things film people say that mean nothing to anyone else

a decoder ring, mostly for the ones that are secretly polite insults.

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"unlikeable characters were the point"

deployed the second someone in the group didn't enjoy the movie.

"this lives rent free"

one scene, usually, and you've been thinking about it for six months.

"I need to sit with this one"

translation: I didn't get it and I'm buying time before I rate it.

"objectively bad but I loved it"

the two-star five-star split people do to have it both ways.

"the needle drops were insane"

"it's giving [genre] energy"

shorthand for when a movie doesn't fit neatly into one category, said with a straight face now.

"this needed to be a movie"

polite way of saying it should've been a short film, or a tweet.

"the runtime is doing a lot of the reviewing for me"

it's three hours long, and that's the entire review right there.

"trust the process"

said mid-movie when someone in the group is losing faith around minute 40.

"this is a rewatch, not a review"

used to preemptively excuse a low-effort one-liner instead of an actual take. my own rewatch tax posts get this treatment constantly.

"the ending recontextualizes everything"

sometimes true, sometimes just what people say instead of admitting the ending confused them.

"peak cinema"

no criteria attached whatsoever, said with equal sincerity about Citizen Kane and a Fast and Furious sequel.

"I was not ready for this"

about a twist you 100% saw coming, but you want credit for looking surprised anyway.

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