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Three films (all from India or Turkey) entered the Top 250 Movies list simultaneously, a day or two ago. Two of these films have been on the list before but had subsequently been removed. I just wonder whether this sudden appearance is due to some kind of glitch.
Posted 4 years ago
i swear to god that this list is hacked this film Drishyam (2015) in the last 2 days he apper and disappear more like 10 times it's like someone taken him off the list and someone is put it back in
That's exactly what I was going to post. Something called Drishyam is getting in and out of the list. Meanwhile, the excellent The Revenant is appearing and disappearing from the 250th spot.
Col Needham designs softwares for the site. That's what I was talking about. They're technicians, not movie lovers. They trust in their softwares, not in reason. Yesterday, in another post, it was difficult for me to convince Needham that the advanced title search software has issues. Now, imagine if they're going to be convinced that are indian and turkish hackers overrating movies on the site. They will die with the certainty that the site is unbreakable. Unfortunately, the site will die too. Once again: please, think. Take off those undeserving movies of the Top 250. Think like a MOVIE site. Don't let your softwares full of flaws do all the job.
Col Needham, Official Rep
Col Needham designs softwares for the site.No, not quite http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1000000/ -- I guess watching (and rating) over 10,000 movies is just not enough to qualify me as a movie-lover these days :-)
Once again the FAQ at http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?votestopfaq covers all that we are willing to discuss on the voting process,
How this movie had only 10/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5813916/ratings?ref_=tt_ov_rt Why you dont investigate this , seems normal to you ?!
Falling back on an obviously outdated FAQ instead of acknowledging the giant elephant in the room, even after it has been pointed out by so many people, is incredibly unsatisfying for those that care about the integrity of the Top250. :(
It is not only on top 250 that the indian/turkish hackers are ruining IMDb. Out of curiosity, I used the advanced title search to find out which are the best movies of the decade so far, with 5000 votes or more. Here are the results that are turning IMDb into a mess. Looking to the results, one might think that India and Turkey are by far the best countries for movies in the whole world. Stop this, please. It simply is no fun anymore to search for good movies on the site:
1. The Mountain II (Turkey) - 10.0 (56,571 votes) REALLY???
2. Aynabaji (Bangladesh) - 9.7 (14,026 votes)
3. Dear Zindagi (India) - 9.3 (5,872 votes)
4. Your Name (Japan) - 8.9 (7,473 votes)
5. Drishyam (India) - 8.9 (10,658 votes)
6. RangiTaranga (India) - 8.9 (9,306 votes)
7. Inception (USA/UK) - 8.8 (1,507,741 votes)
8. MSG the Warrior: Lion Heart (India) - 8.7 (6,077 votes)
9. Thani Oruvan (India) - 8.7 (6.936 votes)
Serious, IMDb. Do you guys REALLY think that there is nothing wrong?
1. The Mountain II (Turkey) - 10.0 (56,571 votes) REALLY???
2. Aynabaji (Bangladesh) - 9.7 (14,026 votes)
3. Dear Zindagi (India) - 9.3 (5,872 votes)
4. Your Name (Japan) - 8.9 (7,473 votes)
5. Drishyam (India) - 8.9 (10,658 votes)
6. RangiTaranga (India) - 8.9 (9,306 votes)
7. Inception (USA/UK) - 8.8 (1,507,741 votes)
8. MSG the Warrior: Lion Heart (India) - 8.7 (6,077 votes)
9. Thani Oruvan (India) - 8.7 (6.936 votes)
Serious, IMDb. Do you guys REALLY think that there is nothing wrong?
(Edited)
''Read the FAQ , there will find all answers in the world !'' India best world movies maker of all time ...
Every six hours, a thing called Drishyam, currently around the 164 spot on top 250, gets in and out of the list. But, for the guys at IMDb, there's nothing wrong with their ratings system. It is amazing.
Col Needham, Official Rep
Thanks for the problem report. We have opened a ticket with the appropriate team.
Thanks. And what about The Mountain II, the incredible movie that doesn't have even an article on Wikipedia, but still have an 10.0 rating with 57775 votes? According to IMDb the two greatest movies ever with more than 25000 votes, are turkish. Somewhere there's a turkish hacker smiling. :-)
Here's a start, increase the minimum number of votes needed to enter the Top 250 from 25,000 to 100,000. This way you can eliminate the lesser known movies that are infuriating everyone while maintaining a balanced list of movies from different countries.
