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IMDb

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Overview

IMDb has a rating of 3.27 stars from 142 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. IMDb ranks 4th among Acting sites.

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 33.3%
Positive
1
Neutral
0
Negative
2
7
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What reviewers want you to know

Positive highlights

  • The Internet Movie Database is the best place to study up for that one.
  • I love IMDB because I get to rate films and see what others think on the films I like.
  • 2017 Customer Choice Winner

Critical highlights

  • and I can honestly tell you that it is one of the most ridiculously bad movies ever put to film.
  • I've used IMDB for over ten years and I always used the message boards as a way to find answers on movies.
  • This website is for stupid people.Not to mention the creator of the website supports pedophilia.
How would you rate IMDb?
Top Positive Review

“IMDb - The Ultimate Movie Buff's Companion”

Sharif I.
5/15/23

One-stop shop for all things movies and TV shows? Look no further than IMDb! This platform has it all, from ratings and reviews to cast and crew information, trailers, and more. Whether you're a casual viewer or a die-hard fan, IMDb has something for everyone. IMDb solves the problem of having to scour the internet for information about movies and TV shows. With everything in one place, it's easy to find what you're looking for quickly and efficiently. Plus, the user reviews and ratings help you make informed decisions about what to watch next. Great free resource to use when you need details on a movie or TV show quickly. While IMDb is a great resource, it's not without its flaws. The search function can be a bit finicky at times, and some of the user reviews can be unreliable. However, these are minor issues that don't detract from the overall usefulness of the platform. Overall, IMDb is a must-have tool for any movie or TV show lover. Its vast library of information and user-friendly interface makes it a breeze to use

Top Critical Review

“I don't understand!”

Meg K.
9/14/23

I wrote a fun review for an episode of "Law & Order: SVU", and I gave it ten stars. My review was rejected. I have no clue why, and they wouldn't tell me. The review had no offensive language or anything questionable. The rejection of my review made me feel bad about myself, as if I'd been reprimanded for misbehaving; and it made me feel as if I was doing something wrong by trying to share my unique, quirky opinion with the world. I got upset and deleted my account with them. If they don't want me around, that's fine. But it's probably not good for business.

Reviews (142)

Rating

Timeframe

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Reviews that mention popular keywords

movies (47) internet movie database (4) message boards (4) films (10) people (10)
Thumbnail of user megk4
49 reviews
110 helpful votes
September 14th, 2023

I wrote a fun review for an episode of "Law & Order: SVU", and I gave it ten stars. My review was rejected. I have no clue why, and they wouldn't tell me. The review had no offensive language or anything questionable. The rejection of my review made me feel bad about myself, as if I'd been reprimanded for misbehaving; and it made me feel as if I was doing something wrong by trying to share my unique, quirky opinion with the world. I got upset and deleted my account with them. If they don't want me around, that's fine. But it's probably not good for business.

Thumbnail of user johnj2981
1 review
7 helpful votes
June 22nd, 2022

IMDB, an Amazon owned site, does not accurately or realistically reflect the opinions of it's users. Reviews are 'moderated'. That means if they're unflattering because they point out radical left propaganda inside of supposed entertainments, they will be censored. Similarly, the low scoring of companies paying Amazon for promotion on the site (e.g. Disney), will not objectively represent the scoring of the audience. It's all skewed to create a positive impression in the name of marketing.

Thumbnail of user paulop8
2 reviews
15 helpful votes
September 4th, 2022
Verified purchase

When a site decides to delete reviews wholesale it is not a reliable site. Case in point, there are no reviews below 6 on the site for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'. There is absolutely NO CHANCE that this is even remotely possible. The show is produced by Amazon which owns this website. That should tell you all you need to know.

Tip for consumers:
If you want user reviews IMDb.com is not a reliable place to find them.

Products used:
IMDb.com is a free site. No products are sold.

Thumbnail of user roxro33
1 review
0 helpful votes
July 16th, 2023

This funny message is sent always to you when you are trying to edit any of your page information! ''Unfortunately we were unable to accept your submission as we were unable to verify the information provided''
But they are very much ABLE to accept your money without giving you any services

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Thumbnail of user johnr4867
1 review
5 helpful votes
May 12th, 2022

This site is heavily manipulated by the staff. They will not allow critical reviews of some movies/shows. I suspect they have some financial interest in these cases. They also censor anyone with a conservative view point and anyone that criticizes wokeness. You can literally test this yourself by posting two reviews of the same movie (one critical and one supportive). The supportive one will be published almost immediately while the negative one will never be published. Bottom line, you can't trust this site as they are dirty.

