The Best Year in Film History

[crude]

1960

Spartacus, Psycho, The Magnificent Seven, Peeping Tom, La Dolce Vita, The Savage Innocents, The Time Machine, Inherit the Wind, Elmer Gantry, Ocean's Eleven, Breathless, The Alamo, The Unforgiven, The Apartment, Exodus.

[principehomura]

Originally Posted by Jcratigan

You can find my spreadsheet on Google Sheets. I've never shared a Google doc before, but I would think you could copy and paste it to plug in your own ratings. Right?

Thanks for sharing, as a spreasheet-geek I'm interested in how people collect and elaborate their data

[principehomura]

1928
The Circus
The Wind
Spione
Lonesome
Steamboat Bill Jr.

1931
M
City Lights
The Miracle Woman
The Public Enemy
Frankenstein

1940
The Shop Around the Corner
Remember the Night
Rebecca
The Great Dictator
The Letter

1957
Witness for the Prosecution
12 Angry Men
The Seventh Seal
Throne of Blood
Paths of Glory

1980
Kagemusha
Heaven's Gate
Stardust Memories
The Fog
Raging Bull

[Jcratigan]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

You just traded (possible) recency bias for older film bias.
With that 4-point swing all you did then was end up favoring older films over newer ones. Who is to say newer films weren't actually deserving of their rating and it had nothing to do with recency bias? Why dock them points? Likewise, older films aren't necessarily rated lower because of their age so they don't deserve 2 extra points just for their age.

I don't believe in recency bias. If anything, I think the opposite is true - people tend to rate older films a little higher than they deserve, just because they are "classic", while they are hesitant to rate recent films among the all-time greats

I'm inclined to agree to some extent with your second point that many films are overrated simply because they are formative. Man with a Movie Camera is an interesting historical document, but all the joy of the film is extra-textual.

But recency bias is absolutely real. Look at the IMDB Top 250 over the years, recent movies will jump in and then slowly drop down. Coco is at #52 right now. And it's real in my own viewing. I've averaged about 100/year this decade, 70 in the 00's, 65 in the 90's, 40 in the 80's, and about 20 before that. So because I use weighted totals, any recent year would win on the back of dreck.

[CouncilSpectre]

86 - Aliens, Big Trouble in Little China, Blue Velvet, Cobra, Critters, Ferris Bueller, Flight of the Navigator, The Fly, Heartbreak Ridge, Highlander, The Hitcher, Labyrinth, Little Shop of Horrors, Manhunter, The Mission, The Money Pit, The Mosquito Coast, Platoon, Pretty in Pink, Ruthless People, Short Circuit, Something Wild, Stand by Me, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Three Amigos, Top Gun, Transformers: The Movie, Working Girls....

Didn't even have to mention Howard the Duck....

[Scholer]

Best film year ever is hard to pick. But in the 2000s it must go to 2006-2007, the sheer number of masterpieces released in that span, both Hollywood and Foreign is tough to match!

[zorbonaut]

I've been a big proponent of the year 1999. I think I may have even started a thread dedicated to that particular year in film. To me, no year can touch 1999 when it comes to the mass quality of films.

Another year that I haven't mentioned before that stands out is 1957.

12 Angry Men
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Paths of Glory
The Seventh Seal
Sweet Smell of Success
Wild Strawberries
Witness For The Prosecution

Just to name a few.... Pretty good year just based on the titles above.

You’re all going to laugh, but I loved 2016.

Arrival, Moonlight, Moana, Zootopia, La La Land, Elle, Jackie, 20th Century Women, The Lobster, Love & Friendship, Manchester By The Sea, Kubo and the Two Strings, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hidden Figures, Being 17, Paris 05:59: Theo & Hugo, Rogue One, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, The Edge of Seventeen

I'm not going to laugh. 2016 was the best year for film since the early 2000's. I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to have a string of good years like we did in the mid 90's thru the early 2000's.

2017 on the otherhand.... Not so hot. One amazing film, and a few really good films but just nowhere near the same volume of quality films as 2016 had. 2017 felt much more like other years this decade.

[imsounoriginal]

2007 is up there.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

1982 for obvious reasons.

Yeah, THE THING is awesome.

[surfdude12]

1939
Wizard of Oz
Gone With the Wind
Stagecoach
Mr Smith Goes to Washington

[Jcratigan]

Originally Posted by principehomura

Thanks for sharing, as a spreasheet-geek I'm interested in how people collect and elaborate their data

As a fellow geek, I'm very interested in your thoughts.

[Ky-Fi]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

1939
Wizard of Oz
Gone With the Wind
Stagecoach
Mr Smith Goes to Washington

Gunga Din
Dodge City
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Beau Geste
Son of Frankenstein
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Wuthering Heights
The Four Feathers
Gulliver's Travels

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by Jcratigan

I'm inclined to agree to some extent with your second point that many films are overrated simply because they are formative. Man with a Movie Camera is an interesting historical document, but all the joy of the film is extra-textual.

But recency bias is absolutely real. Look at the IMDB Top 250 over the years, recent movies will jump in and then slowly drop down. Coco is at #52 right now. And it's real in my own viewing. I've averaged about 100/year this decade, 70 in the 00's, 65 in the 90's, 40 in the 80's, and about 20 before that. So because I use weighted totals, any recent year would win on the back of dreck.

Looking at places like IMDb, where it includes everyone's ratings, yes there is recency bias in the total scores and rankings because a lot of people have not seen older movies so they're only giving High marks to newer films. But I meant in one person's personal ratings of films, I don't think individuals rate newer movies higher than older movies based on any recency bias.