I've noticed that movies in the top 250 with relatively small vote counts are having their scores plunge due to hundreds of people giving them a 1. People being fanboys or just douchebags and giving great movies a 1 is nothing new, but the number of people doing so lately is cause for a concern--before it was around 2-3% of voters, not 10%.
shareThe only movie in the top 250 that deserves a 1 is "The Conversation."
shareWrong.
sharePersonally I feel giving it a 1 sounds crazier than a soup sandwich. While you're entitled to your opinion but you may want to give "The Conversation" another look. There is so much going on in that film such that multiple viewings have yielded me much more than the initial viewing.
"Workshed." - Ash
Yes, that’s the rare film that deserves a 10.
share[deleted]
Not even close.
shareI agree with wilky, although Id give the conversation a 3 probably.
shareThe Conversation is easily Coppola's best.
And who cares? Have you guys not realized that these ratings and rankings are pointless? The people who know film know this is a 10, and that's all that matters.
It could be attributable to not aging well, but I found the Conversation wildly overrated.
But yes, the Top 250 is bullcrap. Where else does American History X or The Matrix rank above Amadeus, M or Rififi?
Actually, I changed my mind.
Besides The Conversation, The Seventh Seal also deserves a 1/10.
It was some of the most boring film-making I've ever seen. The direction was simple, boring. The writing was very kiddish, very cartoonish (as was the movie as a whole, really). I felt like I was watching a play put on by an elementary school's drama department. That the film relied so heavily on dialogue bored the hell out of me, I'm glad he took a show-don't-tell approach in some of his other films (that I've seen, Persona). The plot and themes weren't deep at all, the communication of them as I said was immature, and I found no redeeming qualities in this film at all. I'm completely baffled as to why it's endured to this day... perhaps on Bergman's reputation alone? Perhaps just because it's foreign?
I can never appreciate foreign films as I can English-language films. It's just impossible for a non-native speaker to appreciate the acting performances, the subtleties, the voice inflections... and the exact meaning is often somewhat garbled and lost in translation.
Even Kurosawa's films, many of which I've greatly enjoyed, do not compare to his contemporaries in America.
Although I will say this about Kurosawa, the man's use of lighting and on-site filming impresses me. I get tired of watching films from the 50s where the background is obviously a screen.
shareOMG, 1 for The Conversation and The Seventh Seal?!? What's your favorite movie - Baby Geniuses??
shareIf you think Rififi has the most vote stuffing, check out this poor little Chaplin film from 1918!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0009611/ratings
31.3% seem to have blindly voted '1' for the movie, don't ask me why.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=5184666
Those "Females Aged 45+" are to blame apparently!
share[deleted]
Well, why not stick to English Language films then? If you can't appreciate a foriegn language film becuause by your own reasoning you cannot give it justice, then you should not be voting on them.
"Actually, I changed my mind.
Besides The Conversation, The Seventh Seal also deserves a 1/10.
It was some of the most boring film-making I've ever seen. The direction was simple, boring. The writing was very kiddish, very cartoonish (as was the movie as a whole, really). I felt like I was watching a play put on by an elementary school's drama department. That the film relied so heavily on dialogue bored the hell out of me, I'm glad he took a show-don't-tell approach in some of his other films (that I've seen, Persona). The plot and themes weren't deep at all, the communication of them as I said was immature, and I found no redeeming qualities in this film at all. I'm completely baffled as to why it's endured to this day... perhaps on Bergman's reputation alone? Perhaps just because it's foreign?
I can never appreciate foreign films as I can English-language films. It's just impossible for a non-native speaker to appreciate the acting performances, the subtleties, the voice inflections... and the exact meaning is often somewhat garbled and lost in translation.
Even Kurosawa's films, many of which I've greatly enjoyed, do not compare to his contemporaries in America."
Expert trolling.
"Besides The Conversation, The Seventh Seal also deserves a 1/10. "
Wrong again, although not as egregiously so.
shareI'd give YOU a 1 anytime...