Thumbnail of user mostcensoredo
12 reviews
33 helpful votes
January 14th, 2022

I'm the most censored person on IMDb.

I was probably why IMDb has become so bad. I often spoke my mind honestly. Now my reviews get censored before they are posted.
I wrote a critical and pg review about the Eternal movie and it still has not posted.

Tip for consumers:
Only betas and simps are allowed on IMDb nowadays. If you are one you'll not be censored.

Products used:
Reviewing movies and shows

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Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user christinew1656
1 review
0 helpful votes
January 15th, 2023

But now every so called "improvement" makes it harder to navigate.
It just needs to go back to the simplicity of how it was before.

Thumbnail of user lenap64
1 review
1 helpful vote
December 1st, 2022

Not professional! They don't care if they are truthful or not. And don't care to fix the lies they post. Don't trust them!

Tip for consumers:
Be careful. Not truthful

Products used:
They posted nfo without asking my permission

Thumbnail of user barbaraf1695
1 review
1 helpful vote
December 20th, 2022

This website is filled with so much promotional material that it is unusable. There are positive reviews of films and programs before they are released. Bigoted comments are seen in some reviews and they are not removed.

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Thumbnail of user nigeln
50 reviews
122 helpful votes
August 11th, 2021

IMDB takes way too long to go to my account settings. It was well over thirty minutes and the site never loaded. For an Amazon owned website, this is completely unacceptable.

Thumbnail of user mikaels23
1 review
1 helpful vote
September 8th, 2022

Used to be good but no longer trustworthy due to manupilating ratings on select titles. Used it for decades, now it's time to move on.

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Thumbnail of user rogerg48
28 reviews
151 helpful votes
October 1st, 2020

I just posted a review of "Elvis" last week. I think, for the first time ever, I had the majority of readers agree with it and it was getting popular. I logged into IMDB only to find my review was totally removed. There was nothing controversial about it, nothing remotely offensive, I simply described why I did not like the movie. IMDB made it disappear. I won't be surprised if they make my "Prey" review disappear too.

I mean, this is a movie review site. The minute you start making reviews disappear because you didn't agree with them is the minute your site loses any and all credibility. Simply put, you cannot trust this site anymore. It's not what it used to be. There are plenty of uncensored social media sites we are allowed to express our views on, so good luck with this strategy guys.

Thumbnail of user roberto934
2 reviews
13 helpful votes
March 24th, 2021

They ban a lot of bad movie reviews, and their actual movie rating is missleadning to the public...

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Thumbnail of user avav9
1 review
1 helpful vote
July 19th, 2020

I changed settings repeatedly for two weeks to rid my email box of childish spam. No luck, no help, no account. I closed the damned thing.

Thumbnail of user jaquiem
48 reviews
309 helpful votes
November 27th, 2019

UPDATE: It's obvious that just like they allow trolls to manipulate ratings on their own site AND how they now ALSO manipulate ratings on their OWN site (See: The Little Mermaid 2023), IMDB, owned by Amazon, is now posting reviews here on SiteJabber, to try and mitigate their bad rating: a rating which went from "1" - the same low score as they have on other review sites like TrustPilot - to almost a "4" in just under a month. Shameful.

In the past couple of days, my HONEST review and rating of 6 for The Little Mermaid was rejected three times, while new user's reviews that go along with IMDB's agenda for the film, keep being posted. In short, IMDB is NO LONGER TRUSTWORTHY. This is PROOF that their movie reviews (especially newer films, of course), are purposefully manipulated BY IMDB - with the driving factor not being able to be anything else BUT the almighty dollar. NOW, don't get me wrong. The issue is not that I am upset that MY review is not published. It is the fact that IMDB is proving that my prior assertion that ratings are manipulated, to be true; and when viewer's wallets are involved, in that some do rely on THE GENERAL PUBLIC'S REVIEWS (NOT IMDB's PREFERENCES), that is just WRONG for them to do. (See Amazon's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' review on IMDB to see how Amazon/IMDB quickly shut down reviews on it).

