Sorted list: Films with "intelligent grades" 8.1 or higher (robustness 3.5 or higher)

Very basic hints on how to use this list

Probably the most important feature is the links to “the most helpful” reviews of the film (click on the film’s title to jump there);
The list is ordered w.r.t. the “demanding viewer”’s grade GR; the better it is, the higher is the expectation of the “film quality”.

One may also want to know

(yet more details at the bottom of the page):

Colored grades GR are less statistically reliable than non-colored. More color means less reliability.
Most entries of the table (and all icons) have mouse popups with more details/explanations.
The headers of the table also have mouse popups. They explain what is in the column.
Thumbnails of movie poster’s (on the left) are clickable (moreover, a click on the large version brings the whole poster — if available)

GR	Year	Genres	Title	Extra links / Director, etc / «Original title»
9.6	1961	DF	Hand in Hand	Philip Leacock, W, W, P, M
9.5	2011		Nefarious: Merchant of Souls	Benjamin Nolot, Matt Dickey, W, P, P, P, M
9.5	1998	AC	Gunda	Kanti Shah, W, M
9.5	1997	D	Eve's Bayou	Kasi Lemmons, W, P, M
9.4	2013	AAdCrD	Dead in 5 Heartbeats	Jeff Santo, W, P
9.4	2003	CDF	Uncle Nino	Robert Shallcross, W, P, M
9.4	2000	D	Train Ride	Rel Dowdell, W, P
9.1	1991	CD	"American Playhouse" Into the Woods	James Lapine, W
9.0	1973	DFanFAdR	Three Wishes for Cinderella	Václav Vorlícek, W, W, P, M «Tri orísky pro Popelku»
8.9	2005	BD	Self Medicated	Monty Lapica, W, P, M
8.9	1995	DH	Les Misérables	Claude Lelouch, W, W, P, P, M, M, M++ «Les misérables»
8.9	1971	D	Anand	Hrishikesh Mukherjee, W, W, ++, P, M
8.8	2013	R	Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal	Vasanth, W, P, M
8.8	1997	C	Fakin' Da Funk	Timothy A. Chey, W, P, M
8.8	1983	CD	Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro	Kundan Shah, W, W, ++, P, M
8.8	1978	AAdD	The 36th Chamber of Shaolin	Chia-Liang Liu, W, P, P, M «Shao Lin san shi liu fang»
8.7	2011		Untitled Sarah Palin Documentary
8.7	2006	DR	Tomorrow Is Today	Frederic Lumiere, W, P, M
8.7	1968	D	Interlude	Kevin Billington, W, W, ++, P, M
8.7	1958	FWe	Snowfire	Dorrell McGowan, Stuart E. McGowan, W, W, P, M
8.6	2014	DTWe	Wichita	Nicholas Barton, W, P, P
8.6	2009	DFMRWe	The Taste of Relation	Mukesh Asopa, W, W, P, M, M, M++
8.6	2002	DW	Kannathil Muthamittal	Mani Ratnam, W, ++, P, M
8.6	1981	CrD	Pixote	Hector Babenco, W, W, ++, P, M «Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco»
8.6	1928	DR	The Crowd	King Vidor, W, W, ++, P, M
8.6	1927	BDHW	Napoleon	Abel Gance, W, P, P, P++, M, M, M «Napoléon»
8.5	2003	BDH	The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John	Philip Saville, W, P, M
8.5	2000	DH	Hey Ram	Kamal Hassan, W, W, P, M
8.5	1995	D	The Cure	Peter Horton, W, P, M
8.5	1932	CCrR	Trouble in Paradise	Ernst Lubitsch, W, W, ++, P, M
8.4	2013	DFT	Drishyam	Jeethu Joseph, W, P, M, M
8.4	2012	CHoT	The Haunting of Pearson Place	Michael Merino, W, P, M
8.4	2002	DT	Looking Through Lillian	Jake Torem, W, W, P, M
8.4	1997	DF	The King of Masks	Tian-Ming Wu, W, W, P, M «Bian Lian»
8.4	1967	DW	The 25th Hour	Henri Verneuil, W, W, ++, P, M, M «La vingt-cinquième heure»
8.4	1936	CDMlR	Show Boat	James Whale, W, W, ++, P
