Rate the latest movie you've seen.

[Mike Cl]

For myself, I see rating movies as purely subjective.  Like beauty (or porn).  I know it when "I" see it.  I see many of these ads on various sites on the internet, when they will say something like, 'Most beautiful woman in the world.'  There is no such thing.  Like asking for the 'best' movie.  I would rank my favorites differently on different days.  Citizen Kane is often put forth as the best movie.  I didn't like it and will never watch it again.  I also know that I will never watch what I call the Old Yeller type--animals die.  Will not watch-ever.  Where the Red Fern Grows I detest.  On the other hand, a solid B movie, A Knights Tale, I love!  A hackneyed story, told in hundreds of versions--but I like it and I don't care if anybody else does.  I also, will never watch a Texas Chainsaw type movie, or horror/torture movie of any kind.  Anyway, I watch a movie for 'my' enjoyment, not the critics or my neighbor. 

[Cassia]

For myself, I see rating movies as purely subjective.  Like beauty (or porn).  I know it when "I" see it.  I see many of these ads on various sites on the internet, when they will say something like, 'Most beautiful woman in the world.'  There is no such thing.  Like asking for the 'best' movie.  I would rank my favorites differently on different days.  Citizen Kane is often put forth as the best movie.  I didn't like it and will never watch it again.  I also know that I will never watch what I call the Old Yeller type--animals die.  Will not watch-ever.  Where the Red Fern Grows I detest.  On the other hand, a solid B movie, A Knights Tale, I love!  A hackneyed story, told in hundreds of versions--but I like it and I don't care if anybody else does.  I also, will never watch a Texas Chainsaw type movie, or horror/torture movie of any kind.  Anyway, I watch a movie for 'my' enjoyment, not the critics or my neighbor.

I agree...In fact I think I am very odd in that the actual story is second priority to the environment a movie presents. Much in the same way I think chord structure and harmony are more important than lyrics to my enjoyment of music. When all of the elements come together, those are the great ones. So the movies' color temperature, background music, complexity and realism in the set and costumes count a lot to me. I find human wants, desires, and insecurities rather boring. But show me a stage coach flying through the Transylvanian mountains, chased by wolves, backlit by a bloodstained sky, I can tolerate Keanna's granite faced acting.

[SGOS]

I see many of these ads on various sites on the internet, when they will say something like, 'Most beautiful woman in the world.' 

I've succumbed to these click baits on a couple of occasions.  I don't know what I'm expecting to see, but the experience is never breathtaking.  I then have about 5 women I hardly ever think about flash through my brain that I think are better looking.  That is followed immediately by the feeling that I've been duped into looking at cosmetics ads.

Citizen Kane is often put forth as the best movie.  I didn't like it and will never watch it again. 

I watched that to see what elements make it so good, but I didn't see anything that special.  I had the same reaction to Casablanca and Gone with the Wind.  I won't say these are bad films, but I don't know why they are so universally applauded.

Anyway, I watch a movie for 'my' enjoyment, not the critics or my neighbor. 

I like romantic comedies.  I liked them so much that I was embarrassed to even say so, even though the plots are identical, usually shallow, and totally unrealistic, but then as writers started experimenting to create something new, a lot of stuff started turning up that was not as fun.  Now Romantic comedies are making a small comeback, but it almost seems like writers are too dedicated to finding a new twist.  I read something a couple of years ago that said actors and actresses are now avoiding romantic comedies, which they see as career enders.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

For myself, I see rating movies as purely subjective.  Like beauty (or porn).  I know it when "I" see it.  I see many of these ads on various sites on the internet, when they will say something like, 'Most beautiful woman in the world.'  There is no such thing.  Like asking for the 'best' movie.  I would rank my favorites differently on different days.  Citizen Kane is often put forth as the best movie.  I didn't like it and will never watch it again.  I also know that I will never watch what I call the Old Yeller type--animals die.  Will not watch-ever.  Where the Red Fern Grows I detest.  On the other hand, a solid B movie, A Knights Tale, I love!  A hackneyed story, told in hundreds of versions--but I like it and I don't care if anybody else does.  I also, will never watch a Texas Chainsaw type movie, or horror/torture movie of any kind.  Anyway, I watch a movie for 'my' enjoyment, not the critics or my neighbor. 

