The new Commandments.

For as long as I can remember, I've had unhealthy reliance upon lists. The want to tick a task off after it's completed is so etched onto my brain that I struggle to think what I'd do without the ability. I use them for everything -  Holidays, festivals, back to Uni's, shopping, achievements, to do's. I could go on forever.  But there's one compilation, one list so magnificent that it's taken up a majority of my time for the last 6 years.


This.



IMDb (Internet Movie Database) is a film geek's wet dream. You wana know what the biggest grossing film of 1980 was? Boom! You wana know how many films Hitchcock directed before his fat ass keeled over and died? Blammy! So you wana know what year 'Cats and Dogs' came out so you can build a time machine, go back in time and mangle and brutally kill all the cast and crew so that the film never gets made? Kapow! Yes, it's a cavern of facts, trivia, quotes and info about pretty much anything that's ever been recorded. But the website's icing on the cake is the top 250. 


It's a simple idea really. All of the nerdy users (there are thousands of them) vote for every film that is released and give it a rating out of ten. These votes are then compiled into a list of the best films ever. Obviously, as it's a user-based system it has its flaws. The internet is ruled by skinny kids who read comics so anything to do with superheroes, aliens, zombies or Star Wars gets voted extremely well ('The Dark Knight', 'Alien' and 'Aliens' all sit smugly in the top 100 whilst modern classics like 'Oldboy' and 'Fargo' loiter below).  If you don't like the idea of this you might want to try Metacritic - essentially the same idea but instead of ratings given by users, scores are based on reviews by critics. I DIGRESS.


The point I'm trying to make is that the top 250 isn't just a list. It's something to do, something to aspire to, something to be shared with friends and family. Print it off, tick off how many you've seen and gape at how many you haven't. It's only guna get longer if you don't start watching them now.