1,000 Is a Very Big Number

Lists are always a curious journalistic creature, but The Guardian's attempt to name the 1,000 Best Movies Ever seems to me to slightly founder on the simple largeness of the number. Here under the As, for example, I find American Pie and think to myself "okay, I liked this when it came out, and even re-watched it once, but it's not that good." But then you think -- okay, quick, can you name 999 better movies? And, no, I can't, at least not off the top of my head. Indeed, if I were to find myself listing my 1,000 favorite movies, the ratio of movies on the list to movies that aren't on the list but that I've actually seen would, I suspect, get too high for the exercise to make sense.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/06/1-000-is-a-very-big-number/42880/