The Internet is often a vast virtual wasteland full of useless information. Say you’re trying to look up information on movies. There are hundreds of movie Web sites out there, but which one is the best?

The clear choice is the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com). For the second year in a row, the IMDB is the Webby Award winner for best film site on the Web.

It is the motherload of film information, the best resource on the Web. With over 130,000 movies, 300,000 actor and actresses and 26,000 directors listed, you can find anything from the popular to the obscure.

The IMDB offers a great search feature. You can look up a movie by title, words in the title, subject or genre.

Punch in any performer’s name and you get his or her complete filmography, a list of awards he or she won or has been nominated for and a brief biography. An advanced search will let you know if any two (or more) people have ever worked in a film together.

Each movie has its own page with numerous features. First, there is a complete and comprehensive listing of the film’s credits. And each page is exhaustively linked.

Click on the director’s name and get his or her complete filmography, biography and awards. Same for any cast member, writer, producer or crew member.

There are plenty extras for each movie, too. Over 20 topic choices exist, like movie quotes, budget information, links to related sites, shooting locations, release dates, goofs, soundtrack, video availability and reviews.

Take the “Alternate Versions” option. Here you’ll find descriptions of all the scenes that got cut from the final version of the movie. All kinds of great tidbits of trivia.

Did you know Dante was supposed to get shot in a holdup at the end of “Clerks?” There’s also a detailed list of all the scenes George Lucas left out of “Star Wars.”

Almost every movie has scenes that were shot and ended up on the cutting room floor. Look up your favorite title on IMDB and find out what pieces of it you’ve never seen.

“Goofs” is another fun area to look through, listing all the technical and continuity mistakes present in a movie. Like the bouncing stone blocks in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or the growing and shrinking cigarette ash when Silent Bob explains what “Chasing Amy” means.

You can also become a movie critic yourself and rate a movie on a scale of one to 10. More than two million people have taken part in rating movies, and the top 250 are available in one list.

Number one? “Star Wars,” of course. Conversely, the least favorite and lowest rated 150 are listed. Real bombs like “Problem Child 2” and “Leprechaun 4” can be found on this list.

Have you ever been watching the closing credits of a movie and wondered what the hell a gaffer was? Or a grip? A foley artist? And how do they pick the best boy? Is there some kind of contest?

Wonder no longer, movie fans. The IMDB offers a great glossary which explains all the terms associated with the film industry. There you’ll find out a gaffer is head of a film’s electrical department, a grip is someone responsible for the maintenance of production equipment and a foley artist deals with sound effects.

Also, there is no best boy contest. He, or she (still called best boy, not best girl), is the chief assistant to the gaffer.

An important feature on any Web site is content that changes daily. Every weekday, the IMDB offers the latest information on the film and television industries in its news sections.

There you’ll find box office reports, reviews, details on new movies, stories about celebrities — everything and anything happening in the world of film.

The release schedule is constantly updated. Here you get a list of all the movies coming out in the near future and the dates you’ll first be able to see them.

The IMDB is a must-visit site for film fans and movie buffs and is extremely easy to use. It isn’t hard to lose track of time and spend hours browsing the site. Best of all, it’s completely free.

Besides, where else are you going to find information on what movies are currently playing in Belgium?