What the IMDb Top 250 is missing
by jomovieguru | created - 20 Dec 2011 | updated - 08 Jan 2012 | PublicThere are a few films which are in the 7-8.0 rating on IMDb (and one or two that are shamefully lower) which I think deserve to be in the Top 250. You may agree, you may disagree, but feel free to tell me some I'm missing, or if I over-rate the films on this list. This list is in no particular order.
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1. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
PG-13 | 107 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman
Votes: 330,705 | Gross: $45.51M
Somebody please tell me why this film does not get the recognition it deserves? The Cohen Brothers directed this masterful comedy with the perfect blend of first-class cinematography, brilliant acting and depression comedy which I will never forget. The greatest commodity the Top 250 is missing.
2. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Barely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen
Votes: 1,094,760 | Gross: $164.62M
Three Words: Smart, Sublime and Spielberg. This film was clever, it was fun and the direction was typical, typically Spielberg.
3. The Bourne Identity (2002)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen
Votes: 576,068 | Gross: $121.66M
Now the Bourne Ultimatum is in the Top 250, but I don't know why Identity isn't also. Greengrass was certainly better than Liman, but still, the acting, script and action sequences were spectacular, and you can't have one Bourne without the others.
4. 127 Hours (2010)
R | 94 min | Biography, Drama
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Sean Bott
Votes: 401,218 | Gross: $18.34M
Danny Boye did the impossible; turn an hour of watching a man stand in the same place and then cut his arm off, one of the most interesting pictures of the year.
5. Ghostbusters (1984)
PG | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis
Votes: 449,691 | Gross: $238.63M
This is not a perfect film, but it is a spectacular comedy and more importantly; a cult favourite. IMDb does respect some of these types of films, but I don't get why not this one.
6. The Game (1997)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn
Votes: 429,051 | Gross: $48.32M
A psychological roller coaster, twisting and turning until it hits its shock ending.
7. Collateral (2004)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
Votes: 432,931 | Gross: $101.01M
One of the best action films I've seen. Only behind Die Hard and the Bourne's for me.
8. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
PG-13 | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards
Votes: 322,920 | Gross: $78.62M
An absolute farce that this isn't in the top 250, critics and users alike love it.
9. Road to Perdition (2002)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A mob enforcer's son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman
Votes: 284,425 | Gross: $104.45M
10. X: First Class (2011)
PG-13 | 131 min | Action, Sci-Fi
In the 1960s, superpowered humans Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr work together to find others like them, but Erik's vengeful pursuit of an ambitious mutant who ruined his life causes a schism to divide them.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon
Votes: 723,382 | Gross: $146.41M
First Class trumps all the other X-Men and is a brilliant origin story (unlike a certain other film) filled with fantastic acting, direction and a smart plot.
11. Titanic (1997)
PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates
Votes: 1,279,541 | Gross: $659.33M
I don't know who started the "I don't think Titanic is that good anymore" approach to reviews, but I'd like to find them and hurt them, because at the time this came out, it was dubbed one of the greatest films of the decade, and now it hangs in soppy love story oblivion.
12. The Insider (1999)
R | 157 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora
Votes: 180,143 | Gross: $28.97M
ranked at 8.0, but can't make it in.
13. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being dumped by the girl he believes to be his soulmate, hopeless romantic Tom Hansen reflects on their relationship to try and figure out where things went wrong and how he can win her back.
Director: Marc Webb | Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend, Chloë Grace Moretz
Votes: 557,435 | Gross: $32.39M
One of the most under-rated films of the decade, certainly deserves its place in the 250 and is one of few romances which didn't bore me to death. The most adventurous film-making of a love story in a long time.
14. Ocean's Eleven (2001)
PG-13 | 116 min | Crime, Thriller
Danny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon
Votes: 618,842 | Gross: $183.42M
smart, sassy and a cool ending. Maybe not Oscar material, but heck, neither is a third of the films in the 250.
15. Kick-Ass (2010)
R | 117 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a superhero, even though he has no powers, training or meaningful reason to do so.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Chloë Grace Moretz, Garrett M. Brown
Votes: 593,120 | Gross: $48.07M
The least conventional film on the list, and there certainly are reasons for its exclusion, but it is a fantastic film, possibly on the top 250.
16. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career
Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton, Jaden Smith, Brian Howe
Votes: 560,447 | Gross: $163.57M
Will Smith's pinnacle performance, some tear-jerking scenes and inspirational story line and an eventful look at one man's journey through a hard-fought life.
17. True Grit (2010)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Western
A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin
Votes: 357,396 | Gross: $171.24M
7.9, ouch. Nominated for 10 Oscars.....
18. Insomnia (2002)
R | 118 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan
Votes: 318,984 | Gross: $67.36M
Not a definite should-be, but I think that it has this fantastic atmosphere with everything I want in a thriller. The plot is good and the cinematography is breathtaking, especially some of the shots over the ice ridges. Nolan's worst film, and isn't that saying something.
19. X2 (2003)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
When anti-mutant Colonel William Stryker kidnaps Professor X and attacks his school, the X-Men must ally with their archenemy Magneto to stop him.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen
Votes: 575,843 | Gross: $214.95M
20. Iron Man (2008)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges
Votes: 1,124,365 | Gross: $318.41M
Well if I had my way, this would be the 4th new addition to the top250 which is a superhero film and the 5th based on a comic. However, I'm not changing my mind.
21. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 517,833 | Gross: $59.89M
I haven't seen this one, but I plan too, because more people rage to me about it's exception than any other film on this list.
22. Seven Pounds (2008)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A man with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers.
Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Ealy
Votes: 315,145 | Gross: $69.95M
Okay, so a lot of people are going to disagree with me on this one, but I loved and I think it needs to be recognized. I can certainly see some minor faults in it, but that's why I put this last; take it, or leave it.
23. The Social Network (2010)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara
Votes: 758,276 | Gross: $96.96M
24. Children of Men (2006)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine
Votes: 529,191 | Gross: $35.55M
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