Make no mistake about it, the review market is huge and in the multi-billion-dollar film industry, it can be bought, through IMDB.

**Since my review (below) was first published, they have updated their reporting tool by adding a comment box to their reporting feature, but reviews are still very RARELY, if EVER, deleted.

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Original Review:

IMDB is no longer a site which can be trusted for honest, correct ratings and reviews. The problem? Well, aside from the blatant and overt distortion and manipulation of ratings on a growing number of films, it is the fact that no one at IMDB seems to care. In fact, in my opinion, and I must stress that it is my opinion only, I sometimes think that maybe the site itself receives kickbacks of some kind in order to facilitate the ongoing deceptions. The reason why I so firmly believe this, is that to begin, they have no real kind of reporting tool save a report button under each person's review, which leads you to a choice of four options - none of which cover "suspected ratings manipulator" (or something similar) - and when you do choose another of the options, nothing ever comes of it. Reviews very RARELY, if EVER, get deleted from the site.

An example of one such a film out of many, is a 2015 film called Whispers ("Whispers (2015) - IMDb"). Until a year back, it had a rating of 9.2. I kid you not when I tell you that every single day, for YEARS, the creators or those involved in making the film, would "up" the rating by at least 30 votes. Every DAY. I KNEW this because of several reasons. 1. we had been duped by the high score into renting it and were irked to discover it was a terrible film; 2. After I left a bad 1-star review on it (and then saw all the other 1-star reviews on it which had been hidden at the bottom) the "fakers" came and posted THREE 10-star reviews to drown out mine, which caused me to begin checking it every SINGLE day; 3. When other people left bad reviews on it (all saying the same thing: "don't fall for the fake good reviews") the fakers would rush in and again post three or four reviews right after; and 4. Every SINGLE day the 10-Star reviews would gain almost 30 up-votes and the 1-star reviews would be down-voted at least thirty times. EVERY SINGLE DAY - FOR YEARS. I promise this is true.

After a few months of watching this, I reported it on the IMDB Get Satisfaction Page (which is anything but), only to find that it had already been reported. IMDB did NOTHING... for YEARS. During that time, I can only imagine that the creators of the film raked in money in rentals and other royalties (the film was available on RedBox where they also left fake reviews). In my eyes, IMDB was complicit in fIeecing a great number of people by not doing anything when they were advised of what was happening.

As it is, years later, that title has now (mostly) been cleared up and cleaned up. I say mostly, because although IMDB deleted a huge number of reviews (both bad and good) and removed the plumped-up ratings which brought it from the 9.2, to a more believable 4.4, the fakers STILL visit the site and have up-voted all the positive reviews back up to the top. Again, that is only ONE title out of MANY (hundreds, even?) that this is happening to. (SEE MORE example titles at the end/bottom of review).

In short, IMDB used to be great. Now it is untrustworthy.

A while back, they changed the default review "view" to Prolific Reviewer (which can be TOO easily manipulated) and they did so WITHOUT allowing individual users to SET it back to what each individual prefers, such as Helpful Reviewer, Review Date, etc. WHY would they do this? It basically invalidates peoples votes. Are we supposed to vote 'helpful' on the reviews IMDB PREFERS to show us? It's baffling!

There is one guy who boasts of submitting over 9,000 reviews, but almost EVERY one of the 6-10 titles he reviews a day, is not a review, but a plot summary (WITH spoilers and no spoiler tag). Prolific? Sure. Review? No. (If you wish to see it for yourself, he is one of the first few reviewers you can find on the 'Everything, Everywhere All at Once' page).

In short, IMDB is still a behemoth in regard to film reviews... BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE ELSE DOING THE SAME (RT is a joke and Metacritic is too simplistic), and hey, more power to them for knowing and cashing in on that, but the more people keep falling for fake reviews and high ratings, the less people will use them. Of course, there will still be fake accounts a'plenty, and reviewers who enjoy seeing their usernames on reviews and who up-vote themselves to the top, and those who monetarily or in other ways benefit from planted reviews, but REAL users will be fewer and fewer.

And so it is with a heavy heart that I post this review. I hold a glimmer of hope that a new site, with stricter measures or perhaps better algorithms may pop up. One that would see through all the "fake", to give us clean, unvarnished opinions from one film lover to another.

