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IMDb

  • 03-02-2012 10:26pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 5,377 ✭✭✭Warper


    I used to respect IMDb for movie reviews until I saw they had Source Code at 7.5. Wow, that is one bad movie. Do people rate IMDb? They are gone off my radar after that.


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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 8,207 ✭✭✭The King of Moo


    It depends what you use it for.

    I personally don't even look at the ratings as they're pooled from user votes so you're getting an average from lots of different points of view.
    I prefer to use more specialised news/review websites I know and trust to find out if a film'll be good.

    As a source of information and useless trivia however, it's fantastic.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,667 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    I visit IMDb several times a day. I couldn't live without it. I also like many of the new features they've added in recent years, like the Watchlist. And the user-created lists are pretty good for getting recommendations.

    I do rate most films as I see them. It's a handy way of keeping track of all the films I watch throughout the year.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭DjFlin


    I generally go by my own reaction to a film. Not all that interested in whether or not I should like it because a website told me to.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,875 ✭✭✭Irish Aris


    yeap, I also find it a very useful database, lots of information in there.

    The ratings are not to be taken for granted all the time, but usually when a film has a really high/low rating from many users, it could be a sign that the film is good/bad.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    If I'm looking for something to watch and come across a movie I don't know much about then I will usually check it on IMDB to see what kind of rating it has. If a movie has a lot of ratings (10-20k plus) then imo the rating it has is generally a good indicator of how good the movie is. If it only has a couple of thousand votes then I wouldn't really pay attention to that rating.

    Put it this way, I'm bored, wanna watch a movie and come across one I think sounds interesting, if it turns out to have a 5/10 rating on IMDB with 10k votes, chances are I'm gonna give it a miss.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,940 ✭✭✭Corkfeen


    I generally check Rotten Tomatoes to get an overall idea of if a film is any good. This can show rather skewed figures too but I find it to be a bit more accurate. By the way, I thought Source Code was a rather good film. :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 545 ✭✭✭WatchWolf


    You'll be really pissed off when you see what Rotten Tomatoes gave it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 42 Precious1


    I visit IMDB frequently and do give some credence to the ratings, taking into account how many viewers voted on it, and how many user reviews and critics reviews there are. Good stuff often just jumps out and I just glean over the description for fear of spoilers. Getting a quick overview in the New York Times movie section also sometimes alerts me to stuff. Got good heads up on Driver, Melancholia, Bellflower, and Driver, among others, that way. After I've watched a flick I really dig, I love going back then and reading user reviews in IMDB, and more in detail in the New York Times. and Rotten Tomatoes is good too. :]


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,551 ✭✭✭Goldstein


    Always have to remind myself not to even look at the comments - it's almost as bad as youtube. I've had a couple of movies spoiled by happening to glance at the titles of some of them. "Please explain the twist at the end". AHH YOU ****ERS!!! *Spends entire movie subconsciously predicting the twist*

    I'd love if you could filter the raters. Say, exclude votes from people under 18 (Just an example) or include/exclude ratings from various geographical areas - e.g. Let the right one in is an 8.0 overall but let's see what only the Swedes thought of it.

    You could do it site wide or for a particular film whose page you happen to be viewing. Similar sidebar to carzone would do it with sliders and a simple bar chart showing the distribution of each criterion. A rating curve would also be useful in that it tells you a lot more than a single number can (Similar to Amazon but more graduated). Knowing the distribution gives a lot more insight - there's a big difference between a divisive 6.5 and a unanimous 6.5.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,533 ✭✭✭don ramo


    Goldstein wrote: »
    Always have to remind myself not to even look at the comments - it's almost as bad as youtube. I've had a couple of movies spoiled by happening to glance at the titles of some of them. "Please explain the twist at the end". AHH YOU ****ERS!!! *Spends entire movie subconsciously predicting the twist*

    I'd love if you could filter the raters. Say, exclude votes from people under 18 (Just an example) or include/exclude ratings from various geographical areas - e.g. Let the right one in is an 8.0 overall but let's see what only the Swedes thought of it.