Yes but then some truly great films like Bicycle Thieves and Tokyo Story would disappear whilst films like 3 Idiots (with over 200000 votes) remain on the list. It wouldn't be long until these Indian and Turkish films received enough votes as well.
(Edited)
No way. There are really great movies that are far from 25000 yet. With a minimum of 100000, we would have a top 250 dominated by recent american blockbusters. The IMDb staff only have to admit that there are distortions and work to eliminate these distortions.
That's true. Maybe 50,000 ratings then. Anything to start weeding out the random movies on the list.
This is so not a solution. Even now, truly great films like tarkovsky's andrei rublev or the mirror are not eligible for top 250.
It would be interesting to hear the rationale for leaving these films in the Top 250. There must be something more than 'see the formula' from Col Needham.
If the formula currently allows these films to exist within the Top 250, what function does the 'Indian Top 250' serve?
And because the Indian Top 250 still exists, logic suggests this is an either/or problem. Either they are moved into the Indian Top 250, or all films which meet the formula criteria are allowed back into the standard Top 250?
If the formula currently allows these films to exist within the Top 250, what function does the 'Indian Top 250' serve?
And because the Indian Top 250 still exists, logic suggests this is an either/or problem. Either they are moved into the Indian Top 250, or all films which meet the formula criteria are allowed back into the standard Top 250?
The problem with the so called ratings formula is that it's secret and proprietary. IMDb and their admins aren't going to disclose how it effects or (in this case) doesn't effect the flooding of voting for a given movie and how it ultimately averages out after being calculated.
There is nothing wrong with legitimate Indian, Bengalese, whatever movies from entering the Top 250. IMDb needs to apply the same proprietary due diligence (in terms of routing out illicit voter fraud and bots) as they are supposedly known to do in the past with other movies that get their respective ratings gamed by a few rotten apples.
And nor should they disclose the ratings formula. That would likely lead to further gaming of the system (and it allows discretionary measures to be taken when required).
However, if it is applied equally to all films regardless of country of origin, why bother having a separate list for Indian films?
However, if it is applied equally to all films regardless of country of origin, why bother having a separate list for Indian films?
Seems like they are trying to just wait this one out
Pathetic, really.
Pathetic, really.
I currently have 12 unseen movies in the Top 250 and only one in English 'Hacksaw Ridge'. Apart from 'Gangs of Wasseypur' I have absolutely no willpower to sit through any of the others.
I guess it is difficult to solve because some of those films are not Indian, they are Turkish. They wouldn't be included in the Indian Top250 anyway, so they end up in the regular Top 250 because there is no 'Turkish Top 250'.
So what is iMDB to do? Create separate lists for all the large countries with the capacity to skew the rankings? What happens if China ever gains access to the open internet?
The solution can't be to create a new list every time, but the solution is also not 'the formula works' as Col Needham has expressed. Clearly it doesn't in the globalised world of 2016.
The other fact is that the formula seems to be different for the Indian Top 250 than the regular Top 250. Otherwise, shouldn't the 1-12 Top Indian Films be the ones that have migrated over to the regular Top 250?
The main issue with the Indian films is that the country is so massive that rigging the votes is probable. So should't the minimum votes needed be higher, not lower? Drishyam, Anand, Nayakan all have around 10,000 votes but are in the Indian Top 250 Top 10?
So now it seems they have two distinct formulae, neither of which is achieving the desired outcome.
Within the regular Top 250, having some Indian films is not the issue. The issues are over-representation and insecure rankings.
I didn't mind 3 Idiots at 103, but is that really the best Indian film? Not according to the Indian Top 250.
So what is iMDB to do? Create separate lists for all the large countries with the capacity to skew the rankings? What happens if China ever gains access to the open internet?
The solution can't be to create a new list every time, but the solution is also not 'the formula works' as Col Needham has expressed. Clearly it doesn't in the globalised world of 2016.
