And now we’re finally here. The top ten films of imdb. Obviously these aren’t the official top 10 films ever, it’s your own choice for that. But these are the films the most people voted high, so it’s a very good guide. I’ve split the list into 10-6 and the top 5, so I can give a little more detail to these films than I’ve done to the others we’ve already looked at. So without further ado, the top 10 of imdb, part 1.
10. Inception
Everyone knows what this is. It was the big craze of last year when Inception came out and everyone would talk about how good it was, or how confusing it was, or just go on about it in general. I missed out a bit because at the time it came out I was poor, so I couldn’t go and see it and I didn’t get the DVD for a while either because it was pretty expensive. So by the time I saw it I’d heard pretty much everything there was to say about the film. But even with all the high expectations I had for this film, it surpassed them. I love this film. The first time I saw it, my mind was blown, I thought it was amazing, best film ever. Over time I realised it was just sort of shock value, and the movie itself wasn’t quite as good as it first appears. It’s still a brilliant, well made film with plenty of interesting and well done ideas; it just misses the emotional heart that most other films on this list have. I would still rank it as one of the best films ever made, but maybe not quite top ten material. Give it a few more years and I have a feeling this’ll be one that goes down the list with time. Oh and it’s not as confusing as people say. Yes it’s hard to explain in a short paragraph, but if you watch it, you won’t be confused, well as long as you pay attention and aren’t an idiot.
9. The Dark Knight
Now this is one of my favourite films. I readily admit that the 8 films above it are better, but if you gave me the choice of which to watch, I’d choose The Dark Knight. The Batman films are a bit patchy to say the least, starting very camp in the 60s, going dark and really weird with Tim Burton, then family friendly, then Batman and Robin, the worst superhero movie this side of Green Lantern, however the funniest superhero comedy ever. Except for the fact it’s not meant to be a comedy. So Bats went away for a few years and then came back in 2005 with Batman Begins. It was a good film, but as an origins story it got bogged down in setting everything up and didn’t really get going properly. However it set everything up right for the sequel. We knew who everyone was, and how they got on, so there wasn’t any wasting time. It brought back all the old favourites, learnt from the mistakes of the last film and brought in two of the greatest Batman villains, Harvey Dent/Two-Face and the one and only, the Joker. Everyone is at the top of their game, especially the late Heath Ledger, giving the performance of his career, the stakes are raised, and everything is just bigger and better than any Batman film had been before. This is the film that showed that comic book movies didn’t have to be stupid or looked down on, and could in fact be masterpieces. My only problem with it is that it’s set the bar so high for the last in Nolan’s Batman trilogy and that The Dark Knight Rises will become this generation’s Return of the Jedi, still good, but not the conclusion we were hoping for.
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
We’ve got a slower, more psychological film here at number 8. This film is really disturbing. I can really think of what genre it belongs to. It’s the story of a man in jail who pretends to be insane to get into a mental asylum because he thinks he’ll get out quicker. But instead he’s trapped with a group of crazy people all presided over by the callous Nurse Ratchet. Sometimes it’s a happy film, with the inmates escaping and having fun on a boat, but other times, well let’s just say that this has some of the darkest moments ever put on film. This is Jack Nicholson at his finest. There’s not much more to say than this is one of the smartest, darkest and thought provoking films ever made and you should definitely give it a watch if you haven’t already seen it.
7. Schindler’s List
This is just wow. I really have nothing to say about this film. At the time it might seem like a strange choice to give a serious film about the Holocaust to a man who’d previously only directed action and scary movies. Well made action and scary movies, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Jaws, but still nothing quite like this. But really Steven Spielberg must have been really passionate about this film and it shows, it is a masterpiece. I like to make jokes about films or tell my stories about them, but really Schindler’s List stands on its own. I don’t really have any good stories about it, there’s no time to go into an in-depth analysis of why it works and it would be in poor taste to make jokes. So yeh, it’s breathtaking and unbelievably moving and that’s all I have to say about it.
6. 12 Angry Men
This is probably the least generally watched of the top ten. Now whether it’s because the film’s old or obscure, or that not a lot actually happens, I don’t know. What I do know is that considering how well known the others are compared to it, it’s a surprise this is so high up. Until that is, you watch it. To be honest if as many people had seen this as had seen Shawshank then I think it could’ve been the top film. It really is that good. The film shows a set of jurors who are all sure of the guilt of the accused man, except for one who isn’t sure. He keeps questioning the reasons behind why they believe the man is guilty and disproves them one by one and begins to persuade the other jurors who were so sure, that maybe they were wrong. It’s a very psychological film, which the entirety of the action set in one room while we see the workings of the men’s minds. It’s very intriguing and far more interesting than you would expect after hearing the plot. Well made, well acted, and just great all round, this film should be far more popular than it is, but when you say black and courtroom psychological drama from 1957 all set in one room with 12 characters without names just numbers, it puts a lot of people off. It shouldn’t though, give it a watch.
