Understanding Exactly Why Letterboxd is an Organized Movie Lover’s Dream

When I signed up for the now-controversial MoviePass during the tail-end of summer 2017, (stay tuned for a future blog post on this topic!) my life took a drastic turn – my love of movies was reawakened immediately. $9.95 per month for an all-you-can-see “movie buffet” can have that effect. Before MoviePass, Erin and I would see maybe three to four movies per year-usually around the holidays or a long weekend here and there. Movies were always an enduring part of my childhood, whether going to the theater with friends or discovering classic movies at home with my family. I was that kid that always had an unwieldy stack of VHS films checked out from our beloved Perrot Library in Old Greenwich, CT. My history with movies helped crystalize my love of excellent storytelling, but somewhere along the way, with post-college adult responsibilities adding up, watching movies became an activity relegated to the back burner of my life. As much as I loved movies, it wasn't a priority for quite a while, and I didn't have a strong foothold on what movies coming down the pike were even worth keeping an eye on.

Once I had MoviePass, though, the entire structure of my daily life and my relationship with movies underwent a drastic transformation. I started going to the movies as often as I could. I'd wake up earlier on the weekends to catch a matinee showing. I overcame the reluctance to go to movies by myself, which I had never done before, but quickly became second nature and a kind of comfort to me. I'd map out which weeknights would make sense to catch a film before jumping on the subway and commuting back home. It became one of my favorite ways to unwind after a frenetic day of work, or even just be that spark of fun and spontaneity during a humdrum week. I also was enamored with the amount of Regal Crown Club points I was amassing — perfect for redeeming and offsetting the cost of high-margin snacks at the theater. This made $10 popcorn buckets that much more palatable.

With this new way to see movies at such a frequency, I began to explore different genres that might never have captured my attention otherwise, balanced by big blockbusters, newer indie films, and everything in between. My standard of what would I would deem “worth seeing” also evolved — if it seemed even remotely interesting, why not take a chance on it? It's not like I'd feel any kind of pain from a disappointing $18.50 NYC ticket movie experience — maybe I’d lose a couple hours of my life to a subpar movie, but that didn’t happen all that often. In short order, MoviePass was subsidizing my voracious movie appetite, and the whole thing was ridiculous, surreal, and so awesome.

All the movie recommendations, none of the organization

I began feeling like I was on the pulse of the movie industry, since I was able to keep up with new releases in a way I’d never been able to before. As a result, I was absorbing a TON of trailers. Too many to count. I'd start seeing the same annoying trailer cliches over and over again, and regularly rolled my eyes or pulled out my phone when I saw trailers that suggested tired old tropes or gave away the entire plot in two and a half minutes. The great trailers really stood out as a result — I was always watching for a jaw-dropping trailer that so decisively convinced me to see a film — and there were many. Whether good or bad, the constant ritual of trailers was something I looked forward to. Seeing so many trailers continued to pour accelerant on my newly ignited passion — I just had to know what was coming out, so I could plan to see the best films. I found new sources of movie intel, such as awesome YouTube movie reviewers, like Chris Stuckman, Jeremy Jahns, and John Campea. I also gravitated towards RottenTomatoes, which I checked religiously.

Before I knew it, the list of movies I "had to see" was growing by leaps and bounds. I never closed the Notes app on my computer, due to the need of updating my movie lists. I would save emails with movie recommendations from friends with a certain label so they could be found in the abyss of my inbox. My virtual Sticky Notes on my Mac desktop were getting so cluttered that any semblance of organization vanished. My quest to keep this all contained was quickly spiraling out of control — I needed an efficient, centralized solution.

I asked myself a simple question: is there a "Goodreads for movies" out there? I quickly found out that the answer was a resounding YES. It didn't take me too long before I discovered Letterboxd. Discovering Letterboxd was a huge game-changer in helping me stay organized — although my MoviePass experience flared out in a blaze of glory, I jumped ship to new movie subscription services sprouting up, like AMC A-List, Alamo Drafthouse Season Pass, and most recently in RVA, Regal Unlimited. Through all these changes in how I’m absorbing so many movies, Letterboxd has been the foundation to keep track of everything. Having used the site for a few years, I now look back on this discovery as a milestone in my ever-evolving journey as a cinephile.

So what exactly is Letterboxd?

Letterboxd is essentially a social networking site devoted to discovering new films and discussing your favorites with other users. The site provides a few intuitive tools to build a customized profile where you can track what movies you are watching in the form of a diary, or create other lists that represent your favorite films or genres you love. When recording the films you've watched, you can enter a rating, write a detailed review, and add some descriptive tags. It's pretty fun to sift through your personal timeline and see what you've been watching over the last few months. And as your profile grows, it offers a glimpse into your personality. Looking at my profile, I would say it’s clear that my love of horror runs deep, but I like narratives from all kinds of genres and different storytellers.

