PHI PHENOMENON

[o.m.]

Fantastic site with a fresh 2014 update

http://www.phi-phenomenon.org/

[JimmyJazz]

Or there is this list...
http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000 ... 0films.htm

[Jirin]

The first film in a language other than english is at #30.

[Henrik]

The first song on AM in a language other than english is at #176.

[Sweepstakes Ron]

For albums, it's either #98 or #339.

[Jirin]

The first song on AM in a language other than english is at #176.

Yeah, and that's not a good thing either. But it's more justifiable for songs than films because the culture of film has been multilingual for a longer time than the culture of rock music.

For songs you can say "People should pay more attention to rock music that isn't in English".

For films you can say "People already pay attention to films that aren't in English, so how can you exclude them from a list that claims to be a list of all time greatest films without qualifying the list as being for English films only?"

[chevisan]

The "Top Highbrow Films" list has 6 "foreign language" films in the top 10 though.

[PlasticRam]

I find this site easier to navigate than TSPDT. I'm shocked that Man on the Moon isn't rated, as I finally get to have a clearer picture of what the critic consensus is. In a way it's not good to be influenced by these kind of lists, cos right now my favorite films are what I personally like, even though some of them might be the kind of commercial movies that critics don't like.

[JimmyJazz]

The list factors in audience/reader voted lists. Self explanatory. It actually looks like a somewhat more respectable AFI/IMDb 250/Empire magazine poll. Also TSPDT actually takes over 3000 individual ballots from critics and directors across the whole world to create their list, almost like a giant poll in a way. This list just uses generic lists exclusively. TSPDT also has way more non-Anglo sources (largely because they have many regular contributors who are from other parts of the globe) and I know for a solid fact that Bill keeps tweaking the formula used to give a benefit to non-Western films to try to balance out bias.

Some lists are factored in there that Bill hasn't put in though, so I will probably email him links to some of them as miscellaneous lists after he has updated in February.

[JimmyJazz]

Also, this site actually factors in They Shoot Pictures list in their meta-list, along with other meta-lists out there.

....uhhhhhhh. I don't see the logic in including a list that factors in virtually the majority of the lists you already have factored in, seems like an oxymoron to me...

[JimmyJazz]

This list is crappier the more I look through it.

Michael Bay almost has a film in the Top 1000.... WTF!?!

Pirates of the Caribbean is among the 500 greatest films of all time!?!

The Tree of Life, which was the highest film from this decade on the Sight & Sound poll and is thus reflected on TSPDT, and also won a small internet critics poll of the best films of the decade so far, is ranked at 2000-something. Meanwhile, the greatest achievement of this decade is Christopher Nolan's Inception, according to this site.

And of the 21st century in general in film is The Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, not In the Mood for Love, nor Mulholland Dr., nor Yi Yi.

James Cameron has 3 films in the Top 100, while Tarkovsky and Bresson have none, and Ozu exactly 1, just barely at that.

To the guy mentioning the "highbrow" list, if you have to create lists to cater to certain "types" of movie buffs, instead of letting your ultimate meta-list speak for itself, you are clearly embarrassed by your own list. I don't see Henrik doing that for music. The only way he divides the list into smaller pieces is through year and decade sub lists, which is the only rational way of doing that kind of thing.

The website is ultra-beta looking too. I was in a website building class and I could create stuff better than that. TSPDT is way more polished looking, as is Henrik's site and Greatest Books. Though I agree TSPDT was easier to navigate before its overhaul, more elegant looking as it is now.

[bootsy]

This list is crappier the more I look through it.

Michael Bay almost has a film in the Top 1000.... WTF!?!

Pirates of the Caribbean is among the 500 greatest films of all time!?!

The Tree of Life, which was the highest film from this decade on the Sight & Sound poll and is thus reflected on TSPDT, and also won a small internet critics poll of the best films of the decade so far, is ranked at 2000-something. Meanwhile, the greatest achievement of this decade is Christopher Nolan's Inception, according to this site.

And of the 21st century in general in film is The Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, not In the Mood for Love, nor Mulholland Dr., nor Yi Yi.

James Cameron has 3 films in the Top 100, while Tarkovsky and Bresson have none, and Ozu exactly 1, just barely at that.

To the guy mentioning the "highbrow" list, if you have to create lists to cater to certain "types" of movie buffs, instead of letting your ultimate meta-list speak for itself, you are clearly embarrassed by your own list. I don't see Henrik doing that for music. The only way he divides the list into smaller pieces is through year and decade sub lists, which is the only rational way of doing that kind of thing.

The website is ultra-beta looking too. I was in a website building class and I could create stuff better than that. TSPDT is way more polished looking, as is Henrik's site and Greatest Books. Though I agree TSPDT was easier to navigate before its overhaul, more elegant looking as it is now.

I know you are trying to shove your opinion and pimp TSPDT down our throat but there is nothing wrong with these(bolded).

[JimmyJazz]

This list is crappier the more I look through it.

Michael Bay almost has a film in the Top 1000.... WTF!?!

Pirates of the Caribbean is among the 500 greatest films of all time!?!

The Tree of Life, which was the highest film from this decade on the Sight & Sound poll and is thus reflected on TSPDT, and also won a small internet critics poll of the best films of the decade so far, is ranked at 2000-something. Meanwhile, the greatest achievement of this decade is Christopher Nolan's Inception, according to this site.

And of the 21st century in general in film is The Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, not In the Mood for Love, nor Mulholland Dr., nor Yi Yi.

