13 July 2014

My Top (93) IMDb Ratings

Anyone who knows me knows I'm very much into something I called 'filmed entertainment.' Included in this expansive phrase are feature movies, short subject films, documentaries, TV series, made-for-TV movies, and TV mini-series. Of course I've watched all these things since I was a young kid; however; I grew more serious about cinema, especially international cinema, after 1995. My tastes run from popular TV programs to arthouse and experimental films.

In the early 2000's it was clear that I had to somehow keep track of what I've seen, what I want to see, and what I should see. After the fifth time I pulled the same item off the library shelf thinking hmmm, this looks interesting only to watch the first two minutes and think isn't this the one where he does....yeah, I've seen this already! So, I started tracking what I'd watched on IMDb and I also developed a very detailed, many paged spreadsheet. I rely on my spreadsheet so much now that I rarely walk up to the library shelf (other than their version of 'New Releases') -- I simply search for things on my various lists, place holds, and watch them as they arrive.

To date I have rated 5,995 titles on IMDb and have 6,222 items listed and 'seen' in my database. Why the difference in numbers? Well, 217 titlez in my spreadsheet aren't even cataloged in IMDb and even after downloading my IMDb data, comparing it to my spreadsheet, updating both, I still have managed to lose ten titles -- after completing my comparison the number was three, so roughly one title a month seems to fail to update on IMDb. Oh well.

Anyway, as I approach my 6,000 IMDb rated title, I thought it was time to provide some listings about something I seem to care so much about. To start off a series of posts, I decided to list all items I have rated 10 out 10 stars on IMDb. What does a 10 star rating mean? Are these the best movies of all time? Are they somehow the most important or simply my favorites? This is a very difficult question to answer mostly since there are no guidelines for how many stars one user assigns a movie. For instance, someone might give every movie with Ben Affleck in it a 10 and every movie with Matt Damon in it a 1 on principle. I have tried to develop a rating system that resembles how we were graded as students. In school, a C was considered average and minus a curve, a score of 70-79% (correct) was generally a C. This is where I start. I then add and subtract a star for things that stand out to me related to acting, cinematography, design, plot, stupidity, originality -- okay, I admit, it's a very inexact science. I also freely admit that my ratings are highly subjective and you will probably notice a difference between my rating and IMDb's weighted average.

One note, generally a really good/great movie will only score 9 stars on my rating -- to earn that tenth star, it has to have that something extra; it must move me emotionally. So, the movies and TV programs listed below are each examples of works that have touched me deeply.

I will make some more remarks over this series of posts related to ratings and such. Please, feel free to ask questions though I'm unlikely to 'discuss' (aka argue) a item's merits. If you haven't seen some of these movies and TV programs, I hope you will track them down. They may not touch you the same way they have touched me, but you'll see what does, in fact, touch me.

The Top 93 are not provided in an discernible order.

Enjoy!

