An Essential Guide to Movies... (imdb.com)

Member Name: Daniel K

Product:	imdb.com
Date:	19/07/04 (554 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very informative, Comprehensive, Lots of detail about each movie

Disadvantages: Lots of pop-up ads, Some pages slow to load

As far as Internet sites go, there probably aren't that many that can be classed as really useful, informative, or essential to use, but one of those websites (besides Dooyoo, of course!) has to be IMDb.com, or the Internet Movie Database.

'IMDb.com' has been around for a few years now, but I only discovered the site a couple of years ago, and have been using it ever since. The site is basically devoted to Movies, and that includes TV shows as well as films, and the people who star in or make them. There is plenty of information about most actors/actresses in films or on TV programmes, and each person has their own profile that can be viewed, listing all the films, movies or TV shows (in chronological order) that they have ever starred in.

There are also pages devoted to individual Films or TV programmes, or 'Titles' as they're called on here, and these list on one page all the people who star in it, as well as the writers, producers, directors, etc; the names of all the people listed can be clicked on, and will take you to their profile page.

For films (mostly) you can view a full cast list, not just the first 10 people or so that are in it as is sometimes the case. At the bottom of each page there is a 'user' comment from someone who is a member of 'IMDb.com' - this is a person's own opinion on a film or TV show, and some of these comments are short, others are very detailed and explain a lot. There is also an 'archive' of all the user comments written about that particular title.

On each person's profile page, it lists the TV shows or Movies they have starred or featured in, but it is actually more detailed than that, and breaks this down into 'Actor' if they have acted in something, but also list 'G
;uest Appearances' for things people have only been a small part of or cameo role; 'Composer' for musicians who have lent or composed songs for use in films/TV; and also Director and Producer which are self-explanatory.

Also on each profile is (usually) the person's Date of Birth and place of birth, although this is sometimes with-held or not known, particularly for people who have not done that many films or TV appearances. There is also an accompanying headshot photo of the person, and also a link to as biography section, where you can find out more about the person.

At the bottom of every biography page is an A-Z, so if you're looking for other people on the site, you can choose a letter and there is a list of people whose surnames begin with that letter. Be warned though, as most letters I've clicked on have lots of people come up in the results, even for letters like Z, so these pages are pretty slow to load! Also, not everyone who has a profile has a biography as well, so you might not find some people in these sections.

The information in biographies is also usually written or supplied by members of 'IMDb.com', and also can be detailed and long, or shorter and brief, depending on how famous the person is. Also, the dates/years of birth can be clicked on, and you can view either a list of people who were born in a particular year, or for dates, another list of people who were born, died, or got married on that day on a particular date - this is something that I find particularly useful.

The site itself has a fairly simple layout and is easy to navigate, although it can be difficult to find certain programmes if you don't know where to look. The Movie and TV programme Titles are usually links you can click to go to them, and also names of other people or Years ar
e links you can click on; in the case of Years, this takes you to a page where you can view a list of Movies/TV programmes that were made in that year, e.g. 2004 lists everything made during this year so far.

The website layout itself is mostly a plain white background with blue toolbars on a pale yellow background at the top of each page, and also down the sides, listing additional information about each Movie title. 'IMDb.com' is very up to date, and also lists Movies that have not yet been released or are being worked on currently.

The one criticism I do have about 'IMDb.com' is that there are a lot of 'Pop-Up' adverts on some pages (like on the Births Deaths & Marriages page), so unless you have software to prevent pop-ups, you'll probably be inundated with them here!

Overall, I think that 'IMDb.com' is a very useful site that anyone would enjoy using, particularly if you have an interest in Films or Television, or to find out information about your favourite Actor, TV presenter, etc. If you have not been on the site before, or have not heard of 'IMDb.com' (and that must be pretty few amongst Internet users!), than I would highly recommend it.

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