Vote on the next countdown (Oct. 2023)

Okay, so usually we alternate (though it's just custom, not a rule) between some kind of genre list and some kind of time-based or decade-centric list. But we did all the decades, and we even did a 2000s refresh not too long ago, so it probably makes sense to do another genre list. Genre, mind you, remains a catch-all term that really just means "anything not time-based."

War won the last vote, but Noir and Musicals were tied at 2nd, though admittedly a far way back. There are also some odd (but interesting!) alternatives we've been discussing, and this kind of in-between phase before we think about refreshing other decade lists, might be an ideal time to try them. I'll steal from @Citizen Rules to describe them:

Underseen Movies

Originally Posted by Takoma11

....I know that this would be tricky to work, I'd almost love to see something like "Underseen Gems" where the films nominated would have to have fewer than 5000 ratings on IMDb or something. One of the best things about the lists is getting recommendations from them, so some sort of list that breaks away from the stuff you tend to see a lot.

Films not on previous list

Originally Posted by Yoda

....the idea tickles me for a few reasons:

1) It'd be a list with TONS of films people haven't heard of, so it'd be great for discovery.

2) It'd almost feel like a game, finding films that haven't shown up before. It'd be interactive and creative in a way the other lists haven't been, to my mind.

In short, it just sounds fun to me, and it'd probably be the weirdest and least predictable list we've done, so curiosity alone makes me like the idea.

Personally, I really like this last idea. It would be a truly unpredictable list and I could probably build the check for existing lists right into the ballot software so that submitting would be relatively easy.

What's everyone think? REMINDER: please vote for all you find acceptable/would participate in, and not just you favorite!

How about "Films About People Held Against Their Will"? In meaning, prison, kidnapped, held hostage, POW, etc...

What the hell...I'll volunteer to host a Noir Countdown I want it down right if we do one and the only way I can see is this:

First We have two voting ballots, one ballot is for noirs from the 1940s-1950s. The second ballot is for neo noirs from 1960 to current. IMDB movie page is used to qualify the movies, if the tag 'noir' or 'neo-noir' occurs anywhere on the movie page then that movie qualifies. People can send both ballots or just one of them.

Second The two ballots are combined into one Noir countdown consisting of 50 classic era noirs and 50 neo noirs. However there's only one countdown presentation and each day a movie is revealed from each of the two ballot tabulations (one classic noir movie per day and one neo noir movie per day).

Third When the time comes for Yoda to add the countdown list to MoFo there would be a Top 50 Classic Noir list and a Top 50 Neo Noir list.

*This allows classic noir fans to have a focused list and allows fans of newer neo noir to have a list as well, we all get to have our cake! It doesn't take any more time to do this and there's still only one countdown being done.


***If we do this I'd be happy to share hosting duties and let someone else do the proto noir, I'm interested in the classic noir part.

If we have a host for Noir, that gets my vote.

I would also like to revisit the idea of redoing the 90’s since it’s been over 10 years. A refresh wouldn’t be such a bad idea, especially with the new voters a decade after the initial countdown.

I'm against that noir idea, so I'll wait to vote

At first, I liked Films not on previous list but I think one more criteria should be applied.

For example: Films of the 2000's not on previous lists

....or Films not on previous lists rated 7.5+ on IMDB ...

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

Brave Little Toaster #1 for film not on any list

There's a whole bunch of Corrie refugees that have missed these earlier decade countdowns.

I think it's a pretty substantial restriction by itself, but I'm open to all of that.

As for the other stuff using IMDB ratings, intriguing, but also something that changes over time. There'd be some tricky decisions about how and when to audit that, since those numbers would obviously change during the ballot period itself, and I have no easy way to check those, which means the curator would have to verify every single one manually, which might be a dealbreaker all by itself if we don't find a semi-automated solution.

Any countdown idea has it's pros and cons...I remember when it was announced we were doing a war countdown and some people said they wouldn't participate...yet the countdown was successful.


Films not on previous lists countdown...
Pro: It would be all films that would make the countdown for the first time, which keeps it fresh.
Con: It could be viewed as movies #101-201 that didn't make the Top 100 Refresh countdown.

Underseen films...
Pro: Interesting, a list of great but underseen films...a connoisseurs countdown.
Con: Might not have much participation as people get frustrated that their favorite films don't meet the underseen criteria.

Musicals...
Pro: Fairly all inclusive depending on the criteria for what is and isn't a musical.
Con: Some people don't like musicals, oh well you can't please everyone.

Noir...
Pro: You already have a volunteer to host and with the first time ever duel ballots (one for classic noir and one for proto noir which is like what many crime films are now)...a lot of people can participate and we can create two different and well targeted noir list for the MoFo list section.
Con: More work for Yoda! But he already said he would do it in a past countdown discussion thread

Some Decades Refresh...
Pro: Broad participation as it appeals to a wide audience.
Con: Might feel like doing a re-run, once we start repeating and the freshness can go out of the countdowns and participation drop off.

Other (specify below)...
Pro: Maybe someone can hit upon a really cool and unique idea that we haven't done yet.
Con: Can't think of any cons unless no one bothers to brainstorm and kick out some countdown ideas.

I would love to see a Noir countdown, but I'm up for other stuff too. I voted Noir, Musicals, Underseen. I think the latter could be an interesting one, and I don't think it would be that hard to put on the defining criteria.

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Noir always seems to start pretty strong and slowly lose steam. Gotta happen eventually…I think.

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Letterboxd

Kinky.

I think Underseen is doable too. We'd just have to adjust the number of IMDB votes so that the countdown reflected mostly underseen films yet didn't exclude everything.


I checked some of my favorite Underseen films on IMDB to see how many votes they have? Maybe some of us could do that too? That way we could see if a Underseen countdown is feasible? This is what I got just off the top of my head.
Miracle Mile (1988) 12k votes
Cherry 2000 (1987) 10k votes
Fat City (1972) 10k votes
Caged (1950) 4.4k votes
American Movie (1999) 19k votes
Sundays and Cybele (1962) 4.7k votes
Meek's Cutoff (2010) 15k votes
The Big Knife (1955) 4k votes

*yes I realize not all of those would be considered underseen films but I included them to show how their vote numbers appeared.

Because the decade did so well on the larger list and it seems to hit the demographics/taste of the site well, I nominate Top 100 Comedies of the 1980s.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Underseen movies but make it below 50 ratings on IMDb.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Looks like I could probably get a list together for under seen but two things while looking at those movies come quickly to mind. Fair to point out these things have already been mentioned too. 1) Are they under seen by mofo? Probably not, definitely not in most cases because I found them because of mofo. 2) How in the world will these movies get multiple votes to create consensus.

Serious apologies to anyone who likes or suggested it, but I really dislike this idea. I would probably participate, because I have in every list since being here. Saying it would be half hearted participation would be very generous.

Sounds like a blast. Just start a reasons I am so much cooler than you thread.

I think I mentioned this before when this idea was first brought up, but I've done two "Hidden Loot" episodes on my podcast so far where me and a guest present a batch of five little known or underseen films, and we start by settling on a loose criteria of less than 20,000 views on IMDb. I think between 50K and 20K is a good threshold for that (for perspective, Titanic has 1.2M and The Avengers has 1.4M). We could set a similar threshold for Letterboxd, and it wouldn't be that hard for people to check, just like they did for the "War" tag.