Movie Releases by User Score
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1.
The Decline of Western Civilization
July 5, 1981
The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.
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2.
Blow Out
July 24, 1981
A movie sound recordist (John Travolta) accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually an intentional killing and consequently finds himself in jeopardy.
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3.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
June 12, 1981
You're in for thrills as Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) confronts snakes, Nazis and one astonishing cliffhanger after another -- all topped off by the discovery and opening of the mystical Ark of the Covenant. [Paramount Pictures]
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4.
Atlantic City
April 3, 1981
In a corrupt city, a small-time gangster and the estranged wife of a pot dealer find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger.
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5.
My Dinner with Andre
October 11, 1981
Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.
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6.
Superman II
June 19, 1981
A trio of Krypton villains threaten havoc on Earth, while Superman and Lois Lane are just becoming involved in a long awaited love affair -- an affair which may cost Superman his super powers. [Warner Bros.]
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7.
Prince of the City
August 21, 1981
A New York City narcotics detective (Treat Williams) reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption. However, he soon discovers that he's in over his head, and nobody can be trusted.
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8.
Time Bandits
November 6, 1981
A young boy accidentally joins a band of time traveling dwarves as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.
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9.
Thief
March 27, 1981
Becoming closer to his dream of leading a normal life, a professional safecracker agrees to do a job for the mafia, who have other plans for him.
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10.
Body Heat
August 28, 1981
Body Heat, a sexy, haunting tale of desire and skullduggery that echoes 1940s film noirs but is charged with an energy and passion that could only flare in the '80s. Sit back and bask in this contemporary classic's wicked warmth. (Warner Bros.)
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11.
Escape from New York
July 10, 1981
In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber (Kurt Russell) is sent in to rescue him.
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12.
Reds
December 25, 1981
A radical American journalist (Warren Beatty) becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
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13.
Polyester
May 29, 1981
A suburban housewife's world falls apart when she finds that her pornographer husband is serially unfaithful to her, her daughter is pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.
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14.
Dead & Buried
October 9, 1981
A suspense horror film set in a small coastal town where, after a series of gory murders commited by mobs of townspeople against visiting tourists, the corpses begin to come back to life.
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15.
This Is Elvis
April 10, 1981
The life and career of Elvis Presley are chronicled in home movies, concert footage, and dramatizations. Subjects include early performances, army service, Ed Sullivan Show appearance, marriage, 1968 comeback, health decline and death.
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16.
Cutter's Way
March 20, 1981
[Originally known as "Cutter and Bone," from a 1977 novel by Newton Thornburg] Richard (Jeff Bridges) spots a man dumping a body, and decides to expose the man he thinks is the culprit with his friend Alex Cutter (John Heard).
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17.
The Great Muppet Caper
June 26, 1981
Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie are reporters who travel to Britain to interview a rich victim of jewel thieves and help her along with her secretary, Miss Piggy.
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18.
Arthur
July 17, 1981
Arthur is a happy drunk with no pretensions at any ambition. He is also the heir to a vast fortune which he is told will only be his if he marries Susan. He does not love Susan, but she will make something of him the family expects. Arthur proposes but then meets a girl with no money who he could easily fall in love with.
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19.
Knightriders
April 10, 1981
The members of a traveling Renaissance Faire, who saddle up on motorcycles instead of horses, ride from town to town to stage medieval jousting tournaments with combatants in suits of armor and wielding lances, battle-axes, maces and broadswords. The spectacle of this violent pageant soon garners national attention, much to the dismay of the current king of this Camelot. A challenger to his throne arises as they try to maintain their fairytale existence in a world wrought with corruption.
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20.
The Howling
April 10, 1981
After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
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21.
True Confessions
September 25, 1981
A worldly ambitious monsignor (Robert DeNiro) clashes with his older brother (Robert DuVall), a cynical Los Angeles homicide detective who is investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.
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22.
On Golden Pond
December 4, 1981
Originally a successful Broadway play, Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond, the film features Norman (Henry Fonda), a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda). At Golden Pond, he and his wife (Katharine Hepburn) nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend (Dabney Coleman), and a most unexpected relationship blooms.