Thank you. If you don't like a movie, don't see it. Don't whinge for two hundred posts. I had one guy complain about a movie and I had to point out some things.

1. It had GODZILLA in the title.

2. It had MONSTERS in the title.

3. You're an idiot.

[Mike Cl]

I like romantic comedies.  I liked them so much that I was embarrassed to even say so, even though the plots are identical, usually shallow, and totally unrealistic, but then as writers started experimenting to create something new, a lot of stuff started turning up that was not as fun.  Now Romantic comedies are making a small comeback, but it almost seems like writers are too dedicated to finding a new twist.  I read something a couple of years ago that said actors and actresses are now avoiding romantic comedies, which they see as career enders.

You like what you like--I can honor that.  The type of movie I like is not really a type, I don't think.  I like movies that show the protagonist as a common type Joe (or Jill), who is thrown into a crisis/situation that is not of his/her making, casts around to figure out what to do and finally overcomes the problem.  I guess the template would be The Hero's Journey (by Joseph Campbell)--a process I think all of us go through in some fashion or other.  And not all 'heroes' are national figures, or even neighborhood figures; we can be our own heroes.  And not every Hero's Journey is epic.   

[SGOS]

The type of movie I like is not really a type, I don't think.  I like movies that show the protagonist as a common type Joe (or Jill), who is thrown into a crisis/situation that is not of his/her making, casts around to figure out what to do and finally overcomes the problem.  I guess the template would be The Hero's Journey (by Joseph Campbell)--a process I think all of us go through in some fashion or other.

I would call that a type, and a common one at that. But I'm not that familiar with Campbell.  I did a wiki thing on him, and get the general idea.  It seems like the concept would be vital in most story telling, unless there is something more subtle that I'm missing.

[Baruch]

I would call that a type, and a common one at that. But I'm not that familiar with Campbell.  I did a wiki thing on him, and get the general idea.  It seems like the concept would be vital in most story telling, unless there is something more subtle that I'm missing.

There are only 7 story lines in novels.  One of which is the "hero's journey".  Joseph Campbell was an awesome anthropologist and teacher.  The Power Of Myth from PBS was a classic.  BTW - now Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock is rated above Citizen Kane by Orson Welles.  Citizen Kane was a Hollywood version of the life of William Randolph Hearst, of castle fame, in California.  Welles deliberately filmed it in B&W because "film noire" and he was a cheap bastard ;-)  James Stewart (in Vertigo) is a much better actor than Orson Welles (in Citizen Kane).

Now I know how to really irritate Mike CL ... "rosebud" ;-))

[Hydra009]

I looked it up on rotten tomatoes.  I think it was 18% for viewers, and 9% from critics, which would have resulted in an immediate pass back then, and probably still would today but I know that movies I like and dislike can often be that far off from the reviewers, but things that only 1 out of five people agree with is typical of so many of my priorities in life.

*frantically tries to find a way to non-hypocritically make the argument that the audience/critics are right in hating movies I don't like but wrong in hating movies that I like*

*tries to literally construct it but pieces keep falling off as soon as I put them on, it implodes, then the remains catch on fire*
*sweeps it under the rug, where bulges ripple and writhe underneath the surface*

[Baruch]

*frantically tries to find a way to non-hypocritically make the argument that the audience/critics are right in hating movies I don't like but wrong in hating movies that I like*

*tries to literally construct it but pieces keep falling off as soon as I put them on, it implodes, then the remains catch on fire*
*sweeps it under the rug, where bulges ripple and writhe underneath the surface*

Like the food critic, in the cartoon, Ratatouille.

[Hydra009]

I'm getting to the point in movies where I'd much rather rewatch something I know is good that take a gamble on something new and unfamiliar.

