IMDB's 100 top rated movies, it's all change!

lackblogger

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As someone who's watched a lot of movies over the years, I like to check out the top 100 rated movies on IMDB every few years to see if I've missed anything good that might interest me. The list doesn't usually change that much but it has enough movement for it to never feel stale.

However, this time when I looked it seems the boat is well and truly rocked. Instead of all the ones I hadn't seen being 'boring' looking Oscar bait, this time the ones I hadn't seen were mostly world cinema. I'm usually even quite good with world cinema but there are loads here I've never even heard of.

https://www.imdb.com/chart/top

I've seen 74% of the top 100, so I'll just list the 26 I haven't, but I'll list them by category, which should help explain why I haven't seen them yet :D

Italian:
22. Life is Sweet
51. Cinema Paradiso
100. Bicycle Thieves

Japanese Cartoons:
27. Spirited Away
49. Grave of the Fireflies
66. Princess Mononoke
74. Your Name.

Other Cartoons:
60. Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse
73. Coco

Other Euro:
36. The Pianist
39. Untouchable [French]
94. The Hunt [Danish]

South Korean and Japanese:
30. Harakiri [J]
67. Oldboy [K]
77. Parasite [K]

Bollywood:
78. 3 Idiots
79. Like Stars on Earth
84. Dangal

Other:
21. City of God [Brazilian]

Old Hollywood B/W:
25. It's A Wonderful Life
64. Sunset Boulevard
68. Witness for the Prosecution

Leaving only four modern Hollywood movies:
44. Whiplash
47. The Prestige
86. Good Will Hunting
87. Requiem for a Dream

And even then I'm sure I fell asleep to Good Will Hunting 20 years ago, hence why I can't remember if I've seen it or not.

What do you think of this global invasion of tastes? Can ratings lists survive a global deluge? Have you seen any of these and recommend/deter? What are the movies on the top 100 that you've not seen yet? Or which have you seen if the list is shorter? And who are all these fans of Japanese cartoons? Are they really better than all the other cartoon films?
 
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The original Harikiri, aka Seppuku in Japan, is really stunning.

The remake loses its context.

Spirited Away did win the Oscar - distributed by Disney - and got Miyazaki mainstream recognition in this country - although I felt the story was all over the place. I don't remember if it was Genddy Tartokowski who toured the studios and found a cell in the waste basket and was shocked - Miyazaki explained he kept changing what he wanted to do.

That Spiderman movie is overrated. But consider the age group its targeted at and how they would vote. Its like how Rebel without a Cause was considered one of the greatest movies of all time and now its not so much.

I suppose Singing in the Rain is somewhere on that list. Its currently at #1 by some movie group but its just...disappointing.
 
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CoCo was good; good will hunting is fantastic; didn't care for whiplash; The Prestige is really really good; don't remember req for a dream but i know i saw it....
 
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Wait? Shawshank Redemption is at #1?

I agree its an entertaining movie, and Tim Robbins realizes just let Morgan Freeman narrate and get out of the way is the greatest thing in movie making ever, its almost every clicheed prison story in the books. Its a typical Stephen King hack job. Only different thing that doesn't make it every cliche is Tim Robbins isn't Jewish (see Dustin Hoffman (among many others) doing this same character in Papillion).

---

I like this list because it doesn't feel to me like a top 100. Its just a number of movies that people really liked. IMDB, the last legacy of Compuserv, has always been good that way.

Also. Godfather 2 is not that great an actual movie, although Fredo has become iconic because of it. Godfather 3 is underrated (even by the cast and director) if you can sit through it.
 
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I agree with you about both Shawshank and Godfather 2, though I can see why they're so popular.

CoCo was good; good will hunting is fantastic; didn't care for whiplash; The Prestige is really really good; don't remember req for a dream but i know i saw it….

Requiem for a Dream is one I really want to see and keep forgetting. Unless I have seen it and have just forgot :D
 
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Also. Godfather 2 is not that great an actual movie, although Fredo has become iconic because of it. Godfather 3 is underrated (even by the cast and director) if you can sit through it.


whatamireading.png
 
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Pronoun game again?

Are you expressing surprise and/or disagreement with his view on Godfather 2, or his view on Godfather 3, or are you expressing equal surprise and/or disagreement with both the viewpoints in equal measure? And are we allowed to know why or are you going to be assuming authority without explanation as per usual?
 
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I am not entering a debate on what's good or isn't good, but just saying the ones I would recommend from the list you said you haven't seen.

Italian:
22. Life is Sweet : Probably one of the most touching WW2 movies I have ever seen.
51. Cinema Paradiso : Very nice movie to watch, but I wouldn't rate it as high as it is.

Other Euro:
39. Untouchable [French] : Very good movie with very good acting too in my opinion.

South Korean and Japanese:
67. Oldboy [K]: Hard to say if anyone would like this. In my opinion it is somehwat of a unique movie. Worth a try, but the movie doesn't diverge much after the first 30-40 minutes, so if you don't like it by then you can probably switch off.

Other:
21. City of God [Brazilian] : Probably deserves that position. Certainly worth watching.
 
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I thought I'd already seen City of God, and I might have. Around 2000 somewhere I rented a highly reviewed Brazilian movie about a Rio prison and enjoyed it greatly, but for the life of me I can't remember the title of it and, googling, I see there were quite a few big well rated Brazilian prison films around the year 2000. My current guess is that I saw Carandiru (2003).

I recently tried to buy up all the City of God series (it's also a TV series), but there isn't a complete set available in one neat package for region 2 DVDs, so I put it on the back burner. I should probably just forget the TV series and watch the two movies at some point.
 