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Mulholland CineLog: http://mulhollandcinelog.wordpress.com/
You must be completely out of your gourd if you actually believe that.
share
good news it is 11.6% now!
http://dhost.info /elts/index.php
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterbug_iconium/
I am unsure why some people can appreciate both great movies and great cinema and others cannot... For an example I have talked to people in my age group (20s) and Have often heard this; "I can't stand those foreign movies that are full of subtitles" or I have also heard them say that they didn't understand why a certain film like Citizen Kane was #1 on AFI and many other lists... Why do they dislike subtitles?? they don't bother me at all.. and why would anyone not see all the amazing reasons that Kane is at the top of all those lists??
I have always loved movies & art house cinema. Thank goodness I discovered Janus at a young age and then of course Criterion has done some great things even if they do letterbox too many dvds(grrr)and you end up with black bars on the left and right of your widescreen tv!
Here are just a few of my favorite films that I own on dvd:
-Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
-Casablanca - MichaelCurtiz(1943)
-The Third Man - Carol Reed (1949)
-Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa(1954)
-Gone With The Wind - Victor Flemming/George Cukor (1939)
-Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean (1962)
-The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
-Wizard of Oz - Victor Flemming (1939)
-Singing In The Rain - Stanley Donen (1952)
-Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
-Rules of The Game - Jean Renoir (1939)
-On The Waterfront - Elia Kazan (1954)
-Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
-400 Blows - Francois Truffaut (1959)
-Charade - Stanley Donen (1963)
-The Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (1937)
-8 1/2 - Federico Fellini (1963)
-The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman (1957)
-The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles (1942)
-The Red Shoes - Powell & Pressburger (1948)
-Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Houston (1948)
-Gaslight - George Cukor (1944)
-The Black Narcissus - Powell & Pressburger (1946)
-The Maltese Falcon - John Houston (1941)
-Now Voyager - Irving Rapper (1942)
-Sunset Blvd. - Billy Wilder (1950)
-The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks (1946)
-All About Eve - Joe Mankiewicz (1950)
-North By Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock (1959)
-The Trial - Orson Welles (1962)
-Laura - Otto Preminger (1944)
-The Lost Weekend - Billy Wilder (1945)
-The Lady Eve - Preston Sturges (1941)
-Night of The Hunter - Charles Laughton (1955)
-Touch of Evil - Orson Welles (1958)
-The Searchers - John Ford (1956)
-Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)
-The General - Buster Keaton (1927)
-Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard (1959)
-Sweet Smell Of Success - Alexander Mackendrick (1957)
-L'Atalante - Jean Vigo (1934)
-Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927)
-Out Of The Past - Jacques Tourneur (1947)
-The Lady Vanishes - Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
-Mr. Arkadin - Orson Welles (1955)
-Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock (1954)
-The Killers - Robert Siodmak (1946)
-The Lady From Shanghai - Orson Welles (1947)
-Ace In The Hole - Billy Wilder (1951)
-Midnight Lace - David Miller (1960)
Some of my favorite directors (and in some case producers) are: (In no specific order)
-Orson Welles
-Alfred Hitchcock
-Jean Renoir
-Akira Kurosawa
-Powell & Pressburger
-Billy Wilder
-Ingmar Bergman
-John Ford
-Carol Reed
-John Houston
-Federico Fellini
-Stanley Donen
-Michael Curtiz
-George Cukor
-Howard Hawks
-Francois Truffaut
-Elia Kazan
-Jean Vigo
-Frank Capra
-Martin Scorsese
-Victor Flemming
I don't know why that it makes me laugh to see people on here (imdb) say that their favorite movie is something like "The Matrix"... It's certainly not as though I feel that I have a superior "cinefile" knowledge or that I have an "artist's eye" like that of great cinematographer Jack Cardiff (The Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes). However I guess I do feel that maybe my interests in film runs deeper than others in my age group (I am 27). If anyone would like to talk movies (I own nearly 5k) then please send me a message... I am currently looking for a couple of out of print Criterion Collection DvDs to complete my Criterion Library (of course my Criterion Collection is always ongoing as they release new titles fairly often). I just acquired a really cool set of films... It is the 50 Years of Janus Films set.. I already had special editions of Seven Samurai, The Third Man and others but I just had to have this set, it is a must have. Although I wish that they had packed the set better... the pages are not the best for storing dvds in, especially if you want to watch them frequently. I have pre-ordered Warner's re-release of 2 two-disc special edition films: GiGi and An American In Paris... Both are due for a nice release with some special features and a clean up.. The American in Paris has a cool Gene Kelly documentary that I called "Anatomy of a Dancer"... I keep hearing (on blogs etc..) that Warner Home... is supposed to have found new elements on Magnificent Ambersons and is supposedly releasing on region 1 dvd sometime later this year or in early 09... I will believe it when I see it.. Of course I will be the first in line for one of my favorite films. If anyone has any info on a region 1 release of Ambersons please do let me know.
