"Guns. Lots of Guns" Multiple Internet Movie Databases
August 26, 2014 8:42 AM Subscribe
Ever wanted an IMDB but for guns? Welcome to the IMFDB - The Internet Movie Database of Guns The IMDB [Internet Movie Database] is 23 years old this year. Launched in 1990, and filled with cast/crew info as well as trivia and goofs it is the go to location for film information online. But did you know that the IMFDB [Internet Movie Firearms Database] is the place to go to get the most comprehensive information on any firearms used in media?
Covering movies, television, and video games, the IMFDB is a community wiki that aims to catalogue and list all the real, modified and fictional firearms you've ever seen on a screen. Established in 2007, the IMFDB has - at the time of this post - an hefty 16,203 articles.
You can search by media title, actor, actress, or the firearm of your choice. Handy for cosplayers, prop-makers, and just general gun enthusiasts.
But what if guns are not your thing? What if your particular geek delight is cars featured in movies? The you might want to investigate IMCDB [Internet Movie Car Database]. With an impressively international community of adminstrators and forum members behind it, the IMCDB aims to provide; "the most complete list on the web about cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles seen in movies, image captures and information about them."
Similar sites also exist for Music : Allmusic (previously known as the All Music Guide or AMG) est 1991, Theatre: ITDb established in 1999 (but appears Broadway biased), Science Fiction and Fantasy (unknown origin date) ISFDB and also the Adult film industry: IAFD.
As a taxonomy and data geek, I thought that metafilter readers might find some of these useful.
Covering movies, television, and video games, the IMFDB is a community wiki that aims to catalogue and list all the real, modified and fictional firearms you've ever seen on a screen. Established in 2007, the IMFDB has - at the time of this post - an hefty 16,203 articles.
You can search by media title, actor, actress, or the firearm of your choice. Handy for cosplayers, prop-makers, and just general gun enthusiasts.
But what if guns are not your thing? What if your particular geek delight is cars featured in movies? The you might want to investigate IMCDB [Internet Movie Car Database]. With an impressively international community of adminstrators and forum members behind it, the IMCDB aims to provide; "the most complete list on the web about cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles seen in movies, image captures and information about them."
Similar sites also exist for Music : Allmusic (previously known as the All Music Guide or AMG) est 1991, Theatre: ITDb established in 1999 (but appears Broadway biased), Science Fiction and Fantasy (unknown origin date) ISFDB and also the Adult film industry: IAFD.
As a taxonomy and data geek, I thought that metafilter readers might find some of these useful.
A previous FPP mentioned IMFDb and IMCDb.
posted by James Scott-Brown at 8:50 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by James Scott-Brown at 8:50 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yes, but do they have these guns?
attempts to flex biceps
attempts to find biceps
posted by zippy at 9:04 AM on August 26, 2014 [9 favorites]
attempts to flex biceps
attempts to find biceps
posted by zippy at 9:04 AM on August 26, 2014 [9 favorites]
Frankly, Discogs is much more comprehensive than Allmusic. A bit more obtuse in some ways, but MUCH more comprehensive.
posted by hippybear at 9:22 AM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 9:22 AM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
On behalf of my recovering-from-surgery, limited-mobility, stir-crazy, firearm- and car-geek father, I cannot thank you enough for these rabbit holes to explore.
posted by alynnk at 9:25 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by alynnk at 9:25 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Such a useful site--I relied on it when I was writing Supernatural fanfiction.
posted by suelac at 9:25 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by suelac at 9:25 AM on August 26, 2014
Now that there is some serious gun porn.
posted by localroger at 9:29 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by localroger at 9:29 AM on August 26, 2014
Are you talking about the Winchesters' arms?
posted by kmz at 9:36 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by kmz at 9:36 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Clicked the link to see if they had the Joker's crazy-long pistol from Batman (1989) and was not disappointed.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:45 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:45 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
My favorite part of the IMFDB is the astoundingly comprehensive coverage of Archer.
Apparently Lana's Tec-9s are beneath notice. Gun snobs!
posted by neckro23 at 9:48 AM on August 26, 2014
Apparently Lana's Tec-9s are beneath notice. Gun snobs!
posted by neckro23 at 9:48 AM on August 26, 2014
Ever wanted an IMDB but for guns?
