Comments on: MeFi's Perfect Movie Channel

MeFi's Perfect Movie Channel

alby — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 08:27:30 -0800

Now that activity in it has ceased, can someone go through the Best Movie Channel thread and work out which movies are MeFi's favourites?

I tried to do it, but my frequency analysis skills (pasting the entire thread into Wordle) didn't work well enough. I tried doing it by hand but I got bored about a quarter of the way through and there must be an easier way of doing it.

By: Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish

Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 08:42:59 -0800

Pasting the thread into a frequency analyzer after stripping out datestamps and favorite counts gives me The Fifth Element as MeFi's favorite movie, appearing 12 times. Princess Bride is right behind it at 11, Star Wars and Dirty Dancing tie at 10, and GalaxyQuest was named 9 times.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 09:08:23 -0800

Clearly if we just set The Princess Bride in the future with some dance numbers we'll have an unstoppable hit.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 09:22:18 -0800

Somehow, there needs to be a way to factor favorites into this.

By: laconic skeuomorph

laconic skeuomorph — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:00:31 -0800

Aliens, Lebowski, Dune. Stalker.

By: box

box — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:26:09 -0800

That can't be right--I don't like that movie at all.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:28:12 -0800

consider the option that you may be a replicant.

By: Foci for Analysis

Foci for Analysis — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 10:52:54 -0800

I'll create a GUI Interface with Visual Basic and get back to you.

By: restless_nomad

restless_nomad — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 12:08:15 -0800

I just saw The Fifth Element again in the theater this summer. If you cut the last ten minutes off, it's definitely one of my favorite movies ever.

By: Brocktoon

Brocktoon — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:11:19 -0800

But I like the bit where his mum talks to the president.

By: Brocktoon

Brocktoon — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:13:28 -0800

I'm throwing my hands up here, how could Big Trouble in Little China not be on that list.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:38:39 -0800

A small point, but: they're not our favorite movies, or the ones we think are the best; they're the ones that draw us in, sometimes against our will!

By: maggieb

maggieb — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:16:41 -0800

True that, Greg Nog. I also factored in "likely to be caught showing on television."

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:36:46 -0800

Yeah, exactly. My list was not comprised of "favorite movies", but movies I come across on TV regularly and get sucked into. My list of favorites would be pretty different, and (don't worry, Brocktoon) would probably include Big Trouble in Little China.

By: bubukaba

bubukaba — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:59:16 -0800

Doing "What are Metafilter's Favorite Movies?" (or music, or books...) as a formal poll might be fun.

By: laconic skeuomorph

laconic skeuomorph — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 16:44:23 -0800

I find I mostly hit right with MeFi on movie love but I feel like y'all aren't as big a fan of Friday as I am.

By: buzzman

buzzman — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:10:41 -0800

Song of the South?

By: roboton666

roboton666 — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:16:25 -0800

Laconic, you are not alone in your love of Friday.

By: bongo_x

bongo_x — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:44:28 -0800

I thought the whole point was they may or may not be favorite movies, but ones you would always watch if they were on.

By: marienbad

marienbad — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 07:45:38 -0800

I figured it would be either JFK or Nixon, given the political leanings of the site.

Or maybe that Dr Who movie from the 80s!

By: maryr

maryr — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 10:48:57 -0800

Again, yeah, not favorites, but stuff that draws you in. To some extent, I see this as being a kind of sister post to all the horrible/amazing 90s music that was recently MeTa'd.