I'll concede I'm pretty narrow in my own interests, but I do consider beyond that and a film's own context.
I like my films like donuts and/or Hondas: just pure entertainment and/or well designed.
A film should be entertaining.
A film should be well designed.
Dysfunction as entertainment ('Place Beyond the Pines') irritates me to no living end.
Ugly sh!t just to be ugly ('Prisoners') doesn't entertain me.
And some films are just plain missable; see 'em, don't see 'em, your life will not be any better or worse whether you do or don't see it.
If I'd be embarrassed having recommended it it probably wasn't a good film.
If the first half-hour is just setting up the story I'm already bored to death.
In the last six months I scored the following above 6:
'Austenland' 8.5
'Battle Royale' 8 as history, 7 as entertainment.
'Desolation of Smaug' 8.5
'The World's End' 7
'The Seven Samurai' 7
'Parkland' 9/10 if you liked 'Zero Dark Thirty', 6/10 if you don't really care for historical faux-documentaries
'Man of Steel' 8
'Pacific Rim' 7
'The Heat' 9.5
'This Is The End' 9
'Warm Bodies' 8.5
'The Hidden Fortress' 6.5
'War Games' 10
'Evil Dead' (2013) General audience: 7/10, Horror audience 8/10
'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' 7
I don't think I'd be embarrassed recommending any of those to appropriate audiences.
Can't say a "must see" recommendation of 'The Purge' + 'You're Next' twofer is going to garner any street cred from anyone not regularly wearing a dark hoodie.
How about yourself?
You're a pretty accomplished film watcher.
By what metrics do you judge a film's merit and in what context?
Haha, that's a pretty complex method of rating films lol. I've got to say I'm impressed!
Well, I judge films very subjectively according to what I know about film and my personal connection to a film. For example, I gave
Requiem For A Dream a lower score because I found it to be too derivative of an older film (I also didn't care too much for the characters). Also, the Man Ray film I just reviewed got a lower score because of my experience in watching other experimental films, and because I just feel like Man Ray has a career that suggests that he made better films. I think I did the same with Woody Allen, I wouldn't give
Take The Money And Run a 9/10 knowing that this is the same man who made
Annie Hall,
Manhattan, and other classics.
I think I have a very wide-range of tastes in cinema. I love genre films, I love European art films, I love a good Hollywood film (unfortunately I feel there haven't been too many since the 80's), I love Asian films, I love experimental cinema, I love documentaries, and I'm willing to explore African cinema and just any type of cinema. The only thing holding me back is the amount of time I have and what films are available to me!
I place a lot of emphasis on technique though, because technique enhances my appreciation. I think this is why I love directors like Yasujiro Ozu or Wong Kar-Wai, they have a very specific cinematic language that they express over and over again. I rarely like films that don't have good technique, I find those to be boring filmed plays. I always say I hate 'plot' but I love 'story.' I think that's not an 100% accurate statement for me, but it does a decent job at summing up my beliefs about cinema. Most people care what the film is about, and it's
message, I don't, I care about how the story was told. Also, most people like a story to go from A to B, and then C, the end. Most of the time that bores me, especially in newer films when I know there are guys out there pushing boundaries in narrative cinema. And I'm not just talking about nonlinear structures, I just prefer my stories to linger, instead of providing me a roller coaster experience that has been done a million times.
I think that you can call me a very patient viewer. I really like slow films, I think that they do a much better job at showing me real characters and a real world rather than just take me through a roller coaster ride. I generally don't like a roller coaster ride in real life, and it's the same with movies. If the movie is just taking me through a plot, I feel like it'd be nearly impossible for me to give it more than an 8/10. It has to do something to stand out.
I don't think much about recommending films to others around me, since I feel most of them don't appreciate cinema. As great as
The Maltese Falcon is, I know I'd have to tie some of my friends and family members down just to for them to watch that film just because it's in black & white.
I'm one of the raters that gives the highest scores I've ever known. I think in October and November I gave more 10's than any other rating lol. I think it's just, I'm extremely selective when choosing what I want to watch usually because I have so many movies available to me, I rarely want to make time for films I think will be junk. I also like films from both perspectives, as art and as entertainment. However, I wouldn't say that a film that I feel is both is automatically better, films just have different goals and different audiences to appeal. The only difference is that I happen to be an audience member that finds a ton of cinema appealing.
I guess I somewhat think of context when I rate. For example, I wouldn't judge a Jackie Chan film the same way I'd judge an Ingmar Bergman film. They're doing two completely different things, and I love them both. But if I want Bergman to do what Jackie does, well then Bergman fails, and viceversa. But beyond that I think I don't try to rate FOR an audience. I do believe that a film reviewer should review with the target audience's context in mind, but me personally, on Indietalk I review just personally, and I want to be a director/critic so I don't have to write in this style. I may mention that the film would appeal to others, but this wouldn't reflect in the final rating.
I sometimes am unsure about a rating. The discussion I had about
Requiem For A Dream was one of those times when I was really unsure. But sometimes I realize I rated something a little too highly or a little to low, so I change my rating on websites without really discussing it. I think film has to resonate in the long-term to truly be great so I never know how I truly feel about a film until later. I almost never give bad ratings though lol, I know there are horrible films out there but I don't usually choose to watch them. I'll say one thing though, I would much rather watch a film like
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians than have to sit through one of those mediocre dramas that have nothing new to say or no unique artistic quality; that film is just a billion times more entertaining lol.
