Movie Rating Comments

Cherise wrote:
I have to say that if you give the New World the same 3-star rating that you give Citizen Cane, Shop Girl, Thank You For Not Smoking and Slaughter House Five, I have to totally disagree and come to the conclusion that I can never trust your opinion of movies ever again.
New World was at best a 2-star movie and that was because the Cinematography was beautiful. However, good cinematography is not enough to make up for the bad script and lack of character development to warrant a 3-star rating. Your ratings mean nothing if they all get the same 3-star rating with a handful that get maybe a 4 stars. Despite the fact that I can never trust your taste in movies again, you are still the best father-in-law a girl could ask for.
Love, Cherise

Two important things to remember when one looks at someone’s “star” ratings are “What do the stars mean to the person who does the rating” and “Do I generally like the same kind of movies as the person assigning the stars?”

The stars are just a shortcut. In my case all the movies Cherise mentioned fit neatly into the 3 star range. The New World would be at the bottom end of it and Shop Girl would be towards the top. The main thing is that the review is in what I said and not in the star rating. Reading the review of The New World you will notice that my comments on it have almost exactly the same feel as Cherise’s comments. It’s just that the negative things bother Cherise more than they do me, or that what she is looking for in a movie is not the same thing as I look for.

So how can my reviews help you? Here is how I go about writing them.

What The Stars Mean

1 Star – This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen! I would recommend that no one waste their time on it.

2 Stars – Generally I did not care for the movie for some reason. Usually the reason is pretty clearly stated in the review itself. Depending on your tastes, it may appeal to you. I’m not saying not to see it, but if your tastes correspond to mine, you probably won’t like it.

3 Stars – I consider these average movies that are slightly rated on the positive side. They were ok to watch and they run from “not the best, but ok”, to “I kinda liked that one but it wasn’t great.”

4 Stars – These movies are a cut above other movies. If I give a movie 4 stars, I am saying that I think you should see it, I liked it very much.

5 Stars – One of my all time favorite movies. Obviously, it means I think you should see it.

The Movie Selection Process

When picking a movie, who in their right mind says, “Oh, this really looks like a crappy movie, I think I’ll rent it!” I select movies I think I am going to like. So negative reviews are usually only given when a movie turns out to not be what I thought is was going to be. An example of this was “Beyond the Sea”, the bio of Bobby Darin. I always liked Bobby Darin so I thought I would like this move. But I hated it. I have only given 3 Netflix rentals 1 star and only 7 movies overall. I saw some of these before I started renting them from Netflix and rated them to help establish my Netflix profile.

Sometimes I actively tell Netflix the title of a movie I want to see, perhaps from a review of a recently released film, from a recommendation by a friend, or a reminder of a title I haven’t seen for a long time. Whenever I do that or whenever I rate a movie when I return it to them, they say I might like to see such and such other film. I usually review these and find movies I wouldn’t otherwise have been aware of. If they interest me, I add them to my queue. Sometimes these turn out to be good, sometimes not.

MOST, practically all, of the movies I see are ok by my viewing standards and therefore get a 3 star rating. In other words, you probably won’t go wrong watching them.

What I Like

So what makes a movie a good one for me? What am I looking for?

First and foremost, I like movies that entertain me. When I get done watching it, do I feel like I have spent my time enjoyably? Have I learned something? Is something clearer to me or has it changed my viewpoint? Or has it left me depressed or frustrated? Would I have been better off going to bed early?

I’m a guy. Action movies are going to be more entertaining to me. Documentaries teach me new things. I like that. I like to see movies that are beautifully filmed. I like movies that create different unusual worlds, different periods of history, that have a different look. I call these “costumers”. I especially like costumers from times and places that aren’t usually depicted. I liked Apocolypto because it showed the Mayans rather than Romans, not that I don’t like movies set in ancient Rome, but how many movies about Mayans have you seen? I like movies that are really clever. I like movies that have complex but plausible plots. I usually like movies where the good guys win, where good prevails and evil is thwarted. I like movies that are really funny. I like movies I come away from feeling warm and fuzzy.

I do NOT like movies where the main point is the social interaction of the the characters for its own sake and not what that interaction leads to. I especially HATE movies that depict betrayal. I dislike movies where characters are trapped in situations that they have no way of escaping and subsequently don’t. I do like it if they get out of it by being clever.