Every profile also has a “watchlist” feature, which is an overall representation of any and all films that you want to see. Connecting with friends is also a priority — you can see what they are watching, what films are on their radar and keep up with them in a unique way.

The site also functions as a useful database of movies — cataloging movies from the decades past, or those on the horizon. Letterboxd pulls data from The Movie Database (TMDB) to include directors, writers, movie posters, and more - basically all the core info you could want about a film.

I use both the site and iOS app frequently, and I've found their features to be particularly user-friendly. Lately, I haven’t hesitated to whip out my phone during the 20+ minutes of movie trailers in order to throw some of the films I'm intrigued by into my Letterboxd watchlist — it's a quick and easy process. Letterboxd is now the fuel that keeps my movie-watching habit going strong.

What's so special about Letterboxd?

So why is Letterboxd special? Why is it better than just using your own list? There are a few key reasons. Letterboxd provides you with a streamlined profile, making it very easy to navigate — whether you are looking to record when you watched a film, or are trying to create a fun list to share with friends. Navigation is quick and intuitive. Letterboxd is designed to help users discover more films, and connect with friends in order to do so. All the features complement each other so well, ensuring that Letterboxd only facilitates your film hobby, without hindering it. Let's dive into the biggest and best features of Letterboxd.

Getting the most out of the Letterboxd Watchlist

The watchlist is an INCREDIBLY useful feature, as I mentioned. You can filter yours to sort by date, when films were added, or by certain genres. When your watchlist eventually balloons like mine has (with over 600 films), being able to sort through it quickly can save time and take a ton of the guesswork out of what to watch. Even better, each entry is represented by eye-catching movie poster images. I can attest that scrolling through those movie posters can jog my memory, reminding me that a certain film was on my radar.

Adding films to the watchlist is incredibly quick — all it takes is to look up a film's entry on Letterboxd and tap the eye icon to add it to your watchlist. Removing films from the list can be accomplished in the same way. When you watch a movie on the list and add it to your profile diary, the watchlist automatically removes the movie from your list — so there's never a need to sift through the watchlist to remove movies you've already seen.

Filtering the watchlist is wonderfully useful, especially as your list expands. Letterboxd lets you sort by genre, decade, when you added a film to the list, even film length! Think of the Letterboxed watchlist as your go-to movie depository for anything and everything you'd ever want to watch. It easily supersedes any number of movie lists you might already have, removing the hassle of having to remember where you saved the name of a certain movie you had wanted to see. Pretty nifty.

Record your deepest secret movie thoughts with the Letterboxd Diary

Full disclosure — it's not THAT type of diary. But it's just as useful! For those who really watch a ton of movies, the diary feature is incredibly special. From your main profile, when you search a movie to add to your Letterboxd profile, you have the option of assigning a date you viewed the movie.

By doing this consistently, you can jump back in time and see how many movies you've been watching lately, or when you watched a certain film. That's certainly handy to have years from now when you might have forgotten if you've seen a specific film. I love seeing how many movies I watched last month or scrolling back through to see which ones particularly stood out in terms of my past ratings or reviews.

Adding a rating to your logged film is fairly simple as well — you just assign a one- to five-star rating, with half-stars an option when you want to be super exact. I usually try and rate each and every movie I log, so I can capture my perspective for the future. Film ratings and reviews are public by default, so when you add your own rating, you can hop over to the film's page on Letterboxd and see other reviews. Sometimes the ones with hundreds of likes can be almost as entertaining as the movie itself — if not more so.

The Letterboxd diary also provides the option of selecting if you're re-watching a film — yet another useful feature for those with a diehard favorite film. I have yet to see if Letterboxd can track exactly how many times I watch The Shawshank Redemption, but it’s something I’ll be keeping my eye on going forward.

I consider the diary section of Letterboxd to be among the most valuable features the site offers. If you keep up with it and find value through using it, you'll be able to enjoy some concrete metrics surrounding your passion for film!

Unleash your inner film critic with Letterboxd reviews

We all love to rely on film reviews in some form or another. I love checking the ratings for films I'm planning to see, but limiting how much I'm reading to ensure that I’m able to form my own fully-realized impressions of any given film. Letterboxd has a ton of movie reviews, and while they are fun to dig up and read, it's even more enjoyable to compose your own.

The reviews section on Letterboxd is fantastic if you're into writing up your own film reviews, or have ever considered doing so in the past. You can enter a review each time you log a film in your diary, or anytime by clicking into the film's page on the site, and from what I have seen, there is no character limit. From your film log entry, you can also note if your written review contains spoilers or not, which is helpful if you do a deep dive into plot details in the review. When the review posts, anyone who wants to read it would have to click to acknowledge that there could be spoilers — definitely a helpful warning. I cringe at the thought of exposing each and every plot detail in a film review, but that's just me.

