Movie reviews

[Kurtle Squad]

"Then what's the point in 100%?" was exactly my point, so I think you've got the gist of the discussion.

 

 

Kurtle, if you still haven't watched a movie that you think deserves a 10, then either you need to lower your standards for what constitutes a 10, or you need to watch better movies. I can think of a bunch of games (I'm not a big movie buff, so I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about movies) that I would give 10s if I reviewed them. Not a single one of them is perfect, of course, but I don't think that really matters.

 

And I say this as someone who's been accused on several occasions of being an overly negative reviewer. :p

 

Fair enough. I'm not going to argue over a 10 - arguing over a point or so out of 10 is silly because "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"; which is why 100 point rating systems are silly.

 

I however do not think I've played/seen anything which I'd round up to 10. I am very picky; though I haven't quite refined how I rate things either.

 

 

I would still have a problem with people using 100% to rate something however, as opposed to thereabouts.

[Daft]

but you have to admit the reason you're even on a games forum for example is to discuss games. Be it the good and bad points of it so therefore you DO care what other people think If you get me.

 

A review is offering an opinion, just like every single post on this forum. Fact is we like to discuss what we like and don't like about games, so it shouldn't be any different for movies. Course you should make up your OWN mind, but you'll always want to defend your favourite movies

 

No, the reason I'm here is because I like the banter. I'd be surprised if even 10% of my posts were about games. I like reading other people's opinions purely for the selfish reason of perhaps find a new appreciation for something; a perspective I may have missed. I care what people think insomuch as I want to know but I certainly won't let it overtly influence what I think.

 

Nor do I feel the need to defend my favorite movies (or games). I love Tron Legacy but that doesn't stop it being an absolute dirge of a film at points. I think Mass Effect is horrendously structured and conceived but if people enjoy it, yay for them. I'll defend my enjoyment of things but that's because most people can't seem to differentiate between enjoying something and it being recognizably "good" and I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone dictate what I enjoy.

 

People are obsessed about being 'in the right'. God knows why.

[The Bard]

Man, most reviews of anything are shit because they approach the film or game or piece of music as if it was a product and write nothing more than a consumer report; whether you should buy it, or watch it or not, and give you basic conclusions that any fucker who went into the experience without any expertise whatsoever could come to. I don't want that, I ususally already have my mind made up as to whether I'm going to watch something from impressions gleaned from friends and aquaintences, so what I'm really looking for when I read a review (which is almost always after I've already seen the film/ played the game/ whatever) is a critique, approaching the item in question with a unique angle, with an explanitory power than I don't posess myself, or that crystallises ideas and makes me think about in a way I didn't previously.

 

I don't understand why people look for nothing more than something to validate their own opinion, as if critics are supposed to be nothing but clergymen to their own personal religion fetishising whatever disposable repackaging of some nonsense from geek culture that they've already experienced a thousand times before.

 

 

No, the reason I'm here is because I like the banter. I'd be surprised if even 10% of my posts were about games. I like reading other people's opinions purely for the selfish reason of perhaps find a new appreciation for something; a perspective I may have missed. I care what people think insomuch as I want to know but I certainly won't let it overtly influence what I think.

 

Nor do I feel the need to defend my favorite movies (or games). I love Tron Legacy but that doesn't stop it being an absolute dirge of a film at points. I think Mass Effect is horrendously structured and conceived but if people enjoy it, yay for them. I'll defend my enjoyment of things but that's because most people can't seem to differentiate between enjoying something and it being recognizably "good" and I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone dictate what I enjoy.

 

People are obsessed about being 'in the right'. God knows why.

 

Ditto. Apart from the Mass Effect part, which I do think is quite excellent

[Dan_Dare]

I really feel in the last while movie reviews have lost touch with what general filmgoers want. They're so unpredictable it's crazy.

 

The biggest contrast here is the recent Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie. ON rotten tomatoes it's at 33% from critics and 90% from audiences. I've learned from this site to go halfway between the audience and critic score, to get a good estimate of how much I would like a movie. But still I know it's early days for the movie yet, but it comes highly recommended from most people.

 

On the flip-side of things. A lot of REAL people HATED "No country for old men", I've yet to meet someone in person that didn't hate it. When I was working at the cinema, people actually asked for refunds. Surely this means that movie wasn't doing something right? So what's with all the perfect scores?

 

I know a focus shouldn't be placed on scores either.

How do you think movie reviews should be handled?

 

 

bit of a back step on the thread but WHAT THE HOLY MOTHER OF SWEET BABY FUCKING JESUS!?

 

No Country For Old Men is one of the best films of the last twenty or thirty years. It's an absolute masterpiece of cinematography, tone, casting, performance and tension. It's absolutely perfect in conception and execution in just about every form you can imagine.

 

Clearly, you associate with shitheads and vagrant fucks.

[Happenstance]

Ive never heard any complaints about No Country, everyone ive spoken to thought it was brilliant

[Cube]

For my No Country stands with Daredevil and some films I can't remember as a film that was so unbelievably boring that I simply could not watch it all the way through (and I managed to sit through the whole of The Happening). It's not for everyone. Although, unlike Daredevil, I do file it as something that I probably don't "get". Or something like that.

