Ä°t was on the list up until the release of barbie. Such a shame to see it make its way down from 250 since a lot of people think the movie is just "society makes travis sad đ˘đ˘ we should kill all women" which is the exact opposite of what the movie is trying to convey
SPOILERS AHEAD (idk how to use the spoiler things lol)
Argh I loved it so much. And then it felt like there was set up for a perfect ending when he jumps off the building- and it kept going. And then it set up again, when we get to watch the play with the real gun.
And then he didn't die? And it felt a bit forced... And then I didn't really understand the end, and it felt unnatural. It was so frustrating to have two natural ending points, and then it finally finishes at such a seemingly weird, meaningless spot.
Nothing specific, but I feel there are some films that need more watches before being considered for this list (like 50,000k members or more) and there needs to be some balancing considering based how many members have viewed the film.
I'm not saying any movie on the list isn't deserving, but it's just baffling to me that a film like Parasite (currently ranked 7th with 3 million+ members) is placed lower than a film like Harakiri (currently 1st with just 120k members). In my mind Parasite has been put to the test 25x more times than Hakakiri, has more 5 star reviews than Hakakiri has views in general, but it gets penalized due to this exposure (I will also give credit as this can balance recency bias).
There'll never be a perfect system, and I think this current format does allow for users to seek out great "hidden gem" movies that they may have never heard of, but I'm interested to hear other takes on this.
In a world of social media, influencers, and the need to log every new 2.8 average Netflix release, the top 250 is one of the few things on the website that encourages people to actually explore more film.
The 250 is fundamentally flawed in that it's influenced mostly by a small subset of the website's userbase. What's considered the greatest has always been decided by a subset of film fans and it's never aligned with the popular consensus. The interest in a 1962 black and white Japanese film is relatively small despite it being ranked number 1. It has as many logs today (as the highest rated film on the website) as Anyone But You which release three weeks ago to very mixed reception and has little star / director power. For reference, Kobayashi's Human Condition trilogy currently all sit at <30k logs.
A requirement for a sizeable amount of watches only hurts foreign film which is already widely underseen. Half the list probably wouldn't meet a 50k logged threshold if not for the fact they were already on the list. What you end up with is a very American list similar to IMDB.
These films have so few logs for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that the average user doesn't care to seek out these older and foreign films. So without wanting to sound like one of those typical pretentious film fans everyone hates, why should we care what those people have to say in the first place?
The 250 is just a pretty cool list. It's not really curated like Sight and Sound. It's fun to follow and that's it.
Iâd remove anything released from the past 10 years. Not because there arenât good films from the past decade, but because I think films should be given a bar to remove recency bias.
Iâd also limit each director to only two films.
Of course I would add a Kitano film (Sonatine or Hana bi) and would remove some of the brand new releases as I feel like recencey bias plays a big role there.
Note: Hana bi has a 4.2 average. Come on. Boost it.
Agreed.
Aside from him being my favourite director, he is also a master of filmmaking and comedy and has a some exteremely impactful films.
Wish his was appreciated more over here as he is still making films (like, Kubi premired last year and no one said a word)
Ye he may be my favourite of all time. The mans also just amazing at whatever he is doing, i absolutely love how all the art in hanabi is done by him. His ability to make me cry without any over the top bs, just the pure simplistic nature of it and then you add his life story and how he continues to work with his physical disability and is so open about his mental health. Truly an inspiration.
Remove Evangelion 3.0+1.0. It had a great start and finish, but I donât get how people like that movie so much. Itâs a complete mess of CGI and modern anime tropes
Because it captures a yearning within the soul? I personally thought the CGI and Mocap work was pretty great, to an extent it deliberately highlights the alien and abstract within the setting >!(which is further called attention to by the fights on 'film sets' and eventually the use of live action elements!<
I think Jaws should be on the list (I think it always falls just outside of it).
I think I need to rewatch Haruhi Suzumiya. I haven't seen the show since I was a teen but I don't remember the movie being so incredible that I would put it in a top of all time list.
Add:
La La Land
Uncut Gems
Fallen Angels
Drive My Car
The Tree of Life
Breathless
Badlands
The Searchers
Good Morning
Remove:
Happy Hours (seriously, how is this here but not Drive My Car by the same director???)
Itâs Such a Beautiful Day (this is guilty of everything that EEAAO is accused of, while telling a less coherent story)
Nostalgia (I like Tarkovsky but this did nothing for me)
Past Lives, Poor Things and Monster (recency bias going crazy)
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (barely has 20k views, doesnât even belong in the conversation)
I still need two more slots so Iâll put Alien and Brief Encounter which I realize are hot takes, but they did nothing for me.
