IMDB Top 10 Movies (Part 1)

What is IMDB?
 
The Internet Movie Database (abbreviated IMDb) is an online database of information related to films, television programs, and video games, taking in actors, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, and trivia. Actors and crew can post their own résumé and upload photos of themselves for a yearly fee. U.S. users can also view over 6,000 movies and television shows from CBS, Sony, and various independent film makers.

Launched in 1990 by professional computer programmer Col Needham, the company’s revenue is generated through advertising, licensing, and partnerships.

As of April 1, 2014, IMDb had 2,841,405 titles and 5,826,213 personalities in its database, and is an Alexa Top 50 site.

The site enables any user to submit new material and request edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has been open to abuse, and occasional errors are acknowledged. Users are also invited to rate any film on a scale of 1 to 10, and the totals are converted into a weighted mean-rating that is displayed beside each title, with online filters employed to deter ballot-stuffing. The site also features Message Boards, which stimulate regular debates among authenticated users.

Here is a compiled list of IMDB’s Top 100 movies, as rated by its millions of users. We definitely recommend these movies to you and your friends and family. Next time you feel like curling up on the couch to a cosy chick-flick, or having a sleepover party watching movies till past your bedtime, or just a good way to spend your holidays, you now know where to consult! 

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Director:

Frank Darabont

Storyline

Andy Dufresne is a young and successful banker whose life changes drastically when he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. Set in the 1940's, the film shows how Andy, with the help of his friend Red, the prison entrepreneur, turns out to be a most unconventional prisoner.

The Godfather (1972)

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Storyline 

The story begins as "Don" Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, oversees his daughter's wedding with his wife Wendy. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. Through Michael's life the nature of the family business becomes clear. The business of the family is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. Don Vito lives his life in the way of the old country, but times are changing and some don't want to follow the old ways. An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don's influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Michael, all for the sake of the family.

The Godfather: Part II(1974)

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Storyline

The continuing saga of the Corleone crime family tells the story of a young Vito Corleone growing up in Sicily and in 1910s New York; and follows Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Director:

Christopher Nolan

Storyline

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organisations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as ‘The Joker’.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Director:

Quentin Tarantino 

Storyline

Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Director:

Sergio Leone

Storyline 

Blondie (The Good) is a professional gunslinger who is out trying to earn a few dollars. Angel Eyes (The Bad) is a hit man who always commits to a task and sees it through, as long as he is paid to do so. And Tuco (The Ugly) is a wanted outlaw trying to take care of his own hide. Tuco and Blondie share a partnership together making money off Tuco's bounty, but when Blondie unties the partnership, Tuco tries to hunt down Blondie. When Blondie and Tuco comes across a horse carriage loaded with dead bodies, they soon learn from the only survivor (Bill Carson) that he and a few other men have buried a stash of gold in a cemetery. Unfortunately Carson dies and Tuco only finds out the name of the cemetery, while Blondie finds out the name on the grave. Now the two must keep each other alive in order to find the gold. Angel Eyes (who had been looking for Bill Carson) discovers that Tuco and Blondie met with Carson and knows they know the location of the gold. An intricate plot woven with the values of trust and dangers of greed.


Schindler's List (1993)

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Storyline 

Oskar Schindler is a vainglorious and greedy German businessman who becomes an unlikely humanitarian amid the barbaric Nazi reign when he feels compelled to turn his factory into a refuge for Jews. This story is based on the touching true story of Oskar Schindler who has managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gassed at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

12 Angry Men (1957)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Storyline

The defence and the prosecution have rested, and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case of murder soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. Based on the world famous play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room. 


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

 
Director:

Peter Jackson 

Storyline

Frodo and Sam continue to approach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, unaware of the perilous path Gollum is leading them. In the mean time, the former Fellowship aid Rohan and Gondor in a great battle in the Pelennor Fields, Minas Tirith and the Black Gates as Sauron wages his last war against Middle-Earth.

Fight Club (1999) 

 

 

Director:

David Fincher

Storyline

A ticking time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.


Well, there you have it- the Top 10 movies of our lifetime as rated by the IMDB. We sure hope the brief summaries provided has tickled your curiosity and intrigued your imagination enough to make you watch some of the movies! Movies are there not just for our enjoyment and entertainment, but also to draw inspiration from and to watch the lines between reality and make-believe blur for our imagination’s sake- even if it’s just for a few hours.

Courtesy of Shooting Stars
TCSH Film Club