The other fact is that the formula seems to be different for the Indian Top 250 than the regular Top 250. Otherwise, shouldn't the 1-12 Top Indian Films be the ones that have migrated over to the regular Top 250?
The main issue with the Indian films is that the country is so massive that rigging the votes is probable. So should't the minimum votes needed be higher, not lower? Drishyam, Anand, Nayakan all have around 10,000 votes but are in the Indian Top 250 Top 10?
So now it seems they have two distinct formulae, neither of which is achieving the desired outcome.
Within the regular Top 250, having some Indian films is not the issue. The issues are over-representation and insecure rankings.
I didn't mind 3 Idiots at 103, but is that really the best Indian film? Not according to the Indian Top 250.
(Edited)
This has nothing to do with whether there is an Indian Top 250 or a Turkish Top 250 or not. There is no need to come up with some contrived solution to the problem, IMDb should just remove all these films and put the issue to rest; this was what they used to do and it meant the Top 250 had some integrity, some meaning.
The problem lies with any film that has been subjected to ballot stuffing, so it doesn't matter if only 2 are Turkish and 10 are Indian. I don't mind if deserving films from these countries enter the list but the films in question have been voted on by a very specific demographic with extreme bias. IMDb used to have a pragmatic and effective policy on this issue; now they have done a complete U-turn without offering any explanation why.
Once more people rate these films, their ratings will drop. Many have already dropped several places (notably Andaz Apna Apna has gone down 34 places), so it is only a matter of time before the problem is solved, but by users rather than IMDb...
The problem lies with any film that has been subjected to ballot stuffing, so it doesn't matter if only 2 are Turkish and 10 are Indian. I don't mind if deserving films from these countries enter the list but the films in question have been voted on by a very specific demographic with extreme bias. IMDb used to have a pragmatic and effective policy on this issue; now they have done a complete U-turn without offering any explanation why.
Once more people rate these films, their ratings will drop. Many have already dropped several places (notably Andaz Apna Apna has gone down 34 places), so it is only a matter of time before the problem is solved, but by users rather than IMDb...
'Integrity' and 'Top 250' seems incongruous when your solution is to remove all films from one of the biggest film-producing nations regardless of their merit. I assume this is why the Indian list exists. But as a short term measure your point is valid.
I agree the rating system is broken and subject to ballot stuffing, but it shouldn't be up to users to down-vote a subset of films to achieve a reasonable outcome.
I agree the rating system is broken and subject to ballot stuffing, but it shouldn't be up to users to down-vote a subset of films to achieve a reasonable outcome.
Here's a point that I don't think has been brought up yet (or addressed here. If addressed elsewhere please point it to me so I can reference...).
What about the supposed top 1000 IMDb voters distinction? Does that still exist? Aren't their votes weighed more than voters who aren't members of said hierarchy? Don't you need their voting weight to give new movies the necessary edge in the Top 250 list? Was that an ongoing actual practice or mere rumor or something in between?
If it's something that was discontinued then why? It seemed a decent redundancy against rating stuffing/fraud. Can we have some transparency on who and how that Top 1000 (or whatever it is now)?
One thing is for certain, none of the contested new Asian movies have been rated by the established Top 1000 voters (en masse).
What about the supposed top 1000 IMDb voters distinction? Does that still exist? Aren't their votes weighed more than voters who aren't members of said hierarchy? Don't you need their voting weight to give new movies the necessary edge in the Top 250 list? Was that an ongoing actual practice or mere rumor or something in between?
If it's something that was discontinued then why? It seemed a decent redundancy against rating stuffing/fraud. Can we have some transparency on who and how that Top 1000 (or whatever it is now)?
One thing is for certain, none of the contested new Asian movies have been rated by the established Top 1000 voters (en masse).
I HAVE THE SOLUTION (Message to IMDb Editors)
The trick isn't to snub foreign movies but to keep foreign movies that have objectively met with international acclaim or popularity, international is the key word (and it also applies to US movies)
The problem is that you can make all the requirements you want for the Top 250 eligibility (a certain number of US voters, votes from the Top 1000 etc.) you won't prevent hackers to create fake accounts or hack these films' way to the Top 250. You must find criteria that can't be affected by the votes from IMDb members, so forget about the votes and statistics, think about one simple and quickly identifiable parameter:
```````AWARDS & FILM FESTIVALS````````
It's as simple as that, if it's a foreign film with ONE nomination to an international, famous, if not prestigious, award (Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Golden Palm etc.) you keep it, if there are only festivals from the country the film belongs to, or even the region (Bombay International Film Festival, Filmfare, Asia Pacific etc.), you take it out. This is not just against Indian movies, even a French film that would only be nominated to the Césars wouldn't be eligible.
