A few months ago list challenges were all the rage on Facebook, and probably other places. I tend to think these are ridiculous, Joe Nobody’s idea of the top whatever, but I ran across one that intrigued me, the IMDb Top 250 movies. I checked to see how many I’d already seen, at least recently enough to have recorded my watching in the application I use, DVDpedia. I’d seen about 40%.
So I set off to watch the rest. And quickly gave it up as I realized how hard it would be, both in terms of the time it takes, and finding a source for many of them. Netflix streaming, which claims to be the industry leader, has only about half of the top 250. Netflix on DVD has more, but still not all, and I don’t currently have that membership type anyway. So I trimmed back my ambition to just the top 50, and have been watching them as I can.
Numbers 12 and 18 are Star Wars, available only on DVD. It’s A Wonderful Life, 26, and Rear Window, 33, I can only buy, and I don’t really want to own them. Spirited Away, 36, I have been unable to find anywhere. With watching The Dark Knight Rises tonight, I have achieved 45 of the top 50. Next, working on 51-100, of which I’ve already seen 27.
Dan Allison 