10. Inception
Everyone knows what this is. It was the big craze of last year when Inception came out and everyone would talk about how good it was, or how confusing it was, or just go on about it in general. I missed out a bit because at the time it came out I was poor, so I couldn’t go and see it and I didn’t get the DVD for a while either because it was pretty expensive. So by the time I saw it I’d heard pretty much everything there was to say about the film. But even with all the high expectations I had for this film, it surpassed them. I love this film. The first time I saw it, my mind was blown, I thought it was amazing, best film ever. Over time I realised it was just sort of shock value, and the movie itself wasn’t quite as good as it first appears. It’s still a brilliant, well made film with plenty of interesting and well done ideas; it just misses the emotional heart that most other films on this list have. I would still rank it as one of the best films ever made, but maybe not quite top ten material. Give it a few more years and I have a feeling this’ll be one that goes down the list with time. Oh and it’s not as confusing as people say. Yes it’s hard to explain in a short paragraph, but if you watch it, you won’t be confused, well as long as you pay attention and aren’t an idiot.
9. The Dark Knight
Now this is one of my favourite films. I readily admit that the 8 films above it are better, but if you gave me the choice of which to watch, I’d choose The Dark Knight. The Batman films are a bit patchy to say the least, starting very camp in the 60s, going dark and really weird with Tim Burton, then family friendly, then Batman and Robin, the worst superhero movie this side of Green Lantern, however the funniest superhero comedy ever. Except for the fact it’s not meant to be a comedy. So Bats went away for a few years and then came back in 2005 with Batman Begins. It was a good film, but as an origins story it got bogged down in setting everything up and didn’t really get going properly. However it set everything up right for the sequel. We knew who everyone was, and how they got on, so there wasn’t any wasting time. It brought back all the old favourites, learnt from the mistakes of the last film and brought in two of the greatest Batman villains, Harvey Dent/Two-Face and the one and only, the Joker. Everyone is at the top of their game, especially the late Heath Ledger, giving the performance of his career, the stakes are raised, and everything is just bigger and better than any Batman film had been before. This is the film that showed that comic book movies didn’t have to be stupid or looked down on, and could in fact be masterpieces. My only problem with it is that it’s set the bar so high for the last in Nolan’s Batman trilogy and that The Dark Knight Rises will become this generation’s Return of the Jedi, still good, but not the conclusion we were hoping for.
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
We’ve got a slower, more psychological film here at number 8. This film is really disturbing. I can really think of what genre it belongs to. It’s the story of a man in jail who pretends to be insane to get into a mental asylum because he thinks he’ll get out quicker. But instead he’s trapped with a group of crazy people all presided over by the callous Nurse Ratchet. Sometimes it’s a happy film, with the inmates escaping and having fun on a boat, but other times, well let’s just say that this has some of the darkest moments ever put on film. This is Jack Nicholson at his finest. There’s not much more to say than this is one of the smartest, darkest and thought provoking films ever made and you should definitely give it a watch if you haven’t already seen it.
7. Schindler’s List
This is just wow. I really have nothing to say about this film. At the time it might seem like a strange choice to give a serious film about the Holocaust to a man who’d previously only directed action and scary movies. Well made action and scary movies, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Jaws, but still nothing quite like this. But really Steven Spielberg must have been really passionate about this film and it shows, it is a masterpiece. I like to make jokes about films or tell my stories about them, but really Schindler’s List stands on its own. I don’t really have any good stories about it, there’s no time to go into an in-depth analysis of why it works and it would be in poor taste to make jokes. So yeh, it’s breathtaking and unbelievably moving and that’s all I have to say about it.
6. 12 Angry Men
This is probably the least generally watched of the top ten. Now whether it’s because the film’s old or obscure, or that not a lot actually happens, I don’t know. What I do know is that considering how well known the others are compared to it, it’s a surprise this is so high up. Until that is, you watch it. To be honest if as many people had seen this as had seen Shawshank then I think it could’ve been the top film. It really is that good. The film shows a set of jurors who are all sure of the guilt of the accused man, except for one who isn’t sure. He keeps questioning the reasons behind why they believe the man is guilty and disproves them one by one and begins to persuade the other jurors who were so sure, that maybe they were wrong. It’s a very psychological film, which the entirety of the action set in one room while we see the workings of the men’s minds. It’s very intriguing and far more interesting than you would expect after hearing the plot. Well made, well acted, and just great all round, this film should be far more popular than it is, but when you say black and courtroom psychological drama from 1957 all set in one room with 12 characters without names just numbers, it puts a lot of people off. It shouldn’t though, give it a watch.
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