How to Choose Your Favorite Movie in 1,000,000 Easy Steps!

We all love movies – but do you know which is your favorite? When people would ask me “What’s your favorite movie?” I wasn’t always sure how to answer. I would usually choose one from a small group of favorite movies (depending on how well I knew the person and what kinds of movies we both liked). Or I might say “I’m not sure. There are so many great movies – it’s hard to choose just one.” I felt like I would need to compare every movie I had ever seen with every other movie I had ever seen to figure out definitively which one I liked best. All those years ago, I was dreaming of Flickchart!

If you want to figure out what your favorite movie is, just follow this easy one-step plan! (You may need to follow it for quite some time, depending on how many movies you’ve seen.)

The easy plan:

• Step 1. Rank movies on Flickchart.com

After doing this for a while (50-100 matchups), you’ll find that your chart has one big flaw: it’s missing some of your favorite movies! You could continue with the easy plan until all your favorite movies show up, but that would take a very long time. Luckily, there is a remedy for this – ranking movies by title. Just click “By Title” and enter the name of the movie you want to rank.  (You can also enter the name of the movie in the search box and then click “Add to my Flickchart” on the movie’s detail page.)

The updated plan:

• Step 1. Rank movies until you notice you’re missing some of your favorites.
• Step 2. Rank movies by title.

After adding a few movies by title, you’ll find that your chart has another big flaw: the movies aren’t in the right order! (Welcome to Flickchart!) This is particularly a problem when adding movies by title because out-of-place movies throw off your ability to navigate a film into its correct place on the chart. If one of your favorite movies is misplaced in the middle of your chart, then some good movies are going to end up in the bottom half of your chart when they really should be in the top half of your chart. Luckily, there is a remedy for this, too – rank your whole chart.

The new-and-improved plan:

• Step 1. Rank movies until you notice you’re missing some of your favorites.
• Step 2. Rank movies by title until you notice your chart is all out-of-order.
• Step 3. Rank your whole chart.

After ranking your whole chart for a while, you’ll find that your chart has another big flaw: things are generally improving, but your top 20 still has some movies in the wrong order! Ranking your whole chart will eventually correct this but it may take a very long time. Luckily, there is a remedy for this – you can limit how many of your movies you are ranking from your top 1000 all the way down to your top 20.

The even-better plan:

• Step 1. Rank movies until you notice you’re missing some of your favorites.
• Step 2. Rank movies by title until you notice your chart is all out-of-order.
• Step 3. Rank your whole chart until your top 20 being wrong drives you crazy.
• Step 4. Rank your top 20.

After ranking your top 20 until you are happy with it, you may want to view your chart in list view and perform a few clean-up tasks. Find any movies that you accidentally added and remove them from your chart (you can do this from each movie’s page). Find any movies that are still way out of place and re-rank them into their correct location (you can also do this from the movies’ detail pages).

The best-ever-yet plan:

• Step 1. Rank movies until you notice you’re missing some of your favorites.
• Step 2. Rank movies by title until you notice your chart is all out-of-order.
• Step 3. Rank your whole chart until your top 20 being wrong drives you crazy.
• Step 4. Rank your top 20 until you are happy with it.
• Step 5. Clean up your chart by removing accidentally added movies.
• Step 6. Clean up your chart by re-ranking movies that are still way out of place.

Now you’re feeling better because your chart is starting to look pretty good. But your chart is still incomplete. Where are all the movies from your favorite directors and actors? Where are all the movies in your favorite genres and franchises? The AFI 100? Roger Ebert’s Great Movies? 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die? Have no fear, Flickchart has got you covered. You can view those lists and add to your chart any movies that you have already seen.

The ultimate-can’t-get-better-than-this plan:

• Step 1. Rank movies until you notice you’re missing some of your favorites.
• Step 2. Rank movies by title until you notice your chart is all out-of-order.
• Step 3. Rank your whole chart until your top 20 being wrong drives you crazy.
• Step 4. Rank your top 20 until you are happy with it.
• Step 5. Clean up your chart by removing accidentally added movies.
• Step 6. Clean up your chart by re-ranking movies that are still way out of place.
• Step 7. Rank all the movies by your favorite directors and actors.
• Step 8. Rank all the movies in your favorite genres and franchises.
• Step 9. Rank all the movies from critically acclaimed critic’s lists.

If you love movies (and I know you do) you’re going to watch more of them. And once you do, you’ll need to add them to your chart. If your chart is in good shape (and why wouldn’t it be?) this will be easy. Just add by title and Bob’s your uncle. It can be scary when something new challenges movies that have settled in at the top of your chart – choose with your heart and you’ll survive to rank another day. If, on second thought, you feel you’ve made a grave mistake – Don’t Panic! Any problems can be fixed by re-ranking (or removing) the offending movie. (One poor soul accidentally ranked Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 as their number two movie. Don’t worry – their chart is fine now and they are making a full recovery.)

Once you’ve added all the movies you’ve seen you’ll probably rank them anywhere from 10-100 times. The more you rank – the more accurate your chart. You’ll want to invite your friends and share your charts with each other. You can even view your combined favorites. Or your friend’s top recommendations that you haven’t seen. Not to mention the main chart based on the aggregate rankings of all Flickchart users. It’s the closest thing to objective opinion for something as subjective as taste in movies.

After using Flickchart for a few months, I have a few observations:

• Flickchart will force you to compare movies you would never have compared.
• Flickchart will inspire you to re-watch movies you haven’t seen in a while.
• Flickchart will change your opinions of movies (for better or for worse).
• Flickchart will identify movies you need to see (and others to avoid).

Ultimately, with enough ranking, you will be able to answer the question: “What is your favorite movie?” For me, the answer is The Empire Strikes Back, the greatest sequel ever made. Will it stay that way forever? I don’t know. As long as I keep watching movies, thinking about movies, discussing movies, writing about movies, and ranking movies–no spot on my chart is safe.