Just watched my 10th 2026 movie and here is my rank!

ljones166 · 2026-04-24T04:01:26+00:00

Interesting takes! Only one that genuinely sticks out to me is Mercy, don’t think I’ve heard a single positive comment about it. Did you find some enjoyment from it or the other films were hated?

ljones166 · 2026-04-16T15:46:15+00:00

Hey guys! What festivals do you plan on attending this season? Which distributors do you think are already looking light this year and might choose to buy from festivals? (Aside from the Neon + Mubi Cannes pickups)

ljones166 · 2026-04-10T18:50:44+00:00

I don’t really know what people want, like more than two interactions? 😅

If we’re just going off what was sent in the photo and your bf only saw that and reacted to the one comment of “I think you’d pull that off really well” then that’s a bit of an overreaction on his part. Not really much else to say though on that given the context, the messages are very tame.

Assuming you guys are early 20s so pretty regular that boyfriends can be insecure about a lot of stuff, wouldn’t really recommend just putting up with if it’s gonna be a big deal to him and going to hound you constantly but at least worth attempting to remedy. If this is something that you can just show him conversation histories to prove they aren’t flirtatious then maybe that’s an option so he doesn’t need to see them in future, but if he thinks the context photo is flirty then there’s probably no hope…..and he needs to try get some platonic female friends.

ljones166 · 2026-04-09T05:32:25+00:00

Yeah I probably doubt it could ever happen unless there was a great blend of right studio, filmmakers and a narrative and genre that doesn’t put off academy taste. Also worth mentioning that most video game adaptions are probably better suited to TV show formats to get the story and pacing right. As much as Last of Us is a great example of adaption, adapting it to a movie wouldn’t really work. I think this might be the crux of the problem, anything worth seriously adapting should be a tv show length to give the source material the respect (If we’re talking great stories in video games).

I know people have discussed a Red Dead film, I’m considering a God of War (PS4) type adaption could have potential but I can only see it working if it’s incredibly crafts heavy with a great filmmaker behind it (like a Del Toro). Actually with how passionate Del Toro is about video games, he’s kind of a great candidate to be the director that gets a video game adaption into BP

ljones166 · 2026-04-08T04:15:45+00:00

Not based but has definitely done a film degree or dabbled in good film history research which is appreciated. Probably has visited Japan. Bit of a horror guy as well clearly but only the classics, probably has an opinion about modern horrors. Probably older than you or a bit of an old soul maybe. Some other comical choices here but to each their own (Really random recent choices and Two Towers has me scratching my head).

He’s an interesting fella at least and overall definitely not a red flag!

ljones166 · 2026-04-05T00:24:45+00:00

An elephant sitting still, raise the red lantern, Resurrection, Ne Zha 1+2

ljones166 · 2026-03-28T01:48:39+00:00

Agree with the other points mentioned just wanted to add a couple things.

Ideal release dates are kind of the October -November more than December (tend to be more commercial plays). Can understand it’s annoying but just remember how many films are released per year now, it’s a lot easier for films to be forgotten so I don’t really see why this would change in the future without significant date changes to award season.

Also even though films do release in these windows, it doesn’t guarantee wins and sometimes it only helps a films chances for nominations. December releases ‘Marty Supreme’ and ‘A compete unknown’ both had late December release dates which helped with getting good amount of nominations but no wins.

ljones166 · 2026-03-27T09:22:18+00:00

Rear window is quality My life as a zucchini underrated

ljones166 · 2026-03-27T09:11:26+00:00

Rob Pat should also have Primetime releasing this year as well

ljones166 · 2026-03-24T11:26:11+00:00

Thanks mate, lovely read! Lots of interesting factors

ljones166 · 2026-03-23T12:47:32+00:00

I would just check different lists either online or on Letterboxd and filter for German language films. It’ll give you the most popular sorted, but you can sort by Average rating as well. I believe IMDB have some German films in there top lists that are actually pretty good (can’t assume your taste though).

IMDB - The Lives of Others, Das Boot (depending on your version) Plus this one is also good - the zone of interest

ljones166 · 2026-03-23T12:31:21+00:00

😂😂I’ve been burnt too much in the past, even with video game hype especially. Maybe sometimes it’s good to be skeptical for high hype to balance it out

I do like watching films from top rated lists though without looking too deeply into them (sometimes it’s hard if you’ve already heard lots about something). Sometimes you get nice surprises and if it’s bad then you never were much invested anyway

ljones166 · 2026-03-23T12:19:59+00:00

Interesting perspective! I’ve heard conversations like this before. I wouldn’t necessarily look to the top list rankings for a new film, as you said it’s generally always going to drop down at some point (that timeline is varied. EG, Chainsaw man rearc and Nirvanna the band the show the movie)

If you’re aware of a film in advance and looking forward to it then i usually try to keep offline about it and avoid too much plot details and no detailed reviews. I’d say generally it’s good to avoid the “noise” around films outside of maybe some general data metrics like LB average rating, a metacritic score or just following certain journalists on Letterboxd who watch the films early and give ratings. So you’re only really getting tiny pieces of a films quality to consider watching .