 

One kind of reviews I hate is when they talk about what it isn't rather than what it is. This probably isn't a good example for most people but I read quite a few reviews of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts that simply complained that it wasn't Banjo-Threeie and barely talked about the game itself. I honestly think the reviews would have been much higher if Rare had thrown in generic characters (even though it would have lacked the brilliant Banjo humour).

 

I also think of things with two scores: a personal one and a "professional" one. For me Excite Truck is a 10/10, but when I reviewed it I knew the game had problems (that I could overlook) so I gave it a lower score.

[Beast]

As everyone on here probably knows, I write movie reviews whenever I can and I have to say that I most probably write on my opinion in a movie, which is what I'm sure other reviewers do as well considering what someone may find bad, another would find good. I don't exactly try to influence other people's opinion but just tell them what I thought really, although I'm probably going to contradict myself right now and say that I do try to be as unbiased as I can be.

 

I enjoy reviewing, I was born this way! However, I'm trying to focus more on my book at this very moment but I review still.

[Oxigen_Waste]

It doesn't make 90% a perfect score, just a high one; I'm not shifting anything anywhere. Show me a perfect (or even near) film/game, and I'll give it 100%, or maybe a 99%.

If anything, it's people who give things 100% who're shifting the idea of great/brilliant onto perfect; or they're just easily pleased, like a child.

 

I still see 10 as giving a "perfect", primarily because 100% systems might aswell be reduced to 10 point systems in the first place (what on Earth's the point of giving 77 or 78?). I don't have anything against .5 (20 point) systems though.

 

I actually use a 7 level system myself (not that I've used it properly yet), mainly because I find a 5 star rating too restrictive.

I have to change how I use it on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IGN however - obviously reducing range when sites use 5 stars.

 

Well, considering the type of film you watch, it's obvious you won't find 100% worthy movies anytime soon. You also seem to have very loose standards... You gave both Inception and Pirates Of The Caribbean the same score!!!

 

But you've already watched some pretty close to 100 movies, and you rated some of them 80, so you're clearly rating them based on how much you liked them, not how good you thought they were.

 

Because it's a number which exists.

It's there because 100% does exist, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a film or game etc which even near deserved it.

 

No you wouldn't. It's quite easy and does exist.

[Supergrunch]

No Country For Old Men is one of the best films of the last twenty or thirty years. It's an absolute masterpiece of cinematography, tone, casting, performance and tension. It's absolutely perfect in conception and execution in just about every form you can imagine.

Replace that with Fargo and I totally agree, but I never thought No Country For Old Men was that outstanding. Although it's good, of course.

[chairdriver]

Sometimes I smell lies.

 

I watched Cars yesterday, and I thought it was a brilliantly written film. Once you got over the shite concept, I thought it was far better than many/most animated films.

 

The reason I appreciate it is because it's a refreshing presentation of ideal -- that community and humility is better than celebrity and empty achievement etc etc [in fact I was wishing that he didn't leave the town and go to the race] -- and it feels like a stunning commentary on life today, where I think for a lot of people that goes over their heads, and they base their judgement of the film on the fact talking cars is a fucking stupid concept (which it is).

 

So yeah, I don't believe lies.

Edited July 4, 2011 by chairdriver

[Daft]

-- that community and humility is better than celebrity and empty achievement etc

 

Toy Story 2 says hello.

[Dan_Dare]

Replace that with Fargo and I totally agree, but I never thought No Country For Old Men was that outstanding. Although it's good, of course.

 

Out of curiosity, have you read the book? I read it recently (ish) and then rewatched the movie. I already thought it was good but seeing how the Coens adapted the written word in to the cinematography and direction elevated my opinion of the film to 'mind-fuck genius'. It's pretty incredible.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Sometimes I smell lies.

 

I watched Cars yesterday, and I thought it was a brilliantly written film. Once you got over the shite concept, I thought it was far better than many/most animated films.

 

The reason I appreciate it is because it's a refreshing presentation of ideal -- that community and humility is better than celebrity and empty achievement etc etc [in fact I was wishing that he didn't leave the town and go to the race] -- and it feels like a stunning commentary on life today, where I think for a lot of people that goes over their heads, and they base their judgement of the film on the fact talking cars is a fucking stupid concept (which it is).

 

So yeah, I don't believe lies.

 

That concept is not new or original in any way, though, and for once it didn't feel like Pixar brought anything new or fresh to it, which is what Pixar usually does. I wouldn't say it was a bad film at all, but compared to the stuff Pixar normally produces, it felt very tame in comparison.

[Supergrunch]

Out of curiosity, have you read the book? I read it recently (ish) and then rewatched the movie. I already thought it was good but seeing how the Coens adapted the written word in to the cinematography and direction elevated my opinion of the film to 'mind-fuck genius'. It's pretty incredible.

I haven't - maybe I'll do the same as you over the summer and see whether it changes my opinion.

[chairdriver]

Toy Story 2 says hello.

 

Toy Story 1 and 2 are massively meh to me though.

 

(#3 is one my top 10 films evar though).