I've written a bunch of movie reviews and have been keeping an eye on my statistics for the past year. There are some interesting things that can be said about the kind of movie that people are researching on the Internet.

Of my seven most popular movie reviews for the past 30 days, only two are on recent films: Star Trek and Benjamin Button. My number one movie review for the past month is an oldie: The Fifth Element. The remaining four reviews in my top seven are The Searchers, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Fiddler on the Roof and Chocolat -- all older films dating from a couple years ago back to 1956. Since I have something like 80 movie reviews, there's got to be a reason why these are my most popular. Especially since there's a good chance that some people reading this will never have heard of two or three of these.

Looking at the names of the older films that make for popular reviews, it's clear these are all very good movies. These are all movies that critics liked (mostly) and have remained popular with viewers. In fact, if you haven't seen The Fifth Element, The Searchers, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Fiddler on the Roof and Chocolat, I urge you to see them. There is a great deal to enjoy in each movie.

The bottom line for me on this is that it's better to review a good older film than a mediocre recent film. Films that were well-reviewed years ago still find plenty of people interested in them. Popular film series, such as the Indiana Jones, Star Trek and Star Wars films, are probably killers at getting readers.

What sort of things do you see in your movie and TV show review numbers?

--Bob