Tyranny of the Top Four: How Letterboxd is changing movie-watching

Imagine: It’s 2020. You tossed your scarf to the side and mounted your Peloton for an invigorating ride. Your latest film got a limited theatrical release amid a global pandemic. It’s been misunderstood by audiences, but you’re here to sweat it out. You’re jolted out of your workout when a song from your film starts playing. You’re Christopher Nolan.The instructor says, “Anybody see this shit? Did anybody see this besides me? Because I need a manual. Someone’s got to explain this. Yeah, I’m not kidding, what the fuck was going on in that movie? Do you understand? Seriously, you need to be a neuroscientist to understand [it]. And that’s two-and-a-half hours of my life that I want back.” Everyone’s a critic. While accepting his New York Film Critics Circle award last week, Nolan recounted that harrowing experience: “In today’s world, where opinions are everywhere, there is a sort of idea that film criticism is being democratized, but I for one think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct but it should be a profession.”In addition to the rise of amateur critics on YouTube, TikTok, and even Peloton, one hotly debated online space that’s served to democratize film criticism is Letterboxd. SEE ALSO: It’s time to stop obsessing over celebrities’ sexualities The app describes itself as a social network for “grass-roots film discussion and discovery” as well as an “organic recommendation engine” designed to act like a public diary. Think Goodreads for movies. It debuted in 2011, the product of co-founder…Tyranny of the Top Four: How Letterboxd is changing movie-watching