24 June 2012

Just 5 great listmakers on IMDb

As most of you know, it's possible to make lists on IMDb. This for example makes it possible to find movies of a certain kind. Many lists are very helpful and great, but sadly, the ones that gets most of the views are lists of some random persons favorite movies or worse, a list of all the movies someone has seen. This means that the lists aren't of much help.
IMDb has no search function when it comes to lists yet, so the only way to find new lists is to make a google search like this for example: Disaster movies site:imdb.com/list
In this post I will try to honor those that try to be creative and make unique, helpful lists. I named it "Just 5" instead of "Top 5" because it's impossible to know if I have found the 5 greatest ones.

#5 Lists by Me

Okay, a little selfish maybe, but I spend to much time making lists to ignore my effort.


These are the lists I like the most:
Director's: best to worst based on my own ratings
Powerful Movies
Pre 21th Century
Auteurs
Memorable Movie Quotes
Great Movie Scores
Sub-genre series
One Film Per Country

#4 Lists by seanmiguel

Has made 51 lists, most of them great although all of them doesn't necessarily interest me. Many of them have been and will be very helpful to me when I'm looking for interesting movies. I have only one problem with his lists, which is that they contain too many movies with almost no votes at all. But, some may like that, especially if they're really into a certain theme.

seanmiguel seems to have Documentaries, Biopics, Sci-fi and various sub-genres as specialties.

Top 5 lists by seanmiguel:
1. Think Inside the Box
2. Worth a Thousand Words: Non-Verbal Non-Fiction
3. Best of Sci-fi movies for each decade since the 50s
4. Zoological Horror: When Animals Attack
5. Portrayal of the Chief: Films About U.S. Presidents

#3 Lists by blueish35 

Creative lists that's entertaining to read through.

Top 5 lists made by blueish:
1. Insanity
2. Immortal Quotes Vol. 1 of 3
3. Bad Dads
4. Looking For Something Weird To Watch
5. What's the Good Word? - Films with great dialogue

#2 Lists by eliza_gaskell

Fantastically made lists of period dramas from different times, for example The Biblical Times, The Romans (509 BC-476 AD), The Medieval Times (476-1453 AD) and The American Civil War (1849-1865). Since I love period dramas, these lists are of extra much help to me.

Other great lists by eliza_gaskell:
ANIMAL KINGDON
Much ado about Dragons
TRILOGIES
Best memorable male voices in movies

#1 Lists by Dr-Faustus

A known listmaker on IMDb and of course deserves all the praise he gets. He's most known list, 2012: A MOVIE ODYSSEY may be good, but it's not his best, there's too many movies on it. 


Top 5 lists by Dr-Faustus:
1. REAL LIFE HORROR
2. MY ULTIMATE BEST MOVIES: 2000-2012
3. FILMS ON FILM ON FILM
4. EXISTENTIAL FILMS
5. 2012: A MOVIE ODYSSEY


I recommend you start commenting on lists that are actually good, and not on those that are bad, because it's the comments that makes the lists more visible on IMDb!

18 June 2012

Top 5 Performances: John Cazale

John Cazale was a supporting actor in the 70s that accomplished something that no other actor has: All the films he acted in was nominated for Academy awards best picture. Also, all of them has a rating of 8,0 or higher on IMDb. Sadly, he died when he was only 42 years old in terminal bone cancer. As he only acted in five films, this list is rather about ranking his performances than picking out the five best ones.

Stan
Not a bad performance, it's just that he didn't get much time on screen.
"It's curiosity. Did you ever hear of that? It's just goddamn human nature."
Fredo Corleone
John Cazale started his movie acting career in this unknown movie about a maffia family.
"Papa!"

Stan

The story behind this performance makes it his best in a way. All the scenes in which Cazale participates was filmed first because of his illness. The studio wanted to replace him but the director Michael Cimono and Cazales collegue/lover Meryl Streep threatened to leave the production if they did. Also, it is said that Robert De Niro paid for his insurance so that he could take part in the movie. John Cazale died shortly after completing all his scenes.
"Some fuckin' friend. You're some fuckin' friend, you know that?"

#2. Dog Day Afternoon

Sal
Great performance as Al Pacino's sidekick in this funny bank robbery movie.
"Tell the TV to stop saying there's 2 homosexuals in here." 

#1. The Godfather: Part II

Fredo Corleone

In the second part of The Godfather, Fredo Corleone gets much more attention than in the first part, and Cazale does not disappoint. Amazing performance.

"Taken care of me? You're my kid brother and you take care of me? Did you ever think about that? Hah? Did you ever once think about that?"


An example of what a great actor John Cazale was is this scene from The Godfather II:


11 June 2012

Top 5 most featured directors on IMDb top 250

A list of the five directors with most movies on IMDb top 250 at the moment.

#5. Martin Scorsese - 6 films


#16. Goodfellas
#47. Taxi Driver
#54. The Departed
#90. Raging Bull
#164. Casino
#249. Shutter Island

Percentage of filmography (only feature films): 6/22 = 27%

#4. Billy Wilder - 6 films


Same amount of films as Scorsese but Wilder's movies are slightly better placed.

#32. Sunset Blvd.
#56. Double Indemnity
#86. Some Like It Hot
#96. The Apartment
#118. Witness for the Prosecution
#214. Stalag 17

Percentage of filmography: 6/27 = 22%


#3. Akira Kurosawa - 7 films


#13. Seven Samurai
#81. Rashomon
#112. Yojimbo
#126. Ran
#131. Ikiru
#225. High and Low
#243. Throne of Blood

Percentage of filmography: 7/31 = 23%

#2. Stanley Kubrick - 8 films


#34. Dr. Strangelove
#48. The Shining
#51. Paths of Glory
#60. A Clockwork Orange
#83. Full Metal Jacket
#93. 2001: A Space Odyssey
#199. The Killing
#215. Barry Lyndon

Percentage of Filmography: 8/12 = 67%

#1. Alfred Hitchcock - 9 films


#22. Rear Window
#29. Psycho
#37. North by Northwest
#50. Vertigo
#117. Rebecca
#142. Strangers on a Train
#162. Notorious
#194. Dial M for Murder
#228. Rope

Percentage of Filmography: 9/54 = 17%





05 June 2012

Top 5 Movies Seen In May

I didn't watch as many movies in May as in April and March, but I almost only watched movies worth watching. This is how I rated movies I watched in May:

















Nr 1. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Genre: Drama, Action


Nr 2. Dead Man

Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Genre: Drama, Western


Nr 3. Sunset Blvd

Directed by: Billy Wilder
Genre: Drama, Comedy


Nr 4. Ariel

Directed by: Aki Kaurismäki
Genre: Drama, Crime


Nr 5. Shame

Directed by: Steve McQueen
Genre: Drama