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There is a Netflix film called Time Trap where 80% of the positive reviews all say the same: 'give these guys a sequel!'; 'I want to see Part 2!'; 'This should be made into a television series!'; 'there needs to be another one of these films!'... only, the first one was pretty bad... and the positive reviews mostly ADMIT that it was terrible, but always include a caveat: "Yes, there are plot holes galore and the acting is pretty bad and the ending feels rushed... BUT...". It's sad. (And yes, I fully admit that not everyone is going to like the same thing, and THIS film (NOT Whispers) :), could very well be one of those).

M Night Shyamalan's "Glass", has at least FOUR 1-Star reviews from who can only be the same person. This person talks about having wanted the film "to be about the cheerleaders" in all four small reviews AND all four "reviewers" have all reviewed the same three or four films. It isn't rocket science!:)

A Ghost Story? Again, a divisive film. Some "real reviewers" will truly, honestly, really love it and other "real reviewers" will die on the hill of how very much they passionately hated it. EITHER way, if you study it for a while, will see that some weeks all the "1 Star" reviews are overwhelmingly at the top and then it appears there is a day of... something happening... and all the higher ratings are moved up and hide the lower rating. It's hilarious!

Tip for consumers:
Informative in regard to people's opinions and feelings about particular films, but not wholly reliable in terms of ratings.

Products used:
Film / Movie Reviews

Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user matiasm7
1 review
3 helpful votes
March 20th, 2020

For five years now, I have been trying to delete a factually inaccurate title I uploaded to IMDb when I was 14 years old. The customer support is a joke, they do not listen to anything I have to say and constantly defend their illogical "policies". Letterbo xd and TMDb are much much better alternatives.

Tip for consumers:
Note that once you submit something to this site, no matter if its a real movie or not, it will always remain there and no matter what you try it will never get deleted. I have been trying to delete a factually inaccurate title for five years with no success.

Service
Thumbnail of user rodb53
3 reviews
7 helpful votes
June 17th, 2018

A good site for information on movies, but members are a bit racist. It's a bit hard to see, but the site is a bit racist. Some of the best African American shows and movies get a low rating and even the worst movies get buried.

Thumbnail of user accomplicek
5 reviews
29 helpful votes
May 1st, 2016

This site is poorly run and overpriced if you want to be listed. They have NO RELATIONSHIP with SAG-AFTRA and do not update or correct mistakes. It is as bad as Wikipedia when it comes to factual information and reliability.

Thumbnail of user ryotan1
1 review
4 helpful votes
August 15th, 2019

''imdb rating manipulation'' is real. And it's backed by awful customer service which only sends templated replies mechanically without any specific explanations about particular cases.

I have strong evidences about how IMDb increases or decreases ratings of film titles secretly by its staffs even without any votes. General tendency is that it pumps up ratings of blockbusters or films of US allies, especially Taiwan stuff. And IMDb decreases scores of small independent films, specifically films made by critics of US foreign policies. This was not noticed during my use of IMDb since 2012 to 2019. When it targets you, you will only know that later. They tend to gradually and secretly manipulate ratings.

I can share one case here with others. It shows how they manipulate ratings even without any votes, and how they cover it later.

August 9,2019

IMDb's Unspeakable Manipulation of IMDb Rating against Film title #1: Moxina (2012)

IMDb.com, Inc.
535 Terry Avenue N.
Seattle, WA *******, United States

Dear IMDb:

On August 9,2019, I, Ryota Nakanishi who is a consumer of IMDb Pro service recently got informed by friendly netizens about your manipulation of IMDb rating against our films and others.

I myself checked the situation and deeply disappointed about some of your staff s uncivilized, childish behavior like manipulation of rating of films. It is unfair and outrageous for small independent filmmakers.
All of your manipulation of scores will be recorded and piled for the future use and publication.

IMDb was great in the past but now you are aggressively oppressing some filmmakers.

I believe my case is just a tip of iceberg of your aggressive manipulation.

1. At 10:27pm (China), Aug. 7 2019 719 IMDb users voted 8.0 /10; Top 1000 users voted 5.1; US users voted 5.4; Non US users voted 7.4.

2. At 12:58am (China), Aug. 8 2019 720 IMDb users voted 8.0 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 5.1; US users voted 5.4; Non US users voted 7.4.