I've gotten burned a bit too much.  Plus, there are certain movies that have done their unique thing and no one's done that better since.

[drunkenshoe]

You can criticise anything with anything, if that's your goal and even rarely there can be good, interpreting, informing kind of critiques too.

Yeah, when people start to 'criticise' a kaiju movie on how 'nonsense' the plot related to that idea is, I get the urge of smacking them on the head.

But the first place...oh the first place is a tie between the people who think Matrix and Fight Club are the best movies ever made, who can talk/write about them hours on end and developed the ability of relating/linking everything to these two movies; because you know, they are the best definition of life. Then I visualise myself smacking them with a tyre iron on the head and flying away like Neo, with a long rocketing fart trail off my ass.

[Hydra009]

Yeah, when people start to 'criticise' a kaiju movie on how 'nonsense' the plot related to that idea is, I get the urge of smacking them on the head.

"It's just a guy in a rubber suit trampling cardboard boxes!"  Yeah, and The Wizard of Oz is just a lost girl running around and asking people questions.  And Citizen Kane is just a rich old guy dying.

And even if it didn't have a deeper meaning to it, if at heart it really was just a silly monster wrestling match, would that really be so wrong?  Have you guys seen the reality TV stuff that passes for entertainment nowadays?

But the first place...oh the first place is a tie between the people who think Matrix and Fight Club are the best movies ever made, who can talk/write about them hours on end and developed the ability of relating/linking everything to these two movies; because you know, they are the best definition of life.

They're certainly not the best movies ever made (who argues that??), but they are in the top 100 imho and they have smart ideas embedded into them that are worth analyzing and discussing.  Do some people take that too far?  Absolutely.

[Baruch]

You can criticise anything with anything, if that's your goal and even rarely there can be good, interpreting, informing kind of critiques too.

Yeah, when people start to 'criticise' a kaiju movie on how 'nonsense' the plot related to that idea is, I get the urge of smacking them on the head.

But the first place...oh the first place is a tie between the people who think Matrix and Fight Club are the best movies ever made, who can talk/write about them hours on end and developed the ability of relating/linking everything to these two movies; because you know, they are the best definition of life. Then I visualise myself smacking them with a tyre iron on the head and flying away like Neo, with a long rocketing fart trail off my ass.

High culture comes from high society having good taste and demanding sponsorship.  Low culture is ... deplorables doing their thing.

[drunkenshoe]

And even if it didn't have a deeper meaning to it, if at heart it really was just a silly monster wrestling match, would that really be so wrong?  Have you guys seen the reality TV stuff that passes for entertainment nowadays?

Agreed. Yes, I unfortunately have. I also know about the day time tv we have.

They're certainly not the best movies ever made (who argues that??), but they are in the top 100 imho and they have smart ideas embedded into them that are worth analyzing and discussing.  Do some people take that too far?  Absolutely.

Hmm. In top 100, embedded smart ideas...worth discussing but certainly not the best movies, who says that, it is not good to take it far... You passed,lol. But I didn't think anyone from here, honestly.

[Hydra009]

Hmm. In top 100, embedded smart ideas...worth discussing but certainly not the best movies, who says that, it is not good to take it far...

I feel like that's what I said if it were passed through a game of chinese telephone, written down, xeroxed, and then xeroxed the copy, and then xeroxed that copy.  :P

You passed,lol. But I didn't think anyone from here, honestly.

I'm still stuck in defensive mode here.  They're not bad movies, are they?  I mean, they really made a splash when they came out.  And it's a nice to change of pace to have a movie where one thing is going on at a surface level and something else is going on underneath the surface.  Good for watercooler discussion and later, video essays (especially the Architect's speech lol).  Is that a bad thing?

And top 100 might sound like a huge acclaim given the thousands upon thousands of movies out there, but that's 2 movies a year for a span of 50 years.  If I did it that way, there'd be quite a few pretty mediocre films on the list.  I dunno if I've personally seen more than 300 different movies in my life.  So just getting me in the seat really improves its chances.