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23.
Stripes
June 26, 1981
Two old friends who are dissatisfied with their lives decide to join the army to mix things up.
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24.
Dragonslayer
June 26, 1981
A young wizarding apprentice is sent to kill a dragon which has been devouring girls from a nearby kingdom.
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25.
The Fox and the Hound
July 10, 1981
Two childhood friends find themselves forced to become enemies.
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26.
Absence of Malice
December 18, 1981
When a prosecutor leaks a false story that a liquor warehouse owner is involved in the murder of an union head, the man's life begins to unravel.
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27.
The French Lieutenant's Woman
October 16, 1981
A film is being made of a story, set in 19th century England, about Charles, a biologist who's engaged to be married, but who falls in love with outcast Sarah, whose melancholy makes her leave him after a short, but passionate affair. Anna and Mike, who play the characters of Sarah and Charles, go, during the shooting of the film, through a relationship that runs parallel to that of their characters.
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28.
Continental Divide
September 18, 1981
A hard-nosed Chicago journalist has an unlikely love affair with an eagle researcher.
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29.
Wolfen
July 24, 1981
A New York cop investigates a series of brutal deaths that resemble animal attacks.
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30.
Southern Comfort
September 25, 1981
During a routine exercise, a team of National Guards are threatened by angry and violent locals.
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31.
They All Laughed
August 21, 1981
A mad cap private-eye caper about a team of detectives who are following, and are being followed by, a group of beautiful women.
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32.
Quartet
October 25, 1981
Marya finds herself penniless after her art dealer husband, Stephan, is convicted of theft. Marya accepts the hospitality of a strange couple, H.J. and Lois Heidler, who lets her live in their house.
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33.
S.O.B.
July 1, 1981
A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes her top off.
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34.
The Postman Always Rings Twice
March 20, 1981
The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.
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35.
Eyewitness
February 13, 1981
Eccentric Vietnam War vet turned janitor claims to have witnessed a murder of a man tied to international political underground in order to get the attention of a TV reporter he has a huge crush on. The cops suspect his loser best friend.
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36.
Eye of the Needle
July 24, 1981
A ruthless German spy (Donald Sutherland), trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.
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37.
Raggedy Man
September 18, 1981
It's 1944 in the small town of Gregory, Texas. Divorcée Nita Longley has been brought into the town by the telephone company to work as its switchboard operator, a job which requires her to be at the switchboard day and night. She was originally told by her boss Mr. Rigby that this job would only be a stepping-stone to a more lucrative job with regular working hours, which Mr. Rigby seems to be reneging on since he has now told her that her position is frozen due to the war. As such, Nita feels trapped by this situation. Nita lives in the telephone switchboard office building with her two sons, adolescent Harry and infant Henry. Because of her marital status, many of the townsfolk, especially the men, view Nita either with contempt or as a loose woman. One evening, Teddy Roebuck, a sailor on a four day furlough who is hitchhiking back to his home in Ardmore, Oklahoma, stops by to make a telephone call. When he learns that the reason for his trip home no longer exists, Teddy decides to stay in Gregory instead. Teddy strikes up a friendship with Nita and her two boys, which blossoms into love. The appearance of this stranger does not sit well with locals Calvin and Arnold, who had plans of having their way with loose Nita, who earlier rebuked their advances. The town's unidentified disfigured man, who Nita fears, may ultimately provide her with the ability to move on with her life.
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38.
Scanners
January 14, 1981
Scanners are telepathic and when one (Ironside) seeks to control the world, another (Lack) tries to stop him.
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39.
Clash of the Titans
June 12, 1981
Perseus must battle both Medusa and the Kraken to save the Princess Andromeda.
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40.
Sharky's Machine
December 18, 1981
Tom Sharky is demoted to vice after a bust goes terribly wrong. He and his team stumble across a mob murder tied to prostitution and government.
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41.
Ragtime
November 20, 1981
Set in the early 1900s, an upper middle class family takes in a young African-American woman and her infant son. When the father of the child returns, everything changes.
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42.
