Ridiculous Rankings

For some odd reason, Americans are obsessed with putting things into some kind of hierarchy. We just like lists. Lists make it easier for us to find the best product to buy or see who is a better athlete or who is the hottest person In Hollywood. Some rankings are crucial in helping us make critical decisions. However, some are just absolutely inane. You can find some kind of ranking for almost anything you can imagine. But, who makes these rankings? Who determines what’s better than most? Well, the following rankings come from the A.V. Club’s website. Let’s try to figure this mystery out.
One of the rankings that caught my attention was the “Our Favorite Film Scenes of the ‘00s.” Taking a look at the list, one thing jumped out at me. Most of the movies on the first page I have never heard of before. I’m not a movie buff but I at least know what has been playing in the theaters. How can something be our favorite movie scene when we don’t really know the movie? One scene that did catch my eye was the “Exchanging of Business Cards- American Psycho.” I’ve scene the movie a couple times and have loved it. But the scene where he freaks out over the business card and proceeds to destroy his competitor with an axe seems just hysterical. I can agree with the A.V. writers who commented how they can’t look at a business card anymore without seeing Christian Bale in your head. Brutally massacring people seems to just stick in your head I guess.
Another list had the best bad movies of the decade. I haven’t seen any of the movies on the list, but now probably won’t see them because of the list. But say one of these movies is your favorite movie, how does that make you feel that your favorite movie is put on a list of things that suck. Rankings have power unforeseen. But, in my opinion, the writers forgot a movie. I think they should have included Zombie Night. I think it is the most poorly shot, ill directed movie I have ever seen. I think it is just awful. But if you love that movie, go right ahead and keep loving it because I won’t.
The list of best movies is comprised of fifty movies. Out of all of them I have only seen three. I saw Kill Bill Vol. 1, American Psycho, and the Dark Knight. I thought they were good movies and so did the writers. Aside from that, I don’t really have any other opinions except that the Hangover should be on there.
I have to give the writers a hand for what they did with the music rankings. Very few lists I’ve seen that list the best music only represent a small selection of genres. Not only do they have a list of best albums of a lot of genres, they have rankings for separate genres. The best music list has some of the music I listen to, mostly rock and metal, but I still appreciate the other genres. The list of metal depresses me though. Some music I don’t classify as metal. I also think they left some bands out but that’s just me. But I must agree, System of a Down’s Toxicity deserves to be on the list of the best.
So far, I like the list of best TV shows. I think The Sopranos blew it in its finale, but I don’t watch it so I’m not going to argue. Lost is a show you either love or hate. There isn’t much room for gray area. Well, I love it so I like that it’s on the list. I’m sad that Futurama is gone from us and I don’t understand how the Tim and Eric Awesome Show doesn’t give people seizures. Was Scrubs a candidate for this list?
Their list of best TV shows from shows not on any other list entertains me. South Park’s “Scott Tenorman Must Die” episode is fantastic. I wish they used the “Hand Banana” episode for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, probably because it’s my favorite episode. I think they should’ve included an episode from Testees, or Family Guy.
One list they have is the “Best Made-for-TV movies.” At first, I wasn’t sure what exactly the list would contain but two of the ones that are on the list I loved. The first is Planet Earth. I have never seen such an extensive collection of footage from the most desolate places on Earth. I’ve learned so much from watching it. The other one I loved is Band of Brothers. I love learning about World War II and I loved Saving Private Ryan. Throughout the series, I felt like I was part of the company. I felt like I knew each one of them personally. It superbly made.
As for their list of video games, it is acceptable. Rock Band is definitely one of the top games on my list. I also enjoyed that the writers included one of the trippiest games of all time, Portal. I am sad though that they missed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, or any others from the series.
There are a lot of lists on the A.V. Clubs’ website about the best of the decade, so go check it out to see if your favorites soared or flopped. But from what I have realized, if someone has no prior knowledge of a subject, he will trust that list more than the person who knows everything on it. Let’s just hope that the experts are the ones making the lists.