Can't say that I have.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 10:29 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Can't say that I have.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 10:29 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
They had the Zorg ZF-1. That's really all the site needed.
posted by Foosnark at 10:35 AM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 10:35 AM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
As a gun guy, I've been using IMFDB for years now, and I can vouch for their almost absurd levels of agonizing detail when going over some movies (others the'll just say "some kind of 1911" instead of "Mid-90's Kimber Custom with an extended mag-plate." or the like, but in fairness, with some guns there are so many knockoffs, that it's hard to tell.)
One of my particular favorite aspects is fictional weapons like the M41A Pulse rifle from Aliens; they'll give a detailed description of the specs of the fictional weapon, and then go on to detail the guns that it was built from.
The worst part of IMFDB is seeing a film, thinking, "oh, that's a [insert firearm type here] with some shit bolted on it" and then later checking to see if you were right and finding you were looking at something not just entirely different, but not even in the same realm. (or worse, trying to figure out what a prop is made from, only to discover that it's a real unmodified gun.)
Makes you question your knowledge on the hobby. (In my case, my knowledge is all a decade out of date, so it really just makes me feel bad for giving up on one of the few things in life I actually knew a lot about.)
posted by quin at 10:37 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
One of my particular favorite aspects is fictional weapons like the M41A Pulse rifle from Aliens; they'll give a detailed description of the specs of the fictional weapon, and then go on to detail the guns that it was built from.
The worst part of IMFDB is seeing a film, thinking, "oh, that's a [insert firearm type here] with some shit bolted on it" and then later checking to see if you were right and finding you were looking at something not just entirely different, but not even in the same realm. (or worse, trying to figure out what a prop is made from, only to discover that it's a real unmodified gun.)
Makes you question your knowledge on the hobby. (In my case, my knowledge is all a decade out of date, so it really just makes me feel bad for giving up on one of the few things in life I actually knew a lot about.)
posted by quin at 10:37 AM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Reminds me of a Cracked(?) piece a while back about how gun owners are not unlike Barbie (or any other) collectors in their encyclopedic knowledge about the finer distinctions between models. And that understanding that explains a lot of fierce resistance to what would, to others, seem like bland changes to gun laws. "How dare the government make it illegal for me to buy a Brunette Bend-Leg Bubblecut!"
posted by jetsetsc at 11:27 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by jetsetsc at 11:27 AM on August 26, 2014
I was watching some detective show on Netflix a while back, the kind where guns are always getting drawn, and partway along the lead character's gun changed brand and color. Tonight I'll dig into the database and see if anyone else noticed this.
posted by Dip Flash at 11:31 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by Dip Flash at 11:31 AM on August 26, 2014
When shall we have the IMKDB for knives? Or a more general one for pointy things?
posted by asfuller at 11:35 AM on August 26, 2014
posted by asfuller at 11:35 AM on August 26, 2014
Clicked the link to see if they had the Joker's crazy-long pistol from Batman (1989) and was not disappointed.
In the listing for Batman, they list an Uzi because it was in a photo of a test subject for the prototype nerve gas that would become Smylex; the photo was onscreen for about a second. That's thorough.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:52 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
In the listing for Batman, they list an Uzi because it was in a photo of a test subject for the prototype nerve gas that would become Smylex; the photo was onscreen for about a second. That's thorough.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:52 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
This is awesome, and I've consulted it before to answer the "is that some real and super futuristic looking gun or something dummied up?" question. My most a-ha moment was soon after I discovered it, and used it to verify what I was *sure* was an error in the screenplay for Pulp Fiction.
Samuel Jackson's character uses what is clearly an M1911-type pistol for most of that movie, and the 1911 is one of those pistol designs that's almost always one caliber: .45ACP. Versions chambered for other rounds exist, but they're rare -- rare enough to create the impression of an error, even among gun people, because in the diner scene, Jules famously refers to it as "Mister nine milimeter here..." I always took that for a silly error by Tarantino.
Except, of course, it's not. As I said, there are M1911 pistols made in other calibers; they're just super unusual, and for some reason that's what Jules uses. (Clicking through to IMFDB will also tell you that this particular model of 9mm pistol has for decades been a "go-to" faux-1911 in film because it worked better with blanks than the real thing, but I doubt that was still a problem in the early/mid 1990s.)
Now, if I were writing that, I wouldn't have put in something so easily parsed as "wrong." I'm not sure why Tarantino made that choice, because it really doesn't add anything to the film, but careful nerds have made it very clear that Jules' gun is a 9mm 1911, and that's that.