During the last few months, I decided that I should make time to delve into writing my own film reviews for my profile — the star ratings just weren’t cutting it for me anymore. Since then, I've disciplined myself to write a review for EVERY movie I watch. Each and every one. I haven't gone back all that far historically to write reviews for past films I've seen, but that is a project on the horizon. All this to say, it's fun to publish reviews on the site and have them be part of your film logs.

If you click on the Reviews tab of your Letterboxd profile, you can scroll through all of your reviews. Any likes or comments on your reviews are also visible. By hovering over the Reviews button on the menu bar, you can see your grand total.

Writing and reading reviews on Letterboxd is really the heartbeat of the Letterboxd community.

Letterboxd Tags help elevate and organize your movie habit even further

When you log a film on Letterboxd, in addition to entering a review, you can also throw on a tag. I have typically used this feature to remember what theater I saw the film at — whether a Regal, AMC or an amazing local/independent theater. Probably the most value I've gotten from the film tagging feature is tracking if I saw a film with MoviePass, AMC A-List, Alamo Drafthouse Season Pass, or Regal Unlimited subscriptions. By using those tags, I keep track of how many and which films I saw with each subscription service, and which subscription service might be worth keeping over others.

You could also use tags to note different genres, films starring a new favorite actor, or projects spearheaded by a certain director. As your Letterboxd film diary continues to evolve, having the right tags in place ensures that everything stays organized in a way that is meaningful to you.

All the film lists you could ever need

We already covered what makes the official Letterboxed watchlist so amazing. But why stop there, when there are pretty much as many lists as you could need or want. Letterboxd lets you put together any kind of custom film lists all featuring those snazzy movie poster images. The only limit to these lists is your imagination.

So far, I've primarily used lists on my profile to plan out my annual horror movie marathons each October. I’ll make a list of the movies I'd like to see during that month and try to fit in as many as I can. The horror marathons usually involve some mild sleep deprivation, but having a way to plan them effectively makes it all worth it, and keeps me accountable as I try to watch more than marathons of prior years. I love using these lists to look back and remember what I saw during previous horror marathons and get inspired for what to watch during the next round.

Probably the most personal experience I had with building lists began with an idea I had last year. I had been reflecting on my childhood, when my dad introduced me to a ton of 80s and 90s classics — from the explosive action of the Terminator and Robocop series to the more intense science fiction of Alien and Aliens. I realized that I never really had an actual list of all these formative cinematic experiences that I really owe to my dad — they all existed as essentially hazy memories I'd drift back to from time to time.

To rectify this, over a recent holiday visit with family in Cape Cod, I sat down with my dad, and together we dug deep, brainstorming all the films that should belong on a list like this. We covered a lot of different years, and film genres, trying to summon as many movies as we could in our minds and put them to “paper,” so to speak, in this Letterboxd list. The more we delved into it, the stronger the nostalgia quotient became, and it was a heartwarming experience of once again connecting with my dad over our shared love of movies. Best of all, the end result was a sizeable list — one that I’ll always be able to keep track of. Here’s a small glimpse into this list, with a grand total of nearly 70 films!

I began imagining a future where I would perhaps use this same list to introduce my future kids to some classics. Feel free to check out that list here. I’m sure I’ll come up with more list ideas in the coming days — it’s a really fun way to augment your Letterboxd profile, and showcase your personal taste in film.

If you love film, and making lists keeps you organized, this function on the site is phenomenal and provides excellent utility.

There are also a TON of popular lists on Letterboxd that are a blast to sift through. I've done that on many occasions and come away with many films that are added to my overall watchlist. It’s fundamentally no different than browsing for music on Spotify. I've seen some wild lists — for instance, a list of every horror movie ever made; every A24 studio film; or the entire Hitchcock film library. Having such a diverse array of resources like this at your fingertips can not only provide inspiration for your own lists but also reminds you just how many incredible films there are out there to discover.

Here are some of my favorite user lists to draw inspiration from:

“Modern Horror Just Isn’t Good Anymore!” Sure, Dude.
East Asian Animation Comprehensive List (anime)
You’re not the same person once the film has finished

If you jump headfirst into the wonderful world that is Letterboxd, I have no doubt that you'll find new ways to sort through all of the movies in your head with the list feature.

Letterboxd makes a film lover's life all the sweeter

If you've made it this far into my deep dive, hopefully you can see how valuable Letterboxd is as a method to manage your movie-watching madness. From the diary to the wide range of list features, and the ability to connect and share with friends and fuel movie discovery, Letterboxd has so much to offer.

I truly love the site, and I’m excited to watch (and contribute) as Letterboxd continues to evolve as a platform.

If you are so inclined, feel free to check out my profile here. You can scope out what I'm watching lately, my latest movie reviews, and lists I'm formulating. I’m looking forward to seeing you on Letterboxd!

Thanks for reading, and here's to movie buffs everywhere.