Film critics vs fans
Which are the better guide to great films?
The quest for a good guide to great films continues. This time I turn to film fans and see how their preferences compare with the critics’.
For fan ratings, I looked at IMDB’s Top Rated Movies. Number one is The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which over 2.1 million fans have rated, with an average of 9.3 out of 10. I don’t get the passion a lot of folk have for this film. I guess redemption hits the spot for many people. (What are your views on The Shawshank Redemption? Leave a comment.) The one-hundredth entry on the fan list is Amelie (2001) with over 400,000 ratings and an average of 8.2. Let’s compare the top twenties. Here is the IMDB list. (The full IMDB top 100 is at the end of this story.)
This is an interesting list. There are some bona fide classics like 12 Angry Men (1957), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Seven Samurai (1954) but the list tilts heavily towards 21st century sci-fi and fantasy, with Dark Knight (2008), 3 x LoTR (2001, 2002, 2003), Joker (2019), Inception (2010), Star Wars (1980) and The Matrix (1999). And no Hitchcock!
For the critics I’ll use the reweighted Rotton Tomatoes from my previous story.
