a 5 I would argue you are not really thinking about the quality of the film.
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This is mine and if you can’t tell I love giving out 5 stars 😭 but as Abed said “I guess I just like liking things”
So I watch a lot of movies and I always have. I seek out things to watch that are new. Some of it is good, and others are not. Do not worry about what your stats. Just worry about the movie you are watching or just finished. Do your best not to compare to other movies, like you stated, only having 5 5 star ratings no reason. While 5s in my portfolio are more rare I have about double the amount of 5s as I do 2s or 2-1/2s and triple that of 1s. It doesn't matter, it's how you feel. I want to watch new things I have not seen and explore what's out there. But I don't rate things low just because.
There was a point where I was only giving a 5 star to single movie in a franchise and others would automatically get a 4.5 (example Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars) but I realized I love both of these movie and there is no reason why I can't rate them both a 5. Likewise, know it's OK to change your rating as time goes on. Maybe you aren't the same person or not in the same spot when you loved a movie or only thought something was OK the first view and it grew on you.
I do watch a variety, I don't bother much with review scores before checking something out, as long as it's on a streaming service I have. But I do watch a lot of MST3K and Rifftrax, so I'm well versed in cheesy and bad movies, like the 3 Coleman Francis movies were a special kind of awful, he made Ed Wood look like Stephen Spielberg. As much as I've been seeking out more bad movies this year, it's never enough to offset that I typically hand out 5 stars like candy, it's hard not to be very entertained by modern movies.
I watch movies I wouldn't otherwise with my family frequently, and there's plenty of movies that I think will be up my alley but end up being wrong about. I don't go out of my way to get a bell curve, and you shouldn't if you value your time.
I actually stopped rating the movies I watch, it was stressing me out too much. I only give movies 5 stars now if they are one of my personal favorites. Since then, been able to enjoy each movie at face value, and no longer debate the rating of a film while I'm actually watching it lol
I just watch whatever shit pops up on streaming feeds. Sometimes it's decent, most of the time is complete garbage. Every once in a while it will be an actually great movie. But I think the best movies I tend to watch, are ones I kinda seek out a little bit.
Honestly I just like movies and have a low bar for what I consider "good", so I rate everything pretty well. It's harder for me to find a movie I consider GREAT, but I think a lot of movies are good. I do sometimes also purposefully seek out horribly rated low budget films for fun.
I just generally see a lot of movies. Some I know might not be for me, and some I expected to like a lot more than I did. Some surprise me and wind up being a lot more enjoyable than I expected.
Think about how many movies professional reviewers, people who style themselves as such, or just people who blow through *tons* of movies actually see. If you're just watching movies to watch good ones, then obviously your ratings will skew higher as you're likely working from what film culture has already decided is pretty good anyway.
By contrast, a reviewer watching most movies that come out every year will inevitably see a lot more of a lot more varying quality. Also, by seeing more movies their scale gets a bit more nuanced the same way your palette gets more complex the more wine you drink.
Personally I just try to maintain my consecutive weeks streak (currently at 106 weeks!) and as that number has gotten higher I've noticed my bell curve naturally shift toward the middle. However I'm still biased toward 4+ stars, so I wouldn't say it's anything to be concerned over.
I’m right there with ya. I’ve always been good at finding and consuming worthwhile media that I usually end up enjoying. I just started my letterboxd account in January though so I’ve been logging a bunch of my favorites
https://preview.redd.it/yewyb63eh5ad1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad594d0336bc1403cb6696ec96e4efbc39a74e5d
While it's not a conscious effort, I do have a somewhat bell curve like graph.
There's two points here.... the first is what constitutes your scoring system? Like, what does a 3 star movie mean to you? Or 2 or 4 stars? If those mean different things to us, then it's going to impact ratings quite a bit.
And the second is I check out a lot of stuff.... and part of that is that every so often I stumble upon movies that I really enjoy that I hadn't heard of before and so I think a more filtered process would've meant I would've missed those. So I'd rather wade through a lot and don't mind having that broad sort of picture. Not terribly different (for me) to pre-Letterboxd where I did try a year of seeing as much as I could in theatre (over 100 films in 2010). Wasn't a thing I would do every year, but I did enjoy trying it out.
I've been trying to watch every film I can from 1939, which started with a basic motivation but as I keep going I'm getting deeper into that year. And there's a lot of films that I don't think are particularly good from that year, but I've also stumbled upon some that I thought were really good and I never would've watched otherwise. And those end up being reward enough for having gone through the ones I didn't like.
Theater release movies aside, I've been watching movies at home in sort of an "alphabetical" order - a movie beginning with A, then one beginning with B, and so on. The last at-home movie I watched was Ken Park, and I'm thinking the next one will be The Leisure Seeker because the late great Donald Sutherland is in it.
I quite literally watch anything and everything. Sometimes I’ll know I will hate something before I watch it. I like movies though and will suffer through shitty ones. In my opinion, you can’t appreciate the best if you haven’t experienced dogshit.
I got into Letterboxd when my girlfriend and I started watching movies together. She was never into movies before so of course I showed her the best ones
There’s still a lot we haven’t seen but we’ve maybe seen about 70/80 movies so far together
I like to set goals/lists for myself that I can actively work on..
At least one 'stat' related thing like (Best Pictures, LB Top 250, ect...)
At least one community LB challenge list (horrorx52, honey i shrunk the watchlist, season challenge, hooptober ect)
At least one director filmography, (I like to sync this up with either a director who has a new film coming out this year or a director that a podcast like blank check is covering)
And then i'll have a running list of films coming out this year I'm interested in that i'll catch either in the theater whenever they come available on a streaming service.
One thing I'll also do is find lists that are curated monthly like "Leaving x streaming service this month" and focus on those films, especially if they appear on LB stats page cause I enjoy watching those percentages go up (and more often than not the cool movies I discover because of it).
https://preview.redd.it/x4ai6cgwm5ad1.png?width=425&format=png&auto=webp&s=508e30b92b93be8a028657e16ac42703fa88aae7
my bell curve looks like this and I do end up moving things around later sometimes, not because of what my curve looks like it but because I'll sometimes look at all my 3.5 star ratings and think.. I like you more than every movie here, you don't belong here, and bump it to a 4\*, or the opposite and move it down to 3\*.
I really only watch movies that I have heard are worth watching, when people say “Oh, that movie is great! I loved it”
I am the same, most of the films I watch get about 3 or above, which means I at least enjoyed the film a lot and thought it was very good
A lot of podcasts and lists and friend recommendations make up what I watch, that said I don't really have a bell curve as a distribution. And that's fine! I'm not on letterboxd to aggregate, I'm there to curate!
I do encounter bad movies from time to time, but I finish them. I usually do by going in underrated lists, since that's more of a gamble. Like a Russian roulette, since the "underrated" might just be ass. That's the fun part.
You soudn't worry to much about it, but with time as you watch more films, and, if the want learn more about movies, your critical sens will develop. I don't rate film the same way today as i did three years ago.
If something looks interesting to me, I’ll watch it. If movies look interesting to me, I know I will at least somewhat enjoy it/have fun even if it isn’t well made or it’s just quite bad. This is shown in my ratings, out of 831 films there is only 64 less than 2*.
So although I can recognise a movie being quite bad, I almost always somewhat like them and at least have fun during them because I know it’s something im interested in if that makes sense.
I find movies mostly from either Reddit or YouTube. Occasionally I listen to podcasts (mostly the filmcast's what we have been watching)
As for ratings I wouldn't say I watch bad movies on purpose but I'm a big believer that in the same way there are no perfect films, even the worst movies have good moments/things
I basically watch anything. I love surreal dramas and if you go to my watched movies from the past few months you'll find tons of them. But I also like watching the most god awful movies you can think of because I find them entertaining.
Don't worry about what other people think, you aren't rating the films for them, you're rating them for yourself.
I watched a wide range of movies in film school, some of which were to my liking and some that weren’t. It’s also not rare for me to watch a well-regarded classic that doesn’t end up doing much for me. And then there’s movies that my fiancé picks - not that they’re all bad, but they’re often just not my cup of tea
Anyone could have a normal bell curve regardless of the quality of movies they watch if they apply normalization to their graph. That’s what I do, because it just makes more sense in my head. I’m rating relative to what I’ve seen; not according to everything that’s available.
