What is Cinemagraphs?
A traditional single score tells you very little about a film. Cinemagraphs shows you how audience sentiment moves through a film from start to finish, so you understand not just what people thought, but when and why.
Every film has an emotional arc. We visualize it.
Why I built this
This website has been a passion project of mine for a long time. I am someone who is a visual learner, and whenever I would try to figure out what movie I wanted to watch, what was available was never quite enough. Traditional single score reviews never did a movie justice for me, and do not even get me started on the site named after a fruit (to some, a vegetable) that gives you a percentage that somehow makes even less sense. You could read full reviews, but I never had the time for that either, and my ADHD removed any drive I had to sit through long write-ups.
So I wanted to create something that would let you see the rating of a movie, understand how that rating was reached, and get a sense of how the film plays from start to finish, all from a quick glance.
I know it is a bit of an unconventional idea, and not everyone will get it right away. But I am sure there are at least a few people out there like me who never felt satisfied by a single number, who are visual learners, and who want more context before committing two hours to a film. If even one person enjoys this site as much as I enjoyed building it, I would consider this a success.
I am the solo creator of Cinemagraphs, and I have always been a little shy about sharing my ideas. So there will be rough edges, the occasional bug, and features that could be better. I want this to be a community, and I genuinely welcome any feedback.
Built with care by Humza / cinemagraphs.corp@gmail.com
How the graphs are built
Every Cinemagraphs sentiment graph is built from up to three sources of data.
External critic and audience reviews
The gold line on every graph represents sentiment derived from professional critics and audience reviews across multiple platforms. We analyze what reviewers praised or criticized at different points in the film and map that onto the timeline. This is the primary data source and appears on every film.
“The opening act is masterfully paced, building tension through character work before the stunning midpoint twist...”
“While the third act loses some momentum, the emotional payoff in the final minutes makes it all worthwhile...”
Manual reviews from Cinemagraphs users
The teal dashed line represents ratings submitted by Cinemagraphs users. When you leave a review, you rate specific story beats across the film. These are aggregated and blended with external data to create a more complete picture of audience sentiment.
Live reactions while watching
Live React mode lets you tap reaction buttons in real time as you watch a film. Each reaction is timestamped and contributes to the community sentiment line. Five reaction types are available:
The Movie Market
At the top of the homepage you will find the Movie Market, a live ticker showing films currently playing in theaters. Each film displays its Cinemagraphs Score, a mini sentiment sparkline, and a daily score change indicator so you can see which films are gaining momentum and which are losing it.
Think of it as a stock market ticker, but for audience sentiment. Check back daily to see how scores shift as more people watch and react.
Only films in theaters
The ticker shows only Canadian theater releases, updated weekly.
Daily score updates
Green means the score went up, red means down, gold means no change.
Mini sentiment sparkline
A small version of the sentiment curve visible at a glance.
Click to explore
Click any film to go to its full graph and story beat breakdown.
How the Cinemagraphs Score works
The score you see on every film is a weighted blend of all available data, not a simple average of star ratings. It reflects how audiences felt across the full runtime.
Near-universal acclaim across the full runtime.
Strong positive sentiment with minor dips.
Significant highs and lows, or consistently average.
Predominantly negative sentiment throughout.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the external data come from?
We aggregate reviews from TMDB, IMDb, The Guardian, Letterboxd, Reddit, and critic blogs. Scores are anchored against IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic ratings to stay grounded.
When does the teal community line appear?
The teal line shows up once enough Cinemagraphs users have submitted manual reviews or live reactions for a film. It takes at least 5 user reviews or 20 live reactions before the community data is blended in.
Can I contribute my own review?
Yes! Sign in and visit any film page. You can leave a written review with story beat ratings, or use Live React mode to react in real time as you watch.
What is Live React mode?
Live React lets you tap reaction buttons while watching a film. Your reactions are timestamped and aggregated into the community sentiment line. It is a low-effort way to contribute without writing a full review.
How often is data updated?
External reviews are refreshed automatically when new data is detected. Sentiment graphs are regenerated when review counts grow by 10% or more since the last analysis.
I have feedback or found a bug. How do I get in touch?
We would love to hear from you! Use the feedback widget on any page, or email us directly at cinemagraphs.corp@gmail.com.