imdb.co.uk

- Introduction -

I was first told about IMDb by my dad many years ago, in the late 1990s I think it was. I have since used the website many, many times, particularly since I joined here and started typing movie reviews, this is the main website I use for research purposes and it is very handy for such purposes. Given that I've used it for reference and entertainment purposes and for using to help out with my Ciao movie/DVD reviews, ...
...site itself? Also may I just note here that I'm used to accessing the site via the URL http://www.imdb.com/ and not using any UK specific version of the site but having viewed the website at the http://uk.imdb.com/ URL, it appears that it is essentially the same site, only with slightly different information as far as what are the top movies at the box office and which movies are set to be released at the cinema and on DVD this week, obviously the ... more

- Introduction -

I was first told about IMDb by my dad many years ago, in the late 1990s I think it was. I have since used the website many, many times, particularly since I joined here and started typing movie reviews, this is the main website I use for research purposes and it is very handy for such purposes. Given that I've used it for reference and entertainment purposes and for using to help out with my Ciao movie/DVD reviews, I thought why not make my own review about the site itself? Also may I just note here that I'm used to accessing the site via the URL http://www.imdb.com/ and not using any UK specific version of the site but having viewed the website at the http://uk.imdb.com/ URL, it appears that it is essentially the same site, only with slightly different information as far as what are the top movies at the box office and which movies are set to be released at the cinema and on DVD this week, obviously the UK one reflects the British box office, rather than the US one.

For the most part, the site is exactly the same but I will refer to the http://uk.imdb.com/ version of the site as I check it to complete the rest of my review, to ensure my review is accurate for this URL.

- What is IMDb & What Does it Stand For? -

IMDb both is and stands for, the Internet Movie Database. So, as the name implies, its a site to use for searching for information on pretty much any and every movie, from oldies dating back to black and white movies, right up to the present day, with entries for movies that haven't had their official cinema release yet.

- Does This Site Only List Movies? -

No, it also covers TV shows and films that weren't given official cinema releases but that are made for TV films. This website is quite up to date and contains listings of such cult British shows as Top Gear, Eastenders and Still Game, among others. Of course films like The Full Monty and the more recent Death at a Funeral are also covered. Pretty much any and everything thats been shown on the main British TV channels will be covered here. Of course, the more well known or long established shows will have more information about them.

- How Do I Find What I'm Looking For? Do I Have To Know The Title? -

Well basically you use the search box, located at the top of each page and no, you can search on many different things, not just the movie or show name. Next to where it says 'Search', you'll find a drop-down menu that lets you choose from 'Titles', 'TV Episodes', 'Names', 'Keywords', 'Characters' and even 'Quotes' and 'Plots', among others. This means that if you only remember the movie you want to read about starred a certain actor or actress, then you should be able to find it by selecting 'Names' and typing in that persons name.

Once you've entered the search criteria into the box and clicked on the 'go' button next to it, the search results page should show up, which will list all the results that its found, with what it believes to be the closest match at the top of the list.

- Once I've Found The Film or Show I Wanted, What Information Can I Expect To Find About It? -

It depends on the movie or show itself, as I say lesser known ones won't have the same amount of information or content, as others do but for most big blockbuster, or well known, films you should be pleasantly surprised.

You'll find an average user star rating at the top of the page and below will be a basic overview of the movie/show, including the shows creators, genre, when it was released, keywords related to the show or movie and links to any recent news/online articles relating to it, as well as user comments and a rundown of the main cast.

Below the cast, you'll find information on the runtime of the movie or show, what country it originates from, what format it was originally filmed in (ie widescreen or not etc.), filming locations etc, as well as longer user reviews to back up the user comment seen above.

There is also a discussion board, or message board, available near the bottom of the page. Scroll further down and you'll find recommendations on other similar shows or movies that the site thinks might interest you, that is shows of the same genre and that have similar keywords etc., or so I'd presume anyway, with related links at the bottom.

Thats the main content provided in the middle of the show or movies entry on IMDb but if you look at the left hand column as you scroll down the page, you should see that there are a whole lot of other links, taking you to even more detailed, extra content as well. Again, how many of these pages or types of content are available all depends on the popularity of the show or movie or on whether anyone has provided the site (such as the movie studios etc.) with the relevant information but generally, you should expect to find 'full cast and crew' and 'memorable quotes' near the top, under the 'Top Links' section. Below that, there are many different sections with different links, including 'external reviews' and 'user ratings' under the 'Awards & Reviews' heading, 'plot keywords & memorable quotes' under 'Plot & Quotes', 'Trivia' and 'Soundtrack listing' under 'Fun Stuff', 'Technical Spec' and 'DVD details' under 'Other Info' and so on.

