Movies

I’ve decided to use my blog to keep a record of all the movies I go and see, for now only the ones I see at the cinema. Down the track I often find I can’t remember what I thought of a film and I’m pretty sure if my opinion about a certain topic changes drastically I’ll probably subconsciously change my thoughts about the film. Plus, I often wonder how many films I’ve seen in a year, particularly around Oscar time. I remember when I saw Crash when it first came out in Australia I thought it was great, I was entertained, it was thought provoking. Despite some critics reviews saying there was just too much coincidence in the film, I thought it’s just a movie, the director was presenting modern perceptions on the age old racism saga – the more the merrier I say! The matrix of connections between the characters was a simple and effective way of making the point in the space of a feature length film. Anyways, when Crash was nominated for (and won) best picture at this year’s Oscars, I was a little surprised . . . . . it had been so long since I had seen the film it had lost much its impact, I had only just seen Brokeback Mountain and it was receiving a lot of media attention so it was fresh in my mind. I, like many others assumed Brokeback Mountain would win best picture. Hence the decision to keep a record my thoughts about the films I’ve seen.

I think it is virtually impossible to compare, for example, an action with an art house film – films are either good or bad – rotten or fresh. I generally think films can be rated on three qualities: entertaining, thought provoking, and visually stimulating. A high enough score on one characteristic can earn a film a pass. For example, War of the Worlds (the Spielberg version) was mildly entertaining, and highly visually stimulating – so it gets a pass – but only just – that crappy Spielberg ending with son turning up safe and sound very nearly dropped it below the line. So until I think up another quality to rate films on each film will get an overall pass or fail and a score on each of the three qualities.

Right, that sounds pretty clear – should be simple.