James Cameron has 3 films in the Top 100, while Tarkovsky and Bresson have none, and Ozu exactly 1, just barely at that.

To the guy mentioning the "highbrow" list, if you have to create lists to cater to certain "types" of movie buffs, instead of letting your ultimate meta-list speak for itself, you are clearly embarrassed by your own list. I don't see Henrik doing that for music. The only way he divides the list into smaller pieces is through year and decade sub lists, which is the only rational way of doing that kind of thing.

The website is ultra-beta looking too. I was in a website building class and I could create stuff better than that. TSPDT is way more polished looking, as is Henrik's site and Greatest Books. Though I agree TSPDT was easier to navigate before its overhaul, more elegant looking as it is now.

I know you are trying to shove your opinion and pimp TSPDT down our throat but there is nothing wrong with these(bolded).

So the greatest films of all time are of your language? I see now... The cinemas of other countries don't matter.

I'm "pimpin" TSPDT just as much as you guys are pimping this stupid crappy list and site. If you guys and Henrik hate TSPDT so much, why the hell is it linked on the page? If you like this site so much, why don't you guys include popular voted lists in the music list while you're at it? Make Bruce feel real happy, as as far as I'm concerned this Phi list is as bad those DDD lists he always shoved down our throats during his trolling time.

[Henrik]

When did I say I hate TSPDT? Also, Bootsy has a right to his opinion.

[bootsy]

This list is crappier the more I look through it.

Michael Bay almost has a film in the Top 1000.... WTF!?!

Pirates of the Caribbean is among the 500 greatest films of all time!?!

The Tree of Life, which was the highest film from this decade on the Sight & Sound poll and is thus reflected on TSPDT, and also won a small internet critics poll of the best films of the decade so far, is ranked at 2000-something. Meanwhile, the greatest achievement of this decade is Christopher Nolan's Inception, according to this site.

And of the 21st century in general in film is The Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, not In the Mood for Love, nor Mulholland Dr., nor Yi Yi.

James Cameron has 3 films in the Top 100, while Tarkovsky and Bresson have none, and Ozu exactly 1, just barely at that.

To the guy mentioning the "highbrow" list, if you have to create lists to cater to certain "types" of movie buffs, instead of letting your ultimate meta-list speak for itself, you are clearly embarrassed by your own list. I don't see Henrik doing that for music. The only way he divides the list into smaller pieces is through year and decade sub lists, which is the only rational way of doing that kind of thing.

The website is ultra-beta looking too. I was in a website building class and I could create stuff better than that. TSPDT is way more polished looking, as is Henrik's site and Greatest Books. Though I agree TSPDT was easier to navigate before its overhaul, more elegant looking as it is now.

I know you are trying to shove your opinion and pimp TSPDT down our throat but there is nothing wrong with these(bolded).

So the greatest films of all time are of your language? I see now... The cinemas of other countries don't matter.

I'm "pimpin" TSPDT just as much as you guys are pimping this stupid crappy list and site. If you guys and Henrik hate TSPDT so much, why the hell is it linked on the page? If you like this site so much, why don't you guys include popular voted lists in the music list while you're at it? Make Bruce feel real happy, as as far as I'm concerned this Phi list is as bad those DDD lists he always shoved down our throats during his trolling time.

What is up with this are of your language stuff. I love movies of other countries. If you look at my Director's poll list you will see some of that. Some of my favorite movies: City of God, Seven Samurai, Memories of Murder, Oldboy, etc are my favorites of all time. My problem with you is think this TSPDT is the end all be all when it isn't. It's a nice list but i don't base my movie views off of that list alone and you are really shoving it down our throats the way you are going off.

[Harold]

I have a bit of a soft spot for Phi-Phenomenon, because it was the first aggregate film list I found that went way beyond 1,000 films, which was exactly what I was looking for at the time. After discovering Acclaimed Music and its (eventual) top 3000 albums list, even a really great top 1000 movies list like TSPDT's wasn't enough for me.

That said, Phi's considerable flaws (and truly, truly crappy website design) became apparent quickly, and soon enough I discovered Films 101 (http://www.films101.com), which is much better - only critics' lists are included, it certainly treats foreign films with much more of the respect that they deserve, and it's updated pretty regularly. The two biggest flaws of the site are:
*The weird way the films are numbered - when there are ties, the next rank isn't what the next number would be based on the number of films, it's the next number sequentially (i.e., if there's two films tied for #666, the next entry is #667, not #668, and in any case the two #666's are probably really #710 or so, etc.). Drives me nuts.
*A more significant flaw, growing over time, is that the creator - like Phi, it's a one-man operation - is really, really haphazard about updating when it comes to larger lists. When he started, his database was remarkably comprehensive, but for whatever reason (among other things, I think he's been dealing with some rather serious health issues over the years) he's gone lax on a lot of things; most glaringly, he has yet to include the 2012 Sight & Sound results, which would be a lot of work, yes, but even Phi has done that. He's been diligent about including all major annual film awards and other annual updates like the National Film Registry, but there's a lot of data missing.

I would agree that when it comes to aggregated film lists, TSPDT is still the gold standard; I continue to hold out hope that Bill might someday decide to make the annual update a top 2000 instead.

[Edited to remove brief comments that were less-than-complimentary to other contributors to this thread, as I don't want to extend the negative tone of the discussion. We're an opinionated bunch here, and as long as we keep things civil everything's good. Apologies to those who saw the first version of this post.]