Give it time. People are just in the heat of the moment and will view things with more scope in the future after they've had their fill of batboy. Same thing happened with begins in a way and look at it now. It's just an ok movie to these same people when in 2005 it was a masterpiece. They're nuts.

Welcome to the digital age fellas.

Well, if you should believe the IMDB voting system which is shortly explained at the bottom of said chart, that probably is not so likely;

"The formula for calculating the Top Rated 250 Titles gives a true Bayesian estimate:

weighted rating (WR) = (v ÷ (v+m)) × R + (m ÷ (v+m)) × C

where:
R = average for the movie (mean) = (Rating)
v = number of votes for the movie = (votes)
m = minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250 (currently 1300)
C = the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.7)

for the Top 250, only votes from regular voters are considered."

Note especially the last part.

Superman,

I'd agree if this were Batman Begins. But BB seems to have been the catalyst that helped get TDK rolling. This weekend it took the number one spot and was the first film to hit the 300 mill mark the fastest. It keeps breaking records. This will hit 500 mill domestically easily.

I think the same could also be said for Godfather fans who vote The Dark Knight a 1 out of 10 score as well.

I second what Greyson said. They were both great, personally I prefer TDK but I think it's ridiculous that anyone would vote either of these movies a 1/10. It's like "Really? The Dark Knight (Godfather) failed on every level as a movie? Acting, Score, Plot, Costumes, Effects, Dialogue, etc." It's just the people trying to knock it down because they don't like the hype. That's all.

ya nicely said greyson lol.......

I've seen both films and Dark Knight truly is a masterpiece certainly a step, if only a very small one, above godfather

Greyson,

That's the general problem with online polling on the net in the first place. But yes, what you said.

This 'war' of 1s could be mostly blamed on The Godfather fans who couldn't stand any other movie being #1. Taking on The Dark Knight at the height of its popularity is as foolish as believing the IMDb chart somehow lists the greatest movies of all time in order of importance and only one movie deserves the number 1 spot.

I've seen some very serious claims that 100 thousand people gave TDK a 10 just to put it ahead of TGF (and millions are watching it again and again just to beat Titanic at the box office, apparently).

HAHA NO WAY is TDK better then THE GODFATHER. No way. But so long as I personally know that to be the truth, and others have varied opinions, I don't need to refer to some internet list to feel comforted.

If only we could all go back and take our ticket money back from TITANIC so that wouldn't be the highest grossing of all time anymore, eh?? ;o)

I think the fact that a new movie is taking the place from a classic at the top of the list is unsettling to people. Give it 10 years and you will look back on TDK like you look back at Pulp Fiction, Shawshank, or Goodfellas (that they all deserve to be that high on the IMDB top 250). It is the "new-ness" of the movie that is bothering people. I saw it and can't say there are many movies that I have ever enjoyed as much.

I've never understood the IMDB scoring system. For years now The Shawshank Redemption has had a score of 9.2 if you are to go by the score on the Shawshank page, but go to the top 250 and it's score was 9.1 and #2 to the Godfathers #1 which was also 9.1. Sorry, but that has always bugged me.

TDK is "The Godfather" for a new generation. The Godfather films(1 & 2) should be theatrically re-released, to show new audiences how great they truly were.

Two years ago or something like that The Shawshank Redemption was #1 if i remember correctly.

yo all the godfather fans have voted 10 on godfather already and have been down voting movies to keep it number 1.

So I think it hilarious that now Dark Knight is number one and the imdb godfather trolls had their tables turned on them for once

I think mike is completely right.

Everyone who votes 1 on a movie just to keep their favorite on the top of an online poll is pathetic. What are they trying to prove?

I totally agree with Pete it is the Godfather for a new generation. I know I have really waited for a comic book movie that really push the movie past being a comic book movie into something else. Spider-Man 2 is the closes we have gotten to since the original Superman movie. I know The Dark Knight has done something when my GF wants to see it for a 3rd time! IMDB honestly needs to have two separate rating systems like Rotten Tomatoes has or even Yahoo movies, which is one for critics and one for movie fans. Now if teen girls start going on IMBD and voting for "Twilight," has the best movie of all times and it gets #1 im just going to stop going to imdb! Thats when I know the world is coming to an end!

HOWEVER, as 'quality' films go, Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank and Goodfellas all share something in common that is absolutely lacking in TDK. Do you know what that is? Think about it...

This is just getting out of hand. I can't people so many people care about such a STUPID list. It lost all credibility years ago.

