Flickchart
I listen to the Filmspotting podcast a lot and one of the things that they have gotten me interested in (by which I mean wasting my time in) is Flickchart. The premise is simple: the website supplies you with two randomly chosen movies and you pick one. If you haven’t seen one (or both) you can skip it; if not, plunge ahead. The criteria is left up to you (I go with the one I would most like to see out of the two). The site tracks your choices and ranks your preferences. It’s not terribly accurate (Cloverfield is remarkably high in mine; higher than I would think), but it is kinda fun. I’ve had to choose between the Princess Bride and Groundhog Day (hard to do) and Back to the Future III and Attack of the Clones (hard to do for other reasons). If nothing else, this is likely Rusty’s dream website come true.
Here is my current top 20 (after having gotten about 200 films in the queue):
1. Unbreakable
2. Lawrence of Arabia
3. Cloverfield
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
5. Speed
6. Batman
7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
8. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
9. The Bourne Ultimatum
10. Full Metal Jacket
11. The Matrix
12. X-Men
13. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
14. Groundhog Day
15. Spider-Man
16. Brazil
17. The Mummy
18. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings
19. Shaun of the Dead
20. Jerry Maguire
I expect a lot of these to change but 200 seemed like a good stopping point for now.
So go, make somes choices, and let us know your top 10 or 20 once you’ve got a decent number of movies up there.
Posted on November 20, 2009, in Pop Culture. Bookmark the permalink. 33 Comments.
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Third set for me… Choose between X-Men and The Dark Knight?
Dark Knight, but tougher than I would think it would be.
I have ranked 723 movies. Here is my top 10.
#1 Citizen Kane
#2 2001
#3 Amélie
#4 Fight Club
#5 North by NW
#6 The Third Man
#7 The Empire Strikes Back
#8 The Iron Giant
#9 Annie Hall
#10 Casino Royale
It is still a little glitchy; once something gets into your top ten it’s almost impossible to get it out. But I admit that I absolutely love every movie in my top 20, even top 100.
HP: I hate you! I’m forced to choose between Psycho and Dark Knight. Arrrrgh!
While I’m stressing over that choice, I noticed a cool feature to the right of the screen: how often a movie wins on the site. For example, Big Fish wins 41% of the time.
Yeah, the same movies seem to come up over and over when I use the site. It’s good to go in and just choose from unranked movies for awhile – it will liven up the mix. My top 20 per site:
1. The Godfather
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Double Indemnity
4. The Conversation
5. Raging Bull
6. Some Like It Hot
7. Barton Fink
8. Miller’s Crossing
9. Do the Right Thing
10. Night Moves
11. Alien
12. GoodFellas
13. Rio Bravo
14. Caddyshack
15. The Killing
16. Memento
17. This Is Spinal Tap
18. Chinatown
19. Flirting
20. Defending Your Life
It’s not entirely accurate (Night Moves and Alien should not be as high as they are and The Godfather is not my favorite movie of all time, among others), but I do love all of these movies.
Brian, agreed – I thinl we’re seeing the same sorts of results. I like Citizen Kane, but my favorite movie of all time? naw. Good to see Double Indemnity on there though.
I found out about Flickchart from the Filmspotting podcast too, by the way. I gave up on the podcast but I still like Flickchart.
It asked me to pick between Schindler’s List and Napolean Dynamite.
The choice is obvious but it’s a weird comparison to make.
I’m just over 300 rankings in and my top 20:
1. Wedding Crashers
2. Star Wars
3. Rear Window
4. Mission: Impossible
5. Mystic River
6. Titanic
7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
8. Fargo
9. Stand by Me
10. Star Trek
11. Blow
12. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
13. The Royal Tenenbaums
14. Cast Away
15. 3:10 to Yuma
16. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
17. Back to the Future
18. Die Hard
19. Love Actually
20. Heat
The problem is that I don’t think 300 is nearly enough votes to get an accurate count. I voted on Wedding Crashers exactly once and it was the very first vote. Rear Window, Titanic and Blow all had only one vote as well, all toward the beginning of my voting. I think all the movement in my list is in the 60′s, not the top 20.
Danithew: You went with Napoleon, right?
Danithew: I had to choose between Amadeus and Daredevil.