    You could do it site wide or for a particular film whose page you happen to be viewing. Similar sidebar to carzone would do it with sliders and a simple bar chart showing the distribution of each criterion. A rating curve would also be useful in that it tells you a lot more than a single number can (Similar to Amazon but more graduated). Knowing the distribution gives a lot more insight - there's a big difference between a divisive 6.5 and a unanimous 6.5.
    click on the amount of votes and it give you a break down,
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0945513/ratings

    also Amazon own IMDB


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 29,031 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    IMDB is a place to go to for facts rather than opinions. Better used for trying to find out who the cinematographer on *insert film here* was, what films *insert name here* key gripped on or how much *insert film here* cost to make (always find that fascinating).

    The more mainstream a film is, the less you can trust the IMDB populace and their ratings / opinions. Really is full of some obnoxious, infuriating people. Like here, really :p


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,533 ✭✭✭don ramo


    IMDB is a place to go to for facts rather than opinions. Better used for trying to find out who the cinematographer on *insert film here* was, what films *insert name here* key gripped on or how much *insert film here* cost to make (always find that fascinating).

    The more mainstream a film is, the less you can trust the IMDB populace and their ratings / opinions. Really is full of some obnoxious, infuriating people. Like here, really :p
    ah johnny this is a safe haven compared to that rough ocean:D
    ,


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,551 ✭✭✭Goldstein


    don ramo wrote: »
    click on the amount of votes and it give you a break down,
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0945513/ratings

    Cool, can't believe I didn't see that before, very handy.


  • Registered Users Posts: 330 ✭✭davestar


    Warper wrote: »
    I used to respect IMDb for movie reviews until I saw they had Source Code at 7.5. Wow, that is one bad movie. Do people rate IMDb? They are gone off my radar after that.


    First of all I'd like to say that I very much agree with you. Source Code is overrated. However, in certain cases like this one, these are usually films which has got only a few votes, for example an obscure film having a group of friends as its fanbase, who decide to rate it 10. Or perhaps those who were seduced by the films' 'Blockbuster status'. For example, The Shawshank Redemption, a great movie, has a rating of 9.2, as voted by 706, 207 users. Source code, scoring 7.5, as voted by only 125, 734 voters.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,533 ✭✭✭don ramo


    davestar wrote: »
    First of all I'd like to say that I very much agree with you. Source Code is overrated. However, in certain cases like this one, these are usually films which has got only a few votes, for example an obscure film having a group of friends as its fanbase, who decide to rate it 10. Or perhaps those who were seduced by the films' 'Blockbuster status'. For example, The Shawshank Redemption, a great movie, has a rating of 9.2, as voted by 706, 207 users. Source code, scoring 7.5, as voted by only 125, 734 voters.
    quick count 126 of the top 250 films have less than 125,000 votes,

    no rating system in the world can count for one persons particular taste, i dont like the godfather films, yet there highly accliamed and are hughly popular and fair play to them, but i myself dont see the appeal, seen them once years ago didnt think they were anything special,

    ratings are only a guide for you and others, they reflect how much a film is liked across a broad range people,


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,341 ✭✭✭S.M.B.


    I find their scores to be quite accurate although I obviously don't always agree with them.

    I've yet to see Source Code but this is a film that got quite a poor reaction from general cinema goers but the critics seemed to like it (and some like it a lot).

    A score of 7.5 reflects this critical enthusiasm.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 323 ✭✭Underdraft


    Warper wrote: »
    I used to respect IMDb for movie reviews until I saw they had Source Code at 7.5. Wow, that is one bad movie. Do people rate IMDb? They are gone off my radar after that.

    I love IMDB (the site). With regard to the scores I will defo use the low-end values as source of information (eg if a film has less than 6 I'll take that on board and will probably influence my decision to avoid it). However just on the other end just because a movie (esp a new movie) has a high score that won't in any way influence my decision to watch it.