It's fair and square, and I checked, most of these incongruous presences would instantly disappear and be NEVER eligible. This is not a commentary about the quality of these films, but it really makes the Top 250 reward demographics rather than quality, it's like Morocco, Columbia or Hungary will always be screwed because no matter how popular one of their films are, there are less Hungarians, Columbians or Moroccans put together than Indians.
And with this new criteria, the other foreign movies (Rashomon, A Separation, Bicycle Thieves...) won't be affected and you'll have real Indian masterpieces like Lagaan, Salaam Bombay, The Apu Trilogy or Mother India as potential entries in IMDb Top 250.
The trick isn't to snub foreign movies but to keep foreign movies that have objectively met with international acclaim or popularity, international is the key word (and it also applies to US movies)
The problem is that you can make all the requirements you want for the Top 250 eligibility (a certain number of US voters, votes from the Top 1000 etc.) you won't prevent hackers to create fake accounts or hack these films' way to the Top 250. You must find criteria that can't be affected by the votes from IMDb members, so forget about the votes and statistics, think about one simple and quickly identifiable parameter:
```````AWARDS & FILM FESTIVALS````````
It's as simple as that, if it's a foreign film with ONE nomination to an international, famous, if not prestigious, award (Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Golden Palm etc.) you keep it, if there are only festivals from the country the film belongs to, or even the region (Bombay International Film Festival, Filmfare, Asia Pacific etc.), you take it out. This is not just against Indian movies, even a French film that would only be nominated to the Césars wouldn't be eligible.
It's fair and square, and I checked, most of these incongruous presences would instantly disappear and be NEVER eligible. This is not a commentary about the quality of these films, but it really makes the Top 250 reward demographics rather than quality, it's like Morocco, Columbia or Hungary will always be screwed because no matter how popular one of their films are, there are less Hungarians, Columbians or Moroccans put together than Indians.
And with this new criteria, the other foreign movies (Rashomon, A Separation, Bicycle Thieves...) won't be affected and you'll have real Indian masterpieces like Lagaan, Salaam Bombay, The Apu Trilogy or Mother India as potential entries in IMDb Top 250.
(Edited)
Yeah, but there will always be the problem with the great movies which were not properly recognized on its time. A lot of these movies grew up to be classics. And, of course, there are the good blockbusters, which usually don't make it to the prestigious prizes. I still think that this is a simple matter of good sense. It's more simple than it looks.
I've checked all the Top 250 foreign movies apart from the controversial ones:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Laurel Awards, OFTA Hall of Fame
Intouchables: Golden Globes
City of God, Cinema Paradisio, Rashomon, A Separation, The Hunt, Yojinbo, Children of Heaven, Ran, Wild Strawberries, Downfall, The Message, Amelie, Amores Perros: Oscars and many others
Princess Mononeke: Academy Sci-fi/H/F, Annie, Sattelite Awards...
My Neighbor Totora: Academy Sci-fi/H/F
The 7th Seal, Stalker, La Haine: Cannes Festival,
Grave of the Fireflies: Chicago International Children Film Festival
M, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Metropolis: NBR, OFTA
Diaboliques: NBR
Ikiru, Persona: BAFTA
Every foreign movie was nominated for at least ONE award outside the original country and region, and the vast majority were either Oscars/Globes/Bafta/ Cannes awards. They were all internationally recognized in a way or another, even a National Board of Review's nomination for Best Foreign film would count.