- How Easy Is It To Navigate The Site? What Else Can Be Found & Whats The Layout Like? -

I like the sites layout, although some might think its quite cluttered, I've used it often enough to become used to where everything is placed and I find it easy enough to navigate to the content I wish to read, without having too much in the way confusing me.

- Home Page -

The site uses mainly cream and white colours and the text is neither too big or too small for me. When you first log on to the site, the home page loads of course and you'll find a very brief welcome message, followed by the current poll question (and you can vote on it), with TV listings below (unfortunately only US TV listings seem to show) and a rundown on the latest Movie and TV stills and other photos, plus a trivia question and a movie/TV quote of the day. Finally, the latest film or show articles are listed toward the bottom, under 'IMDb Hit List'.

Apart from this information in the main, centre column/section of the home page, there are columns to the left and right. The left column lists information such as the top 5 movies at the UK box office, which movies are opening in the UK this week, which movies are soon to open in the UK and new DVDs set to be released this week. You'll also find new releases on the high definition format disks (ie Blu Ray), user favourite links and links to the two versions of the IMDb site (ie to the UK & US versions). You can also find links to translated versions of the site, in Italian and German.

The right column contains a section with links to articles about Movie and TV news, a section with a photo of someone from the TV/movie industry whos birthday it is today and below are a list of 'cool services' links.

This may sound like alot of information but the way the page is spaced out and with the light colours used and the font size used, its not too bad. The search box can be found near the top of the webpage, within the top column/section. It should perhaps be made a bit larger to make it a bit more noticeable but other than that, I have no problems with the home page, its easy to see whats where and it doesn't feel overly cluttered. As it happens, I don't tend to spend alot of time on the home page itself anyway, as if I access the website, I tend to go straight to the search box and search for the show or movie I want to find out more about.

- Search Results -

Okay, so you've had a quick look around the home page, you've seen the current top movies, whats set to be released and whats new in the movie and TV world and you want to see what information the site contains about a particular show or movie, perhaps a favourite film of yours. Once you've entered your search criteria into the search box, the search results page loads.

Again, im quite happy with the layout of this page, its quite simple with black text and blue links (unless you changed your browser settings for link colours) on a white background. At the top of the page, if you entered a search term, such as a specific movie title, media relating to the most popular search result will be shown, which includes some thumbnail images and links to videos.

Below you'll find a number of links, to what the site feels are the 'Popular Titles' that match your search request, followed by links to matches within company names and partial and approximate title matches. For the most part, the correct search result is the main one shown at the top, under 'Popular Titles', so you don't need to bother with the other links. There's also some information to help you improve your search results, incase you didn't get the result you wanted.

The layout is clear and its easy enough to find what your looking for and head on over to the sites entry for that page. I've never found the search results page either confusing or difficult to use, so thats a good thing.

- The Top 'Film Reel' Section -

You'll find what I'll call the 'film reel' section of links thats across practically every webpage on the IMDb UK site, so its worth giving that a mention too, of course. Here, as well as the search box, you can find links to different sections on the website, which include 'Now Playing' (although when I loaded that, while still logged into the imdb.com site, it came up with information on whats now playing in the US, not the UK), 'Movie/TV News', where you'll find more up to date news articles to relating to TV and movie stars and upcoming projects etc., 'My Movies', for use if you have an account (see below), 'DVD & Blu Ray', which lists the latest releases on those formats, 'IMDB TV', which has TV listings, message boards for TV shows, photos from TV shows and so on (and again it only seemed to load US related content, not too impressive...), 'Message Boards', which lists many different message boards, though remember to search for the individual actor/actress or movie/TV show entry to find the specific message board for a person or title..., I found that the message boards seem to be quite well organised and their clearly laid out again, so thats good. Following on from the 'Message Boards' tab/link is the 'Showtimes & Tickets' tab, which takes you to a page where you can search for cinema showtimes and tickets but again, this only appears to be searchable by US zip code and its within the UK version of the site, so thats another part that doesn't seem to work or be much use to Brits...

