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How is IMDB matching people to "distinguishing" roles?

specialagentwebb — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:26:12 -0800

How does IMDB decide how to distinguish one actor/director search result from another? Last night, after watching Million Dollar Baby, I decided to see what else Clint Eastwood has done recently. I pop over to IMDB, do a search for "clint eastwood", and this pops up. Clint Eastwood (Actor, Million Dollar Baby (2004)). What is the process that they use to determine that the best way to specify THE Clint Eastwood is by identifying him as an actor in Million Dollar Baby? It's an excellent film, obviously, but why did they choose that film over, say, Dirty Harry? Or why bill him as Actor, and not Director (for which he won an Oscar)? Hillary Swank is also linked to Million Dollar Baby, but Morgan Freeman is linked to Shawshank Redemption. Extra confusion: Mark Harmon, recently of NCIS is linked with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (he played "Magazine Reporter at Mint 400"), while Michael Weatherly (also of NCIS) is matched with Loving, where he played a recurring character. I'm not seeing any continuity based on movie/series, role, or date.

So is there a logic behind IMDB's choices? What am I missing here?

How to see all top ranked movies on IMDb?

wastelands — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:23:40 -0800

How can I see the top-ranked IMDb movies beyond the top 250? I'd like to see movies ranked in order beyond the top 250 here:

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

In other words, how do I see the continuation of this list, i.e. #251 and lower?

I want my film listed on IMDb.

davidriley — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:53:36 -0800

I want my film listed on IMDb. I've tried and failed. The title gets lost in a dead letter office while I'm supposed to come up with "relevant information" without being told what information that could be. My film is, of course, a low-budget horror movie that has never been screened nationally on television or at a film festival, but it has been shown over forty times around the country and is for sale online. I know of filmmakers who have their crappy movies listed on the site before they are even finished, so there must be something I can do.

This previous question didn't seem to yield a solution. Anyone have any ideas?

IMDB, except it's "I M Another DB"

edjusted — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:46:08 -0800

I'm looking to create an info web site with similar features as IMDB. I'm hoping I can just adapt an existing CMS but I'm not sure where to start. I know I can go through and peruse all the biggies like Drupal, EE, etc, but I'd like to narrow my starting point, especially because of my message board requirement below. Here's what I'd want, using an IMDB movie info page as a template: no need for ratings
various info fields (e.g. a la IMDB's Genre, Tagline, Plot, etc)
links on the side to different info pages (e.g. combined details, full cast and crew, company credits, etc)
no need for user comments
but this is the most important part: a message board for each record
and similar to IMDB, I'd like to show the most active or current message board threads shown

FWIW, my usage will be completely related to IMDB. It's just that the structure of their web site happens to work almost perfectly for my needs.

Any suggestions?

Don't show me the money.

Christ, what an asshole — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:48:40 -0800

What are some of the best independent, foreign, artsy, or unique films that came out during the 90s? The entire decade was misspent on video games and real fluff (I thought Con Air and Independence Day were ace movies -- gag). Now that I've developed an aesthetic, I've tried to retrace my steps, but my like-aged peers haven't got a clue, either.

I tend to enjoy more esoteric films like Oldboy, Requiem for a Dream, 3-Iron, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. None of that David Lynch or Donnie Darko free-association crap, though.

Some recent 90s finds I've enjoyed include La Cite des Enfants Perdus and Leon.

Who is that one guy from The Birdcage?

Green With You — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:17:22 -0800

In this clip from The Birdcage, who is the guy (other than Nathan Lane) that Robin Williams is directing? I think it's Matthew Fox, but the Internet Movie Database disagrees. If not him, who?

I know how to find Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas. How do I find Wilt Chamberlain and Mick Jagger?

rileyray3000 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:42:31 -0800

Is there anything like an IMDB for rock music? or for sports figures? I'm trying to do a search for famous men over 65 who haven't kicked the bucket yet. With IMDB it's pretty easy to do so for guys in entertainment (TV, Film, radio even). But when it comes to rock or sports, not so much. Any idea if such sites exist with similar functionality to IMDB?

can't get webpage to see its stylesheet

luser — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:30:52 -0800

When I go to espn.com from work, I get a page that is completely unstyled. I can't make it refresh to see its stylesheet. I've cleared cache and flushed dns. At home, it's fine. Also, from work imdb.com always brings up a page that says "no prefetching allowed" and offers a "continue" link, which brings up the same page. The only way to get to imdb is ctrl-F5. This doesn't have any affect on espn.com. Not sure if these two experiences are related. What's going on?

