Something I enjoy about once a week is checking the new movies slated to come out in theaters for that upcoming weekend. Often, the numbers are skewed in either an intensely positive or punishingly negative fashion. IMDb is perhaps the most popular site to get a solid idea of how general audiences are receiving a new movie. While sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes are centered around aggregated critic scores and reviews, IMDb bases its 1-10 star system based solely on user scores; meaning anyone, from anywhere, can create a profile and start handing out 10-star ratings like free samples at Costco. Famously, IMDb has collected 250 of the highest rated entries on its site. They claim this list to be a definitive best of the best, given the number of ratings among audiences all around the world. This list includes such classics as The Godfather, Seven Samurai, Star Wars, Taxi Driver and many more titles that come to mind when asked, “What are the best movies ever made?” So why is it bullshit? Start looking in between the classic entries and you’ll see in no time.
Let’s begin scrolling down the list and we’ll notice a few things. The first that pops into mind is entry number 1, the best movie ever made, and it’s The Shawshank Redemption? Now hold on. Shawshank is certainly a wonderful movie; its message of hope and friendship stays with you and always make you feel better for having experienced it. Not to mention, Frank Darabont. That being said, it towers over both The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. I won’t even begin to start on how Part II is already leagues ahead of The Godfather in its story, scale, acting and overall mastery of structure and direction. So already we can see the cracks in the system, but there can be an argument for Shawshank being someone’s favorite movie. I won’t even be mad if you prefer to the Godfather, though I will require examples and evidence to justify this. Let’s go ahead and move on, this is, after all, only the first 3 entries out of 250.
Here is where I can fully pinpoint my issue with this asinine list. Entry 4 – The Dark Knight. I adore The Dark Knight. It is, by and large, the only “superhero” movie that I would ever consider to be a great movie. Let’s see what is had to overcome to secure its place in the top 10. In order, we have 12 Angry Men: The single best use of a single location with a plot advanced only by dialogue and masterful acting. Schindler’s List: A stark character study of a business man endangering his own safety to save others during the darkest period in modern history. Pulp Fiction: The best example of a non-linear story driven entirely by dialogue, intriguing characters, and hyper-violence. LotR Return of the King: The greatest of the LotR trilogy that brings epic battles and wraps up one of the greatest epics of all time. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The golden achievement in the Western genre, creating some of the most memorable moments in cinematic history (yes, I’m talking about that standoff). And, finally, Fight Club: A violent and stylish satire on the way material possessions and corporate leadership can render our lives meaningless; not to mention one of the greatest twists in film history. You know what? Sure, that Batman movie everyone reveres so highly is so much better than all of these.
I could go on down the list in this fashion, but that would take an extraordinary amount of time that I just don’t have. I’ll instead focus on the main reason I decided to write this. As of this date, June 3, 2017, Wonder Woman is the newest release here in America, alongside Captain Underpants, but who cares about that. It has been out now for 2 days (3 if you count the early Thursday release). It is currently sitting at an 8.0 out of 10 and number 218 on the Top 250. That places it above the likes of Rocky, The Terminator, The Wizard of Oz, and Jaws (fucking Jaws!). 12,000 people have given it a 10/10. That is a third of the total number of votes. I’m not saying it’s not a good movie. I haven’t seen it as of yet, but the idea that it is greater than Jaws according to users just boils my blood. The number of movies made better than Jaws are in the double digits. I would place it firmly within the top 50 movies ever made, not by this bullshit method of ranking, but by objective movie-making standards.
To understand better how this list is formed, it is important to understand the rating system of IMDb. Any user can form an account and start rating any movie on the site. IMDb takes the number of ratings and the average rating of that movie and uses a formula to rate the top 250. So a movie with 20 ratings and an average of 9.5 isn’t going to make the list. It takes something around 25,000 votes to be considered. So The Dark Knight, for instance, sits at nearly 2,000,000 votes giving it an average of 9 out of 10. That will make it incredibly hard to dethrone. Wonder Woman will likely not stay on the list for long. As more and more reviews come in, the average will drop and it will fall off. That’s not to say that makes this system any less bullshit. If an unsuspecting Googler comes across this list not knowing how it’s made up, will undoubtedly see this placement as being an achievement and therefore automatically worth seeing. No reviews need be read, no trailer need be seen. A mere number on a list can be enough to drive someone to the theater and blindly give attention to mediocre content.
Please, if you are interested in a movie, specifically a superhero movie, check out some reviews of it first. And not just the number or letter score. Read the review, see what the user or critic had to say about the movie. If the strengths sound intriguing enough, check it out. If you had your heart set on seeing it anyway, see what issues people had with it and see where they might be coming from. Lists are arbitrary. There is is no definitive order of the best movies ever made. Just because you see a new movie on a top movie list, take it with a grain of salt, because it’s likely bullshit.
Movie Gripes 