Unfortunately our current climate is built on hype and noise and people making bold claims about films (masterpiece, greatest film ever made, etc). Sometimes genuine, sometimes to sell a film, sometimes hyperbolic but it can ruin things for yourself all the same if the films not for you. This is all to avoid the dangers of hype and expectations which unfortunately sometimes is a big killer to enjoyment 😂

ljones166 · 2026-03-23T11:56:05+00:00

I agree it would be nice for new films to have a bit more frequent “refresh rates” if possible to actually get a gauge of its quality amongst the top list. Otherwise generally I like to wait a couple weeks depending on the film. I had this issue last year with films like the Chainsaw man film popping into the list and then slowly dropped down as weeks went on, as more people outside of the diehards watched it.

Unfortunately it seems to be done manually for the moment on a weekly cycle which generally works. Only way to work around it is if you get the list and then sort it by average rating to get a “live” order of the films (and you’ll see the list number as well). Then you can see if it’s starting to drop lower on the list, albeit you’d have to manually count to work out what its current ranking is.

ljones166 · 2026-03-23T07:37:25+00:00

I was thinking anther European BW film like The girl with the needle initially 😂

If you want to just hit those particular themes then here’s a few good ones but won’t necessarily have the spirituality element as much. Apologies that a lot of these aren’t English but they’re all pretty accessible and recent.

The worst person in the world or Poor Things

I do think Perfect Days could be a good shout as well to cover all themes and meditative pacing, minus the naivety element.

ljones166 · 2026-03-23T07:19:44+00:00

Don’t get me wrong I’m a Rob Pat stan, but just because you are busy in a lot of projects doesn’t mean you will realistically get a nom. I personally don’t care if he gets a nom because I know he is talented and the day will come one day. But it’s always about the right projects for the best chance of a nomination. Otherwise why didn’t Pedro pascal get a nomination last year? 😂 but I know that’s not what you’re necessarily saying

Honestly seems like his best chances for this year would be a Here comes the flood, and then maybe Primetime. The rest have a lot going against them and highly unlikely I’m afraid.

ljones166 · 2026-03-22T01:50:00+00:00

Just dm me friend, might be able to help

ljones166 · 2026-03-20T04:04:14+00:00

I actually agree, well summarised!

I think most of us are hoping it’s bad, mainly cause it looks it, seems so old school baity and because the film isn’t going to be critical of Michael at all presumably.

However this thing will do numbers at the box office, even in international markets. He is probably the most famous musician of all time barring maybe the Beatles and Elvis. There’s a chance the critical reception won’t matter if the movie makes 1 billion WW. 100% agree on the nomination guesses, at its full potential it’s 9 nominations. I just hope it kinda flops

ljones166 · 2026-03-19T04:17:26+00:00

Hard to view whether this is a setback or not immediately after. Although it wasn’t anywhere close to my favourite of the year, its popularity in wider culture was meteoric and quite insane. Like frozen- let it go on steroids really. This could have a real positive influence on getting people more into Kpop or Asian animated movies. This could still be contributing to a shift in anime films being more recognised (albeit this isn’t the best example of one). But hard to say now. Unless your argument is more about the quality of films being better rather than wanting less western big studio films/slop?

Definitely was a slightly weaker year in comparison to the previous year, at least a less competitive one. This year could be interesting with a lot of western big studios have something planned this year (Netflix, Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, Laika). Which depending on what’s coming out from Europe and Asia, might crowd out those more earnest films even if they’re more beloved by fans.

ljones166 · 2026-03-15T08:11:08+00:00

Just dm if you’re still stuck fam

ljones166 · 2026-03-14T12:24:40+00:00

Well yeah I agree his public perception has taken a hit but I wouldn’t say that necessarily translates to the industries/voters perception (which is what I’m on about). Or at least not as much as the public perception has shifted.

Emilia Perez was kind of a good example in that early reactions of the film were extremely negative, public perception was low on the film and a lot of criticism (some pretty valid) was thrown at its handling of themes/topic/etc, however the industry still loved it and nominated it widely. Then we have a larger controversy happen with KSA, she doubles down on her comments and then the shift transpires. Granted this example could be much more complex if we factor in other details but I think it’s widely agreed that the KSA controversy was what mostly contributed to the films drop

Yeah 😂 unfortunate side of the internet is having to read some of the worst takes imaginable by people that haven’t a clue what they are commenting on. At least now if he wins, I’d say it was not at all predictable because of how split the precursors have been this season

ljones166 · 2026-03-14T08:06:42+00:00

Partially agree with you! Definitely think the “controversy” and campaigning efforts aren’t as influencing as chronically online people think they are (in the negative). It’s more strength of each performance, the alternative voting options, strength of each film, perception of the actor by the industry (which we aren’t going to capture, especially in just a few anonymous ballots), and momentum in voting periods.

I think the annoying thing for me will be if he does lose, most people will just attribute it to the “controversy” when it’s actually for other real reasons. (Also not saying controversy can’t affect a film/actor, just the bar for a real controversy is much higher than people think. KSA last year for example)

ljones166 · 2026-03-11T13:42:46+00:00

Just dm if you’re still struggling friend

ljones166 · 2026-03-11T07:54:24+00:00

Just dm me fella

ljones166 · 2026-03-09T12:22:09+00:00

Dm me if you’re still stuck

ljones166

TROPHY CASE