lebiglebowski, do you post at DVDTalk? That list looks moderately familiar.
I've seen more than half that list (props for mentioning "Ace in the Hole") but I just cannot get into classic foreign cinema. I am usually engrossed by the virtuosity of modern foreign filmmakers (most notably, "Diving Bell" and the Butterfly) but I think only one classic foreign film has ever blown me away (Kurosawa's "debut" film Drunken Angel).
Oh, and what is Welles' "The Lady From Shanghai" doing on your list (6/10... flawed movie with a truly unique climax/ending/don't forget about Welles' closing narration either) but not Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat"?
I have high hopes for Clouzot, though, whenever I get around to him...
That's an awesome list lebiglebowski. Just out of curiosity- have you seen The Thief of Bagdad? Based on your other choices, it seems like it would fit nicely into your collection (The new Criterion disc is amazing).
Mcsheehey, That is funny that you asked that! I had just ordered Thief of Bagdag new Criterion two disc release the day before leavin this post! I got it in the mail since then and WOW!!! They did a great job (in my opinion, although I would have loved a custom case like my 3disc Seven Samurai or my Two disc The Third Man but all in all it is wonderful!). I lover Michael Powell and EMeric Pressburger's films! From The Red Shoes to A Matter of Life and Death to Black Narcissus to Life and Death of Colonel Blimp! tHEY ARE ALL GREAT! Mike Powell made Thief of Bagdad before any of those other Technicolor masterpieces and did you listen to that commentary?? wasn't it wonderful! and the lil making of was nice too. I have watched that Jack Cardiff "Painting with light" on the Black Narcissus dvd many times and I also watch the "Glorious Technicolor" feature on my Two-disc Adventures of Robin Hood (1939) WB release dvd... I wish I had the complete Jack Cardiff documentary that Painting With Light came from (the one thats on Black Narcissus, it came from a longer Cardiff documentary). Do you know of it? or know how to get it?
Anyway yes I am a film nut! and proud of my collection (although my wife also likes classic cinema she sometimes frowns on my many expensive amazon purchases LOL). I own everything that you could think of except for Salo because I just don't ever care to see it.. I know I have read all sorts of reviews (mixed) and I just personally don't want to spend 2 hours of my time watching people eat poo etc.. NOTE: Please no one take offense to me not liking Salo, I know that some people regard it as fine art and I am not trying to get it pulled from the shelves I just don't want a copy in my "almost complete" Criterion Collection. The thing is about Criterion is that my collection gets to continually grow as they release new films. yay!
I also own every Hitchcock dvd or box set that is worth owning from the WB Signature collection to the Universal Masterpiece collection to The Early years collection to the Wrong Men and Notorious Women that I luckily bought when it came out.. Now I am excited about this new MGM set "The Premiere Collection"! I know I already on all of these Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound etc.. but the extra features are AMAZING!!!! There are gonna be extensive making of documentaries on almost every disc! Rebecca has a making of and a documentary on D.D. the author of the story, not to mention several commentaries! I can't wait to sit down and watch "The making of Notorious"! and all the rest of those "well worth the 85 bucks" extras. I have heard a few people say "well I have the criterion set and the signature WB set and the Universal Masterpiece set so I am not gonna shell out 85 whole bucks for that set.." WHATEVER!! I will!!! in a hot second! Those extras are unbelievable and are way more extensive than some people think. I emailed someone at ..... to find out the duration on some of the "Making of's" and they emailed me back... some of them are over 45minutes each! so it won't be one of those little wimpy 10 or 20 minute making of documentary, they will be extensive and well made. So I am definitely buying (pre-ordered already!) one of the Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collections.