Be careful what you pick first.
I think I’d have to pick over 1000 movies to get Batman Returns out of my top 20.
wow, how do you choose between Das Boot and To Kill A Mocking Bird?
arg!
Raiders of the Lost Ark vs Wall-E
Some of the (random?) comparisons are amusingly ironic:
Jaws vs Finding Nemo
Edward Scissorhands vs XMen:Wolverine
If you have something in your top 20 that doesn’t belong, you can click on it and re-rank it.
I’ve ranked 950 movies now, and my top 20 is pretty much set. The cool thing I’m using now is in the bottom left of the screen there is a link to the “movies you haven’t seen”. It then lists all of the movies that other people have ranked highly, but you haven’t ranked yet. I’m going in order down that list and it’s helping me see some classic films I never would have thought about renting.
Here’s mine
1. Children of Men
2. The Godfather
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. The Godfather II
5. Star Wars
6. The Princess Bride.
7. Brazil
8. Wall-E
9. Terminator 2
10. Rear Window
11. Groundhog Day
12. Unbreakable
13. 12 Monkeys
14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
15. Rocky II
16. Brick
17. Beverly Hills Cop
18. When Harry Met Sally
19. The Silence of the Lambs
20. Batman Begins
It keeps giving me too many movies I haven’t seen (and have no interest in). The ones I have seen are not that important to me.
I started with a Fargo matchup and then never came back to Fargo. This allowed for Fargo to remain my favorite movie (I don’t think it is that great). It will take some time for me to get this list in the order I think accurate.
Super: you can also just remove a movie from your chart altogether. For example, The Fifth Element, which I didn’t like was nevertheless ranked high on my list because it kept getting paired with movies I absolutely hate (e.g., The Mask). Just click on the title in your Top 20 and select “remove” on the next screen.
Also, if you use the search at the top right you can get a movie into your line-up without having to wait for it to show up.
I had to choose between a Fish called Wanda and Jaws, which I found amusing.
I am slowly working Cloverfield out of my top 20…
I’m not so sure this is really a movie chart. I think it’s an odd sort of videogame. You end up with a list that makes something in your cultural conscience cringe – and then you’re trying to do things that will ‘fix’ the list so that it matches what your brain tells you the list should be.
danithew – that’s what I thought as well. My list is a little nuts after 700+ rankings and 350+ movies.
1. A Knight’s Tale (love)
2. Slumdog Millionaire (liked)
3. The Sixth Sense (only because it kept getting paired with things like Basic Instinct!)
4. Singin In the Rain (love, but not top 10 love)
5. Annie Hall (blech)
6. The Patriot (eh)
7. Batman (seriously?!)
8. Love Actually (closer to #1, really)
9. The Talented Mr. Ripley (see The Sixth Sense)
10. Napoleon Dynamite (not even close to the top 10)
11. Van Helsing (ok)
12. National Treasure (started out as my #1 and this is as far down as it got)
13. About A Boy (closer to #1)
14. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (love)
15. High Fidelity (love)
16. XMen (love)
17. The Mummy (love)
18. Mission: Impossible (really like)
19. XMen Wolverine (love)
20. Shakespeare in Love (like)
I think I’ve done almost 3000 pairings and I didn’t feel like my top 20 was getting accurate until I hit around 1000. There are still a couple in the top 20 I don’t love, but I also don’t want them to go to the bottom of the list if I remove them.
If you hit the top 50 or top 100 button, it just compares movies from that range, and it’s a good way to shape up your list fast.
Argh! Showgirls vs. Schindler’s list!
Scott B: I know! some choices are just impossible to make. (see my #12)
Hold it. Showgirls vs. Schindler’s list is hard?
Clark: I hoped my comment was so snarky it didn’t need a emoticon. Seriously:
Showgirls vs. Schindler’s List?
Daredevil vs. Amadeus?
a papercut in your eye vs. a professional massage?
Those aren’t match-ups; they’re just ludicrous.
Whew. I was worried for your soul. (grin)
Pandora has spoiled me. The suckiness of the Flickchart ranking system just makes me grouchy.
Ack…it just asked me to choose between Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back and Good Will Hunting. Talk about a two-way tie for last!