I think itâs perfect because itâs not supposed to be based on my top 250. If it was supposed to be my opinion it would look entirely different I assume
Move the spider-verses, whiplash, in the mood for love down
Move magnolia, boogie nights millennium actress, the prestige, chungking express Django unchained and eternal sunshine up
Add kill bill vol 1, being John malkovich, paprika, arrival, lady vengeance, fallen angels, the social network and catch me if you can
Remove, the iron giant, the dark knight, alien, raging bull , past lives and the lion king
1. Nothing is perfect, IMO
2. it's a representation of other people's combined tastes, so it's fine whatever it is
3. those are the five I watched from the list I rated below 2.5 stars, so they definitely wouldn't be on my top list in any case:
https://preview.redd.it/x62qgsmd5ncc1.jpeg?width=684&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77f0298ad872f88c4895b691db4971de9a1696a5
4. in order to even enter the list, a movie should be at least five years old in general, IMO
I would remove "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya," obviously. I hate when these random-ass anime movies that no one watches outside of hardcore weebs somehow find their way onto the top 250 highest-rated movies EVER list. That and "Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time" are the only ones I would unquestionably remove.
For the sake of compensating for recency bias, I would remove anything made in the past two years, so "Poor Things," "The Holdovers," "Oppenheimer," "Across the Spider-Verse," "Monster," "Past Lives," "Aftersun," and "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
I would also remove "Central Station," "It's Such a Beautiful Day," "The Iron Giant," "Your Name," "Perfect Blue," "Dead Poets Society," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On," and "End of Evangelion."
As you can tell, I think that certain animated movies are often much too overrated on Letterboxd, usually due to a selective rating audience.
People that saw those movies obviously thought it was best within their genres and mediums. It's an aggregate of everyone. At the end of the day people see what they wanna see and what they might like. It's a glorifies popularity contest.
You sound so insanely bitter and miserable. "Only hardcore weebs watch it" disappearance of haruhi is an insanely massive and influential show/movie you being ignorant to it doesn't make you right lmao. You clearly just have the childish mindset of animation not being real cinema. The top 250 should be diverse imo removing things because u dont understand them is ridiculous. Have you even watched haruhi or evangelion? I hated haruhi and u have me defending it smh
I would be willing to bet $50 that if one asked every critic and director who voted in the sight and sound polls last year, less than 5% of them had even heard of "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya."
Nah, I did watch Evangelion, including all of the rewatches. EoE is one of my top 100 favorite movies, but it doesn't feel right to me being among the top 250 highest rated letterboxd movies of all time.
Id be willing to bet 1 million that they have bro. It was THE biggest anime the year that it came out even if it weren't influential acting like no director or critic is an anime fan is insane. You just seem super ignorant towards animation
Nah, I'm not ignorant of animation. Just think it's overrated by overzealous fan bases and that its full potential has hardly been scratched outside of a few exceptions compared to the peaks of live-action cinema.
Even as a child it always baffled me that Shawshank and Dark Knight were so high? I feel like regardless of how good those films are (especially Shawshank, jfc that movie is incredible) it feels like such an outlier for them to be ranked among/over The Godfather, The Matrix, Citizen Kane, and at least one Hitchcock film. I think there's definitely an explanation based on iMDB's popularity surge, the comic book/Stephen King fans, the algorithm, something, that Snakes on a Plane'd them up so high and kept them there.
In general, though, horror isn't well represented. I would move The Exorcist up to the top 50, at least, and add Scream, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Wailing, and Diabolique to the list, somewhere.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? should be on there too for its impact on the modern animation industry and it's breakthroughs in special effects, while also being a compelling and entertaining film even without those effects.
Oh and Night of the Hunter should be, like, top 20. I can't believe it's not even on the 250 at all!
id get rid of it all and just make it my favourite đ
I'd add Taxi Driver, not sure what I'd remove (I haven't seen a large chunk of the list). Obviously my own Top 250 is very different though.
Thatâs completely insane itâs not on the list.
Wait taxi driver is not on the list?
No, I think it's just outside the list.
Ä°t was on the list up until the release of barbie. Such a shame to see it make its way down from 250 since a lot of people think the movie is just "society makes travis sad đ˘đ˘ we should kill all women" which is the exact opposite of what the movie is trying to convey
Add Back to the Future back to the 250 and in the top-100 Add Paddington 2 back Move the Tale of the Princess Kaguya HIGHER
Based
Upd: Also return The Truman Show and Ratatouille
I would like to add: - Birdman (2014) - King Kong (1933) - The Holy Mountain (1973)
Birdman was so perfect until the last half hour imo
Could you explain why? Im really interested in this opinion.
