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Tyson-9
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Well, I tried to come up with a system that sort of balances those considerations. It's still entirely subjective and arbitrary, but it at least helped me organize my thinking. What I did was I devised a point system with three separate categories; in descending order of value, those categories are:
1) QUALITY OF FILM - this one attempts to be an "objective" assessment of the overall quality of the movie (if there is such a thing as objectivity in art. Perhaps more accurate would be to say for that for this category I attempt to "view the film with as critical and discerning an eye as possible"). This includes everything from the writing, direction, acting, musical score and film editing.....but also the more technical aspects of production quality (cinematography, art direction, sound design, effects, etc). To some degree, the score in this category ties right into the 2nd category, as my enjoyment/appreciation of a movie is often closely tied to the quality of the production. The other reason I rated this category the most heavily weighted relates to how important movies are to me on a personal level: I don't feel I should laud movies that are merely "fun".......I simply need to look a little deeper. It's like who can be a suitable significant other for the long-term: it can't just be someone you have a good time with.....it needs to be someone you deeply respect and connect with on a more significant level. I should also note that certain genres have a lower ceiling in this category; e.g. action flicks, raunchy comedies, romantic comedies, etc.......these types of stories will always be exceedingly formulaic; and while that's still entertaining, the characters may be a touch half-baked, the acting is rarely "Oscar-worthy", and they're typically not exactly breaking the bank on other production value. These movies generally aren't even TRYING to be great cinema.
2) PERSONAL APPEAL/ENJOYMENT/GENRE and/or "AFFECTED ME AS A PERSON" Score - This category [subjectively] attempts to assign a score to "how much I liked, appreciated, or was effected by" a movie. I realize that's a touch ambiguous, but I can't really define it better than that. To some degree it may simply reflect my affinity for a certain genre, too.
3) "RE-WATCHABILITY" - I think I've just invented a word there, but I suspect everyone gets the gist of this. Some movies are amazing and Earth-shaking.....but it's not the sort of stuff you can watch over and over. Other movies are scarcely above mediocre quality, and yet you're HAPPY to watch them over and over. In fact, I find it's sometimes the "fluff" pieces that I can watch ad nauseum, I think precisely BECAUSE they don't require a full emotional investment to watch and engage with......they're merely scratching a superficial itch. But still, a treasured guilty pleasure's gotta be worth something, right?
So I award a score in these three categories, add them up: total score determines the order......except where there were ties, at which point I would just go with my gut feel. Heck, even the category scores themselves are kinda "gut feel" (the operative word in the title might be "roughly"). Anyway, it's produced a rather random-seeming (I'd like to think eclectic :)) list, which nonetheless feels reasonably accurate to me. Oh, and btw, I made eligible mini series's as well as feature-length TV productions.
Stopping near 100 [at 110, for now] because it was also around this point that there were an ever-increasing number of tie scores, and movies are harder and harder to distinguish between (as far as which I like more). Just to name-drop a dozen or so honorable mentions that didn't quite make the cut (but were SOOOO close that I could easily see swapping one or two in at the end of the list on a given day).....
Magnolia Once Upon a Time in the West 12 O'Clock High The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Letters from Iwo Jima Interview With the Vampire The Secret In Their Eyes (Argentina version) Poltergeist The Grand Budapest Hotel Space Cowboys Se7en The Breakfast Club Gran Torino Tombstone True Grit (Coen Bro's version) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Star Wars: The Force Awakens Crocodile Dundee Citizen Kane Warrior Serenity Dirty Dancing Rainman Dumb n' Dumber Close Encounters of the Third Kind Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2
An initial score is obtained based on which of their movies I've seen (and how highly I thought of those movies): quantity weighted against average quality yields this initial score. This is then added to a "director rating" (a number to quantify my assessment of their overall talent, creativity, originality, and versatility as a director); and then finally my "personal appeal" score is added in as well. The sum of these things dictates the order of the list.
Factor #1 is then added to a "talent rating" (factor #2), which is my assessment of their skill, versatility, and overall quality as an actor. And then I add a personal appeal score (factor #3), which is a purely subjective number that attempts to quantify how much I am (or to a lesser degree WAS) "into" the actor in question; am I more likely to watch (or re-watch) this movie simply because it stars this actor, etc. The total of these three factors gives the final score that the order of this list is based on.
As I see more movies (or as my sensibilities change with age), the scores--and thus the order--will change. I enjoyed making the list, hope you enjoy reading it. Polite comments are welcome.
Also see my list of actresses: http://www.imdb.com/list/mWdpRpexvps/
Reviews
The Golden Girls: Empty Nests (1987)
Ooops....
This has to be one true flub of an otherwise fine show. I remember one or two other poor episodes, usually involving inserted extra characters or relatively "out there" premises; instances where it's like the writers forgot what the show is about (Rose in the homeless shelter comes to mind).
But no other episode was quite as bad as this.
For one, the actual Golden Girls barely appear in the episode. Instead the audience is thrown into the lives of complete unknowns amid empty nest related marital problems. We have no relationship with these characters whatsoever, and would have zero context for what they're going thru were it not delivered in very stark and false-sounding dialogue early on. We have very little reason to care about them, a circumstance that isn't helped by the fact that they're written as generic caricatures, terribly acted, and with zero reality or real emotion injected into their dialogue scenes. Much of it bordered on painful to watch.
Throw in an awful final line, and humor that pokes fun at mental illness, and well......let's just say this episode was a disappointment and a bit of set-back to my recent joyful reunion with The Golden Girls.