You + Me & Rankography Movies Make 3

You + Me & Rankography Make 3
It is not too often that I am going to spend my time writing an article about another website, well not a website in full. However this website is not just any old website that I have come across on the internet. A little while ago now my former website (MdotMovieMan Reviews) caught the attention of the team over at Rankography Movies. I was asked to join this unique website and at first I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

Rankography Movies is a web site designed for movie reviewers and movie fans to take the opportunity to rank their favorite movies under user defined categories. I joined the site and immediately came up with some new categories to rank such as:
Best Of The Bad
Political Views

It was not long after this that my addition to the Rankography Movies became more apparent. The user friendly interface of the site make it easy for reviewers to add lists of their all time favorite movies as well as add movies to the database so that as a collective the site will end up with one of the most complete, interesting, and unique movie databases on the world wide web.

The staff at the site make things that much easier and more enjoyable to the users of the site as well. I was given the privilege of being able to guest blog over at Rankography Movies website. I have managed to post about four different blogs on the site including the first post from my new website Good Job Rob. As a guest blogger I am able to get my reviews of movies and the entertainment business out to a larger base of potential readers and it helps increase the traffic to my own site.

In return for the mass amount of traffic that gets to find its way over to my site, I am doing this review to also send traffic back to Rankography Movies. When you have the opportunity to do so, please take the time to read and discover their website, become a member, or even go about telling your friend and family about the site. I think you will soon find that you will find a slight addiction to Rankography Movies, and will soon be posting about it on your very own blog or website before you know it.

Many thanks go out to the hard working staff at RG for allowing me to not only be a member, but to also allow me to be a guest blogger on their site. I will continue to support RG and will frequently post blogs there tat are also found on my own site as well. Please continue to read my site and theirs as well.
It may be simple to shout out my way “Good Job Rob!” but in this case I believe the Good Job shout should go out to those behind the website Rankography Movies.

Rob Munson (MDot MovieMan) is the owner and operator of the website Good Job Rob located at robmunson.blogspot.com. Rob has been involved with the movie industry on and off camera now for over ten years. Please check out robmunson.blogspot.com for frequent movie and entertainment blogs, as well blogs that deal with everyday life.

Introducing Composite Rankings!

We are introducing Composite Rankings for any category with at least five member-ranked lists.  We already have over 20 categories with Composite Rankings.

The Composites are calculated using a weighted scale, meaning that if a movie is rated #1 on somebody's lists it is going to receive more points than a movie ranked #5 on the same or another list.  So both the number of times a movie is ranked and the placement in the rankings are factors in determining the Composite Rank.

Here are the Composite Rankings for some of the most popular categories so far:

Comedies from the 80s - This golden age of the Comedy Movie yielded so many great movies that inevitably some really good movies get left of a list of the Top 30.  The Top 5 on the Composite currently includes Caddyshack, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Blues Brothers, This is Spinal Tap and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Animated Films - Animated films are no longer just chidren's movies, adults love them too.  Here are the Top 5 from the Composite for this popular category; Shrek, Up, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Wall-E.

Horror Comedy - Our growing list of movie blogger members created this category and have filled it with some outstanding ranked lists.  Proving their deep knowledge of movies, the movie bloggers' have created lists with many interesting movies that I had never heard of such as Otis, Machine Girl and Idle Hands.  The Top 5 on the list were Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Re-Animator, Scary Movie and Fido.

Musicals - I have to admit I was surprised by the popularity of this category, but that is part of the charm of the site; users decide what is popular.  This category has an interesting blend of classic movies such as Singin in the Rain and newer cult classics such as Cannibal! The Musical.  The Top 5 Composite Musicals are Singin in the Rain, My Fair Lady, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Band Wagon and The Sound of Music.

It will be fun to watch how these Composite Rankings change over time as more and more members rank the categories.