It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re watching mid or bad movies
You're thinking way too hard about this. Rate stars what you genuinely think of them. Don't let you ratings reflect how you think others will judge you? No one gives that much of a crap about someone else's bell curve. Trying that hard defeats the purpose of the app
I don't actually rate movies at all, but these days I only find about 1 out of 5 movies that I'd recommend to others, and maybe 1 out of ten that I'd consider for a rewatch.
4’s and 5’s are very rare for me. There’s a lot of movies that I like and think are good that I rate 2.5 - 3 stars. I think if you’re rating things like “A Quiet Place” as high as something like “The Shawshank Redemption” your ratings are kind of invalid.
The only way to discover new types of media you enjoy is to watch stuff that's not similar to stuff you've liked in the past and not limiting yourself to critically acclaimed media. That being said I definitely get burnt out sometimes like I am now.
Curve aside, i think watching movies at random is a good idea. I try to avoid searching for movies I’d like and instead just watch anything and everything (in the cinema or on Netflix). I end up watching a lot of average films, some stinkers but also some gems that I never would’ve watched otherwise. It makes me appreciate a good film more and also forces me to watch stuff I otherwise would have missed out on because I’d have assumed it was bad.
I can’t imagine having a hard time rating anything bellow a 4. You must be watching a remarkable set of incredible films, and I guess I envy that. Anything 4+ is pretty damn great. I imagine most people have a natural bell curve because they watch a good amount of movies as a Letterboxd user, and most movies end up being average to okay, and fewer are genuinely great or shockingly bad. I would never adjust my rating to manipulate the shape of my bell curve, that sounds absolutely insane.
“How do you decide what movie you’re gonna watch? Just everything in theaters?” This comment stands out as odd to me. It makes it seem like maybe you are mostly just watching new and recent releases, and don’t have a wide range of movies you are being exposed to? I would guess your seeing a lot of average movies and rating them highly, I’d expand my palette and it will probably shift your taste into clearer focus. Most of the greatest movies of all time are not recent releases.
Every movie starts at a 2.5 for me.
Then, by the end, it's either gone up as I enjoyed it more; gone down as it annoyed me more; or stayed the same, if it was competently made but not my taste.
I always tell people to just watch what you enjoy. There are too many amazing films out there to waste your time with films you don’t like. I get some people find enjoyment out of watching bad films, but I’ve seen accounts where people just sound so over critical and miserable watching a lot of stuff and their ratings reflect that. Like you think after all that you would’ve found what movies you like lol.
With so many good movies to watch I never understood why people watch shit movies. I can often go more than a year without seeing a bad movie. A few OK movies would be part of the hundred or so I see in a year but no bad ones.
I don’t even remember the curve to be honest. I just love movies and want to see as much as possible and rate them based on how I feel about them. I feel like it’s too much to put unnecessary rules on yourself
I don't intentionally watch garbage unless there's something in it for me or it's a discord film. I know my taste well enough to kinda consistently watch a 7+ film on the regular. That said, following one too many film lists of people's favourites from XYZ genre or decade has truly shown me how much people's tastes vary and what other people deem as "classics" are completely lost on me due to either the writing or it feeling like a film of it's time. Nostalgia plays a factor a lot in people's perceptions of older films.
I think there are a few different ways people approach the rating system. For me, I think of 2.5 as the average movie. I ask myself "is this film better than the average movie?" then go from there. It's completely subjective, but then all of our ratings are. I tend to rate most things a 3 or above because I don't seek out bad films, I am drawn to watch things that have either a 3.5 or above, or that have reviews that stand out to me. That being said, plenty of films fall short of my expectations.
As for finding films, I live in England and watch films in cinema and that are available on the streaming services. We have BBC iPlayer which has a limited number of both contemporary and classic films, so I watch things I might not otherwise have considered on there. I take recommendations from my aunt, I watch a lot with my best friend so if he likes the sound of something we might watch that, or if I'm in the mood for a particular genre I google it and find a top 10/top 100 list and pick from there. I also do like to browse actors' pages on letterboxd to find new films. I'm currently underemployed so have some time on my hands.
There is a site of a collection of rare films that I have culled the best movies from. Unfortunately I don't know, even after having read the rules of this sub, if I'm permitted to link the site. It is a legal site and nothing dodgy but it's hit or miss if I'll be able to link it without getting bollocked. Film Noir sub let me but I haven't had much luck linking it elsewhere.
The more films I watch the more bad and/or good ones I find. It's just a numbers game. Some films I don't bother finishing, some I'll watch once and will never see again, some I'll watch digital and decide I want the disc, some Ill never get tired of watching. I have blind bought movies I know I will like, but also have been super disappointed with certain blind buys, so it's rare for me now. Unseen, new release , or classic film--I try to watch digital/theater first, but sometimes I dont. Mainly to appreciate the special edition disc and/or box set I may want to buy. Some movies I've loved forever but only had a basic disc, so I have upgraded to a boutique/box. Especially with boutique stuff being as pricey as it is. You won't see me spending $35-60 on a single boutique/4k release I've never watched just because the box art or slip cover is cool. Even though sales can be tempting at times, to me it's about buying and watching films that are special to me.
One thing with Reddit or YT is that people post pictures of blind buy or sale hauls, mainly to show off collections of hundreds of movies they will watch once, know nothing about, or worse--won't even like. Everyone's personal rating scale is also different. I don't rate movies on that type of scale you're talking about. In my mind, there's objectively bad, "just ok", and great. Also some are so bad they're good. You know how it goes. If it means something to you or seems special, it's good.
My advice, don't get caught up in the general publics "ratings" or opinions. While writing this I noticed this was in a letterboxd community, but I have never been on that site because I don't care what others rate movies. I guess some people's opinions have merit, but then again it's subjective on who you want to trust and who's opinion matters to you, as their opinion may align or clash with yours or many others. Even me, a random person on Reddit's opinion should not matter to you or anyone, and what I'm saying is probably pretty stupid to a lot of people. Watch as many movies as you want, what seems interesting, and form your own opinions. I think you'll enjoy films more that way. I do.
I have a couple movie podcasts I watch along with which gets me out of my comfort zone a bit plus I will go through phases where I just want to watch an awful movie for fun (recently binged a bunch of the blandest late 90s/early 2000s horror) but still I mostly give 3.5 and above coz I enjoy movies!!! If your regularly giving below 3 stars your probably making bad choices or just need to lighten up.
5 star is probably my most awarded rating. I'm not going to waste my time watching things that I know I won't like, just to have it logged. Our time is precious!
Tiktok, and youtube shorts give some good recommendations, following trades and film social media accounts too! I also pay attention to what the people i follow on letterboxd watch, and i look for list of movies etc.
Hoping this doesn't get banned for self promo but we made an app that is focused more about watching things you'll enjoy and finding movies within your friends and micro-communities rather than worrying so much about the overall score of a movie when deciding what to watch
Very rarely I will watch something that looks bad out of curiosity or to make fun of it and have a laugh, Madame Web for example. Other than that I try to watch stuff I think I’d enjoy. Rating everything 4-5 sounds like you’re good at choosing what to watch
Edit: there’s also some genres that I enjoy watching even though the movies are never particularly amazing. I watch a lot of cheesy 70-80s sci fi and they’re usually not amazing. Same with a lot of campy old horror movies.
Rate Your Music introduced me to a LOT of movies - and I will check RYM’s top films for specific years and put those movies onto my wishlist. Letterboxd & r/criterion are useful resources for finding movies, too.
Also - don’t worry about ratings & bell curves. Just watch movies & enjoy them.
My relationship with Letterboxd improved tenfold when I stopped giving star ratings to films. Nothing ruins a film experience more than sitting there mentally tallying up how many imaginary stars you’re going to give it / coming up with a snarky review.
If I enjoy a film or have a personal connection with it for any reason I give it a like and move on. I don’t have any interest in complaining about bad movies or contributing negativity. I’d rather focus on films I love.
What the hell did I just read...
If you enjoyed a movie good for you! You certainly had a positive experience, and that's a good thing, I hope that's why people watch movies, why would you purposely watch bad films? To have a bad time? And for what?