Title
Year
Type
My Stars
AVG
Stars
# of Ratings
When I Rated Item
2009
Feature
10
6.8
782
11 months ago
1997
Documentary
10
7.7
1,546
28 Sep 2004
1995
Mini-Series
10
8.5
266
27 Sep 2004
1997
Feature
10
6.9
2,157
13 Dec 2008
2005
Documentary
10
8.2
1,382
16 Nov 2007
1997
TV Series
10
7.8
564
12 Aug 2007
2009
TV Series
10
8.9
645
28 Feb 2010
2002
Documentary
10
8.0
1,749
30 Jun 2005
2004
TV Series
10
8.5
229
02 Nov 2007
1974
Documentary
10
8.3
2,707
28 Oct 2009
1970
Feature
10
7.4
1,750
5 months ago
1990
Mini-Series
10
9.4
3,067
03 May 2008
1959
Feature
10
8.5
2,009
24 Oct 2011
2001
Mini-Series
10
9.3
3,530
16 Sep 2008
1961
Feature
10
8.7
1,527
24 Oct 2011
2003
Documentary
10
8.2
13,478
5 months ago
2001
Documentary
10
7.9
8,238
20 Mar 2009
1973
TV Series
10
9.6
3,571
12 Oct 2010
1985
Feature
10
7.8
3,373
02 Oct 2010
1945
Feature
10
7.9
3,626
10 months ago
1990
Mini-Series
10
8.9
1,947
31 Aug 2007
1951
Feature
10
8.2
11,040
06 Oct 2010
1998
Mini-Series
10
8.9
5,129
31 Aug 2004
1987
Feature
10
7.8
39,178
01 Apr 2001
1994
Feature
10
8.0
7,860
14 Dec 2007
2000
Mini-Series
10
8.6
1,994
30 Sep 2009
1952
Feature
10
8.2
10,903
20 Feb 2009
2008
Feature
10
8.1
19,444
16 Mar 2010
1987
TV Series
10
9.0
279
07 Mar 2008
2008
Documentary
10
8.2
840
11 Aug 2010
1959
Feature
10
8.5
1,510
24 Oct 2011
2008
TV Series
10
8.3
412
09 Aug 2008
2005
Short Film
10
7.4
1,169
05 Aug 2009
1998
Documentary
10
8.3
1,163
16 Nov 2007
2001
TV Series
10
8.4
719
21 Jun 2008
1972
Feature
10
7.8
24,300
20 Jan 2010
2004
Feature
10
7.3
18,714
21 Mar 2008
2006
Documentary
10
7.7
1,137
29 Mar 2008
1982
Documentary
10
8.2
16,432
19 Aug 2009
1961
Feature
10
8.3
22,099
05 Oct 2007
1982
TV Series
10
8.4
12,792
23 Feb 2007
2005
Feature
10
7.7
13,198
25 Jan 2008
2004
TV Series
10
8.1
175
12 Jul 2005
2003
Feature
10
6.9
490
28 Oct 2009
2001
Feature
10
8.8
622,990
04 Aug 2003
1972
Feature
10
9.2
618,844
04 Aug 2003
1993
Feature
10
7.2
9,678
6 months ago
2002
TV Series
10
9.5
75,968
19 Dec 2008
2002
Feature
10
8.7
279,246
11 Apr 2008
2011
Feature
10
8.1
116,371
4 weeks ago
1997
Documentary
10
8.7
451
03 May 2008
1983
TV Series
10
8.8
148
03 May 2008
2005
Feature
10
8.2
400,858
16 Mar 2007
2003
Feature
10
8.9
599,506
24 Aug 2004
1998
Feature
10
8.6
390,692
04 Aug 2003
2006
Feature
10
8.5
133,165
11 Apr 2008
2002
Feature
10
8.7
537,521
24 Aug 2004
1996
Feature
10
8.2
247,162
20 Feb 2009
2004
TV Series
10
9.0
29,947
18 Jan 2008
2010
Feature
10
8.2
210,741
24 Aug 2011
2002
Short Film
10
7.5
673
19 Aug 2009
1974
Feature
10
9.1
395,647
04 Aug 2003
2005
TV Series
10
9.0
44,281
21 Dec 2007
2001
TV Series
10
8.9
45,303
03 May 2008
2006
Feature
10
8.0
235,457
21 Mar 2008
2004
Short Film
10
7.1
436
28 Oct 2009
2004
Feature
10
8.1
242,661
12 Dec 2009
2008
Feature
10
7.6
104,084
15 Dec 2009
2004
Feature
10
8.2
147,159
02 Mar 2007
2002
Short Film
10
6.9
284
19 Aug 2009
2008
Feature
10
7.8
123,031
16 Jan 2010
1994
Feature
10
6.8
365
01 Apr 2001
1981
Feature
10
8.5
99,550
04 Aug 2003
2000
Feature
10
8.1
99,758
04 Aug 2003
1962
Feature
10
8.5
109,776
04 Aug 2003
1995
Feature
10
7.6
61,185
09 Mar 2007
1972
TV Series
10
8.4
16,676
30 Sep 2009
1990
Feature
10
8.0
108,178
03 May 2008
2003
Feature
10
8.1
32,861
22 Jun 2010
1988
Feature
10
8.4
59,064
02 Mar 2007
1989
Feature
10
7.9
72,640
04 Aug 2003
1985
Feature
10
7.7
38,499
17 Jun 2010
1983
Feature
10
8.0
66,237
04 Aug 2003
1999
Mini-Series
10
8.4
42
27 Aug 2004
1969
Documentary
10
6.7
53
02 Dec 2009
1960
Feature
10
8.4
57,689
04 Aug 2003
1996
Feature
10
8.0
51,216
04 Aug 2003
1991
Feature
10
7.4
32,810
17 Jun 2010
2004
Feature
10
8.0
39,354
12 Dec 2009
1956
Feature
10
7.8
29,401
04 Nov 2009
1955
Feature
10
8.2
37,232
02 Dec 2009
1997
Feature
10
7.4
14,946
12 Apr 2001
2003
Feature
10
7.6
41,316
16 Sep 2004