At the start of 2004, I estimate that I've seen about 1,600 movies -- excluding re-watchings of a couple hundred or so titles. To put that number in some perspective: My Top 50 Favorite Movies comprise about 3% of the total movies I've seen; those that I rate a 9/10 or higher (equivalent to 4 stars out of 4, grading on what should resemble a real curve) amount to 2%; those to which I give a 10/10 rating amount to about .4% of the total. Those that I'd rate an 8/10 (3.5 stars) or higher amount to anywhere from about 7% to 10%.*
Like many hard-core movie buffs, I have particular tastes and viewing priorities, and am discriminating enough to be strict about the sheer quantity of films I hold in high esteem. To say that only 7 to 10% of the movies out there are 3.5-star-or-better quality seems to imply excessive strictness or harsh criticism of the other 90-or-so percent. Bear in mind, however, that this reflects strongly personal or idiosyncratic viewing tastes. What it really amounts to saying is that there are about 7 to 10 percent of movies out there that are really good and have special appeal to me.
However, also consider that, being somewhat completist in my methods, I've adopted various filtering devices to better ensure the quality of what I select to view, so this 7-to-10 percent figure applies to a group of films that already are, on average, of presumed higher quality than the group of films out there as a whole. Among some of the selection resources:
Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Power Search -- This search narrows down film lists to those that meet certain criteria, e.g., those films with a minimum rating of x/10, with a minimum of x number of votes. This is for those who aren't satisfied merely with having completed the IMDb's Top 250 films list.
And, eventually, I plan to tie up the loose ends by seeking out any remaining films that were voted for in the latest (2002) Sight and Sound Poll. (Some have even compiled a ranked listing of the top Sight and Sound movies based on the number of votes received.)
Finally, a movie buff can keep up on the latest news about DVD releases and such at MastersOfCinema.Com. Nice how they work in their own A-list of directors there on the right column.
When you count up all the movies that get listed on all these lists, the number of movies out there that rate a 6.0/10 or better with 500 or more votes on the IMDb, and so on, it's clear that I have a long way to go. Name some movie, and chances are I haven't seen it. Those prolific movie buffs that pop up on places like the IMDb comments sections (see here for an example) can and sometimes do have a good 5,000 movies under their belts -- and that would comprise only about 1/5 of all the movies out there ever made! Which is why, of course, time being so limited, selection criteria are needed....
(Speaking of searches based on IMDb ratings, here's the results to a weird movies search, descending from most widely-known to more obscure.)
* - A further breakdown of the numbers would go something like as follows: 20 to 25% rate a 7/10 (3 stars) or higher; 40% rate 6/10 (2.5 stars) or higher; 60% rate 5/10 (2 stars) or higher; 75 to 80% rate 4/10 (1.5 stars) or higher; 90% rate 3/10 (1 star) or higher; the remaining 10% are sheer crap.