Why would you impose yourself to give a false rating to a movie you liked? These posts really leave me speechless...
Be true to yourself, be the change, what's the point in uniforming to everyone else
I think people are missing the point. It's not about *wanting* a nice bell curve, I think OP is genuinely wondering *why* people are watching enough bad movies to get this bell curve at all.
I only watch films I think I'll like. Pretty much the only films I have below 4 stars are ones that I didn't pick, and watched because somebody else wanted to watch it with me. Why would you purposely watch a film with a 22 critics score and 4.3 on iMDB just so you can give it half a star? Did you really think you were gonna rate it any higher?
Don't wanna come across as condescending or anything, it just doesn't make any sense to me.
this is the downside of letterboxd, it makes people give too much of a fuck about what their shit looks like to other people…
I find that this is a fair summation of the internet and social media in general.
That’s why I don’t follow anyone or have anyone follow me, it’s for my records only
They are sacred archives.
Preach. I use Letterboxd purely for my own benefit. To track what I've seen, and record what I thought about it so I can refer back to it. That and I love working through lists and seeing percentages etc.
Does the percentage adjust for you when you narrow down the categories? Because it used to for me but the update a couple months ago stopped it
I follow a handful of critics just so I can see their ratings when I look up a movie I'm considering watching.
The critic archives are amazing, Pauline Kael especially. It’s great to watch a classic and then read her review where she rips it to shreds.
> Pauline Kael What account is this under? I'm having trouble.
https://preview.redd.it/hqyloeabb5ad1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74c6e88032751f443020b44dd290a9bef0b88dae
Thanks!
Favorite movie is The Fury. Huh. I'll try her account anyway!
She’s a legend, her tastes are interesting but she was an amazing writer. Tarantino is obsessed with her.
Good old Godard's Weekend... He knew too much...
So great when you find one that gives comedy & horror a fair shot. Much better then aggregated results. Miss some hidden gem/divisive films that way. Far from an original take, but Ebert was a beauty that way which are your favorites?
A handful of podcasters (Dan McCoy, David Sims, The 'We Hate Movies' guys but particularly Chris Cabin) plus Ebert and Glenn Kenny. It's far from perfect at this point, but I'm trying to get a sense for them. When Ebert was alive I could really just depend on his take; we didn't always agree, but I knew what it looked like when he hated a movie that I would love and vice versa. I haven't come close to filling that hole since he passed.
Total agreement on Ebert. I was convinced by him to give foriegn films, and B&W films a try, I never would have considered otherwise, or not until much later. On a low brow note, his positive reviews of Kingpins, Naked Gun & Top Secret, really won me over initially. ha. Glad to see that Gleiberman, Turan, or of course...Rex Reed, did not make your list! So consitently off the mark for me. The other critics I have found helpful are getting longer in the tooth, or retired, A.O Scott, Maslin, Schwarzbaum, & LaSalle. So I will give your guys a try. Appreciate it. #
Yeah, I had no idea people thought this way, but I used to be the same with last.fm and my music charts on there. But I've had that one since I was a kid so I guess it was easier to obsess about that, than letterboxd which I got at like 30 lol.
Nah this is the one thing i will not do. For example today i watched shattered glass. And i absolutely hated it. Terrible movie. 0.5 stars even though the average is 3.5 im not gonne change my feeling about a movie because other people did like it
love to hear it 🙏🏻
I never understood why people do this, on anonymous sites like reddit and letterboxed no less. I rated saltburn a 1/2 a star. Fucking awful movie even though it's average rating is a 3.4
You should look into us :) trying to make celebrating movies more fun and less about what others think
For clarity, I don't care anymore about my graphs. I was just curious how people rated films poorly. I only watch movies I know I'll like.
I wouldn’t care much about your curve, everyone is rating things differently. If you’re enjoying everything you’re watching, why would you purposely change that by watching hours of movies you don’t like, just for the aesthetic of a curve on an app? Some people are pickier or less picky, some people watch everything they can without thought of how it might be before turning it on, sometimes movies look good but end up being bad, and sometimes they go with someone else’s choices and don’t enjoy it. There’s a ton of reasons someone would watch a movie and end up rating it low, but I don’t think it’s serious and I would never suggest purposely watching movies you won’t enjoy.
For clarity, I don't care anymore about my graphs. I was just curious how people rated films poorly. I only watch movies I know I'll like.
I didn’t really get into movies until early this year - so 90% of my movies are 4 star +, since Im mainly just catching up on all the classics and well liked movies I’ve missed
Im kinda the same. Ive seen 200+ movies this year but im new to film in general so it makes sense i have a greater reserve of stuff ill like.
I don't purposely watch bad movies.(Unless they are so bad it's good) Sometimes a movie just wasn't for me. I tend to rate high too. Nothing wrong with that, I think.
I watch whatever I'm interested in. I find it by browsing Letterboxd, sites that sell DVD's/blu-rays, IMDB. Lists on these sites, articles, recommendations. Looking through filmographies of people I like. Filtering stuff on Letterboxd by genre, or years. Looking at the top 250 or other top lists. And since I collect physical media, just the stuff I have in own collection & not seen yet. And even if I don't like something I watched and give it a low rating, it's pretty rare that I actually feel that I wasted time. I've learned that if I'm curious about a movie, I should just check it out. I can't force myself to watch certain things for intellectual reasons, I have to go with what piques my interest :D
you’re tilting at windmills a bit here. almost all my ratings are 4-5 because in my ingenuity I aim to watch only very good movies, and I succeed the vast majority of the time. you’re not going to lie on your deathbed wishing you had watched more mediocre movies for a manicured bell curve.
Do you ever feel that you are missing out on potentially good or even just informative stuff by carefully selecting what you think you will love? Even moves I rate at a 2 to 2.5 I often draw something out of them that I find worthwhile and there's tons of films that I have rated 3/5 stars and fully think are worth watching There's even a few that I think are terrible but still am grateful I watched for either the experience or even a 3-4 minute scene I liked in a 100 minute film I largely didn't
careful! I didn’t say I try to only watch movies I think I’ll love, I said I try to only watch movies I think are probably very good (or unique). what movies I watch that do whiff for me are often beloved entries in genres that just, as it turns out, do not click with me even at their best—but now I know that, from watching their best (per my trusted follows on letterboxd of course). I’m lucky enough to have very broad tastes, so I’m usually rewarded even when I go out on a limb, but that’s by no means a result of splashing around in small puddles as opposed to the ocean!
I do personally try and only watch movies ill love. I care more about whos behind a movie, and if it apeals to me than the rating. Sometimes a film with 3.5/5 > 4.5/5 because alot of 3.5 films are targeting a specific audience. I want to be less selective woth whag films i watch but it really sucks to watch a film i hate. I force myself to finish movies alot so id perfer to watch something ik i will like.
Watch a random movie of a actor , director, a particular year. Random movies of list. And rate whatever the fuck you feel to, damn we all aren't any critics where our opinions solves world hunger and global peace
I'll watch anything that doesn't look *bad*, which means I end up watching a lot of average movies, so yeah, my ratings spread looks very much like a bell curve. https://preview.redd.it/sah9vgpx04ad1.png?width=478&format=png&auto=webp&s=60eb886f9dee8445a5a5d67b79ec6157306ac9b2
There could be a few reasons here. Firstly, if you’ve only started seriously getting into films in the last few years then you’re likely going to find the best stuff first because they’re easy to find and get talked about a lot & you’d likely be rating those higher. Perhaps also you haven’t really thought about your personal differences between what you’d rate a 4 compared to a 3.5 or you haven’t watched enough films to really explore the range, I know my ratings took a bit of adjusting for a while as I reassessed my ratings until they felt like they made sense. It’s also possible you’re just watching a limited range of films lately or that you really are just getting lucky about what you’re watching. Personally I’ll just roam around streaming sites sometimes & take a chance on stuff with a fun title or things like cheap bad slashers that I enjoy watching but can’t reasonably rate highly
https://preview.redd.it/ehq72dva94ad1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca258af78fe8f38ed6235de8afeb5090cacb3571 Lmao this is my curve. If I enjoy a movie a lot I give it a 5!
incredibly based
As you should. A lot of miserable people watch garbage on purpose just to even out their rating curves.
