IMDB Top 250 films leaderboard - how many have you watched?

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The thing is, IMDB is not a good source for the best movies list. It is heavily biased towards Hollywood and the big budgeted, "famous" movies. There is a wealth of amazing world cinema( in which i have only dabbled tbf) that will never get a look in because the masses punch in their 10s for movies like Inception :facepalm:

About a third of the films on that list are as you describe, 'big budget, famous movies', though the rest are quality selections from classic and contemporary cinema.

I do agree however that there should be an exclusion of sorts on recent films; that is, films that have, say, been released in the past five years should not be allowed on the list, as they're still going through waves of mainstream popularity. It happens repeatedly, where a recent film will stay on the list for a year or so, before plummeting off it completely. The real classics stay on there constantly.

The lists on icheckmovies.com are much better, specifically those by AFI, et al.

Reply 521

localfox1000

Original post by philistine

1-I take your point about the recent films.

2- Many films on there are classic, and no doubt they deserve their spots, but what i am saying is that the films in the list are the voted by casual cinema goers who tend to watch the famous films( mainly Hollywood and the really famous foreign ones). This is natural but it skews the rating. I will argue that those viewers that venture outside Hollywood are usually fairly experienced cinema goers and are more likely to rate a movie objectively compared to an inexperienced cinema watcher who thinks Shawshank Redemtion is the epitome of film-making.

3- Also, there are many foreign movies that have a rating that are good enough to get into top250( many have exceptional critic reviews) but because they don't have enough public votes, they are not in the Top250.

I would find a list much more reliable, and even helpful, if it was compiled by a group of film critics.

PS- i like the icheckmovies site, not sure what you mean by 'AFI' but top250 list seems to be almost identical.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 522

danny111

Original post by philistine

AFI? Link please I just searched AFI on icheckmovies and found a top 50 - most are on IMDB and I think all of them are like pre-1990 - one isn't, Schindler's List 1993.

Original post by localfox1000

PS- i like the icheckmovies site, not sure what you mean by 'AFI' but top250 list seems to be almost identical.

Original post by danny111

AFI? Link please I just searched AFI on icheckmovies and found a top 50 - most are on IMDB and I think all of them are like pre-1990 - one isn't, Schindler's List 1993.

Here is one AFI list: http://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/afis+100+years...100+movies

The AFI lists are not great or diverse as the are from the American Film Institute so are mainly US/European films.

Check out the TSPDT List which is huge and pretty diverse if you are looking for more than IMDB Top 250.
http://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/they+shoot+pictures+dont+they/

Reply 525

localfox1000

Original post by JClive

cheers for that :smile:

Reply 526

soup

Original post by localfox1000

But Inception is a good movie...

Reply 527

Phalanges

Original post by localfox1000

I will argue that those viewers that venture outside Hollywood are usually fairly experienced cinema goers and are more likely to rate a movie objectively compared to an inexperienced cinema watcher who thinks Shawshank Redemtion is the epitome of film-making.

I would hope that the more experienced a film watcher is, the more they appreciate the inherent subjectivity of film appreciation.

Reply 528

username220598

I was almost able to pull myself off the bottom of the list but The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has not been added to this list despite having a score of 8.1 on IMDB which is enough to get it on there :emo:

Reply 529

Crazy Paving

Original post by Colbert

It was on there the other day. :sad:

Original post by Phalanges

I would hope that the more experienced a film watcher is, the more they appreciate the inherent subjectivity of film appreciation.

Ideally, yes.

I guess that could mean that i'm not very experienced at all, or that I'm just a dickhead.
Or both :cool:

But cmon Phalanges, you seem like a real guru of film. Surely you must also feel a little snobbish sometimes? :unsure:

Reply 532

JClive

Original post by Colbert

Yeah, it just dropped off the Top 250 the other day.

But high rated films are not necessarily on the Top 250 as IMDB uses a weighting system and only counts the ratings of regular voters.

That is why there are few films with 8.3+ rating not on the Top 250.

Reply 533

username220598

Original post by JClive

Did not know this :holmes:

Still stuck at the foot of the table. Need Steve Kean to come and rescue me :sigh:

Reply 534

Phalanges

Original post by localfox1000

Ideally, yes.

I guess that could mean that i'm not very experienced at all, or that I'm just a dickhead.
Or both :cool:

But cmon Phalanges, you seem like a real guru of film. Surely you must also feel a little snobbish sometimes? :unsure:

I went through a phase when I thought my opinion was always correct and that everyone who disagreed was ignorant as I'm sure everyone does, and while that still creeps in from time to time I'd hope I didn't come across as snobbish very often. I also went through a reverse-snobbish phase where I thought that anyone who listed some obscure indie that only ten people watched as their favourite films and decried all of Hollywood was a pretentious arse. But then my tastes are pretty westernised; my three favourite films were all made in Hollywood. What I'm more interested in now is why people like or dislike the films they do than any desire to force my likes and dislikes on them, it's much more enjoyable to have conversations that way and people don't think you're a pompous ass. :p:

I do like being described as a guru of film though.

Reply 535

danny111

Original post by JClive

What's a regular voter?

Like once a month or more along the lines of xyz films rated?

Reply 536

JClive

Original post by danny111

What's a regular voter?

Like once a month or more along the lines of xyz films rated?

IMDB does not say what exactly a 'regular voter' is but there is speculation is that it is people who have made over 1300 ratings and therefore watched a lot of films/TV shows.

Reply 537

username310124

46. I didn't include films id seen bits of otherwise it probably would have been more. Some awful films in that list though.

Reply 538

danny111

Original post by JClive

IMDB does not say what exactly a 'regular voter' is but there is speculation is that it is people who have made over 1300 ratings and therefore watched a lot of films/TV shows.