As time passes and TDK drops down the list, Shawshank will probably end up on top, starting another voting war between Godfather and Shawshank fans. The cycle continues.

Listen, TDK is one of my favorite movies... but people are getting really carried away with all the hype. This reminds me of Titanic (not comparing TDK as a film to Titanic in any way).

I still think the best film of all time is Citizen Kane, but because all the popular films like Godfather and TDK are voted in some of the really amazing films get left out.
This is really just a popularity contest, not a true way to know what movies are better than others.

WTF? I thought Wall-E was the "BEST REVIEWED" film ever on imdb?????

Why create all of this hype, Peter, if you're just going to counter it again when the next big thing drops in a couple months. I mean are you guys selling movie news, or empty numbers and hype here at /Film?

the godfather is great but what puts other movies ahead of it for me is the rewatchability . i could watch the dark knight every week and love it. i 've seen it three times already and wouldn't mind going again. with the godfather on the other hand i would get sick of watching it so many times.

WAIT! All you guys are forgetting about the most important question in all of this!

Is Hunter going to eat his shoe or what?!

"It’s also worth noting that while any IMDb user can vote and effect a movie’s overall rating, only regular IMDb users can influence the film’s top 250 placement."

and here I viewed the IMDb top 250 as sort of the 'true assessment' of the top 250 as determined by the masses. Today, I've learned that it is really just the top 250 of some selective group of people that are fans of a particular website.

Godfather fanboys are probably doing the same to TDK. How could TDK get that many more 1's? Most certainly after bitching that TDK reached the #1 spot.

Captain awesome. that doesn't matter. This is called HYPE for a reason. It's all exaggerated. No one likes titanic anymore and that made a trillion dollars.

This is a perfect example of the fallacy of the popular vote.

I have the feeling that this debate about whether TDK is the greatest movie ever or that Marvel is better than DC, or vice-versa, might lead to WW3.

Hype = Liking "something" on the internet

I have steadily watched in amazement at the decline of Captain Awesome's posts. When all is said and done, kid is just a run of the mill fanboy.

Give it time. In about ten to eleven years The Dark Knight will be one of those movies in your DVD collection you forgot you had as you scan through them. Just like the Godfather.

Fuck,

Bucket of Aloe for that mega-burn.

I'm more willing to chalk this up to a generation of kids who have probably seen Shawshank in a high school english class or at home and have never been exposed to The Godfather. This ignorance of American film history is somewhat disconcerting.

TDK is a great film, it's true, but as far as influences go you can see a lot of The Godfather in most crime sagas since its debut, even The Dark Knight.

I think you guys are looking at this with the wrong eye.

Imagine this: all you can count is to 10. Everything. So everything that approaches 10 looks like infinite. You have no idea there is a 100 around (or even more.)

What's probably happening is that most people voting on IMDB did not saw the Godfather. So, to them, nothing have a better storyline than Dark Knight. They may not deliberately trying to make TDK "the best movie of all time." It is just the best movie they ever saw.

IMDB should add some correlation between voted movies. E.g., if someone votes just to TDK and not to Godfather (or whatever), then their points should count less in the final sum. But, then again, it doesn't prevent people voting to Godfather without ever watching the movie...

As an addendum to my previous post.

Simply put, if it weren't for The Godfather, TDK wouldn't have been half the movie it was.

1) The arguments that TGF is better than TDK because it influenced TDK is silly. TGF wouldn't be what IT is without all the movies leading up to it that affected it.

2) What TGF generation sees as a "good movie" is all well and good, but what my generation (newer) sees as a good movie happens to be TDK. We're both "wrong" to the other. It's like saying rock music is worse/better than barbershop quartets or heavy metal. Some influenced the rise of the others, and it's all a matter of preference of what you enjoy.

Just as how sanity is defined as "what the majority believe" what constitutes the best movie is what the majority believe to be good. Anything else is actually the "abnormal" opinion. The better movie will out, and in the long run, someday, I'll be yelling at those young idiots who don't realize how awesome TDK was.

Holy Smokes Batman.. Was Dark Knight really all that? Apparently so say the people!