8.3	2014	DHoMT	House of Temptation	Doc Zee, Hassan Zee, W, W, P
8.3	2013	CD	Ankhon Dekhi	Rajat Kapoor, W, M
8.3	2008	AAd	The Flyboys	Rocco DeVilliers, W, W, ++, P, M
8.3	2002	ACrTD	Company	Ram Gopal Varma, W, P, M
8.3	2002	AT	Day of the Sirens	Ray Brady, W, P, M
8.3	2002	CDR	The Trip	Miles Swain, W, P, P, M
8.3	1991	CD	29th Street	George Gallo, W, W, ++, P, M
8.3	1989	CDR	Shag	Zelda Barron, W, W, ++, P
8.3	1989	DHW	The Winter War	Pekka Parikka, W, W, ++, P, M, M «Talvisota»
8.3	1988	CDR	Torch Song Trilogy	Paul Bogart, W, P
8.3	1986	DMc	Man Facing Southeast	Eliseo Subiela, W, P, M «Hombre mirando al sudeste»
8.3	1984	CCrRT	American Dreamer	Rick Rosenthal, W, W, ++, P, P, M
8.3	1975	CDW	Seven Beauties	Lina Wertmüller, W, P, M «Pasqualino Settebellezze»
8.3	1966	AdDRWe	The Trap	Sidney Hayers, W, P, M
8.3	1961	D	A Raisin in the Sun	Daniel Petrie, W, P, M
8.3	1928	DRWe	The Wind	Victor Sjöström, W, W, P, M, M
8.2	2014	R	Go with Le Flo	Michael Glover, W, ++
8.2	2000	D	Kelviyin Nayagan	Mani Ratnam, M
8.2	1998	CDR	Get Real	Simon Shore, W, P, M
8.2	1996	DW	Pretty Village, Pretty Flame	Srdjan Dragojevic, W, W, ++, P, M, M «Lepa sela lepo gore»
8.2	1993	CMc	Fear of a Black Hat	Rusty Cundieff, W, P
8.2	1993	DR	Wrestling Ernest Hemingway	Randa Haines, W, P, M
8.2	1987	CrD	Nayakan	Mani Ratnam, W, W, ++, P, M
8.2	1985	AdCSf	Back to the Future	Robert Zemeckis, W, W, P, M
8.2	1980	AAdSf	Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back	Irvin Kershner, W, W, ++, P, M
8.2	1975	AdBD	Dersu Uzala	Akira Kurosawa, W, W, ++, P, P, P, M
8.2	1960	CrDT	Le Trou	Jacques Becker, W, W, ++, P, M «Le trou»
8.2	1955	D	Pather Panchali	Satyajit Ray, W, W, P, M
8.2	1951	DFan	A Christmas Carol	Brian Desmond Hurst, W, W, P, M «Scrooge»
8.2	1946	DRW	The Best Years of Our Lives	William Wyler, W, W, P, M
8.2	1928	CRFD	The Cameraman	Edward Sedgwick, ++, W, W, ++, P, P
8.2	1923	CRT	Safety Last!	Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, W, W, ++, P, M, M
8.1	2014	DR	Old Fashioned	Rik Swartzwelder, W, P, M
8.1	2012	BD	Shahid	Hansal Mehta, W, W, ++, P, M
8.1	2010	CD	Do Dooni Chaar	Habib Faisal, W, W, P, M, M
8.1	2010	ABCrSpT	Paan Singh Tomar	Tigmanshu Dhulia, P, M
8.1	2009	DR	Undertow	Javier Fuentes-León, W, P, M «Contracorriente»
8.1	2001	CDR	My Sassy Girl	Jae-young Kwak, W, W, P, M «Yeopgijeogin geunyeo»
8.1	1996	CDR	Beautiful Thing	Hettie Macdonald, W, P, M
8.1	1994	BDSp	8 Seconds	John G. Avildsen, W, P, M
8.1	1994	C	Andaz Apna Apna	Rajkumar Santoshi, W, ++, P, M
8.1	1993	DH	King of the Hill	Steven Soderbergh, W, W, P, M
8.1	1990	BCDHR	Cyrano de Bergerac	Jean-Paul Rappeneau, W, W, ++, P, M
8.1	1986	D	'night, Mother	Tom Moore, W, P, M
8.1	1985	C	Tampopo	Jûzô Itami, W, P, M
8.1	1983	DMc	Tender Mercies	Bruce Beresford, W, P, M
8.1	1972	DFHMl	1776	Peter H. Hunt, W, W, ++, P, M
8.1	1971	DR	Melody	Waris Hussein, W, P
8.1	1965	CDW	Chimes at Midnight	Orson Welles, W, W, ++, P, M «Campanadas a medianoche»
8.1	1955	BDFH	A Man Called Peter	Henry Koster, W, W, P, M
8.1	1951	WeD	Westward the Women	William A. Wellman, W, W, P, M
8.1	1946	C	Margie	Henry King, W, W, ++, P, M
8.1	1945	DR	Children of Paradise	Marcel Carné, W, P, M «Les enfants du paradis»
8.1	1935	DHR	A Tale of Two Cities	Jack Conway, ++, W, W, ++, P, M

