When I want to know what people think of a movie — what they really think — I don’t check Rotten Tomatoes or see how many Oscar nominations it has or how much money it made at the box office.
I open Letterboxd.
More than any other social network, Letterboxd is a joy to use. The people who take the time to leave a review are some of the funniest, cruelest, most honest people on the internet. They take their responsibilities seriously, with ratings on Letterboxd feeling more accurate than other review sites.
Letterboxd is a joy to use.As a social network — and yes, it’s a social network — Letterboxd isn’t a dumping ground for photos of your new couch and political headlines designed to manipulate your emotions. It’s a space for movie fans to talk and share about their favorite movies, what they’ve watched recently, leave reviews, and connect with other fans. Letterboxd won’t ever see three billion users — but with over 17 million and growing, it’s clearly resonating with cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike.
If I had one criticism of Letterboxd, it would be they are mostly ad-supported, but I never see those ads because I signed up for the annual $18.99 Pro plan. I can count the number of annual subscriptions I pay for on one hand: I don’t pay for Spotify or Apple Music, I don’t pay for YouTube, and I don’t pay for Apple Arcade or the NYT Games app. But Letterboxd? It’s all value. No ads, plus when a movie on my watchlist gets released online, I get a notification with the movie and the streaming service where I can go watch it.
With Letterboxd, I feel like a person on the internet, not a product.Letterboxd doesn’t harass me with other bullshit. They aren’t trying to sell me popcorn buckets in a deal with AMC or suggest I try a 7-day free trial of Crunchyroll. They know exactly why I have push notifications turned on for the app, and they haven’t abused them once. And they don’t spam me with a bunch of emails recapping the junk my friends have been posting. With Letterboxd, I feel like a person on the internet, not a product.
When my friends ask me what Disney films they should watch, or if I have any good sci-fi recommendations, I can easily make a list in Letterboxd and share it with them. With just a tap they can add movies to their own watchlist and have months of personalized viewing suggestions from someone they trust. No algorithms, just friends.
With a tap friends have months of personalized viewing suggestions from someone they trust. No algorithms, just friends.Of course, this is all a happy, clever way of telling you to delete your Facebook account! I don’t have a positive opinion of Facebook, Instagram, parent company Meta, and especially CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and it gets worse every week. I could write about Meta’s exploitation of children, their bribery and corruption, how they amplify misinformation, how the apps are bad for our mental health, why Facebook likes it when you’re angry, how they encourage hate while threatening our democracy, how they choose profits over safety, and how Mark Zuckerberg has created “a harmful presence in our lives”. I could write about all of that, but better writers than I have already done the work.
What I choose to do is two-fold: I do not use Meta apps, and I recommend an alternative that I truly enjoy.
Proof that the internet can still be fun.While the big social media sites are like the nicotine of the internet, niche networks like Letterboxd, Strava, GitHub, and BoardGameGeek offer something better — genuine communities built around shared interests, not outrage. They aren’t designed to prey on your emotions or undermine democracy. They're proof that the internet can still be fun.
We need more awesome networks like Letterboxd. Especially now.
Enjoy social media again. Join Letterboxd. Delete the others. 