Victory
July 31, 1981
As allied POWs prepare for a soccer game against the German National Team to be played in Nazi-occupied Paris, the French Resistance and British officers are making plans for the team's escape.
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43.
American Pop
February 13, 1981
The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.
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44.
Excalibur
April 10, 1981
The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table receives its most impressive screen treatment in Excalibur. All the elements of Sir Thomas Malory's classic Le Morte Darthur are here: Arthur (Nigel Terry) removing the sword Excalibur from the stone; the Round Table's noble birth and tragic decline; the heroic attempts to recover the Holy Grail; and the shifting balance of power between wily wizard Merlin (Nicol Williamson) and evil sorceress Morgana (Helen Mirren). [Warner Bros.]
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45.
The Funhouse
March 13, 1981
Four teenage friends spend the night in a carnival funhouse and are stalked by a deformed man in a Frankenstein mask.
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46.
The Dogs of War
February 13, 1981
Mercenary James Shannon, on a reconnaissance job to the African nation of Zangaro, is tortured and deported. He returns to lead a coup.
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47.
Nighthawks
April 10, 1981
Conservative street cop Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) reluctantly agrees to terminate an international terrorist who has demanded media attention. But DaSilva's "at-home" tactics are very much put to the challenge.
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48.
Mommie Dearest
September 25, 1981
The abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.
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49.
An American Werewolf in London
August 21, 1981
Blending the macabre with a wicked sense of humor, director John Landis (National Lampoon's Animal House) delivers a contemporary take on the classic werewolf tale in this story of two American tourists who, while traveling in London, find their lives changed forever when a vicious wolf attacks them during a full moon. (Universal)
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50.
Bustin' Loose
May 22, 1981
Joe Braxton is an ex-con who has been given a second chance to freedom after violating his probation. He has been hired by a school teacher named Vivian Perry to repair and drive an old school bus and drive a group of Special kids to Ms. Perry's Washington Farm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to give them a new home after The Clarmont Center for Children is shut down by the city. The kids have severe mental problems and Joe is not looking forward to the trip at all, but Joe later bonds with Vivian and the children, offering his support and love and changes his outlook on life. But Donald, the social worker and Vivian's lover who gave Joe his break is hot on their tail and wants Joe back in prison. Joe and Vivian must now prevent Donald from sending the children back to Philidelphia where they'll have no future.
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51.
The Four Seasons
May 22, 1981
Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.
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52.
Caveman
April 17, 1981
A cave-man seeks revenge on a much larger competitor for the hand of a beautiful cave-woman.
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53.
For Your Eyes Only
June 26, 1981
James Bond, Agent 007 is assigned to hunt for a lost British encryption device and to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
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54.
Zorro: The Gay Blade
July 17, 1981
Mexico, 1840s. When the new Spanish Governor begins to grind the peasants under his heel, wealthy landowner Don Diego Vega follows in his late father's footsteps and becomes Zorro, the masked man in black with a sword who rights wrongs and becomes a folk hero to the people of Mexico. When Vega sprains his ankle and cannot figure out how to continue his campaign against the corrupt Captain Esteban, luck stays with Vega when his long-lost twin brother Ramon, who was sent off by their father to the British Royal Navy to make a "man" of him, whom is also flamboyantly gay, and now known as Lt. Bunny Wigglesworth, appears for a visit. 'Bunny' agrees to temporarily take his brother's place as Zorro, but wishes to make some changes. Bunny becomes 'the Gay Blade' in which his new suits are lemon, plum, and scarlet colored, and Bunny insists on using a whip. Bunny also becomes the liaison between Don Vega and the liberal American activist/feminist Charlotte a long-time critic of Captain Esteban's policies, and who has a crush on her masked hero.
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55.
The Watcher in the Woods
October 9, 1981
An American family moves into a spooky manor house located within a wooded area in the English countryside. Before long they start to see some odd things, like mirrors that don't reflect, and the ghost of a blindfolded girl. The new tenants learn that 30 years ago, a teenage girl, who bears an uncanny resemblance to their daughter Jan, disappeared nearby. Soon, the supernatural presence starts contacting both sisters.
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56.
