When you can’t find it on Google.

My IMDb votes explained

You may have noticed my Internet Movie Database (IMDb) lists on my About page or frequent appearances on my FriendFeed. I’ve been adding movies to IMDb for a long time (I currently have 1501 of them); while the website usability hasn’t improved much in its near-20-year lifetime, IMDb has been a handy free database. I’m often criticized for my 1 to 10 rating of films, so maybe this rundown will clue you in to why I rate movies the way I do. I add notes to some of my ratings, too, which you can read on my Seen list.

Coming soon
Balls of Fury

10 – Must see for anyone. Rarely do I want to see movies more than once, but I can watch these at least 2 or 3 times.

9 – Great movie, although not an all-time-favorite. I would give most documentaries a 10, but few people appreciate a good piece of history on film like I do.

8 – Anyone who appreciates well-written film should see this. It’s debatable whether or not Blockbusters fit into that category, but I generally give them an 8 if they have good entertainment value and are worth the overpriced theater ticket.

7 – Maybe if I was really drunk and could be distracted with sex would I sit through this whole film.

6 – I’m sure a lot of people like it, but I didn’t really find it worth my time.

5 – Only in the right place at the right time with the right crowd is this film worth seeing.

4 – The only good parts are in the previews. Or just research it on the Internet if it seems like an interesting topic.

3 – It would be a challenge to find something to rate less than a 4. If someone was willing to devote time to produce a video, it’s got to have a niche somehow. I just checked my voting history and I’ve never rated anything less than a 4.

I’ve seen some great films and shows lately. Notably, We Shall Remain is yet another excellent PBS series that you can watch online. Official synopsis:

At the heart of the project is a five-part television series that shows how Native peoples valiantly resisted expulsion from their lands and fought the extinction of their culture — from the Wampanoags of New England in the 1600s who used their alliance with the English to weaken rival tribes, to the bold new leaders of the 1970s who harnessed the momentum of the civil rights movement to forge a pan-Indian identity. WE SHALL REMAIN represents an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers and involves Native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project.

If you’re into RSS, you can subscribe to any IMDb list by replacing www. in the URL with rss. (e.g. My vote history is http://rss.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=1049223). If you’ve never used the IMDb Power Search, it’s quite handy, too. Check out all the filters:

IMDb Power Search


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Comments

4 responses to “My IMDb votes explained”

  1. robby Avatar

    that’s good to know about your system. your 7 would be my 5.

  2. robby Avatar

    that’s good to know about your system. your 7 would be my 5.

    1. J. J. Avatar

      Yeah, I’m pretty lenient (see #3).

  3. J. J. Avatar

    Yeah, I’m pretty lenient (see #3).