I love rankings and lists... Usually. The one list that I really can't stand is the IMDB Top 250, because it's such a ridiculous case of populism trumping merit. For those that aren't aware, just because a movie set a box office record doesn't mean that it was the best movie ever made. It just means that it had the most appeal. Think of the movies as potential dates. There are some that are extremely attractive, just sexy beyond belief. Those are the summer tent-poles. Now, while it's not impossible for a summer blockbuster to be great (Jaws, Star Wars, Inception, etc.), the odds are pretty good that the sexy package is going to be lacking something, and more often than not, they lack brains or some other merit. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with dumb popcorn flicks. But they shouldn't be ranked among the the best films ever made. That's what makes the IMDB Top 250 so infuriating.
The medium of film has been around for nearly 120 years. 120 years, let that sink in. Before there was a Ford Model T, there was film. Before the world population reached 2 Billion, there was film. Before 240-some-odd wars could be fought, there was film. So why is it that on the IMDB Top 250 list, 126 (of the 250) films were released in the past 25 years? Were the first 95 years of filmmaking just a warm up for this explosion of groundbreaking work that many of us have seen within our own lifetimes? NO. It wasn't. The problem with the IMDB Top 250 list is that it depends on the people, the uneducated, ill informed masses to rate movies with no pre-qualifications. Anyone can rate The Dark Knight Rises (#50, 8.5/10) an 8 or 9, without ever having seen Sunset Blvd. (#41, 8.5/10) which is, when judged on its artistic (not commercial) merits, a vastly superior film.
I hate saying this, but TDKR was terrible. I paid my $20 to own it, I've watched it dozens of times, I love the trilogy, I love Christopher Nolan... But TDKR was a pile of garbage. Was it slick? Sure. Did it have star power? Yep. Was it riding a wave of anticipation? Of course. Was it a good movie? NO! It's just the truth. TDKR shouldn't be rated any higher than 7.5 for no other reason than the massive plot holes. That would remove it from the Top 250 list entirely, which would be great. It just doesn't deserve to be there. But because it has the 11th most ratings (because practically everyone has seen it) and most people aren't qualified to judge the merits of films, there it is, at #50 on the list. (Speaking of number of ratings, there are only 3 films in the top 50 most rated that were released before Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope in 1977. Those three films are the Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. All released in the 70's. That means that not a single film from the first HALF of the film age ranks in the Top 50 when it comes to number of ratings. But I digress... ) TDKR is ranked higher than 77 of the films on the AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies Tenth Anniversary List, which only includes American productions. Do we really want to say that TDKR is the 24th best American film ever made? Is that okay with you? Because it makes me nauseous.
So, I've identified a problem, but what's the solution? Well, for starters, we need to agree on the different ways of comparing films (and other commercial/artistic endeavors). The IMDB list, in its populist glory, should bear very little actual consideration. Box Office returns are the industry standard for measuring the popularity of films. How many butts ended up in the seats? That's what matters to the studios and the bean counters therein. Given my own predilection for the old and dusty things in life, I'm especially fond of accounting for the Box Office Grosses when adjusted for inflation. Once inflation is taken into account, a little old 3 hour 40 minute long Civil War epic from 1939 sits at #1 all time, with more than a half a billion dollar cushion between itself and Avatar at #2. That's right, commercially, Gone With the Wind and Avatar put the most butts in seats and earned the biggest (relative) box office grosses. That's a fact, there's no debating it. On the flip side though, what is there to say about the artistry of these films?
Gone With the Wind is seemingly a lock in the top ten of any list to be made (except the IMDB Top 250 where it's #155!) because of its iconic status, enormous legacy, and let's not forget the 13 Oscar nominations and 8 wins.
Avatar on the other hand, is not as beloved. It won't have a profound legacy in 70 years. It's a rehashed story full of tropes and verges on the unoriginal at times. It was nominated for 9 Oscars, but only won 3. It was a tremendously important film from a technical standpoint though, as James Cameron pushed the technological envelope to the max in making it, and those breakthroughs will pervade Hollywood forever.
Two epic movies. Two massively popular movies. One reliant on grandeur and old Hollywood glitz and glamour, the other created virtually around actors in an empty soundstage. The art of filmmaking and storytelling and the art of technological achievement, side by side. This is an apples to oranges comparison.
A lack of any defined parameters for the measuring of a thing's goodness is the single biggest problem with populism.
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