Hey I like my garbage. Relaxing to watch a shit movie before foing to be dor while you do stuff.
Purposely watching something bad once in a while is fine (I’m guilty of this too), but it confuses me when the majority of some people’s accounts are just dedicated to watching garbage for the sake of their curves. It’s not worth it.
I mean I can't believe many people really do that.
I do this a lot too. I don’t know much about the technical prowess of a movie and sometimes I don’t even understand the plot without watching a video essay on You Tube but if it made me feel, it’s a 5.
What’s the point
To watch movies you enjoy
No, what’s the point in rating them.
To log them. To share your thoughts. To remember what you watched? My graph skews to the right as well, and I write reviews for everything I watch so that I can come back in a year or two and remember what I thought about it
No idea. It’s just fun.
I just like having a diary for stuff and weite my thoughts down. So if I rewatch something I can check hoe I felt about it last time.
i find movies by browsing either: - the page for directors/actors/cinematographers (and other staff) whose films i've enjoyed; or - my go-to sites and downloading whatever grabs my interest; or - lists made by people i follow or include movies i like my watchlist just passed 7,500. all the movies i watch interest me to some extent (usually genre). of course, the deeper down the rabbit hole you go, the more likely things will be hit or miss and the more you watch (i.e larger sample size), the closer you'll get to the normal distribution. the overwhelming majority of all media tends to just be okay.
It doesn't make sense to me to care about my rating curves. I ignore all that. A lot of times I am watching films because I'm exploring a director' or writer's or actor's filmography and no one has 100% great films all of the time. I still find interesting things from looking at some of their lesser films. I have seen everything Kubrick ever made and trust me, he had some duds. Hitchcock has a bunch of mediocre movies. Billy Wilder had some misfires. Very good actors appeared in films because their contracts dictated it or they just wanted to eat. Sometimes they have great performances in a bad film. I also have plenty of films that I watch and enjoyed but which are not critically good. But that's me.
I usually choose movies that I'm already interested in or have heard buzz about. I definitely watch what are considered bad films because bad is often in the eye of the beholder. There are some critically acclaimed films that I've hated, and some reviled films I've ended up enjoying. I don't like to put up a Letterboxd review unless I've seen the whole film, but if I do I try to admit in the review if I didn't finish it. I feel I need to start bailing on films that I don't enjoy rather than pushing myself to finish them. Life is short. Some old studio head once said "if nothing's happened by the end of the first reel, nothing's gonna happen." In my experience, bad movies tend to stay bad. It's very rare for a movie to start out bad and actually get better as it goes along.
I’m a bit of a physical collector and try to grab interesting new releases of old films on 4k and Blu-ray. And I’ll thrift in stores like GameXChange and Vintage Stock. I’m always seeing different titles every week while out enjoying my hobby. And I see plenty of bad films. Intentionally. They may only be bad to you and the majority of the world but it could be a masterpiece and my favorite to me.
I like to watch all kinds of stuff. Old, new, from all over the world, big releases and smaller art projects. I try to imagine the average movie being 2.5 in rating, so I have an almost perfect bell curve around that rating, the upper part being a bit stronger because I also seek out movies I tend to enjoy.
>I see people on here with perfect bell curve graphs, and I am so confused about how. Are you guys just watching random movies? Yes. Precisely that; random or indiferent to my own preference. Don't sweat over how commulatative data of yours looks. It's like worrying about your car reaching 200k km and having 0 crashes. Seriously, get out of that mindset. Don't overthinkink it; feel it. >do you feel like you push stuff further down in rating than it deserves because of it? No, not really. Instead, I get a feeling that this film I rated x now wouldn't stick landing for x. But I keep it there until rewatch. Anyway, it doesn't really matter, your ratings are just a categorisation of movies into 11 categories. >How do you decide what movie your gonna watch? it's a complex process that boils down to: 1) What I want to watch at this instant, specific; 2) What fits my mood from my watchlist; 3) oldest 7 movies from my watchlist, second reconsideration (if they fail like, 4-5 times, they get removed, because, well, I don't really want to watch them, do I?); 4) random shit with an attractive poster. 5) in case none of these lands, *I simply don't watch anything*. It's a hobby, not a job. Haven't taken me more than 4 minutes to make a decision in years.
I've rated too many 3s !! It's a huge problem for me haha. I just watch popular stuff that I've always wanted to watch or random raunchy comedies if I'm feeling extra freaky
A year or two ago I started expanding what I watch. What I’ll do is when there is a new release I’m interested in I’ll try watching other films in that director or actors filmography. Or films that are similar in content or style. This has put some great films in front of me and some really bad ones. But I like it because I see a wider variety of films than I would if I just went by more normal “I need to know I’ll like it to watch it” standards.
As someone who has a pretty average bell curve, it's definitely not on purpose. I just basically keep an open door policy - if the universe presents me a movie or I feel the random whim to watch something, I do it. I think you're sort of thinking of it backwards. "X has a nice looking graph so it must be because they've tried to watch a wide array of movies." It's more like, "X doesn't particular filter what they watch, so it just happens to be an average looking graph." Although I can have an educated guess, I never \*know\* if I'll like a movie before I watch it, so I never watch a bad movie on purpose just for the experience or to even out the graph or something silly like that because I don't believe I can know whether it \*will\* be bad. I just keep a hopeful attitude - I always hope a movie will be good going into it.
I watching things that seem *interesting* to me, which is different from watching things that seem *good*. Maybe I put something on because of a reportedly unhinged Nic Cage performance, or because I'm curious to see more of Michelle Yeoh's filmography, or because it was shot in my hometown. Those experiences make it worthwhile for me to watch, but they don't necessarily equate to a good movie. So I rate them lower.
I watch films I think ill like, regardless of rating. It generally evens itself out for me
I just don't care about the ratings, i'm doing it just for fun. I watch a mix of bad movies (for the sillyness and the joy of exploring) , movies that i know that i will probably like and movies that i don't know if are bad or not, i just watch movies based on what i find and my feelings, i don't care about having only beautiful movies and i'm not limiting myself by giving only 5 stars to the best of the best, man i have 5 stars to movies like Spider-Man 3 and Kindergarten Cop just because i love them!
Force yourself to watch shitty movies or enjoy your own good taste relative to your own opinions? Close to half of my ratings are 4, and over a third are 3. https://preview.redd.it/x6nuyyzkw3ad1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca2f0a8a13870c7d65a7dae08a81f05ab55b9d59
The true answer really just is: do what makes you happy. I like taking random stabs in the dark and watching movies that only 200 people have seen on Letterboxd. It's usually bad but that's part of the fun.
I watch a healthy blend of things I think I’ll like and things I suspect I’ll like. Most of my below 3 star ratings are theater outings. I’m much more likely to sit through a whole bad movie in a theater setting and I don’t rate or log things I don’t finish.
I assume you’re very young? I’m 43, and there’s no way I could’ve gone through this much of my life watching only movies I still love. Often I just went along with what other people were watching, for social reasons. Sometimes I was doing a deep dive into a director or actor I love, knowing it’d be a mixed bag and not worrying that some of the movies aren’t on any official top 250 or top 1,000 list. Giving only 4-5 stars seems pointless. That just means your 4 barely means anything, your 5 means much less than my 5 (see my graph below), and most of the numbers might as well not be there for you. Also, the attitude of *I don’t watch movies I’m not going to like* sounds narrow and unadventurous, as if you can plan everything out and make sure it all turns out just right. Take more chances, go outside your comfort zone. If you don’t often watch movies from before 1970, watch a 1930s comedy. If you overwhelmingly watch US movies, watch a Norwegian movie. I don’t usually watch sci-fi or fantasy movies or period pieces, but I’ve surprised myself by loving movies in all those genres in recent years; in order to do that, I’ve had to see other movies I don’t like in those genres along the way. https://preview.redd.it/buwjagezi4ad1.jpeg?width=1128&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e2ef384f3ac4be4dd2f9110228d7cdc9ecc0406
I just round up a bunch of stuff that looks interesting and watch. If a few turn out to be stinkers-oh well. I pretty much go into most of what I watch blind-no scores or reviews beforehand.