Rich and Famous
October 9, 1981
Liz (Jacqueline Bisset) and Merry Noel (Candice Bergen) become friends as college roommates and their friendship endures over the years. Liz becomes a respected "serious" novelist. Merry Noel marries, has a daughter and writes, too: "trash" fiction which becomes enormously successful. Their story begins in college and jumps ahead some years at a time to show their relationship with each other and those in their orbits as they grow and mature.
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57.
Heavy Metal
August 7, 1981
A glowing green orb - which embodies ultimate evil - terrorizes a young girl with an anthology of bizarre and fantastic stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.
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58.
Fort Apache the Bronx
February 6, 1981
In New York, South Bronx's main police precinct is nicknamed Fort Apache by its employees who feel like troopers surrounded by hostiles in a wild west isolated outpost.
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59.
Outland
May 22, 1981
In the distant future, a police marshal stationed at a remote mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy, and gets no help from the populace when he later finds himself marked for murder.
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60.
So Fine
September 25, 1981
While trying to get his father out of a financial jam, a man (Ryan O'Neil) comes up with an idea that turns into an unexpected overnight financial fashion success - the bottomless pants.
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61.
Back Roads
March 13, 1981
A prostitute and a drifter find themselves bound together as they make their way through the rural South, doing what they have to do to survive.
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62.
Neighbors
December 18, 1981
A quiet man's peaceful suburban lifestyle is threatened by the new, obnoxious couple that moves in next door.
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63.
History of the World: Part I
June 12, 1981
Mel Brooks brings his one-of-a-kind comic touch to the history of mankind covering events from the Old Testament to the French Revolution in a series of episodic comedy vignettes.
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64.
Condorman
August 7, 1981
Cartoonist Woody becomes the superhero he draws. Using his gadgets he helps a Soviet spy defect to the West.
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65.
Paternity
October 2, 1981
A single man (Burt Reynolds) searches for a woman who will bear his baby with no strings attached.
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66.
Halloween II
October 30, 1981
Picking up precisely where its predecessor left off, Halloween II follows the same ill-fated characters as they encounter the knife-wielding maniac they left for dead in the first Halloween. It seems the inhuman Michael Myers is still very much alive and out for more revenge as he stalks the deserted halls of the hospital where his sister lays waiting. As he gets closer and closer to his terrified target, Dr. Loomis discovers the chilling mystery behind the crazed psychopath's savage actions. [Universal]
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67.
Rollover
December 11, 1981
An Arab oil organization devises a plan to wreck the world economy in order to cause anarchy and chaos.
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68.
Shock Treatment
October 31, 1981
In this "sort-of sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show," (Dave Kehr) Janet and Brad become contestants on a game show... but wind up as captives instead. Denton, Denton USA!
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69.
The Final Conflict
March 20, 1981
The now adult Antichrist plots to eliminate his future divine opponent while a cabal of monks plot to stop him.
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70.
Endless Love
July 17, 1981
A high school student's (Martin Hewitt) love for a 15-year-old girl (Brooke Shields) is thwarted by parental disapproval, circumstance and accident.
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71.
The Cannonball Run
June 19, 1981
A motley crew of eccentric competitors participate in a frenetic and illegal cross-country road race. However, the entrants will do anything to win the road race, including low-down, dirty tricks.
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72.
Friday the 13th Part 2
May 1, 1981
Mrs. Voorhees is dead, and Camp Crystal Lake is shut down, but a camp next to the infamous place is stalked by an unknown assailant.
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73.
Tarzan the Ape Man
July 24, 1981
“The Blue Lagoon” with elephants. - Roger Ebert. While on an African expedition with her father, Jane Parker (Bo Derek) meets Tarzan (Miles O'Keeffe), and the two become fascinated by each other.
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74.
Looker
October 30, 1981
Plastic surgeon Larry Roberts performs a series of minor alterations on a group of models who are seeking perfection. The operations are a resounding success. But when someone starts killing his beautiful patients, Dr. Roberts becomes suspicious and starts investigating. What he uncovers are the mysterious - and perhaps murderous - activities of a high-tech computer company called Digital Matrix.
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Titles with fewer than 7 critic reviews are excluded.