  • Posts: 15,814 ✭✭✭✭ Karson Mushy Shortcake


    imdb is the greatest tool a film fan can have. Can't count the number of times while watching a film I've stared at a member of the cast thinking to myself, I know him from something. 30 seconds in imdb and I have my answer. That you can click on a name and get a near complete list of every film someone was involved ir find out what that song was, etc makes it invaluable.

    Like all good things it does have its draw backs. The message boards are like the wet dream of somewhat racist 13 year old anarchist with an IQ barely into double figures. It's as bad as YouTube and is best avoided. The film ratings are hard to take seriously at times, more so in the past where people could vote on films still in production. Meant that each Uwe Boll film would have a couple thousand ratings of 1 the week it was announced while the new Batman would have thousands of 10 rating three years before it opened. Theyve changed that now but it dies mean that many ratings are still ridicolous.

    I would like to see them place more emphasis on updating small aspects such as soundtrack listings, especially for TV shows.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,255 ✭✭✭Renn


    Find IMDB is pretty great for the amount of info that's contained in the forums etc. Obviously has some rubbish users, like every forum out there, but well worth having a look at. Layout of the forums sucks so I'd like to see them improve that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    As others have said, as a resource for finding out obscure tidbits IMDb has no equal. Just take the ratings with a pinch of salt and beware of the trolls in the forums.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,898 ✭✭✭✭seanybiker


    DjFlin wrote: »
    I generally go by my own reaction to a film. Not all that interested in whether or not I should like it because a website told me to.
    Same as meself. Reviews and ratings from someone else no matter if its a normal Joe soap IMDB user or a paid critic doesn't appeal to me at all. I watch the film and make up my own mind. Don't need to be told what to like and not like.

    Don't see why op would lose respect for the site just because other people thought a film was good and he didn't.


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,976 ✭✭✭✭humanji


    The only rating on IMDB that's worth anything is the one for Spinal Tap, which goes up to 11.

    But for everything else it's a great site, particularly, as said above, for when you can't remember where you saw a certain actor before. I had a Pro subscription for a while and it was fantastic is you've money to spare and are obsessed with movies. I could spend hours trawling through the lists of upcoming movies.


  • Registered Users Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    What else does pro membership entitle you to?


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,314 ✭✭✭sink


    Galvasean wrote: »
    What else does pro membership entitle you to?

    It's designed for industry professionals, it allows you to view contact and agent information and allows you to upload your own.


  • Registered Users Posts: 19,976 ✭✭✭✭humanji


    As Sink says, it's aimed at the industry. And you can see the full details of upcoming films (if you don't have pro, it just tells you the info is not available). There's a two week free trial if you want to have a gander.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 16,287 Mod ✭✭✭✭quickbeam


    humanji wrote: »
    The only rating on IMDB that's worth anything is the one for Spinal Tap, which goes up to 11.

    Ha!! That's hillarious, I never noticed that before :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 829 ✭✭✭OldeCinemaSoz


    I love IMBd. I love a good laugh. :)

    Straight after watching a film on the laptop
    I head there to catch up on the boards. It's
    a great place there. Such comments...such
    insightfulness...such memories...

    :D

    You couldn't make some of that stuff up what's
    posted on there. Legendary!

    :cool:


  • Site Banned Posts: 1,856 ✭✭✭paddy kerins


    I love IMBd. I love a good laugh. :)

    Straight after watching a film on the laptop
    I head there to catch up on the boards. It's
    a great place there. Such comments...such
    insightfulness...such memories...

    :D

    You couldn't make some of that stuff up what's
    posted on there. Legendary!

    :cool:

    The boards on American Psycho are gas. Just people quoting every line from the film. It's even funnier when there's someone new there who hasn't a clue what's going on


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,439 ✭✭✭Skinfull


    I love IMDB for facts, trivia cast and crew info but the ratings are ****e and the boards are hilarious! Mind you I don't really take any ratings from any site into account when deciding whether to go see a movie or not.
    The IMDB app on the iPad is one of my favourite apps! The trailer queue especially and now it also has metacritic ratings and parental info so you can scope out a movie before taking your kids to it.


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,667 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    Yeah the iOS app is excellent. Better than the website for casual browsing.


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