The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) hails itself as the “ultimate movie reference source.” With information about more than 180,000 movies and almost 2.5 million entries, it certainly can claim such status.
The site has been in existence for some years, and, although it is a bit more commercial than it used to be (it is now an Amazon.com company; and you can now purchase videos online), it remains the place to go on the Web for film‐related information.
The database includes information culled from press kits or studio representatives. Users also may contribute information, which is verified by a section manager before going online.
The people who maintain the site update it weekly; and, according to the site’s FAQ, 50,000 or more entries are added each week. The site FAQ is quite extensive; and numerous contact names and e‐mail addresses are provided for those who need to ask a question or want to submit reviews.
Users may search the database by title or name or choose to search by other options which get fairly intricate. The special search FAQ can be helpful, explaining some notations and abbreviations used in entries. The “other options” include being able to specify a search by television movies or feature films, specify cast name or crew name, and a host of other options such as searching within categories like soundtracks, locations, genres, and language. The entries for particular movies list title, date, director name, genre, plot summary, MPAA rating, country, run time, user comments and rating, and the credited cast.
A side bar gives options to link to a variety of other entries, such as trivia, quotes, soundtrack listing, release date, promotional materials, reviews from Internet newsgroups, and full crew credits. Points within entries are hyperlinked for easy browsing.
The IMDb is truly international in scope ‐ not just Europe and the USA. I searched for various Asian and African films and filmmakers with excellent results.
Also, the IMDb is available via US and UK mirror sites; and there are translated versions of the site for those who wish to search in German, Italian, or Spanish.
The site also offers extras such as daily movie news articles, links to movie reviews, a “what’s cool” category, box office receipt data, and information on upcoming film and video releases.
One of the “extra” categories is particularly noteworthy. The IMDb’s “award winners” section tracks four major film awards:
- 1.
1Cannes Film Festival
- 2.
2the Academy Awards
- 3.
3Golden Globe Awards
- 4.
4European Film Awards
This allows the user to easily retrieve data on current nominees and past winners.
For the Academy Awards, for example,the user sees a grid showing date, venue,host and winner of the Best Picture Oscar, 1929 to the present. Clicking on the year links the user to a complete list of all awards given that year. Hundreds of other awards, mostly ones associated with special genres or international film festivals, are also tracked.
There are other movie review sites on the Web, including fancy ones like www.film.com which offer those with multimedia capabilities access to items such as movie trailers viewable through RealPlayer. However, no site I found can beat the breadth and depth of coverage of the IMDb.