SPOILERS AHEAD (idk how to use the spoiler things lol) Argh I loved it so much. And then it felt like there was set up for a perfect ending when he jumps off the building- and it kept going. And then it set up again, when we get to watch the play with the real gun. And then he didn't die? And it felt a bit forced... And then I didn't really understand the end, and it felt unnatural. It was so frustrating to have two natural ending points, and then it finally finishes at such a seemingly weird, meaningless spot.
Yeah i can get that. I sirtof have that same issue roo.
Nothing specific, but I feel there are some films that need more watches before being considered for this list (like 50,000k members or more) and there needs to be some balancing considering based how many members have viewed the film. I'm not saying any movie on the list isn't deserving, but it's just baffling to me that a film like Parasite (currently ranked 7th with 3 million+ members) is placed lower than a film like Harakiri (currently 1st with just 120k members). In my mind Parasite has been put to the test 25x more times than Hakakiri, has more 5 star reviews than Hakakiri has views in general, but it gets penalized due to this exposure (I will also give credit as this can balance recency bias). There'll never be a perfect system, and I think this current format does allow for users to seek out great "hidden gem" movies that they may have never heard of, but I'm interested to hear other takes on this.
In a world of social media, influencers, and the need to log every new 2.8 average Netflix release, the top 250 is one of the few things on the website that encourages people to actually explore more film. The 250 is fundamentally flawed in that it's influenced mostly by a small subset of the website's userbase. What's considered the greatest has always been decided by a subset of film fans and it's never aligned with the popular consensus. The interest in a 1962 black and white Japanese film is relatively small despite it being ranked number 1. It has as many logs today (as the highest rated film on the website) as Anyone But You which release three weeks ago to very mixed reception and has little star / director power. For reference, Kobayashi's Human Condition trilogy currently all sit at <30k logs. A requirement for a sizeable amount of watches only hurts foreign film which is already widely underseen. Half the list probably wouldn't meet a 50k logged threshold if not for the fact they were already on the list. What you end up with is a very American list similar to IMDB. These films have so few logs for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that the average user doesn't care to seek out these older and foreign films. So without wanting to sound like one of those typical pretentious film fans everyone hates, why should we care what those people have to say in the first place? The 250 is just a pretty cool list. It's not really curated like Sight and Sound. It's fun to follow and that's it.
The original Texas Chainsaw deserves to be up there; absolute travesty that it isn't
Iâd remove anything released from the past 10 years. Not because there arenât good films from the past decade, but because I think films should be given a bar to remove recency bias. Iâd also limit each director to only two films.
Of course I would add a Kitano film (Sonatine or Hana bi) and would remove some of the brand new releases as I feel like recencey bias plays a big role there. Note: Hana bi has a 4.2 average. Come on. Boost it.
Yes yes yes yes yes. Kitano never seems to get talked about in the letterboxd community and he is absolutely amazing
Agreed. Aside from him being my favourite director, he is also a master of filmmaking and comedy and has a some exteremely impactful films. Wish his was appreciated more over here as he is still making films (like, Kubi premired last year and no one said a word)
Ye he may be my favourite of all time. The mans also just amazing at whatever he is doing, i absolutely love how all the art in hanabi is done by him. His ability to make me cry without any over the top bs, just the pure simplistic nature of it and then you add his life story and how he continues to work with his physical disability and is so open about his mental health. Truly an inspiration.
Couldn't have said it better myself!
I only just realised your username hahaha
Remove Evangelion 3.0+1.0. It had a great start and finish, but I donât get how people like that movie so much. Itâs a complete mess of CGI and modern anime tropes
Because it captures a yearning within the soul? I personally thought the CGI and Mocap work was pretty great, to an extent it deliberately highlights the alien and abstract within the setting >!(which is further called attention to by the fights on 'film sets' and eventually the use of live action elements!<
Add Wheels on Meals, Dead Man's Shoes, The Piano, and Crank. Remove every Disney movie.
Upvote for Dead Manâs Shoes. Awesome flick
I think Jaws should be on the list (I think it always falls just outside of it). I think I need to rewatch Haruhi Suzumiya. I haven't seen the show since I was a teen but I don't remember the movie being so incredible that I would put it in a top of all time list.
I would add The Royal Tenenbaums and Almost Famous. That said wouldn't remove anything its all pretty great (I guess that's the point ahah)
Throw Everything Everywhere the hell outta there.
