Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Why IMDB Movie Ratings Need To Be Taken With A Grain Of Salt, Vol 1

Poll question for today:

Only three directors have won the Academy Award for Best Director three times or more. Which one of these guys is your favorite filmmaker? (Suggested by "Mister_Milich")

The three filmmakers are Ford, Capra and Wyler. Among the options are "I love them all" and "I don't care for any of them" and, the number 1 answer, given by 36.3% of the 12,000-plus votes?

I am not familiar with these directors.

And these are people who bother to both register on IMDB and to vote in their daily poll. So, you know: movie fans.
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8 comments:

  1. Freeman HuntMarch 4, 2009 at 5:56 PM

    Oh my goodness.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rcoceanMarch 4, 2009 at 6:25 PM

    I've never understood why people take the time to vote "I don't know" or "I don't care".

    Same with people commenting on blogs about how "boring" or Uninterested" they are in the topic.

    As for IMDB, look at their top 10 ranked movies; the list includes the "Dark Knight" and "The Shawshank Redemption" "Pulp Fiction" and "Star Wars". So yeah, it doesn't surprise me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. knoxMarch 5, 2009 at 9:05 AM

    I love "The Best Years of Our Lives," but it is so painful to watch, I sometimes have to just flip past it when I see it on TV. I just went to IMDB, I didn't realize Wyler directed "Mrs. Miniver." Love that one too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RonMarch 5, 2009 at 10:09 AM

    It be the youth o' the Interweb!

    Uh, Wyler for me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Trooper YorkMarch 5, 2009 at 4:16 PM

    Ron you ignorant slut.

    NO ONE COMPARES TO JOHN FORD!!! NO ONE!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Trooper YorkMarch 5, 2009 at 4:18 PM

    Ford is without a doubt the greatest director there ever was. Everyone steals from him. I mean he stole from Griffith but he took it far beyond what DW had started with. Through the influence of his brother Francis who had worked extensively with Griffith, Ford knew all his tricks and started all the new ones. His way of telling a story in film is the gold standard to which all others are measured.

    ReplyDelete
  7. blakeMarch 5, 2009 at 4:41 PM

    Well, I knew where Troop was going to come down on this, but it's a challenge for me. I'm partial to Capra, but Wyler's Friendly Persuasion? Fugheddaboutit.

    And, as knox points out Best Years?

    Then there's Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

    I couldn't pick one! (Sorry, Troop!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. XWLMarch 5, 2009 at 6:07 PM

    Yeah, I think if forced to put these three directors in order, I'd lean towards 1)Wyler 2)Capra 3)Ford, but of those directors films', the only ones I own are those of Ford, so that might seem a bit contradictory.

    (I admire Wyler's craft, and Capra put out some of the best comedies ever, Ford's films are the most entertaining overall, but when rating directors, the entertainment value of their films isn't the only metric by which they should be measured)

    ReplyDelete

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