I'm not saying it's an infallible method, but right now, I can't think of a great foreign film that would be likely to be snubbed by using this method, even the pre-Oscar classics got late nominations for their DVD. Seriously, if there were 2 or 3, they would only be collateral damages, a very small price to pay for the Top 250's credibility.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Laurel Awards, OFTA Hall of Fame
Intouchables: Golden Globes
City of God, Cinema Paradisio, Rashomon, A Separation, The Hunt, Yojinbo, Children of Heaven, Ran, Wild Strawberries, Downfall, The Message, Amelie, Amores Perros: Oscars and many others
Princess Mononeke: Academy Sci-fi/H/F, Annie, Sattelite Awards...
My Neighbor Totora: Academy Sci-fi/H/F
The 7th Seal, Stalker, La Haine: Cannes Festival,
Grave of the Fireflies: Chicago International Children Film Festival
M, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Metropolis: NBR, OFTA
Diaboliques: NBR
Ikiru, Persona: BAFTA
Every foreign movie was nominated for at least ONE award outside the original country and region, and the vast majority were either Oscars/Globes/Bafta/ Cannes awards. They were all internationally recognized in a way or another, even a National Board of Review's nomination for Best Foreign film would count.
great movies which were not properly recognized on its time. A lot of these movies grew up to be classics.There's such a film: Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows, released in the US in 2006 and it made the Top 10 Best Films. Well, according to IMDb, the film won Special Awards from the L.A., NY Film Critics Associations and National Society of Film Critics Awards, so, it is perfectly eligible. There's no recognition that isn't shown by a special award or nomination, no matter how late it comes.
of course, there are the good blockbusters, which usually don't make it to the prestigious prizes.The "good" blockbusters are generally American so it's not the same issue, and even then, if they're good enough, they'll get Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects or Sound Editing, or at least, they'll be nominated for the Academy of Sci-fi/Horror/Fantasy awards.
I'm not saying it's an infallible method, but right now, I can't think of a great foreign film that would be likely to be snubbed by using this method, even the pre-Oscar classics got late nominations for their DVD. Seriously, if there were 2 or 3, they would only be collateral damages, a very small price to pay for the Top 250's credibility.
(Edited)
I don't agree with you. IMDB is about PEOPLE's choice, not critics choice (for that you have Metacritic score) or award's choice. I think it would be easier if they just made a limit to let's say MAX 30% votes that count on IMDB top 250 can come from the country it was made in. In that case you really get an international value of the film.
You don't exclude people's choices but you just regulate them by using one objective parameter of quality.
If the majority gives a low rating to a film with countless awards' nomination, the film won't be in the Top 250 but if they give a high rating to a film with just one nomination, it works so the 'Vox Populi' has the advantage, you just avoid any abuse from it.
Your idea is good but it won't prevent hackers to create fake accounts and pretend they are from the US. In the long term, I'm not sure it works.
If the majority gives a low rating to a film with countless awards' nomination, the film won't be in the Top 250 but if they give a high rating to a film with just one nomination, it works so the 'Vox Populi' has the advantage, you just avoid any abuse from it.
Your idea is good but it won't prevent hackers to create fake accounts and pretend they are from the US. In the long term, I'm not sure it works.
Have to agree with Matej Kemperle, this idea gives too much weight to critics (and also studios/producers who campaign for their films with large promotional money which other films cannot). iMDB is unique because it is (allegedly) the peoples vote.
How about: The formula for ratings is equally applied to all films, regardless of country of origin, so you create an apples-to-apples voting system.
Then, you only accept Indian films which have international critical recognition such as awards etc. All other Indian films are free to populate the Indian Top 250.
To ensure fairness, a quota is used to limit foreign language films within the Top 250. For example, If the native language in country A is not English, a maximum of 10 films can be included from country A in the Top 250?
How about: The formula for ratings is equally applied to all films, regardless of country of origin, so you create an apples-to-apples voting system.
Then, you only accept Indian films which have international critical recognition such as awards etc. All other Indian films are free to populate the Indian Top 250.
To ensure fairness, a quota is used to limit foreign language films within the Top 250. For example, If the native language in country A is not English, a maximum of 10 films can be included from country A in the Top 250?
(Edited)
To ensure fairness, a quota is used to limit foreign language films within the Top 250.
Are you saying this is actual practice here in IMDb? Can you cite your source? Or are you suggesting we have a quota? That would be pretty absurd.
BTW: The B in IMDb is lowercase because Database is one word, (hence the capital D). It isn't a lower case I in IMDb because IMDb isn't owned and trademarked by Apple Inc.