Well to wrap this lil message up, yeah I know what you meant about Thief of Bagdad it was awesome! I had not seen the whole thing before and it was just awesome! So do you collect Mcsheehey? I have around 1200.. and right around 400 Criterions although a couple are doubles but not many.
Once again a few of my favs are:
-Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
-Casablanca - MichaelCurtiz(1943)
-The Third Man - Carol Reed (1949)
-Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa(1954)
-Touch of Evil - Orson Welles (1958)
-Rules of The Game - Jean Renoir (1939)
-Gone With The Wind - Victor Flemming/George Cukor (1939)
-Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean (1962)
-The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
-Wizard of Oz - Victor Flemming (1939)
-Singing In The Rain - Stanley Donen (1952)
-Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
-On The Waterfront - Elia Kazan (1954)
-Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
-400 Blows - Francois Truffaut (1959)
-Charade - Stanley Donen (1963)
-The Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (1937)
-8 1/2 - Federico Fellini (1963)
-The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman (1957)
-The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles (1942)
-The Red Shoes - Powell & Pressburger (1948)
-Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Houston (1948)
-Gaslight - George Cukor (1944)
-The Black Narcissus - Powell & Pressburger (1946)
-The Maltese Falcon - John Houston (1941)
-Now Voyager - Irving Rapper (1942)
-Sunset Blvd. - Billy Wilder (1950)
-The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks (1946)
-All About Eve - Joe Mankiewicz (1950)
-North By Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock (1959)
-The Trial - Orson Welles (1962)
-Laura - Otto Preminger (1944)
-The Lost Weekend - Billy Wilder (1945)
-The Lady Eve - Preston Sturges (1941)
-Night of The Hunter - Charles Laughton (1955)
-The Searchers - John Ford (1956)
-Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)
-The General - Buster Keaton (1927)
-Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard (1959)
-Sweet Smell Of Success - Alexander Mackendrick (1957)
-L'Atalante - Jean Vigo (1934)
-Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927)
-Out Of The Past - Jacques Tourneur (1947)
-The Lady Vanishes - Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
-Mr. Arkadin - Orson Welles (1955)
-Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock (1954)
-The Killers - Robert Siodmak (1946)
-The Lady From Shanghai - Orson Welles (1947)
-Ace In The Hole - Billy Wilder (1951)
-The Theif of Bagdad - Michael Powell (1940)
I love classics! and Film Noir is one of my fav. genres and I mean 1941 thru 1958, not alot of neo noir etc.. because anything after Touch of Evil knew that it was attempting to be "Noir"... before Touch of Evil they just made the movies and thats what you got.. Thats why I prefer 41-58. Now that doesn't mean I don't own some 1960's Criterion Collection Noir films.. and it doens't mean I don't appreciate films like "Body Heat" but they are not and will never be what we were given in that post WWII era.. Like> Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, Detour, Kiss Me Deadly, In A Lonely Place, Out of The Past, Touch of Evil!, Ace In The Hole, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Big Heat, The Third Man, Asphalt Jungle etc... I like'em all, the darker the better.
-Hitchcockfan/Lebiglebowski (My two user names)
This movie is a 10 if any movie is.
I gave it a 1 to help Air Bud 3: World Pup get one step closer to taking its rightful place as #1 of all time.
shareThe "rating" on IMDB is weighted. It is not the actual average.
As of NOW, with 108139 votes, the actual average vote is 7.84, not 8.2 as is listed on the site. Simple math my friend.
I feel anyone that ranks more than 5% a "1" or 5% a "10" - should have all their votes not count.
Of almost 700 voted - I rated one movie a 1 & less than a dozen as a 10.