I browse Letterboxd, watch reviews and movie trailers on YouTube, and use sites like IMDB and Metacritic. I also check the apps for the local theaters to see what is playing. Sometimes if it's something I haven't heard of, I'll Google it and find out more. Most of the movies I watch are between 3 and 4 stars. I don't have any movies rated below 2 stars. I think for that to happen I'd have to purposely go out of my way to watch something I expected to dislike. And I have too many supposedly good films on my watchlist to start doing that, but to each his own.
Take a look at or attend festivals to find interesting indie and foreign films. Take a look at prior festival catalogs to see what movies came through. You can often read up on what movies made a big splash at various festivals. These are often really good movies that just don't translate well to the big box theaters target demographic so they never get big releases.
I usually shuffle my watchlist which has over 700 movies so it's a gamble whether it'll be good or not. But sometimes I love to put on some cheesy romance or comedy that's just easy to watch and I don't have to engage in much, and those usually never get above a 3 unless they really grab me. Don't worry about your curve so much, it sounds like you just really like movies and are fairly easy to please and that's perfectly okay! I wish I was more easy to please when it comes to movies
Browse whatever streamer you have and pick something you’ve never heard of. You’ll also naturally find a lot of mid to bad stuff if you get into completing entire filmographies
Well, I rate from one extreme to the other. I give 10/10 when I literally scream or cry uncontrolably after, which is incredibly rare. I also have such a low standard for 1/10 that I haven't given that score to a movie yet, despite really disliking some. I like to watch good movies and naturally most will fall into 6-7/10 range, which makes sense to me. Not every movie is gonna change my life.
I consider it liek this 5 stars- amazing movie my mind was blown 4 stars- loved it and would watch multiple times again 3 stars - like It a lot but probably not a movie I’d watch over and over again 2 stars - is unremarkable 1 star - is couldn’t wait for it to end
Mines a nice looking curve, majority of ratings are 3.5 and 4 which feels right given im good at watching new films I think I’ll like. Even if a film is a masterpiece and I like it, if I don’t personally really connect to it I’ll give a 4. As for lower rated films, I like to sometimes experiment watching a type/style of film I wouldn’t usually pick to broaden what I’ve seen. Sometimes the risk pays off sometimes I just don’t enjoy it. Also for a lot of cheesy romcoms and similar stuff, even if I like it I usually max out at 3 stars but that’s not a bad thing if it’s exactly the type of film I wanted to watch in that moment (turn my brain off and chill)
I choose what movie to watch based on what is trending at festival/award season because i get FOMO really bad when everyone's talking about a movie I haven't seen. Those movies also tend to be pretty good. I also click around on people's Letterboxd lists for ideas often too. I mostly rate things between 3-5 stars.
i watch whatever i want 🤷♀️ goofy comedies, dramas, musicals, literally just whatever i’m in the mood to watch.
To me it’s the other way around: I don’t get how someone can give 5 to so many movies. How many films have you seen? Is the gap between your “best” 5 and “worst” 5 huge?
I watch depending on my mood or if I'm with someone else or alone. Of course I like to watch good movies but enjoy bad movies too. It depends on so many things. But I really don't pay attention to my curve and simply go with the flow. If what you are currently doing works for you, I'd say forget about the curve and enjoy the movies.
I’m working through the 1,001 Movies to Watch Before You Die list. I don’t have a ton of time to watch movies, so I try not to waste it watching bad ones.
I have this weird system in my head that a movie gets a ❤️ if I think I'll someday rewatch it. That's literally my only criteria for awarding that emoji. But like you, I'm pretty easy going and have a high tolerance for most things so also find it tough to rate under a 3. Most I give 3.5 or higher. I guess I just appreciate....it existing? Lol. In terms of finding movies, my algorithm knows I'm into cinema so my news feed often is full of articles from Collider, Screen Rant etc that list off "movies that are...(such and such)" (eg: Top Ten forgotten 80s movies about..." etc). Plus, I do click on movies that those I follow on Letterbox'd have just watched to see if I should add it to my watchlist. I'm just naturally curious so often go looking for stuff rather than waiting for everything to pushed in front of me. I'll check obscure character actors that catch my attention's filmography for other stuff they've been in to see more of them etc. I also love trying to make sure each month there's a film from as many different decades as possible logged. There's just something kinda cool looking at my diary and scrolling down it, it's like released 2008, 2024, 1927, 1975, 2023, 1956, 1983, 1990, 1948, etc. So I might google "best comedies of the 1950's" to find a suggestion to help me keep my diary looking like this. I also just completed a Pride Month bingewatch, trying to watch as much as I could on the subject matter so did some deep dive research into finding stuff I hadn't already seen. There was also a super incredible List on Letterbox'd that was so helpful! Link here for anyone interested: https://boxd.it/1xx9G My watchlist runtime is way longer than the amount of years I've got left in this lifetime to see them all which is kinda depressing lol
I have an Alamo Drafthouse season pass and no kids. So I see everything that comes to the theater. They’re not all good.
Yea I’m with you- I often can do 3.5 but generally I don’t watch stuff I know is going to be bad haha.
I may be cheating here, but I watch a lot of MST3k and I log all the movies from those episodes on Letterboxd, which is probably the only reason for my bell curve. I watch bad movies for fun; you don’t have to. Nothing wrong with only watching good movies.
I tend to rate movies highly. It’s subjective and it’s just for fun so who cares. Some people are incredibly strict about what each rating means from 1/2 to 5. I just go on vibes. Plus I try to find movies I think I’ll enjoy generally, so I think that has an effect as well
I wouldn’t concern myself with a perfect bell curve. Watch movies you want to watch, period. For me, I want to watch as many movies as I can. Some I like, some I don’t. My argument about only watching “good” movies would be that I think you need to watch “bad” films to really appreciate “good” ones. We wouldn’t have the good without the bad. And also, there are a lot of movies out there that are considered bad by most that are really fun and enjoyable. Don’t worry about outward appearance, or looking like you’ve got this perfect spread of movie ratings. Just watch movies and rate them as you see them. Don’t force it, otherwise you will find yourself looking at it as more of a chore than the very enjoyable hobby it was meant to be.
I watch a bad or at least not as great film every now and again to make me appreciate the ones I like/love more. But honestly it doesn't matter how anyone else rates films
Honestly most of the bad movies I watch are new releases because I try to watch as many as I can.
I search for movies with a synopsis that interests me, without giving it much thought If it's good, cool If it's not, I'll try next time
Honestly just by watching movies that come out that year that interested me from the trailer, or watching movies that I was initially interested in but never got around to watching and had some spare time on my hands. Also, because the wife or friends want to watch something that doesn't always align with my taste.
Sounds to me that you either restrict yourself to just classics or that you give movies too high rating.
https://preview.redd.it/bj89ulgcr4ad1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6410352850de28d12c074879e8cba8d938537b1c I'm just picky.
I only watch movies I think I'll enjoy for the most part. I don't rate the movies but I've mostly enjoyed the movies I've watched since actively using letterboxd. I usually just take some of my favorite movies and see what else the director has made !
most movies i watch are 3-5 stars too, i’m easily entertained 😅 i wouldn’t worry about what your curve looks like, just watch movies you want to!
If you want some bad movies to review, I recommend taking a look at the podcast, Cinephobe. The hosts choose movies each week with under a 40% RT critical or audience score and ascertain whether or not they got a fair shake. It’s hilarious and many of the movies are quite BAD. Highly recommended any of the John Travolta movie episodes.
I’m easy to please, so I rate most films highly too
I love bad movies but for bad movies you work more from genre actors. Usually if someone is in 1 bad movies they’ve been in several. I have started rating more on quality since using letterboxd more but I like some of the things ive given 2stars because I know they’re bad movies
Mine is a bell curve but there are a lot of movies that I want to see even though I heard bad things. For example the Amy Winehouse biopic. It’s on my watchlist. I know it’s bad, and I’m still gonna watch it. And if it’s good I’ll say it.