JT
www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com

I LOVE that this is being brought to attention and no one bothers to bring the "Legend of Zelda vs Everything" issue to attention. It's the same thing. Anyone remember GTA 4 coming out and the ratings were through the roof? It held the number one AND two spot for 360 and ps3 on game rankings. After everything cooled down all the sudden a ton of Ocarina reviews came in that put the game back at number one. Not only that but Galaxy, another nintendo game, retained it's spot at number 2. Are they really deserving!? Or is this just simply the work of bullshit fanboys squeezing in reviews so that their beloved games can stay on top? It's the same issue that we have at hand here. The Dark Knight is an amazing film but is it really deserving to hold the top spot over The Godfather AND The Shawshank Redemption!? Or is this just again the work of bullshit fanboys?

I like how something as trivial as a list on the internet has hoardes of fucking idiots seemingly under the impression that they're not allowed to like BOTH films... Seriously, go take a look at some of the posts on the IMDb message board for TDK. It's depressing.

Personally I'll just stick with enjoying any and all good movies I come across.


Anyway, as much as I loved TDK, and firmly believe it's one of the best of 2008, it's not as good as TGF. Or Shawshank. Or Heat. Or Pulp Fiction. Or Taxi Driver. Or Goodfellas. Or The Good The Bad and The Ugly. Or A Clockwork Orange. Or fucking Memento. Or... Ah, forget it.

@Aaron: 12 Angry Men?

You just simply can not, compare these two movies, at the end of the day batman is a movie thats in the moment, the godfather is a 70's legendary masterpiece that in my mind will never be forgotten.

Bale turned out great and Ledger even better,

but when you look at the cast of godfather, we are not just talkign about one movie here, brando, pacino, deniro, caan, duvall, these are actors that will never ben born again.

I'm done.

This is just to ridiculous for me to even comment on.

But I will anyway.

1) The Dark Knight is not better than The Godfather. It is a fucking brilliant film, and easily the best superhero movie of all time, and easily the best movie of the year thus far, but it's not better than The Godfather and if you think you can say that it is a week and a half after it came out, you're high.

I think that Rotten Tomatoes is the best way for determining critical consensus. (The Godfather, by the way, has 100%. Part II has 98%. The Empire Strikes Back has 97%. Hell, The Departed has 96%. There are films better-reviewed than TDK.)

Please disregard everything in that last post, as I just looked at the "greatest of all time" list on RT.

Toy Story 2 at number 1?!

godfather is one boring movie, TDK isnt thats why TDK is at the top and the godfather isnt. also shawshank is better than godfather. so stop bitching godfather fans because the dark knight has the spot it deserves. the top spot

Whoa, mytvtalk.com, way to lose all respect for your website right from the get-go, calling The Godfather 'boring'. Oops!

Gasp! OMFG!!!
Wait...oh, wait, this isn't The Onion? Reall? No, seriously.
You mean...this is like a, ehm, err...uh, 'real' article? And this is considered...what? News? Interesting?

Wow...holy crap...people are like really commenting on this...

...I had no idea...just when you thought you had stumbled across the most disturbing thing you would find on the 'net...

Really? Everyone knows this is internet shenanigans. I like both films, but I don't think we'll be watching "The Dark Knight" thirty years from now as closely and with as much reverence as we do "The Godfather" now...

I mean, really guys? The intensified and triangulated ultrasonic frequencies of the phones and radios in the area are imaged together to allow Batman to read the subtleties of the word "SWAT" on the back of the police uniforms so he doesn't kill the wrong people?

No, dude, NO. A lot of people need to re-watch Godfather. Please don't get me started on the quality of the dialog - while it's acceptable in Dark Knight, it's nowhere near the powerful subtlety (and quotability!) of The Godfather.

And upperdecker... Please knock it off. You need to watch more movies. No, it's not like one generation likes Rock 'n' Roll and another likes Barbershop quartets. You will get older and watch Godfather a few more times. You will likely grow to love it and wish they would make a Batman movie as subtle and shifting as Godfather is. I hope it happens, and not because I want to "be right" - I have nothing to do with how good the film is. I hope you come around because it's just that good and I want you to know more than how "TDK" has been voted above "TGF" on a web page, and therefore you erroneously start acting like "TDK" is the "Godfather" for a new generation, because it's not. "The Dark Knight" is "Batman" for a new generation. It might be better than 'Batman Forever', 'Batman and Robin', and even 'Godfather Pt III' but it's not "The Godfather." Please.

"TDK" has been out two weeks. It's fun. Maybe it's as good or better than 'Ironman,' but I can't be sure because it's only been TWO WEEKS. Rejoin us in 10 years and tell us that "TDK" stands up to 'The Godfather.'

This only goes to show why Plato didn't believe in democracy.