'The Dark Knight Rises' Cracks IMDb's All-Time Top 10 Movies

Roughly 99 instances in 100, IMDb.com is deservedly the Internet's authoritative cinematic hub. That concession made, that remainder is a caution to take the site's fan-ranking of films with enough salt to choke a horse.

Less than two weeks following its July 20 debut, IMDb users have already slotted Christopher Nolan's climactic Batman chapter "The Dark Knight Rises" tenth on the site's Top 250 Movies chart, NME reported Monday. It's worth noting that since NME's report went live online Monday afternoon, it's since fallen to twelfth as of 6:30 p.m. PT Monday night with 190,801 votes.

It bears noting that "The Dark Knight Rises" cracks the list in part thanks to a July 17 amendment to the list's standards. The eligibility floor for votes has been raised from 3,000 fan nods to 25,000. That kicks from the list debatably ranked movies such as "Moonrise Kingdom," "Hearts and Coronets" and "Life is Beautiful." Those films' respective exiles made room for long-acclaimed movies such as "Rain Man," "The Untouchables" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to advance further up the chart.

Though the change impacts eligibility, it doesn't impact actual rankings. The rankings themselves are determined by "regular voters" only.

Typically, the voices of the masses are often more definitive of a work's value and impact than those of critics, particularly when regarding a medium as commercial as film. That suits assessing works individually just fine, but it makes for problematic ranks like these. To begin the point, consider the works ranked #13-22 beneath "The Dark Knight Rises" currently.

13. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

14. The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

15. Inception (2010)

16. Goodfellas (1990)

17. Star Wars (1977)

18. Seven Samurai (1954)

19. The Matrix (1999)

20. City of God (2003)

21. Forrest Gump (1994)

22. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Oh, and keeping "The Dark Knight Rises" from the Top 10? "Fight Club" at #11, and "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" beginning the Top 10 itself.

Those 12 pictures embody distinctive, enduring stories. Some represent landmark cinematic and technical achievements that blazed a generation's trail and are, themselves, timeless. Several - especially "The Matrix" and "Star Wars" - have become so iconic, it's a jolt to hear anyone say they haven't seen them.

That makes a fair question of wondering, how does a movie received as admirable but flawed and somewhat beneath its expectations find more favor than several works among the American Film Institute's Top 100 films? There's a surprisingly simple answer: in many cases, the Internet is for the young.

Bear in mind, once upon a time in 2008, "The Dark Knight" (current ranking: #8, which still seems a touch inflated) actually topped this list. While easily the greatest superhero movie ever made, to see it apparently placed in higher esteem than "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Godfather" or "The Godfather Part II" - at present, the three films topping the rankings - seemed a bizarre blasphemy. It was edged nearer still to the border of "offensive" when considering that IMDb's users are often movie afficionados that sometimes border on elitists.

That being said, it's fair to surmise they're also fairly young. In many instances, they didn't come of age with some of these timeless favorites when they debuted, and thus the recency effect of perhaps not holding something "before their time" as near to their hearts as something that's made a more recent impact. More than 20 years after its release, their just aren't as many passionate "Goodfellas" zealots online as there are fans (many of them, it should be added, comic book die-hards) who were captivated by Nolan's imagining of Batman.

Others? Well many obviously loved "Inception," but it clearly never became the pop-culture phenomenon that Nolan's "The Dark Knight Legend" did.

To look at it another way, I recently spent a month rooming with a 30-year-old friend who admitted he's seen neither of Nolan's first two Batman movies. We watched Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" starring Michael Keaton, then "The Dark Knight." While he thoroughly enjoyed "The Dark Knight," it was evident he clearly thought more of Burton's take. That was simply because Burton's Batman was the Batman with which he'd grown up.

Ultimately, take a look below at IMDb's Top 10. Every single one, a bona fide classic that will endure. The conclusion to be reached is that while "The Dark Knight Rises" predictably reached incredible heights of instant popularity, some flavors are of the moment. Others linger, and in fact never really leave.

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
4. Pulp Fiction (1994)
5. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
6. 12 Angry Men (1957)
7. Schindler's List (1993)
8. The Dark Knight (2008)
9. The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)
10. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)