my first platinum trophy.

It was a long time coming, but I finally got my first platinum trophy on iCheckMovies!

For those who are unfamiliar, iCheckMovies is one of my favorite websites. I love it so much, and I have ever since I joined two years ago this month.

It is an entirely free site that combines my love of checking things off lists with my love of film. The site is full of popular film lists. There are the lists which cover all of film in its history, like the many lists at AFI and IMDb, Time Magazine’s 1000 Greatest Movies Ever Made, Steven Jay Schneider’s 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Roger Ebert’s Greatest Films list. There are genre specific lists, like the 100 Greatest Sci-Fi films, the top 500 Horror Films, etc. There are even most often several lists per genre, for example, Noir has 250 films chosen by They Shoot Pictures, and an IMDb Noir list. There are also lists that are region specific, to help you brush up on the greatest German films of all time, or the best Korean cinema of the 20th century, or all of Asian cinema.

It’s a film nerd’s dream!

For one thing, it gets me to watch movies I otherwise would never have gotten around to. Maybe there is a film I’ve considered watching “eventually.” Well, I go to iCheckMovies and see that it is on no less than 17 different official lists of one kind or another. Suddenly, I find myself moving it higher on my Netflix queue.

Also, as a child born in the early 80’s, I am a product of video game culture. I love achievements and trophies. Well, iCheckMovies has you covered there, too. The number of films you’ve checked on any one list determines what award you have on your award shelf. You get a bronze trophy for having seen 50% of all movies in a top list, silver for having seen 75% of all movies in a top list, gold for 90% or more, and platinum for having seen every movie on a list.

I currently have 41 awards (1 platinum, 4 gold, 11 silver, and 25 bronze). I have a looooong way to go! I got my first platinum today, on the list of Reddit’s Top 250, after watching The Pianist. For a movie nerd, and a list nerd, it was quietly gratifying.

The site is a really great way to see just how many consensus great films you’ve seen and missed, and to broaden your movie horizons some. I highly recommend it. If you join, connect with me so we can be buddies. My tag is ‘escapedyourworld’.

Again, that’s iCheckMovies.com… tell ’em Scotty sent ya. Or don’t, since that’s not actually possible, and no one affiliated with the site knows who I am.