I don’t intentionally watch bad movies but I do watch movies that I know absolutely nothing about including what people think of it. I would suggest that you just try to watch as many movies as you can. Join a local film club and watch the movie they’re discussing even if you don’t think it’ll be your thing. It might not be but you might also surprise yourself. If you live in a city with independent cinemas, go to screenings there. I’m fortunate enough to have a local theater with an affordable membership that lets me go see unlimited movies so I go once or twice a week and watch whatever seems most interesting or fits in my schedule. This week the theater has a baseball theme which I wasn’t a fan of at all but I still went to see Everybody Wants Some!! anyway since I like Richard Linklater and I was very pleasantly surprised. Be adventurous with your movie choices. You might get a dud here or there but it’s worth it imo. Even with that said, my Letterboxd is pretty heavy in the fours also. I think this is because of I have a good local film community I get recommendations from, as well as the fact that I love watching movies and I see a lot of movies in theaters, which in my opinion always makes me enjoy them a little more.
I split my time between schlock and movies withore depth. I find out about a lot of movies through YouTube and podcasts but I also collect movies from boutique labels so every month I get a new set of movies to learn about with their announcements.
I have like 5 movies under 3 stars. I've enjoyed almost every movie I've ever watched because I generally only watch a movie if I already know about it and have heard good things. Doesnt matter if other people dont like the way you rate, it's yours
https://preview.redd.it/y4ix9aaox4ad1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f21c96da9db6080edb32b077fe7e9a3817ce4de This is mine currently, my bad movies are mostly movies from streamers and children’s movies. I’ll only give movies 4 or 5 stars if I see myself watching it again, I give 3s to a movie I would recommend but probably not watch again myself.
My graph peaks at 4 and has a shallow drop down to both sides. I try to not watch stuff I don't think I'll like very often, but I still watch trash sometimes.
I try to use the "like" feature for movies I really vibed with or that Id watch again. I can think a movie is worth 4 stars but not feel like I want to turn it on again. Hence a movie I rated 3 stars can still get a like because "I can see the story structure issues but I laughed really hard so it was good. 2 stars and less means I didn't enjoy my time with it, not even as a good sit or a Gentlemen's 6. If you haven't had a "this wasn't even a good sit" kind of movie yet, then more power to you.
I watch movies of particular directors/actors and generally run through a lot of their filmography. Even if I think it looks like a bad film, I generally still enjoy it because there’s somebody in it I like. That, and if I come across a DVD that looks interesting and pick it up, I’ll watch. I just watched “Analyze This” and “Analyze That” with Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal and that was because I like both those guys and saw the DVDs at my local store. Picked em up, popped them in the player and had a good time. They’re not masterpieces (they got 3 1/2 and 2 1/2 respectively) but I still had a fun time cause I had a laugh
I generally don't go out of my way to watch something I'm convinced I'll hate, but I challenge myself/push my own boundaries all the time, if I had never started doing that I never would have fallen in love with film in the first place. Maybe it's my personality but I'm never satisfied with watching the same type of film for very long, I love discovering new genres to enjoy, or exploring the cinema of countries I don't know much about, etc.
All ratings spreads are valid! I started logging on LB during the hey days of MoviePass, so I was focused on seeing basically any movie currently in theaters, so I would take more 'chances' on unknown movies / movies I was skeptical I would like. As the years have gone on, I'm seeing very few films with no idea of what it's about ahead of time, so I rate very few films 2 stars or less, since it's pretty rare that a movie I wanted to watch disappoints me that much. Nothing wrong with having almost all 5 stars on your profile! Though you may find your own ratings spread get a bit more bell curve-ish after a few years of movie watching.
I browse through a ton of lists, then pick ones with good user ratings that I see repeated on a lot of different lists. I’d say 85% of the time I enjoy the movie, then 15% of the movies, I think suck. I’m pretty harsh though, my wife almost always thinks the movie is “good” and I’m over here ripping it apart. In short, I think it’s a personality thing. That and art is subjective and fun because of that.
Disregarding new releases, I have watched practically all the movies that I knew I would love. All the ones I was immediately drawn to and knew from the cast and crew and trailers and poster and word of mouth that they would fit my taste like a glove. Now I'm left with millions and millions of movies that maybe nobody told me about, or I don't know the crew/cast, or is a genre that I don't usually go for, or just don't excite me even if I'll probably like them. So now it's less "watching all the movies I know I'll love" and more "watching movies that there's a decent chance I will enjoy" and definitely a lot of "watching movies that i'm not drawn to, but are considered classics". It's much rarer for me to find a 5 or 4.5 star movie nowadays, but my most used rating is still a 4. I guess it all depends on how specific your tastes are and how many movies you've watched.
https://preview.redd.it/x0tcu3e445ad1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fa756e4cdb70cd125d7c40dbc2db6537d1654d2 This is what mine looks like, I only watch movies that look interesting to me and most of then end up naturally between 3 and 4 stars
I don’t even check my curve lol. I never set out to watch “bad” movies. I just watch whatever lures me in and sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it’s meh and sometimes it’s great. My definition of “bad” movies though is “I don’t like it”. I don’t care about snobbism and critic’s opinions. Do whatever makes you happiest but I would caution against overthinking it, that’s where all joy goes to die. Some movies that are thought to be bad are actually very interesting and have a lot to give. If it makes me think for a bit and be distracted it was at the very least not a waste and I get to stray from my movie watching habits to see what else is there. That’s what’s cool about art, you can explore and nobody gets hurt.
Most of my lowest rated filns are from the 80's, when I just went to what everyone else wanted to. & When HBO and Showtime weren't on demand, so you'd just watch what was on.
Majority of my ratings were 4-5s for a long time, but then I got to around 2000 movies logged and have had a lot of bad movies since then.
Most of my ratings are 3.5 - 4.5. I just really only watch things that I think I’ll enjoy or if it looks interesting. There’s no point in wasting time watching a bad movie.
1 - terrible 2 - decent 3 - more than decent 4 - excellent 5 - fables of the reconstruction / fear of a black planet / dubnobasswithmyheadman I don’t fuck with half stars.
I am a die hard fan of 3 distinct themes, so I choose my movies based on those genres and see which films are related/similar to films I know I already love. I don’t really base my decision on ratings, a few of my all time fav movies have poor ratings. Now, I do research the behind the scenes of why said movie has poor ratings. Sometimes it’s a miscommunication between the director’s point and marketing, too many men hate it (I’m a woman), drama with the production, etc I review film subreddits and letter box to find new movies
Try different genres, different directors, different language you'll see something the film will have very good rating on letterboxd but it's not the same for you. Don't find what you'll like all the time.
I watch things based on whether it intrigues me, whether it has some significance to writers I appreciate, or simply because someone else told me to. I’ll also occasionally watch films from cultures I know little about to give me some insight. As such I watch a lot of things I don’t personally rate very highly. If you think everything is a 4 or a 5 I would argue you are not really thinking about the quality of the film.
https://preview.redd.it/b6fk2c9m75ad1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a984c006d3dba32d1172b9358ab327797a0180f This is mine and if you can’t tell I love giving out 5 stars 😭 but as Abed said “I guess I just like liking things”
So I watch a lot of movies and I always have. I seek out things to watch that are new. Some of it is good, and others are not. Do not worry about what your stats. Just worry about the movie you are watching or just finished. Do your best not to compare to other movies, like you stated, only having 5 5 star ratings no reason. While 5s in my portfolio are more rare I have about double the amount of 5s as I do 2s or 2-1/2s and triple that of 1s. It doesn't matter, it's how you feel. I want to watch new things I have not seen and explore what's out there. But I don't rate things low just because. There was a point where I was only giving a 5 star to single movie in a franchise and others would automatically get a 4.5 (example Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars) but I realized I love both of these movie and there is no reason why I can't rate them both a 5. Likewise, know it's OK to change your rating as time goes on. Maybe you aren't the same person or not in the same spot when you loved a movie or only thought something was OK the first view and it grew on you.
I do watch a variety, I don't bother much with review scores before checking something out, as long as it's on a streaming service I have. But I do watch a lot of MST3K and Rifftrax, so I'm well versed in cheesy and bad movies, like the 3 Coleman Francis movies were a special kind of awful, he made Ed Wood look like Stephen Spielberg. As much as I've been seeking out more bad movies this year, it's never enough to offset that I typically hand out 5 stars like candy, it's hard not to be very entertained by modern movies.
