A blog for online film critics to talk about movies and review writing. Anyone with a movie review blog or website is welcome to join, post links to their writing, and write movie-related posts. Those interested in participating should e-mail David at DavidSwindle_AT_gmail.com for an invitation.
Monday, December 8, 2008
David's review of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
Wow. You're right. This review is rather brutal. And I like the comparison of a movie to a date. It's an amusing way to describe how the ending just ruined it.
I have one question about the F grade you give. Was it really based mostly on the ending, or was everything before the ending also done badly? I imagine that your F grade is the equivalent to my 1/10 rating, which I (on very few occasions thus far) reserve for films that are so awful from beginning to end. If I see a movie with a really bad ending with the rest of the movie that is just OK, I might not give it a 1/10 but maybe something like a 2/10 or 3/10.
Any thoughts regarding how you rate bad movies? :-)
Well I considered giving the movie a D on the basis of its good qualities.
However, a D is really a totally inaccurate description of my feelings for this film. Most movies that I give a D to are really quite benign.
Looking at the films reviewed May '06 to April '08 I gave four Ds: Blades of Glory, War, Untraceable, and Meet the Spartans. Now I really don't hate any of those movies. They're just bad movies -- not funny, not scary, boring, incompetent, etc. They're pretty harmless and forgettable.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a completely different animal. This film ENRAGED me. I tend to forget most bad movies, the sins of this film will remain with me for some time.
To return to the date comparison. If you have an OK date that ends horribly you're not going to really remember and appreciate the good conversation you had. You're just going to remember the offensive proposition at the end.
I originally reserved the F for films that I walked out on and films that had endings that were just absolutely absurd. Falling into the former category have been "The Heartbreak Kid" and "Speed Racer," the latter this movie and "Mr. Woodcock." I don't have the former anymore since after "Speed Racer" my editor requested that I sit through the entire movie even if I wanted to leave. Now I'll just give an F if I profoundly wanted to leave.
But yeah, I think that's a good way to put it -- "movies that enrage." Let's be specific about it, though. It's only when I'm enraged at the filmmakers. If the movie makes you angry at a character or an idea or something real in the world then that doesn't qualify. I get mad when the filmmakers make a ridiculous, pretentious, manipulative choice.
5 comments:
David,
Wow. You're right. This review is rather brutal. And I like the comparison of a movie to a date. It's an amusing way to describe how the ending just ruined it.
I have one question about the F grade you give. Was it really based mostly on the ending, or was everything before the ending also done badly? I imagine that your F grade is the equivalent to my 1/10 rating, which I (on very few occasions thus far) reserve for films that are so awful from beginning to end. If I see a movie with a really bad ending with the rest of the movie that is just OK, I might not give it a 1/10 but maybe something like a 2/10 or 3/10.
Any thoughts regarding how you rate bad movies? :-)
Well I considered giving the movie a D on the basis of its good qualities.
However, a D is really a totally inaccurate description of my feelings for this film. Most movies that I give a D to are really quite benign.
Looking at the films reviewed May '06 to April '08 I gave four Ds: Blades of Glory, War, Untraceable, and Meet the Spartans. Now I really don't hate any of those movies. They're just bad movies -- not funny, not scary, boring, incompetent, etc. They're pretty harmless and forgettable.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a completely different animal. This film ENRAGED me. I tend to forget most bad movies, the sins of this film will remain with me for some time.
To return to the date comparison. If you have an OK date that ends horribly you're not going to really remember and appreciate the good conversation you had. You're just going to remember the offensive proposition at the end.
Oh, I see. You save the worst grade as sort of a special designation for movies that enrage. That makes sense. :-)
So out of curiosity, have many other F movies have you reviewed?
I originally reserved the F for films that I walked out on and films that had endings that were just absolutely absurd. Falling into the former category have been "The Heartbreak Kid" and "Speed Racer," the latter this movie and "Mr. Woodcock." I don't have the former anymore since after "Speed Racer" my editor requested that I sit through the entire movie even if I wanted to leave. Now I'll just give an F if I profoundly wanted to leave.
But yeah, I think that's a good way to put it -- "movies that enrage." Let's be specific about it, though. It's only when I'm enraged at the filmmakers. If the movie makes you angry at a character or an idea or something real in the world then that doesn't qualify. I get mad when the filmmakers make a ridiculous, pretentious, manipulative choice.
Cool. So the next time I see one of your F reviews, I'll know what to expect. :-)
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