(Edited)
Just spitballing with the other interested users here Stephen, which unfortunately, when you examine the current IMDb Top 250, is more than appears to be happening at IMDb istelf. Though Aaron's comment below is promising.
I don't think it's a good idea to limit the entries from any one country. If there are more than the given number of movies deemed worthy by the voters to be in the Top250, then they should be able to enter without constraints.
Marlon, you seem to have pirouetted from you position in previous comments? Are you now satisfied with allowing these specific 11 films in the Top 250?
(Edited)
To conclude that my comment in any way contradicts my position on the current Top250 shows a severe lack of reading comprehension.
I don't want any subpar movies in the list that only got there via exploits. I want the IMDb staff to finally get of their behinds and do something about the situation.
But limiting the number of movies from a given country is a bad idea. What if there are 15 movies from France or South Korea that would be good enough, well known enough and well liked enough to enter?
And you wouldn't get rid of the first 10 movies from India that got there via exploits.
So it would not solve much but create new problems.
I don't want any subpar movies in the list that only got there via exploits. I want the IMDb staff to finally get of their behinds and do something about the situation.
But limiting the number of movies from a given country is a bad idea. What if there are 15 movies from France or South Korea that would be good enough, well known enough and well liked enough to enter?
And you wouldn't get rid of the first 10 movies from India that got there via exploits.
So it would not solve much but create new problems.
Quotas are no good in my opinion. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more I feel 'international awards' are the fairest parameters, because it wouldn't diminish the quality of the movies produced by one country but just establish the difference between "local" and "international" masterpieces. I'm sorry but a local masterpiece has nothing to do on IMDb Top 250.
Perhaps the argument would be that 4.4% of the Top 250 being from India is reasonable considering:
I guess we might never know, because IMDb don't seem to have a communicable response or a willingness to provide one?
India is the largest producer of films in the world and second oldest film industry in the world.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_industry
I guess we might never know, because IMDb don't seem to have a communicable response or a willingness to provide one?
But the Top 250 should be about quality, not quantity. I'm not saying they're bad movies but when they're movies that non-Indian people never heard about, what it says is that they weren't good enough to benefit from a worldwide distribution. Where are "Salaam Bombay", "Lagaan" or "The Apu Trilogy", Indian masterpieces actually known by movie lovers?
And they had just put some more obvioulsy bad indian movies on top 250. Can IMDb get serious again or is that too much to ask?
At least both of them near the bottom. I reckon they'll have disappeared from the Top 250 by the New Year. It raises the question, why do IMDb continue to add these films over a month after they first started doing so? You would think that if they really changed their voting system then it would be an instant process; this seems more like a manual process.
The lack of response - and length of time - this issue has been going on indicates to me that the goal of IMDB is to increase diversity within the list (which is reasonable).
But in the process they have not figured a working solution to vetting the films coming in, so are remaining silent rather than admitting to having a problem.
But in the process they have not figured a working solution to vetting the films coming in, so are remaining silent rather than admitting to having a problem.
2 more Indian movies just added : Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Queen (2013) !!!
It does not make sense to increase diversity by ruining the list. They are giving in to hackers. If I could manage the top 250, I would only include movies which had been giving ratings by people of a minimum number of countries. These indian movies don't even have worldwide distribution, these movies don't have a Metacritic score and so on, so on. It is stupid to include movies which are seeing only in one country. Most people don't care about this movies. We just want an accurate and logic top 250. Is that too much to ask?
That's why IMDb keeps those awful indian movies on top 250: India is an important market for the company. Remember: IMDb is a company. They want profit, not an accurate top 250. 
So they have been working on India Spotlight. Obvious and clever business decision as Angelo pointed out.
But India Top 250 still exists, and the corrupted Top 250 still exists. At this point I am not sure if this has actually addressed or solved anything?
But India Top 250 still exists, and the corrupted Top 250 still exists. At this point I am not sure if this has actually addressed or solved anything?
Well, I guess the case is closed.
The poll in the homepage doesn't even ask which Indian star we'd like to "discover", but which one is our "favorite", which means we're supposed to know every one of them.