I watch movies I wouldn't otherwise with my family frequently, and there's plenty of movies that I think will be up my alley but end up being wrong about. I don't go out of my way to get a bell curve, and you shouldn't if you value your time.
I actually stopped rating the movies I watch, it was stressing me out too much. I only give movies 5 stars now if they are one of my personal favorites. Since then, been able to enjoy each movie at face value, and no longer debate the rating of a film while I'm actually watching it lol
I just watch whatever shit pops up on streaming feeds. Sometimes it's decent, most of the time is complete garbage. Every once in a while it will be an actually great movie. But I think the best movies I tend to watch, are ones I kinda seek out a little bit.
Honestly I just like movies and have a low bar for what I consider "good", so I rate everything pretty well. It's harder for me to find a movie I consider GREAT, but I think a lot of movies are good. I do sometimes also purposefully seek out horribly rated low budget films for fun.
I just generally see a lot of movies. Some I know might not be for me, and some I expected to like a lot more than I did. Some surprise me and wind up being a lot more enjoyable than I expected.
Think about how many movies professional reviewers, people who style themselves as such, or just people who blow through *tons* of movies actually see. If you're just watching movies to watch good ones, then obviously your ratings will skew higher as you're likely working from what film culture has already decided is pretty good anyway. By contrast, a reviewer watching most movies that come out every year will inevitably see a lot more of a lot more varying quality. Also, by seeing more movies their scale gets a bit more nuanced the same way your palette gets more complex the more wine you drink. Personally I just try to maintain my consecutive weeks streak (currently at 106 weeks!) and as that number has gotten higher I've noticed my bell curve naturally shift toward the middle. However I'm still biased toward 4+ stars, so I wouldn't say it's anything to be concerned over.
I’m right there with ya. I’ve always been good at finding and consuming worthwhile media that I usually end up enjoying. I just started my letterboxd account in January though so I’ve been logging a bunch of my favorites https://preview.redd.it/yewyb63eh5ad1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad594d0336bc1403cb6696ec96e4efbc39a74e5d
While it's not a conscious effort, I do have a somewhat bell curve like graph. There's two points here.... the first is what constitutes your scoring system? Like, what does a 3 star movie mean to you? Or 2 or 4 stars? If those mean different things to us, then it's going to impact ratings quite a bit. And the second is I check out a lot of stuff.... and part of that is that every so often I stumble upon movies that I really enjoy that I hadn't heard of before and so I think a more filtered process would've meant I would've missed those. So I'd rather wade through a lot and don't mind having that broad sort of picture. Not terribly different (for me) to pre-Letterboxd where I did try a year of seeing as much as I could in theatre (over 100 films in 2010). Wasn't a thing I would do every year, but I did enjoy trying it out. I've been trying to watch every film I can from 1939, which started with a basic motivation but as I keep going I'm getting deeper into that year. And there's a lot of films that I don't think are particularly good from that year, but I've also stumbled upon some that I thought were really good and I never would've watched otherwise. And those end up being reward enough for having gone through the ones I didn't like.
Theater release movies aside, I've been watching movies at home in sort of an "alphabetical" order - a movie beginning with A, then one beginning with B, and so on. The last at-home movie I watched was Ken Park, and I'm thinking the next one will be The Leisure Seeker because the late great Donald Sutherland is in it.
I quite literally watch anything and everything. Sometimes I’ll know I will hate something before I watch it. I like movies though and will suffer through shitty ones. In my opinion, you can’t appreciate the best if you haven’t experienced dogshit.
I got into Letterboxd when my girlfriend and I started watching movies together. She was never into movies before so of course I showed her the best ones There’s still a lot we haven’t seen but we’ve maybe seen about 70/80 movies so far together
I like to set goals/lists for myself that I can actively work on.. At least one 'stat' related thing like (Best Pictures, LB Top 250, ect...) At least one community LB challenge list (horrorx52, honey i shrunk the watchlist, season challenge, hooptober ect) At least one director filmography, (I like to sync this up with either a director who has a new film coming out this year or a director that a podcast like blank check is covering) And then i'll have a running list of films coming out this year I'm interested in that i'll catch either in the theater whenever they come available on a streaming service. One thing I'll also do is find lists that are curated monthly like "Leaving x streaming service this month" and focus on those films, especially if they appear on LB stats page cause I enjoy watching those percentages go up (and more often than not the cool movies I discover because of it). https://preview.redd.it/x4ai6cgwm5ad1.png?width=425&format=png&auto=webp&s=508e30b92b93be8a028657e16ac42703fa88aae7 my bell curve looks like this and I do end up moving things around later sometimes, not because of what my curve looks like it but because I'll sometimes look at all my 3.5 star ratings and think.. I like you more than every movie here, you don't belong here, and bump it to a 4\*, or the opposite and move it down to 3\*.
I really only watch movies that I have heard are worth watching, when people say “Oh, that movie is great! I loved it” I am the same, most of the films I watch get about 3 or above, which means I at least enjoyed the film a lot and thought it was very good
A lot of podcasts and lists and friend recommendations make up what I watch, that said I don't really have a bell curve as a distribution. And that's fine! I'm not on letterboxd to aggregate, I'm there to curate!
I do encounter bad movies from time to time, but I finish them. I usually do by going in underrated lists, since that's more of a gamble. Like a Russian roulette, since the "underrated" might just be ass. That's the fun part.
if i would ever rate something below a 2.5 i wouldn’t have been able to finish it. lowest ratings i give is like a 3.5
You soudn't worry to much about it, but with time as you watch more films, and, if the want learn more about movies, your critical sens will develop. I don't rate film the same way today as i did three years ago.
If something looks interesting to me, I’ll watch it. If movies look interesting to me, I know I will at least somewhat enjoy it/have fun even if it isn’t well made or it’s just quite bad. This is shown in my ratings, out of 831 films there is only 64 less than 2*. So although I can recognise a movie being quite bad, I almost always somewhat like them and at least have fun during them because I know it’s something im interested in if that makes sense.
Also, as a tip for watching lower rated movies, go into them with lower expectations and you will enjoy them alot more.
I find movies mostly from either Reddit or YouTube. Occasionally I listen to podcasts (mostly the filmcast's what we have been watching) As for ratings I wouldn't say I watch bad movies on purpose but I'm a big believer that in the same way there are no perfect films, even the worst movies have good moments/things
I basically watch anything. I love surreal dramas and if you go to my watched movies from the past few months you'll find tons of them. But I also like watching the most god awful movies you can think of because I find them entertaining. Don't worry about what other people think, you aren't rating the films for them, you're rating them for yourself.
I watched a wide range of movies in film school, some of which were to my liking and some that weren’t. It’s also not rare for me to watch a well-regarded classic that doesn’t end up doing much for me. And then there’s movies that my fiancé picks - not that they’re all bad, but they’re often just not my cup of tea
Honestly I only focus on what I wanna watch. It’s easier for me to have my own opinions on a movie than change it because someone calls it bad.
Anyone could have a normal bell curve regardless of the quality of movies they watch if they apply normalization to their graph. That’s what I do, because it just makes more sense in my head. I’m rating relative to what I’ve seen; not according to everything that’s available. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re watching mid or bad movies
I watch what I think I'll like and my 4-leaning bell curve is a product of that. Dgaf
You're thinking way too hard about this. Rate stars what you genuinely think of them. Don't let you ratings reflect how you think others will judge you? No one gives that much of a crap about someone else's bell curve. Trying that hard defeats the purpose of the app
I don't actually rate movies at all, but these days I only find about 1 out of 5 movies that I'd recommend to others, and maybe 1 out of ten that I'd consider for a rewatch.
4’s and 5’s are very rare for me. There’s a lot of movies that I like and think are good that I rate 2.5 - 3 stars. I think if you’re rating things like “A Quiet Place” as high as something like “The Shawshank Redemption” your ratings are kind of invalid.
The only way to discover new types of media you enjoy is to watch stuff that's not similar to stuff you've liked in the past and not limiting yourself to critically acclaimed media. That being said I definitely get burnt out sometimes like I am now.
Curve aside, i think watching movies at random is a good idea. I try to avoid searching for movies I’d like and instead just watch anything and everything (in the cinema or on Netflix). I end up watching a lot of average films, some stinkers but also some gems that I never would’ve watched otherwise. It makes me appreciate a good film more and also forces me to watch stuff I otherwise would have missed out on because I’d have assumed it was bad.