Apart from those are links to the professional and resume sections of the site, which cost to join, plus links below to 'Top Movies', 'Photos', 'Independent Film', 'Gamebase' (where you can find news on video games), a general 'Browse' link and a 'Help' section. The 'help' section is full of useful information and its also well laid out and clear. The help content is split into different help sections and in the form of top questions too, plus there's a separate 'helpdesk' search button, so you can search by keyword for whatever your needing help with, or are curious about.

The 'Film reel' section is quite clearly laid out and its easy to see whats where, so again this is quite easy to navigate and the content is concise and interesting, so its worth being aware of what there is there.

- Is all IMDb content free? -

Most of the basic information or content you'll be looking for, should be free, yes. You can find the information mentioned above for free, you can search for the title or search for an actor or actress and so on for free and view almost all of the details IMDb holds for free but if you want access to even more information, then there is a professional version of the site, which gives you access to contact listings, rankings, in production charts, message boards for professionals and more. You can get a free trial of this service at the time of this review (early October 2008) but it will cost afterwards, at around about $12.95 per month... I could only see the dollar cost, not a pound sterling cost, I presume there's only a US based version of the professional version of the site available at the moment.

There is also 'IMDb Resume', which is another service you can use if your a new actor or actress wanting to get out there into the entertainment world and get more exposure. This service allows you to upload your resume and they say that top companies will have access to it. This service apparently costs $2.50 per month, again only a dollar fee was visible.

- What about the 'My Movies' section, is that part of a paid service? Is there a free service linked to IMDb you can register for? -

No, you simply have to register for free, which you can do, you can register for a free account which will let you be able to post on the message boards and to add movies to your 'My Movies' list(s), so you can view them when you click on that tab or link in the 'film reel' section.

- Conclusions -

I find IMDb very useful. I've often used it to check for information on movies, to help me compile some basic information for movie reviews here (I always quote the applicable IMDb page when listing credits etc. so im not meaning to seem like I plagiarise btw, I just search for basic information and links to the movies official site(s) etc.) and I've used it to help me decide whether to rent a particular movie or to go and see one at the local cinema. The pages are pretty much all well laid out and I like that the average user rating is clearly visible on the main webpage entry for each show or movie, so you can see at a glance whether most people think a particular title is any good. Of course, some movies I really enjoyed got harsh ratings or a movie may get a great rating and I don't enjoy it, its up to you to decide how much you let star ratings influence you but I generally do like to have a rough idea what the general opinion is on a movie, before paying all that much to see it.

The search section is easy enough to use and its good that it offers such a wide range of search types, so you can search for anything from movie or show titles, people (actors/actresses etc.), keywords and so on, making it quite a flexible resource.

As a mostly free resource that is fairly easy to navigate and easy to read, its quite indispensible, I feel. I mean what more can you ask for, from a free site really? there's plenty of information on top movies, with quotes and trivia, goofs and cast information, photos and videos and user reviews and comments, a message board and external links and possibly more too... so there is plenty of content.

As far as the British, or UK, side of it is concerned, this is where the site doesn't score so well. I like that it seems to have listings for alot of British shows, at least all of the ones I attempted to search for, including the perhaps lesser known Scottish sitcom 'Still Game', so that was good but I don't like that I specifically logged onto the UK version of the site and where the TV listings are shown on the home page, it clearly is only showing US TV channel listings and some of the links in the 'film reel' section seem to load pages that only show content relevant to people living in the US, as I mentioned above.

I've always only used the US version of the site, so im not too fussed. I like it because not only does it have lots of information on most big (and even not so big) or popular movies but it also lists upcoming projects that actors and actresses are working on and whether their in pre-production, production, or post-production and roughly when the movies may be released. I'm keen on alot of US based shows and movies, so im not too bothered about the UK version or about the fact that it is particularly biased towards the US, that didn't surprise me but it may well be a put off to other Brits, so I had to mention it in this review, especially since its a review of the UK version of the site, of course.

It may not be the best as a British resource but as a general movie information site, its really rather good and I recommend you have a look at it. As I've said before, what more can you ask for free? I can only hope that they might add more UK relevant information but they do list most UK shows and movies, so, its not exactly useless for Brits either... check it out!.

I hope you found this review useful, it was another impulse review and took me long enough to type out *phew* lol thanks for all r/r/c's as ever, thanks for reading! 

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