Review of Empire's top 300 films

To much fanfare, the latest fan vote on the Empire website and magazine was completed and the top 301 films were named this week. It was a vote I actually took part in as you chose your favourite 5 films and all you needed was your name and email address (which essentially meant anyone could enter numerous times with different emails). For the record the five films I chose were: Mulholland Drive, The Godfather, The Third Man, 12 Angry Men and Drive meaning I'm no better than the people I'm about to criticize.

My review of the previous top 500 from 2008 is here (note my incorrect prediction about Zodiac disappearing five years later)

As many noted on social media, the list appears to have gotten people confused between their favourite 5 films of all-time and the last 5 films they have seen. The likes of Man of Steel and the two latest Star Trek movies were below average blockbusters that will be long forgotten in a decade time after they've been re-booted again, hopefully with more success. This is why I, along with many of my friends it appears, believe they should have a system similar to the Hall of Fame in American sports where you only become eligible five years later. So in essence this list would only feature films released in 2008 or before and not have the list covered with subpar films released recently.

Naturally a lot of older films are missing from the list as the younger generation comes through having not seen many of the "classics". But obviously with lists like this you get big blockbusters chosen just because of the sheer volume of people that have seen them against critics lists that tend to include obscure high brow films chosen for some elitist snobbery. Andrei Rublev for example is a beautifully shot film that is often revered but if you actually sit down and watch it you'll realise it is dull as hell.

But Empire has succeeded though because not only are people now discussing it but they are getting more viewers to their website than normal to check out the list. All good fun but it worries me how much worse the list has become in just 5 years.