Martin Movie Monday

Outside the office, one of my primary interests is movies. Being a self-proclaimed spreadsheet nerd and borderline obsessive list maker, I combined all of that to create a listing of the best movies of all time. It’s not just a feeling that I have that one movie is better than another. It is a quantitative listing of 7 different categories weighted based on my idea of their importance as to what makes a movie great.

The categories are as follows:

• Acting (weighted the highest at plus 25%)
• Writing (weighted at plus 15%)
• Directing (weighted evenly)
• Look (weighted at minus 20%)
• Quality (weighted at plus 5% - this is an attempt to bring in other opinions to my rankings)
• Enjoyable (weighted at minus 10%)
• Originality (weighted at minus 25%)

If a movie is well acted and well written (like, say, Casablanca), it likely ranks higher than a movie that is fun to watch and looks cool (like your typical action movie). This is not to imply that action movies are not worth seeing. It just means that such popcorn fare does not typically make the top levels of my list. Always remember this is my own personal opinion based on what I consider good and important in a movie. It is not a FAVORITE movie list. It is a BEST movie list.

The scores, ranging from 1-100 in each category, are combined to rank every movie I have ever seen (or at least the ones I can remember seeing). The total list is updated frequently with new additions and revised occasionally as my tastes change over time. (Still think it is borderline obsessive or have we crossed over that threshold?)