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Pronoun game again?

Are you expressing surprise and/or disagreement with his view on Godfather 2, or his view on Godfather 3, or are you expressing equal surprise and/or disagreement with both the viewpoints in equal measure? And are we allowed to know why or are you going to be assuming authority without explanation as per usual?

That time of the month again?
 
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Time for you to trash a thread again? Have you nothing better to do?
 
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I thought I'd already seen City of God, and I might have. Around 2000 somewhere I rented a highly reviewed Brazilian movie about a Rio prison and enjoyed it greatly, but for the life of me I can't remember the title of it and, googling, I see there were quite a few big well rated Brazilian prison films around the year 2000. My current guess is that I saw Carandiru (2003).

I recently tried to buy up all the City of God series (it's also a TV series), but there isn't a complete set available in one neat package for region 2 DVDs, so I put it on the back burner. I should probably just forget the TV series and watch the two movies at some point.
I haven't seen the TV show so can't comment on that other than to say you should watch the movie :)

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
 
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And who are all these fans of Japanese cartoons? Are they really better than all the other cartoon films?
No they're not except do watch Spirited Away for the exotic feel. Skip Mononoke even if you life depends on it, that thing is an eco-terrorism bullshit pamphlet. Your Name is sum of copypasted scenes from many other animes sold as a romance, if you're not interested in romances, skippit. That fourth title I didn't watch.

22. Life is Sweet : Probably one of the most touching WW2 movies I have ever seen.
Is that Benigni's the most idiotic presentation of nazi concentration camps? On 22th place? For god's sakes. Don't touch that turd. Those camps weren't comedy central as in the movie, those were Mordor. I have no idea how that rubbish got oscars.

67. Oldboy [K]: Hard to say if anyone would like this. In my opinion it is somehwat of a unique movie. Worth a try, but the movie doesn't diverge much after the first 30-40 minutes, so if you don't like it by then you can probably switch off.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance from the trilogy is IMO better. And I have to disagree with you, every minute spent with Oldboy is time well spent. :p Whoever will watch Oldboy, do watch the original and not the silly Hollywood's remake. Also, skip the trilogy's third film, it sux. ;)

21. City of God [Brazilian] : Probably deserves that position. Certainly worth watching.
An absolute masterpiece and yes, worth being in anyone's top 100.

I thought I'd already seen City of God, and I might have. Around 2000 somewhere I rented a highly reviewed Brazilian movie about a Rio prison and enjoyed it greatly, but for the life of me I can't remember the title of it and, googling, I see there were quite a few big well rated Brazilian prison films around the year 2000. My current guess is that I saw Carandiru (2003).

I recently tried to buy up all the City of God series (it's also a TV series), but there isn't a complete set available in one neat package for region 2 DVDs, so I put it on the back burner. I should probably just forget the TV series and watch the two movies at some point.
No it's not prison drama. Forget the series. Watch Elite Squad and it's sequel instead.

That Spiderman movie is overrated. But consider the age group its targeted at and how they would vote.
It's not overrated as it's fun almost completely. Two things are annoying and that's pig spiderman placed there only for a couple of sausage jokes and the atrocious soundtrack. Then again, it's not in the top 10, so it's still okay as an animated entry as long as the overrated and overhyped abomination Frozen is not on any top 100 list.

EDIT:
I wanted to comment more after actually reading through the list… But will keep it as short as possible.
Half of that list is plain bullshit. I mean, Leon in top 100? Gimme a break. It's a good movie, but cmon. And it's not the only one I'd never put on some "the best" list.
Also, quite a few IMO are misplaced. Modern Times is ingenious work still fresh although 100 years passed since it was filmed, should be in top 10, not at some 37th place. Same goes for Casablanca.
Finally the list contains remakes that aren't better than the original. The Departed. Why is it there? Watch the damned original trilogy already (infernal affairs).

Anyway, it's a list by registered imdb users aka forget quality, concentrate on popularity. I find it pretty odd that Titanic is not there, I didn't watch it and never will but am sure 99% of imdb users watched it the first day it appeared in cinemas. I guess it was so good everyone and their mother wanted to experience it (except the aganist the flow minority I'm a part of) and now I can't be more surprised they all "forgot" it.
 
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I agree with you about Leon. Also, there are indeed loads of older movies which one thinks really should be higher.

As evidenced by the lack of Titanic, we have to assume it's not entirely a popularity poll, in the general sense, but a popularity poll in the IMDB 'bothered to contribute to the site' posse popularity poll, so, one assumes, popularity amongst the nerd'o'shpere mostly. Hence all the Japanese cartoons and predominance of male tastes generally.

Regards to older Hollywood movies, I noticed that a couple of the movies in my post under that category were both directed by Billy Wilder, so, again, its more a case of old fanboy nerds bigging up their favourite director rather than a generalised popularity.
 
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Erm wait, there are ingenious japanese cartoons that deserve to be in top100 but are nowehere to be seen.
For example Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (the "CGI parts remastered" version).
 
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Speculation: When the Ghost in the Shell live action movie released it probably brought in loads of people to watch the cartoon who otherwise wouldn't have, possibly resulting in more lower scores.
 
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Could be. I've never watched the live version so dunno if it's capable of causing temptation.
 
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For those who enjoyed "Old Boy", there is a good chance you will enjoy "Parasite" as well since it's directed by the same person. I only watched Old Boy but didn't enjoy it a lot - not saying the movie is bad but its just mentally disturbing. And from what I've read "Parasite" is even more shocking.
 
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