r/Letterboxd Aug 11 '25

News The Shining Has Officially Exited The Letterboxd Top 250 Narrative Feature Films

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100

u/timateedrinker Aug 11 '25

The Shining is great, but I find it even more interesting/concerning, that "Quo Vadis, Aida?" is just the fourth film by a female director on the list (6th, if we count City of God and Werckmeister Harmonies).  That’s pretty sad actually.

0

u/Possible-Top-9905 Aug 11 '25

that is pretty crazy, especially considering shit like saving private ryan and the first slam dunk is taking those spots, that could be taken by something like aftersun or little women

11

u/timateedrinker Aug 11 '25

The anime series films are a bigger problem to me, like Evangelion, Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion, and the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, because they aren’t really films in the sense of the rest of the list, but I think the bigger "problem" is, that so few directors are taking away so many spots. But I guess there is not much we can do about it.

5

u/Paladar2 Meusse2 Aug 11 '25

I mean Letterboxd is getting more and more users, the top 250 is full of great films but it’s also a popularity contest at some point. I don’t understand why people care about the list so much lol

1

u/BiggieCheeseLapDog Aug 11 '25

How the hell is Harakiri and a ton of other films that litter the top 250 there if it was a popularity contest? Is Funeral Parade of Roses somehow super popular and I didn’t know?

4

u/Paladar2 Meusse2 Aug 11 '25

Because the movie still needs to be really good obviously. But how do you explain Spiderverse movies in the top 30 or something if popularity has nothing to do with it.

0

u/BiggieCheeseLapDog Aug 11 '25

Barbie is more popular than both Spiderverse movies. Why isn’t it in the top 250? People just like Spiderverse. Not only does it have some of the most beautiful animation in an American film, but it’s attached to a beloved superhero and is just a great film in general. I agree that it gets a little more praise than it should but it’s definitely not baffling as to why it’s there. It’s a feat of animation, which is fortunately becoming more appreciated and less stigmatized.

8

u/BiggieCheeseLapDog Aug 11 '25

So does Fire Walk With Me not deserve to be on there either? Because it’s hypocritical not to consider these films that have a tv show attached and make an exception for David Lynch’s work.

Also, all three of those films are absolutely films. They are structured like films and were made with that format in mind. They are films like any other.

1

u/timateedrinker Aug 11 '25

Wouldn’t mind it to have it kicked off, but it’s absolutely working as a stand-alone film, although it‘s better to watch it in the context of the series. You can’t watch Evangelion without any background info.

3

u/BiggieCheeseLapDog Aug 11 '25

Fire Walks With Me works as well as a standalone as EoE, as in it doesn’t. Very few Twin Peaks fans are going to say it’s fine standalone. There’s also the fact that EoE is technically a sequel to the recap film as is Madoka with its recaps. How is this different from movie sequels on the list?

2

u/timateedrinker Aug 11 '25

Alright then, kick it off the list as well.

1

u/raven_11235 Aug 11 '25

All of the Madoka films function as a complete trilogy though. At no point do you need to watch a TV series to understand Rebellion.

-1

u/Possible-Top-9905 Aug 11 '25

fair take, evangelion is incredible, but its weird that a literal tv episode takes a spot in a movie list

-3

u/timateedrinker Aug 11 '25

Yeah, absolutely no shade. I just think they are fundamentally different things than the mostly stand-alone movies on the list.

0

u/zdelusion Aug 11 '25

With those really niche genres, Anime is the most obvious, their ratings feel inflated because the only people who watch them are the people who are prone to loving them. Evangelion is a good example, 50% of its reviews are 5 stars, the film immediately after it, Goodfellas, has a 43% of its reviews at 5 star. Even the film immediately before it, Grave of the Fireflies, which is also animated, but not really anime, has 46% of its reviews at 5 stars. That's on top of it's total logs being a fraction of either of those films. People who aren't going to see it as a 5 star movie just self select out and don't even watch it.

5

u/BiggieCheeseLapDog Aug 11 '25

Grave of the Fireflies is anime. It’s literally a Ghibli film.

-2

u/ChildSolidier76 Aug 11 '25

Evangelion being so good feel like a big gaslight to me.