What is this list?

This list of films is ordered w.r.t. the “demanding viewer” grade GR. The higher in the list, the better is what “demaning users” of IMDB think about the film. To augment the grade, the entries in the list are equipped with exhaustive additional information (a lot of it in mouse popups!) and with links leading to more detailed reviews of the film

What is the grade GR?

The grade GR is a calculated grade; it is not my (or anybody else’s) personal opinion, but an “objective grade”: a result of certain delicate massage of what IMDB contributors think about the film. While it uses the same units as the IMDB grade (for example, the range is from 1 to 10; higher means better), it is significantly more evenly distributed; most of the time, it is also significantly below the average IMDB grade (although there are many exceptions).

These “delicate considerations” are based on my observations of how IMDB contributors behave, hence the grade GR is an objective measure choosen based on subjective observations (for more details, jump here). Currently, I believe that, for many people around me, this calculated grade is much more helpful for deciding which film to watch than any other system I saw (either “objective”, or based on opinions of friends, critics etc).

How to use this list?

Of course, as with any “objective measure”, one should not trust the calculated grade GR blindly (especially if the “robustness” is low). This grade (and the relative position of a film in the list below) is just a suggestion; clicking on the film’s title (better click with the middle mouse button!) leads to the “most helpful” reviews of the film.

I consider these reviews (which I call “reviews from demanding viewers”) to be much more important than the grade GR itself. These reviews have a very good chance to contain intelligent observations about the film. (The way to find these reviews is the keystone which makes this page possible.) Let me repeat: I strongly recommend inspecting all the supplied “additional info” about the film and these reviews before deciding whether to watch a film or not; the grade GR should only help to decide which rows in the table should be inspected first! (For more details, visit the main page.)

Review links leading to empty pages (or pages with few review):

these are not always avoidable due to very limited control one has over IMDB display of reviews. If you see this, just switch to the “opposite” view-type (Hate It vs. Love It), and go to the end of the list of reviews.

Film’s info hidden in the entries in the list:

Grades GR are color-coded for robustness: 0 / 0.5 / 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5 / 5.5 / 6 / 6.5 / 7 / 7.5 / 8 / 8.5 / 9. The lower the robustness, the more probable it is that the grade is a result of a statistical fluke. Robustness above 3.5 is expected to be sufficient for most practical purposes. Grades with robustness below about 0.5 have a very high chance to be affected by statistical flukes.

Most columns in the table have additional information provided when mouse is resting over the field. (This information is summarized when mouse is resting over cells in the header row of the table.) The display (or non-display) of icons can be controlled by changing selection in the browser’s menu View/Page Style. The release year is color-coded to denote TV films, TV mini-series, and TV series. The director’s name is bluish-tinted if its popup has additional info about other films by this director.