When the Netflix Prize was announced, it received some interest here. Have you been following it since then?

The top 5 most frequently rated titles are:

Miss Congeniality
Independence Day
The Patriot
The Day After Tomorrow
Pirates of the Caribbean

This is not a list one would expect based on either box office performance or critical acclaim. I had read that Miss Congeniality, while nothing special in its theatrical run, was a tremendous hit on DVD. Still, it is surprising to find that it is number one on the list. Some interesting and subtle issues to consider here:

1) what types of films become most popular in the DVD rental market?
2) are people more likely to rate certain types of films compared to others?

As you keep moving through the thread, you find this:

To get a look at the movies that are both universally loved, and universally hated (by different subgroups of people, of course) Let's write a query that amplifies standard deviation and de-amplifies population, pointing out the sources of contention in our dataset.

Yes, indeed. Those are the movies you either loved loved loved or hated hated hated. These are the movies you can argue with your friends about. And good old 'Miss Congeniality' is right up there in the #4 spot.

If you like data-intensive visualizations, I suggest browsing the forums.