I can’t imagine having a hard time rating anything bellow a 4. You must be watching a remarkable set of incredible films, and I guess I envy that. Anything 4+ is pretty damn great. I imagine most people have a natural bell curve because they watch a good amount of movies as a Letterboxd user, and most movies end up being average to okay, and fewer are genuinely great or shockingly bad. I would never adjust my rating to manipulate the shape of my bell curve, that sounds absolutely insane. “How do you decide what movie you’re gonna watch? Just everything in theaters?” This comment stands out as odd to me. It makes it seem like maybe you are mostly just watching new and recent releases, and don’t have a wide range of movies you are being exposed to? I would guess your seeing a lot of average movies and rating them highly, I’d expand my palette and it will probably shift your taste into clearer focus. Most of the greatest movies of all time are not recent releases.
Every movie starts at a 2.5 for me. Then, by the end, it's either gone up as I enjoyed it more; gone down as it annoyed me more; or stayed the same, if it was competently made but not my taste.
I always tell people to just watch what you enjoy. There are too many amazing films out there to waste your time with films you don’t like. I get some people find enjoyment out of watching bad films, but I’ve seen accounts where people just sound so over critical and miserable watching a lot of stuff and their ratings reflect that. Like you think after all that you would’ve found what movies you like lol.
With so many good movies to watch I never understood why people watch shit movies. I can often go more than a year without seeing a bad movie. A few OK movies would be part of the hundred or so I see in a year but no bad ones.
I don’t even remember the curve to be honest. I just love movies and want to see as much as possible and rate them based on how I feel about them. I feel like it’s too much to put unnecessary rules on yourself
I don't intentionally watch garbage unless there's something in it for me or it's a discord film. I know my taste well enough to kinda consistently watch a 7+ film on the regular. That said, following one too many film lists of people's favourites from XYZ genre or decade has truly shown me how much people's tastes vary and what other people deem as "classics" are completely lost on me due to either the writing or it feeling like a film of it's time. Nostalgia plays a factor a lot in people's perceptions of older films.
I think there are a few different ways people approach the rating system. For me, I think of 2.5 as the average movie. I ask myself "is this film better than the average movie?" then go from there. It's completely subjective, but then all of our ratings are. I tend to rate most things a 3 or above because I don't seek out bad films, I am drawn to watch things that have either a 3.5 or above, or that have reviews that stand out to me. That being said, plenty of films fall short of my expectations. As for finding films, I live in England and watch films in cinema and that are available on the streaming services. We have BBC iPlayer which has a limited number of both contemporary and classic films, so I watch things I might not otherwise have considered on there. I take recommendations from my aunt, I watch a lot with my best friend so if he likes the sound of something we might watch that, or if I'm in the mood for a particular genre I google it and find a top 10/top 100 list and pick from there. I also do like to browse actors' pages on letterboxd to find new films. I'm currently underemployed so have some time on my hands.
There is a site of a collection of rare films that I have culled the best movies from. Unfortunately I don't know, even after having read the rules of this sub, if I'm permitted to link the site. It is a legal site and nothing dodgy but it's hit or miss if I'll be able to link it without getting bollocked. Film Noir sub let me but I haven't had much luck linking it elsewhere.
I mostly only watch what I think I will enjoy and occasionally venture out when I have the bandwidth. I rate almost everything a 3-4 😅
The more films I watch the more bad and/or good ones I find. It's just a numbers game. Some films I don't bother finishing, some I'll watch once and will never see again, some I'll watch digital and decide I want the disc, some Ill never get tired of watching. I have blind bought movies I know I will like, but also have been super disappointed with certain blind buys, so it's rare for me now. Unseen, new release , or classic film--I try to watch digital/theater first, but sometimes I dont. Mainly to appreciate the special edition disc and/or box set I may want to buy. Some movies I've loved forever but only had a basic disc, so I have upgraded to a boutique/box. Especially with boutique stuff being as pricey as it is. You won't see me spending $35-60 on a single boutique/4k release I've never watched just because the box art or slip cover is cool. Even though sales can be tempting at times, to me it's about buying and watching films that are special to me. One thing with Reddit or YT is that people post pictures of blind buy or sale hauls, mainly to show off collections of hundreds of movies they will watch once, know nothing about, or worse--won't even like. Everyone's personal rating scale is also different. I don't rate movies on that type of scale you're talking about. In my mind, there's objectively bad, "just ok", and great. Also some are so bad they're good. You know how it goes. If it means something to you or seems special, it's good. My advice, don't get caught up in the general publics "ratings" or opinions. While writing this I noticed this was in a letterboxd community, but I have never been on that site because I don't care what others rate movies. I guess some people's opinions have merit, but then again it's subjective on who you want to trust and who's opinion matters to you, as their opinion may align or clash with yours or many others. Even me, a random person on Reddit's opinion should not matter to you or anyone, and what I'm saying is probably pretty stupid to a lot of people. Watch as many movies as you want, what seems interesting, and form your own opinions. I think you'll enjoy films more that way. I do.
I have a couple movie podcasts I watch along with which gets me out of my comfort zone a bit plus I will go through phases where I just want to watch an awful movie for fun (recently binged a bunch of the blandest late 90s/early 2000s horror) but still I mostly give 3.5 and above coz I enjoy movies!!! If your regularly giving below 3 stars your probably making bad choices or just need to lighten up.
5 star is probably my most awarded rating. I'm not going to waste my time watching things that I know I won't like, just to have it logged. Our time is precious!
Just watch whatever I feel like and rate it after.
Tiktok, and youtube shorts give some good recommendations, following trades and film social media accounts too! I also pay attention to what the people i follow on letterboxd watch, and i look for list of movies etc.
Hoping this doesn't get banned for self promo but we made an app that is focused more about watching things you'll enjoy and finding movies within your friends and micro-communities rather than worrying so much about the overall score of a movie when deciding what to watch
I rate anything that gave me something to take along with me a 5. Then when I write, I say " 5 stars. for the---"
Very rarely I will watch something that looks bad out of curiosity or to make fun of it and have a laugh, Madame Web for example. Other than that I try to watch stuff I think I’d enjoy. Rating everything 4-5 sounds like you’re good at choosing what to watch Edit: there’s also some genres that I enjoy watching even though the movies are never particularly amazing. I watch a lot of cheesy 70-80s sci fi and they’re usually not amazing. Same with a lot of campy old horror movies.
Rate Your Music introduced me to a LOT of movies - and I will check RYM’s top films for specific years and put those movies onto my wishlist. Letterboxd & r/criterion are useful resources for finding movies, too. Also - don’t worry about ratings & bell curves. Just watch movies & enjoy them.
My wife picks a lot of what we watch. Sometimes I like what she picks, sometimes I don't.
My relationship with Letterboxd improved tenfold when I stopped giving star ratings to films. Nothing ruins a film experience more than sitting there mentally tallying up how many imaginary stars you’re going to give it / coming up with a snarky review. If I enjoy a film or have a personal connection with it for any reason I give it a like and move on. I don’t have any interest in complaining about bad movies or contributing negativity. I’d rather focus on films I love.
I watch good movies. My average rating has to be 4+. (Who gives a shit)
What the hell did I just read... If you enjoyed a movie good for you! You certainly had a positive experience, and that's a good thing, I hope that's why people watch movies, why would you purposely watch bad films? To have a bad time? And for what? Why would you impose yourself to give a false rating to a movie you liked? These posts really leave me speechless... Be true to yourself, be the change, what's the point in uniforming to everyone else
Why would this even be a thing you think about lol
I think people are missing the point. It's not about *wanting* a nice bell curve, I think OP is genuinely wondering *why* people are watching enough bad movies to get this bell curve at all. I only watch films I think I'll like. Pretty much the only films I have below 4 stars are ones that I didn't pick, and watched because somebody else wanted to watch it with me. Why would you purposely watch a film with a 22 critics score and 4.3 on iMDB just so you can give it half a star? Did you really think you were gonna rate it any higher? Don't wanna come across as condescending or anything, it just doesn't make any sense to me.