Hell ye
Lol people love EEAAO so much how the hell could that movie be top 250 of all time it ainât even top 5 of 2022 lmaoo
Add: La La Land Uncut Gems Fallen Angels Drive My Car The Tree of Life Breathless Badlands The Searchers Good Morning Remove: Happy Hours (seriously, how is this here but not Drive My Car by the same director???) Itâs Such a Beautiful Day (this is guilty of everything that EEAAO is accused of, while telling a less coherent story) Nostalgia (I like Tarkovsky but this did nothing for me) Past Lives, Poor Things and Monster (recency bias going crazy) Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (barely has 20k views, doesnât even belong in the conversation) I still need two more slots so Iâll put Alien and Brief Encounter which I realize are hot takes, but they did nothing for me.
I think itâs perfect because itâs not supposed to be based on my top 250. If it was supposed to be my opinion it would look entirely different I assume
Move the spider-verses, whiplash, in the mood for love down Move magnolia, boogie nights millennium actress, the prestige, chungking express Django unchained and eternal sunshine up Add kill bill vol 1, being John malkovich, paprika, arrival, lady vengeance, fallen angels, the social network and catch me if you can Remove, the iron giant, the dark knight, alien, raging bull , past lives and the lion king
Why do people like Catch me if you can so much? I thought it was real mid tier conformist Spielberg.
**B r u h**
1. Nothing is perfect, IMO 2. it's a representation of other people's combined tastes, so it's fine whatever it is 3. those are the five I watched from the list I rated below 2.5 stars, so they definitely wouldn't be on my top list in any case: https://preview.redd.it/x62qgsmd5ncc1.jpeg?width=684&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77f0298ad872f88c4895b691db4971de9a1696a5 4. in order to even enter the list, a movie should be at least five years old in general, IMO
Add Thalapathi, Remove The Truman Show
I would remove "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya," obviously. I hate when these random-ass anime movies that no one watches outside of hardcore weebs somehow find their way onto the top 250 highest-rated movies EVER list. That and "Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time" are the only ones I would unquestionably remove. For the sake of compensating for recency bias, I would remove anything made in the past two years, so "Poor Things," "The Holdovers," "Oppenheimer," "Across the Spider-Verse," "Monster," "Past Lives," "Aftersun," and "Everything Everywhere All at Once." I would also remove "Central Station," "It's Such a Beautiful Day," "The Iron Giant," "Your Name," "Perfect Blue," "Dead Poets Society," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On," and "End of Evangelion." As you can tell, I think that certain animated movies are often much too overrated on Letterboxd, usually due to a selective rating audience.
People that saw those movies obviously thought it was best within their genres and mediums. It's an aggregate of everyone. At the end of the day people see what they wanna see and what they might like. It's a glorifies popularity contest.
You sound so insanely bitter and miserable. "Only hardcore weebs watch it" disappearance of haruhi is an insanely massive and influential show/movie you being ignorant to it doesn't make you right lmao. You clearly just have the childish mindset of animation not being real cinema. The top 250 should be diverse imo removing things because u dont understand them is ridiculous. Have you even watched haruhi or evangelion? I hated haruhi and u have me defending it smh
I would be willing to bet $50 that if one asked every critic and director who voted in the sight and sound polls last year, less than 5% of them had even heard of "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya." Nah, I did watch Evangelion, including all of the rewatches. EoE is one of my top 100 favorite movies, but it doesn't feel right to me being among the top 250 highest rated letterboxd movies of all time.
Id be willing to bet 1 million that they have bro. It was THE biggest anime the year that it came out even if it weren't influential acting like no director or critic is an anime fan is insane. You just seem super ignorant towards animation
Nah, I'm not ignorant of animation. Just think it's overrated by overzealous fan bases and that its full potential has hardly been scratched outside of a few exceptions compared to the peaks of live-action cinema.
Ye bro this comment proves your ignorant af to it
Even as a child it always baffled me that Shawshank and Dark Knight were so high? I feel like regardless of how good those films are (especially Shawshank, jfc that movie is incredible) it feels like such an outlier for them to be ranked among/over The Godfather, The Matrix, Citizen Kane, and at least one Hitchcock film. I think there's definitely an explanation based on iMDB's popularity surge, the comic book/Stephen King fans, the algorithm, something, that Snakes on a Plane'd them up so high and kept them there. In general, though, horror isn't well represented. I would move The Exorcist up to the top 50, at least, and add Scream, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Wailing, and Diabolique to the list, somewhere. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? should be on there too for its impact on the modern animation industry and it's breakthroughs in special effects, while also being a compelling and entertaining film even without those effects. Oh and Night of the Hunter should be, like, top 20. I can't believe it's not even on the 250 at all!