3. At 9:03am (China), Aug. 8 2019 720 IMDb users voted 7.9 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 5.1; US users voted 5.4; Non US users voted 7.2.

4. At 12:05 am (China), Aug. 9 2019 720 IMDb users voted 7.9 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 5.1; US users voted 5.4; Non US users voted 7.2.

5. At 9:30 am (China), Aug. 9 2019 720 IMDb users voted 7.7 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 5.1; US users voted 5.4; Non US users voted 6.9.

The score sheet has been manipulated without any change of votes since August 8,2019 at least.
During this period, no user voted it negatively. Moreover no user voted or changed their votes during August 8,2019 to 9:30 am (China), Aug. 9 2019.
However some of your staff just manipulated the Non US users average votes from 7.4 to 6.9. As the result, some of your staff consciously manipulated total score 8.0 to 7.7.
10:563 users voted
9:56 users voted
8:10 users voted
7:12 users voted
6:15 users voted
5:7 users voted
4:11 users voted
3:9 users voted
2:10 users voted
1:27 users voted
(During Aug. 8 to 9,2019; the votes above unchanged)

To resolve the problem, your management must investigate on which IMDb staff is manipulating scores undemocratically and spitefully. Maybe some member of your management team is involved in this uncivilized manipulation. Strong proofs I already got from friendly netizens and by myself while I was busy for business. Enclosed are copies of proofs of your undeniable manipulation.

I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my problems and will wait a while before seeking help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau.

Please contact me at the provided email address or phone.

Sincerely,
Ryota Nakanishi

READ MORE: https://www.ryotanakanishi.com/post/sns-review-3-imdb-s-unspeakable-manipulation-of-imdb-rating-against-film-title-1-moxina-2012

UPDATE:
At 6:27pm (China) August 10,2019, I received the email reply from the customer service of IMDb below. It is just a templated answer with no specific explanation. It is just a template not a customer service at all.

IMDb 's reply:
Hi, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please rest assured that our voting system has several safeguards in place and that this type of behavior is periodically detected and automatically defeated. We appreciate your help and will take the appropriate steps to investigate further. For further details, please see our Help page: https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/track-movies-tv/faq-for-imdb-ratings/G67Y87TF... Please let us know if we can offer further help.
Best regards,
Meredith
IMDb Customer Service
----------------------------------------------

However, IMDb lied to me that they restarted the same manipulation that I formerly complained. FACT: At 7:47 am (China), Aug. 13 2019. 723 IMDb users voted 7.5 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 5.1; US users voted 5.4; Non US users voted 6.7.

10:564 users voted +1
9:57 users voted +1
8:11 users voted +1
7:13 users voted
6:15 users voted
5:7 users voted
4:11 users voted
3:9 users voted
2:10 users voted
1:27 users voted (During Aug. 10 to 13,2019; three users voted 1 user for 10,1 user for 9; 1 user voted for 8; there was no negative votes)

IMDb did not properly respond to the complaint, and no specific explanation of the specific case were provided.

The score sheet has been manipulated without any change of votes since August 8,2019 at least. During this period, no user voted it negatively.

Moreover only three users voted favourably and no one changed their votes during August 10,2019 to 7:47 am (China), Aug. 13 2019. However some of your staff just manipulated the Non US users average votes from 6.9 to 6.7. As the result, some of your staff consciously manipulated total score 7.7 to 7.5.

Other three cases I complained are also still not solved and responded properly by IMDb.
READ MORE
A. https://www.ryotanakanishi.com/post/sns-review-4-imdb-s-unspeakable-manipulation-of-imdb-rating-against-film-title-2-the-rakugo-movie
B. https://www.ryotanakanishi.com/post/sns-review-5-imdb-s-unspeakable-manipulation-of-imdb-rating-against-film-title-3-the-obugyosama
C. https://www.ryotanakanishi.com/post/sns-review-6-imdb-s-unspeakable-manipulation-of-imdb-rating-against-film-title-4-the-obugyosama

Conclusion:
IMDb did not properly respond to the specific complaint and the specific issue. Furthermore, there is no specific explanation about the specific complaint was provided.

As a consumer, I must stop using IMDb service because its manipulation, unfairness and lack of quality customer service to care its actual customer.

34 ratings were submitted through the Sitejabber Browser Extension or converted from reviews due to lack of content.

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