Great Article 30 Things You Might Not Know about Caddyshack

Bill Murray as Carl Spackler in Caddyshack

It is the 30th Anniversary of Caddyshack, an 80's Comedy Classic and Erik Larnick did a great piece on this classic movie.  If you love Caddyshack as much as I do, you will love reading through his 30 tidbits about the movie that you probably did not know.   And if, god forbid, you have never seen Caddyshack...get it to the top of your rental list right away!!

Isn't it amazing how many of the great comedies came out of the 1980's; Caddyshack, Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller, Vacation, Sixteen Candles, Ghostbusters, Airplane!, This is Spinal Tap, etc.  It was such a fruitful comedy time, that it has become one of the popular ranking categories on Rankography.  Here is the Composite Ranking (blend of all member rankings) for Comedies from the 80s.  Enjoy.

The Year That Film Forgot

Is it possible that the year 2010 could down in history as the worst year for movies? This is a thought that has plagued my movie mind for quite a good portion of the year so far. I am just finding that the more large release movies that I see this year, the more I find myself disappointed with what has been put out.

More and more remakes and sequels seem to be the large portion of movies that debut each and every week at the box office, with movies such as Nightmare On Elm Street, The A-Team, The Karate Kid, and Shrek 4 among those titles and each of which failed to delivery anything unique. Well I should retract that and state The Karate Kid was almost worth the time to watch mostly due to Jackie Chan. However there has just been a real lack of original or unique film making that is out this year.

If you want to know what movies I feel have topped the list of ones I have seen so far this year well look no further then the current #1 film at the box office "Inception". Christopher Nolan's first film since his remarkable "Dark Knight" is brilliant from start to finish. "Inception" was a brain teaser that is remarkably acted, directed, scripted, and filmed. There is nothing negative to report about it and in my humble opinion is the best movie that has been put out in 2010 so far. The other two movies that deserve to top the list are Toy Story 3 which continues the Pixar pattern of producing great movies each and every year, and the surprise hit from Dreamworks "How To Train Your Dragon".

I will admit that there has been movies I enjoyed this year such as "I Love You Phillip Morris", "Hot TuB Time Machine", and "Iron Man 2", but it just seems like none of the movies are reaching for the status of unforgettable and simply settling for good enough.

It is sad to see that 3D movies are rocking the box office records, turns out audiences would rather pay good money for three dimensional images then go and witness a marvel in story telling. Even movies that were in 3d like Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon were simply placed in 3D due to the current fad, lucky enough for us that both these movies utilized story and substance and left the 3D as nothing more then an added kicker for audiences who want that in their movies. I hope that the fall season will recover what has been a very dead summer season for movies.

If not then I hope audiences continue to realize the brilliance of Christopher Nolan's "Inception", and I hope that all of you reading this will take the time to go and witness such a remarkable visionary piece of work.

Highlighted Ranking Profiles for new Movie Bloggers

One of the cools things about Rankography is the deep knowledge of the members its attracting. Many movie bloggers have been joining the site and creating new categories and great rankings. I wanted to highlight some of the ranking profiles of members which have been adding a lot of value.

DVDSpinDoctor
Is a movie blogger who has ranked many categories and added the Vampire categories (and no none of the Twilight movies appear on his rankings). On his ranking profile he has highlighted his rankings for Westerns, Vampire Movies, Gangster Movies and Foreign Horror Movies. Here is a sampling from his Foreign Horror category:

Audition
Vampyr
Let the Right One In
Host, The
Witchfinder General


Hal0000
Hal0000 publishes the Hal0000 movie review blog. He created the interesting category Bourgeois Satires and also ranked WWII Movies, Westerns and Musicals on his ranking profile. Here is a sampling from his WWII Movies list which included several interesting Japanese selections:

Army of Shadows
Human Condition, The
Cranes are Flying, The
Kanal
Best Years of Our Lives, The


Lolita's Classics
Lolita publishes the classic film blog, Lolita' Classics. She publishes reviews exclusively about classic movies so she brings a different perspective to Rankography. On her ranking profile, Lolita her rankings of Dark Suburban Dramas, Courtroom Dramas, Movies that Prove Promiscuity is Dangerous and Musicals. Here is a sampling from her interesting list of Musicals:

