Good films are few and far between, and should be cherished and shared. When I've seen a film, I like to feel moved, amused, intrigued, surprised, stirred up, excited, sad, or any of the above.
If I like a film, I'll let you know and encourage you to see it. If not, then not. This is how the scoring system works.
- 1 means a film I really can't stand - not just bad, but skin-crawlingly annoying.
EXAMPLE: LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL by Roberto Benignini in which he plays an Italian Jew who is sent to a concentration camp with his son. Many people love it. I loathe it.
- 2 is a film which is just plain dreadful, lacking any qualities whatsoever.
EXAMPLE: THE LOVE GURU in which Mike Myers proves he has lost all comic talent. - 3 is a very bad film.
EXAMPLE: MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND, an Uma Thurman vehicle which should never have passed its MOT. - 4 is a poor film, worse than average.
EXAMPLE: THE ROCK, the movie that launched the career of Nicolas Cage as an action star. - 5 is an average film, neither good nor bad.
EXAMPLE: THE COLOR PURPLE, Spielberg's worthy but dull effort to film Alice Walker's novel. - 6 is a good film, better than average which I would recommend.
EXAMPLE: SEXY BEAST, a film which shows the alter ego of Gandhi (aka Ben Kingsley) - 7 is a very good film which I enjoyed a lot.
EXAMPLE: THE LAST SEDUCTION, a modern film noir which is as good as the originals it copies so well. - 8 is an exceptional film, which everyone should see. Includes idiosyncratic illogical favourites.
EXAMPLE: THE LADYKILLERS, a wonderful Ealing black comedy - 9 is a a film almost without faults.
EXAMPLE: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, a work of beauty and sublime imagination from Powell and Pressburger. - 10 is a work of genius which could not be improved on. Sublime.
EXAMPLE: L'ATALANTE, a French film made shortly after the introduction of sound.
For what I hope are obvious reasons, most films fall into the 4,5 and 6 categories, average or slightly better or worse than average. If you're wiling to follow my recommendations, you can watch films you might otherwise avoid, or not have heard of. And equally, you can spare yourself the horrors of some really bad films. You might even breathe a private sigh of relief that it's OK not to like Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, Shawshank Redemption or Forrest Gump. You're not alone.