Where do they get all those wonderful data?

jxpx777 — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 16:07:16 -0800

WhereTheHellDoTheyGetAllThatData Filter: When someone wants to start a site that requires huge amounts of data like IMDB or Pandora or Last.FM, where do they get the data? I can't really see that they take the time to find all the data sources and compile and link it all together into a database format. There has to be some place where they get the data. Another example is a mapping site like Mapquest or Google Maps. I know Google has more money than God or whatever, but where does such a huge amount of data come from?

Then, the side note, is how the hell do they go about processing it or relating it all together to produce a product like Pandora?

I am interested in this partly from a pure curiosity standpoint and partly from an IfIEverWantedToDoSomethingSimilar standpoint.

Sites similar to IMDB...

cheero — Tue, 30 May 2006 21:17:27 -0800

Hello all, A friend of mine recently completed his feature film as well as a short film which he had premiere at a few indie theaters. He is wondering what other sites such as IMDB allow users to submit their movie information? IMDB seems to be rather tough and not so kind on small and upcoming film makers, so I guess I'm trying to help him find 'other' film/info sites with likes of IMDB. Thanks in advance!

How does IMDB rate their top 250 films?

jdroth — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 07:45:35 -0800

This has been bugging me for a while: On IMDB, why are some highly-rated films not listed in the top 250? [more inside] For example, The Station Agent, rated 8.1 out of 10 (in 3833 votes), is ranked #231 on the list. But The Fog of War, rated 8.4 out of 10 (in 2047 votes), doesn't make the list. What gives?

As an aside: what's the highest-rated non-top-250 movie you can find? The Fog of War is high, yes, but higher still is Pride and Prejudice, 9.2 out of 10 (in 4667 votes). That's higher than the film ostensibly #1: The Godfather.

(I'm assuming Pride and Prejudice is disallowed because it's made for television, but that's a shame. It really is quite good.)

Are there other highly-rated films that don't make the top 250 for some reason?

import DVD sources (US)

PinkStainlessTail — Wed, 12 May 2004 09:26:09 -0800

Anybody have trusted sources for import DVDs (from elsewhere to the US, specifically)? Amazon.co.uk is good for Brit stuff, but wither Europe? XploitedCinema looks like a strong possibility (The Spanish release of Chimes at Midnight! The Italian release of El Topo!), but I have no idea if they're reputable.

Dr. Zhivago and Richard Burton question

marsha56 — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 19:19:30 -0800

Need help with a RIDICULOUSLY TRIVIAL but frustrating OBSESSION concerning the movie Dr. Zhivago and Richard Burton, the actor. (m.i.) There's a scene where Lara (Julie Christie) is confessing to a priest. I'm CERTAIN that the priest is played by Richard Burton.

I know I'm not the only one who thinks this. (here and here).

I checked IMDB credits. While they have a credit listed for "Jose Nieto ...Priest (uncredited)", I'm sure that this is the priest at the funeral of Zhivago's mother at the very beginning of the movie, and not Lara's priest.

I tried e-mailing IMDB several years ago about this and nothing happened.

My question is "How can I prove this one way or the other -AND- get IMDB to update the credits?"

I suppose Julie Christie would know, but how would I go about contacting her? Contact Any Celebrity sounds criminally overpriced to me.) Is there a snowball's chance I'd get a response? If so, how would I get IMDB to accept the evidence?

Or at least does anyone else remember Julie Christie confessing to Richard Burton? Please, my sanity is at stake!

Who is this actor in only one scene in Mystic River?

drezdn — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 10:27:25 -0800

In Mystic River, there's a character who only appears in one scene- talking to Sean Penn about how life was when his wife died while Penn opens a case of beers. The actor is older, and has always seemed to play salty sea captains or the sort. I tried searching IMDB but can't figure out his name.

Were the WTC towers added digitally to the NYC skyline in Angles In America?

WolfDaddy — Mon, 22 Dec 2003 17:56:29 -0800

Any film geeks out there? I recently watched Angels in America on HBO and in the last hour of the film there's a shot of the NYC skyline, with the World Trade Center featured in the shot and in fact ... [more inside] ... in fact, I'm almost certain the WTC was digitally added, which I find interesting symmetry to all the films that rushed to digitally erase the towers from movies released post-9/11.

I don't know when the movie was filmed, yet it seems like it was done after that date. However, IMDB states on its goofs page for the film that no shot of the WTC appears in the film, even though the story takes place from 1985-1990.

They're wrong, as I recall the camera actually lingering on the skyline for a couple of seconds after the actors walked offscreen. Choked me up. Anyone out there know if the towers were digitally added (or, plausibly these days, if the actors were digitally inserted into old stock footage)?