Category Archives: Movies

First Look: Letterboxd.com

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UPDATE: I’m all out of invites :(

Ever since Netflix decided to eliminate the ability to share and compare movie ratings with other members I’ve been on the lookout for a site that filled the void.  I’ve been patient and I think my patience is finally about to pay off.  A new site is due out soon called Letterboxd which allows you to rate and review movies, create movie lists, create a watch list, and follow your friends movie activity.

The design of the site is exceptional.  Nice dark background to contrast with the movie cover art.  Great use of fonts, great layout, just a really clean site.  The only part I don’t really like is that the default search is “add a film” instead of just a search…you have to toggle on the search box to do a basic search for a film or actor if you want to get to that item’s page.

I’ve started going through and rating all the movies I’ve seen and overall it’s pretty quick and easy. I think it’s strange that you can select “I like this movie” and then also apply a star rating…I’m wondering what the point is of the “I like this movie” button.  I found that there was a “Link to Netflix” button that used to say something about importing your ratings from Netflix, but when I got the button to work, all it did was allow me to jump over to Netflix from within a movie listing.  They’re still working on this feature, so I’m holding off on rating everything until I can try out that button again since I’ve rated so many movies on Netflix.

The lists are really useful…you can see lists like “Reddit top 150 films” or “IMDB top 250″.  This I think is the primary movie discovery feature.  What this site is really lacking is what Netflix has, a recommendation engine.  Some people like to work their way through the top 250 on IMDB, but I’m more interested in those hidden gems that never made it to the top the charts.  Netflix has an uncanny way of finding stuff I’m into and I would love to see that make it’s way over to Letterboxd.

The site also has a “People” section which lets you see what movies other people have reviewed.  It reminds me of that little section in the VHS rental place where the local critic would share their picks o’ the week.  If you happen to share their taste, you can follow that person and find new movies that way.  I’m currently following my friend Dan and I can see his recent reviews and ratings.  If I dig in a bit, I can look at all his ratings and sort by number of stars which is really nice.  Currently there is no way to recommend a movie to a friend or see what movies you might like that they’ve rated (like Netflix used to do), but some of that is on the development road map.

Overall the site seems really promising.  The biggest missing piece is the recommendation engine, but I’m sure that is not a simple task considering Netflix offered up a $1M prize to improve their recommendation algorithm.

Last but not least, I have a couple of invites to the site I’m all out of invites.  If you happen across my blog and want an invitation, just post a comment with your e-mail address.  I’ll updated this post when the 2 invites are gone.

Movie Review: Pearl Jam Twenty

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Pearl Jam Twenty coverLast night I was cruising the “what’s new” on Netflix streaming and came across Pearl Jam Twenty.  I had planned to try and turn in a little early, but once I started watching I couldn’t stop.  Pearl Jam’s Ten album was the first cassette I had ever bought and one of my all time favorites.  I remember popping that tape in and falling asleep to it many times.

The film opens with early footage of Mother Love Bone.  I had known that some of the members of Mother Love Bone had later formed Pearl Jam, but I didn’t know anything about the death of their lead singer Andy Wood.  Interviews from band members and Chris Cornell go over his life and final days and at one point Chris is nearly in tears.  You really get a sense that these guys were extremely close.

Next we see Eddie Vedder come into the picture, this shy dude with tremendous creativity and that distinctive voice.  It was awesome watching some of their early shows.  Eddie seems like this tortured soul just putting everything out there through his music.  Then things get weird…you see Eddie start to transform into this intense sometimes chaotic character…climbing the stage and diving into the crowd.  As the band begins to gain popularity and merge into the mainstream you see Eddie starting to question if the band is growing into something he didn’t want to be a part of.  I remember watching another band documentary on Green Day and they struggled with the same issue, dealing with alienating their core audience and trying stay true to their music.  As the band starts to come apart at the seams, Neil Young reaches out the them and becomes somewhat of a mentor for Eddie.  Seems like Neil deserves some real credit for keeping the band together and getting them back on the right path.

The second half of the film goes into the stories behind the band’s other players, Mike McCready, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Matt Cameron, and a brief overview of the other various drummers they’ve had.  We also see the tragedy of Roskilde Festival where 9 people were crushed and killed when the crowd pushed forward during Pearl Jam’s set.  I’ve skipped over a few bits, like the Ticketmaster dispute and some of the humanitarian efforts the band was involved in, but I wasn’t interested in that stuff…I was more interested in the personal side and watching the band and the music evolve.

Overall I loved the film.  What I took away from this movie/film/documentary:

  • Pearl Jam is the real deal, they believe in their art.
  • Gotta listen to some Neil Young!
  • Time to queue up Ten and be 13 again, if only for a little while :-)