I guess every critic of the new IMDb Top 250 would be like trashing Indian movies and we'd be guilty of some lèse-majesté crime.
They won.
The poll in the homepage doesn't even ask which Indian star we'd like to "discover", but which one is our "favorite", which means we're supposed to know every one of them.
I guess every critic of the new IMDb Top 250 would be like trashing Indian movies and we'd be guilty of some lèse-majesté crime.
They won.
It's mind-boggling. They tell us how much they love movies and then they go ahead and let the most well-known asset of their site become corrupted like this.
I was never under the impression that the Top250 necessarily reflected the best movies ever. But at least it showed the movies that were liked the most by the general public. And they were in almost every case worth watching.
Give it a few more months and it will merely show us which movies fans can hack the best.
Great job, IMDb staff. You've outdone yourselves.
I was never under the impression that the Top250 necessarily reflected the best movies ever. But at least it showed the movies that were liked the most by the general public. And they were in almost every case worth watching.
Give it a few more months and it will merely show us which movies fans can hack the best.
Great job, IMDb staff. You've outdone yourselves.
I am more conserned that so few people see that as a problem. I would expect much more pressure from IMDB visitors. Since there's none, IMDB staff don't feel compelled to fix it.
Doesn't look like I'm going to get the IMDb badge for the Top 250 movies of 2016. There are 10 foreign movies that I haven't seen that are going to be difficult to track down to either rent or buy with English subtitles. To tell you the truth I just can't be bothered to watch hindi movies of 2hr plus when there are so many other better movies to watch that aren't even in the top 250.
Just wish an IMDb spokesperson could provide some clarity around what they are trying to achieve. Do they acknowledge the voting/quality issue this thread discusses? What is the goal of India Spotlight? Why have two seperate Top 250 lists populated with films from each other?
IMDb is pushing India cinema too hard. Why there is something like this on IMDb homepage? Will you do the same thing with another important countries? The answer to the question "How many have you seen?" is "none", of course. And the vast majority of IMDb users around the world would give the same answer. This would made sense on an IMDb India, a version of the site dedicated to indian movies fans. As it is, you are turning IMDb in a weird american/indian movie site. C'mon, Col Needham, what are you people doing with IMDb?
(Edited)
The fact is that every year millions and millions of people from India get internet connection for the first time and IMDB would do anything to get them on their website, even for the cost of the site's integrity. Rating system must be adjusted at least for the films that are in the top 250 to really represent international score, not just effects of the masses from the home country.
Dibyayan Chakravorty, Champion
I believe the following Indian movies from Top 250 deserves that spot, because I have seen those:
And these don't:
Can't say about these, because I haven't seen those:
242. Chak De! India (2007)
229. Udaan (2010)
170. Sholay (1975)
169. Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)
160. Rang De Basanti (2006)
144. A Wednesday (2008)
103. 3 Idiots (2009)
84. Like Stars on Earth (2007)
And these don't:
158. Hera Pheri (2000)
157. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)
Can't say about these, because I haven't seen those:
207. Drishyam (2015)
Again DC, it's not about being good enough to be on IMDb Tiop 250 but good and known enough outside the original country to pretend to be realistic contenders. That's all. Why everyone seems to ignore the idea that a film on IMDb Top 250 should benefit from a minimum of international recognition.
You can't imagine how many masterpieces came from French Cinema, but you don't see many on Top 250. Why? Because they're mostly known by a French (or limited European) audience. So is it just "too bad" because France has an equally good cinema but not equally important demographics?
Many acclaimed classics (even loved by Indians) are being slowly and progressively kicked off from the Top 250 by movies-only-known-by-Indians. I find it unfair and damaging to the very crerdibility of IMDb.
Again, not about quality but quality AND international fame.
You can't imagine how many masterpieces came from French Cinema, but you don't see many on Top 250. Why? Because they're mostly known by a French (or limited European) audience. So is it just "too bad" because France has an equally good cinema but not equally important demographics?
Many acclaimed classics (even loved by Indians) are being slowly and progressively kicked off from the Top 250 by movies-only-known-by-Indians. I find it unfair and damaging to the very crerdibility of IMDb.
Again, not about quality but quality AND international fame.
(Edited)
