Friday, July 2, 2010

Dominating the Indomitable: IMDb's Top 250

The Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, is every remotely serious movie fan's paradise. There's an entry for every movie ever made, usually complete with trailers, reviews, and an active message board full of Interweb warriors ready to do battle with trolls over their favorite directors and films. The most popular feature of all, however, is the Top 250. Based on votes from thousands upon thousands of users, this list ranks the greatest movies of all time in a way that is less old-fashioned and arbitrary than the American Film Institute's list, but is still ultimately useless.

That apparent uselessness doesn't stop the entire Internet movie-loving community from hailing it as gospel when it's convenient ("Seriously, dude. The Dark Knight is in the top 10") and bashing it as overly populist when that suits them better ("Dude, you can't take it seriously. The Dark Knight is in the top 10.") This constant bickering makes the inherently flawed list the most revered list available. At the very least, every serious movie fan should see everything on the list, right?

As one of these serious movie fans, it shocked and appalled me to discover that I've only seen 89 of the top 250 movies as of press time. I mean, I watch movies just about every week, how have I not stumbled upon at least 200 of these babies? Well, re-watching and an aversion (ignorance, really) to pre-1970s movies is a big part of the reason.

That brings us to the point of this blog. Over the next 250 days, with the help of my good friend Netflix, I will be reviewing one of the IMDb's top 250 movies every day. On days where I don't watch a new movie (there will be 89 of these in total), I'll review a movie I've already seen. Expectations will be revealed and revelations should be expected.

It's about to get real. Hope you'll join me.

9 comments:

  1. I hope you haven't seen District 9 yet!

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  2. I have, but I'll still be writing about it; I'm writing about all of them.

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  3. two questions:

    one-could you make a feature available of what you'll be watching that day and what's coming up?

    two-how are you going to account for changes in the top 250?

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  4. 1) Twitter account forthcoming, I'll post links to it on Facebook.
    2) Yeah, I should have mentioned it, but I'm using the list from July 2nd, static, no account taken for changes. The bottom 10 always moves around and when Inception comes out I'm sure it'll knock out whatever #250 is on its ascent to the top 20, haha.

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  5. inception better kick one off or i'm going to be really disappointed in the movie and what it promised in the previews.

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  6. Haha, I know, right? It's Christopher Nolan directing a film starring Leo DiCaprio. If it isn't top 250 material, it will be a massive letdown.

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  7. Brad,

    Unless there is someone else doing something similar, I thought you started this project a year ago. If you are interested, I can provide you with a complete list of films that have been in the IMDb Top 250 since 2007.

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  8. heh, I stumbled upon your blog in the Wild Strawberries board on IMBb and came to check it out!
    I have a similar goal this summer, too! [watching all the movies, but in 2 months, 4 movies a day, and in order]. I've seen all the movies on the list, tho, so rewatching.
    Anyway! I wanted to say good luck! I hope you enjoy the films you haven't seen, yet!

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  9. Great idea! I may have to copy you when I settle down someplace and subscribe to Netflix, if for nothing other than my own viewing enjoyment... also think a 100 books list would be cool to review (if somewhat more time-consuming).

    My addiction is traveling. Very different, but feel free to check out my blog: http://wandererfrombirth.blogspot.com/

    Good luck with the watching and blogging!

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