By way of digression, though, what Tarantino did here is precisely the sort of thing that I see writers sometimes get themselves into trouble doing: being more specific than is useful. In Ben Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy, the (nonshooting) Winters at one point makes a reference to his protagonist's gun as a "SIG Sauer revolver," which is a creature that doesn't exist. Getting specific about any area in which your own personal knowledge is sketchy is a recipe for trouble, even when the domain in question isn't peopled largely by info-obsessives.
posted by uberchet at 3:06 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Samuel Jackson's character uses what is clearly an M1911-type pistol for most of that movie, and the 1911 is one of those pistol designs that's almost always one caliber: .45ACP. Versions chambered for other rounds exist, but they're rare -- rare enough to create the impression of an error, even among gun people, because in the diner scene, Jules famously refers to it as "Mister nine milimeter here..." I always took that for a silly error by Tarantino.
Except, of course, it's not. As I said, there are M1911 pistols made in other calibers; they're just super unusual, and for some reason that's what Jules uses. (Clicking through to IMFDB will also tell you that this particular model of 9mm pistol has for decades been a "go-to" faux-1911 in film because it worked better with blanks than the real thing, but I doubt that was still a problem in the early/mid 1990s.)
Now, if I were writing that, I wouldn't have put in something so easily parsed as "wrong." I'm not sure why Tarantino made that choice, because it really doesn't add anything to the film, but careful nerds have made it very clear that Jules' gun is a 9mm 1911, and that's that.
By way of digression, though, what Tarantino did here is precisely the sort of thing that I see writers sometimes get themselves into trouble doing: being more specific than is useful. In Ben Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy, the (nonshooting) Winters at one point makes a reference to his protagonist's gun as a "SIG Sauer revolver," which is a creature that doesn't exist. Getting specific about any area in which your own personal knowledge is sketchy is a recipe for trouble, even when the domain in question isn't peopled largely by info-obsessives.
posted by uberchet at 3:06 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Turns out I still want Robocop's gun.
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:02 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:02 PM on August 26, 2014
Somewhat surprised the entry for Predator doesn't crash my browser.
posted by zippy at 4:46 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by zippy at 4:46 PM on August 26, 2014
Mare's leg. Mare's leg. Ooooooh, Mare's leg.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:13 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:13 PM on August 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
Their criticism of the fictional EM-1 which was the subject of Eraser is harsh.
posted by localroger at 5:19 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by localroger at 5:19 PM on August 26, 2014
I'm not sure why Tarantino made that choice, because it really doesn't add anything to the film, but careful nerds have made it very clear that Jules' gun is a 9mm 1911, and that's that.
Just guessing, but Tarantino is a massive film nerd, so maybe he included simply as a reference to the history of using the 9mm variant in films due to the blanks thing you mention. His films are often full of such little nods to cinema history, particularly genre cinema history.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 1:02 AM on August 27, 2014
Just guessing, but Tarantino is a massive film nerd, so maybe he included simply as a reference to the history of using the 9mm variant in films due to the blanks thing you mention. His films are often full of such little nods to cinema history, particularly genre cinema history.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 1:02 AM on August 27, 2014
Yeah, that's entirely possible, but this example is such inside-film-baseball, and comes with such an obvious "film nerd knows nothing about guns" first impression, that I still wonder.
Seems more likely that he was given a slate of 9mm weapons to "cast" with Jules, and picked the shiny one.
posted by uberchet at 2:55 PM on August 29, 2014
Seems more likely that he was given a slate of 9mm weapons to "cast" with Jules, and picked the shiny one.
posted by uberchet at 2:55 PM on August 29, 2014
Maybe, but I'd be surprised if it was just a random choice. I'm not particularly a fan of Tarantino, but it is pretty widely acknowledged in film criticism circles that he knows his stuff. For instance there's a documentary on Australian genre films from the latish 70s-80s that exists in part because Tarantino is fan of many of the films covered and was happy to be interviewed about them, which meant the doco makers could actually get funding to make the thing. He knows more about certain specific aspects of the history of Australian cinema than many Australian film critics and academics.
And I get the sense that he likes to show off his film geekery, as I probably would too in his position.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 6:10 PM on August 29, 2014
And I get the sense that he likes to show off his film geekery, as I probably would too in his position.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 6:10 PM on August 29, 2014
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posted by griphus at 8:50 AM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]