Band Wagon, The
Meet Me in St. Louis
Gay Divorcee, The
Easter Parade
Great Ziegfeld, The


Garv
Garv is a movie blogger who publishes the uniquely titled Booze Movies blog. Garv created the Booze Movies category at Rankography and also included his rankings of Horror Comedy and Westerns on his ranking profile. Here is a sampling from his ranking of Booze Movies:

Barfly
Lost Weekend, The
Thin Man, The
Animal House
Withnail and I

Category Highlight - Post-Apocalyptic Thrillers

I guess I have always been a futurist. I am an early-adapter for all types of technology, I read hacker thriller books and of course I love Post-Apocalyptic Thriller movies.

Using Rankography, I created this category for Post-Apocalyptic Thrillers. Now to be fair, not all of these are actually Post-Apocalypse which would imply the world was largely destroyed. However, they are all set far in a future where things have taken a nasty turn for humans and the heros are fighting for the human survival.

Here is my current list of favorites:

• Running Man, The
• Road Warrior, The
• Matrix, The
• Total Recall
• Blade Runner
• Terminator, The
• Stand, The
• Book of Eli, The
• Minority Report
• RoboCop
• Terminator 2
• Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

One of the best features of the site though, is that I can browse through all the rankings of all the other people that have ranked the category and find other similar movies that I did not know of. So take a spin through the lists and see if you can find some good ones for your Netflix queue.

How to Use Rankography movies

We want to welcome you to Rankography and provide this overview of some of the key features of the site and how you can use it for your own benefit.  Rankography is a site for its users and created by its users. You create the categories, you choose the movies in a category ranking and you order them (drag and drop) depending on how well you like them. Right now we are focused on Movies but in the future we will add other “meta” categories and we will ask you the users to help us pick them.

Discover Favorite Movies of Other Members you Like

The Front Page provides an easy way to browse through member's rankings.  Each member's ranking profile shows 4 categories they have selected to highlight and you can see their favorite movies in each category.  You can quickly determine members that have similar tastes to your own then find movies you have not seen that they recommend.

Discover More Movies in a Category

So, let’s talk about what you can do with the site. I happen to love movies with “surprise endings”, but of course you can’t just search for movies with surprise endings on the web or at your local Blockbuster. So I created a category called Surprise Endings. As other members rank that category, I will be able to see their rankings and discover other  great movies with surprise endings.  In the future, we will be adding a composite ranking for each category that averages results from all user rankings.

Share and Compare

Much of the idea for the site was born out of our experiences ranking movies with friends. The site facilitates those discussions virtually. Once you have ranked a category, like Gangster Movies, you can easily share it with friends using the site’s tools. You can also create a widget and display it on your favorite social network (e.g., facebook) or add it to a blog. What a great way to start a discussion or debate with friends.

Promote your Blog or Movie Review Site

There are many great benefits specifically designed for movie bloggers and reviewers. Rankography is an easy tool to create favorite lists in a category. It can be a broad category like Best Comedies or a more focused category such as the Best Comedies about High School. You can publish your own ranking to your website and you can also promote your website with a quality link and description on your profile page. Here is my profile page for your info. There is also a Group feature that allows several bloggers in a genre, such as Horror, to create a public or private category for a group.

Database

We have a large and growing database of movies. We currently have over 3,000 movies in our database. We created the initial database based on a number of factors that might indicate their likelihood of ending up on a ranked list including, box office success, award winning, critical acclaim, specificity to a genre, notoriety, etc. However, you can add any movie that is not included in our database. An added movie can immediately be used in your ranked list (no adult movies – they will be deleted), but will not be added to the entire database until approved by us. The approval process helps us maintain the integrity of the database and prevents duplicates, misspellings and other errors that could frustrate our users.

We hope you enjoy using Rankography and get lots of benefit from the site. One of the great things about social networking sites, like ours, is that the benefits of the site grow for all our users as more people join. So if you like the site and enjoy using it, please tell your friends. If you have suggestions to improve the site, please feel free to contact us.