The Rating Scale

Developed in Conjunction with Mr J.J.E. Imber, Esq

This was lost after some house cleaning on my other site. So, I've reposted it.

Ratings on this website will attempt to follow a rational and meaningful system of evaluation and quantification. There will be two systems. One system will follow a number-name system between -3 and +3 with no fractions and only a theoretical zero. The second system will be identical in substance, but since everyone on earth rates movies using stars we will condescend to a star based system. from 0 to 5 stars using only whole stars. The meanings and terminology of the system are outlined below:

Number- Name	Stars (movie)	Descriptor	Meaning	Success
+3	5	Very superior, fantastic	A Z-score of greater than +2 or 2.275 % of all things of this nature. (98th and 99th percentile)	STRONGLY SURPASSED Revolutionary qualities and others better start taking notice.
+2	4	Quality, very good, excellent,	A Z-score of between +1and +2 or 13.590 % of all things of this nature. (between 84th and 97th percentile)	SURPASSED Has surpassed expectations with unique and innovative qualities
+1	3	Legit, good, alright	A Z-score of between 0 and +1 or 34.135% of all things of this nature. (between 50th and 83rd percentile)	STRONG PASS Has met expectations with general satisfaction
0	"2 1/2"	The theoretical average	This is the theoretical average point. A grade of zero will not be given. Iit has no real existential value. Have you ever had the average wine?
-1	2	Not impressive, has problems	A Z-score of between 0 and -1 or 34.135 % of all things of this nature. (between 16th and 49th percentile)	WEAK PASS Did not meet all expectations, but has certain redeeming qualities
-2	1	Junk, bad, not good	A Z-score of between -1and -2 or 13.590 % of all things of this nature. (between 2nd and 15th percentile)	MARGINAL FAIL with no redeeming qualites (wine would be rejected)
-3	0	*@#^&#	A Z-score of less than -2 or 2.275 % of all things of this nature. (0th and 1st percentile)	SEVERE FAIL Has qualities, but they are bad. This was a step in the wrong direction

The Z-score is a statistical tool. If you decided to sleep through your statistics course or have simply forgotten what it all means please check this website for a brief refresher:

http://www.sysurvey.com/tips/statistics/zscore.htm

Review: Domino

The movie Domino is a movie about a member of the Beverly Hills 90210 establishment who rebels against her mother and becomes a Bounty Hunter. The movie attempts to build a character development story along with the action movie strory. The former is not very convincing and/or interesting; the latter is pretty standard. What saves the movie and brings it slightly above average is the style of the presentation and some pretty cool casting - if it has Christopher Walken chances are it will be cool.

The action story line is told by Domino the bounty hunter in a police interrogation room. Of Course, this has been done, but Lucy Liu is the interogator and there is a good raport between the two. The main action story line develops over an inside job gone wrong, again, it has been done. What makes the movie kinda edgy is the female bounty hunter trying to prover herself. Plus the filming is done in a gritty kind of colour that lends a Bobba-Fet meets American Western in modern LA feel to the movie. I don't like making those kind of analogies any more than most people like reading them. Nonetheless I think the comparison is apt, so tough.

What does this all add up to? A solid action movie.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Domino gets three stars.

***

Some Recent Reviews

Kim
An old movie based on the Kipling book. It was lots of fun and worth seeing. You just can't make movies like this anymore. ***

Primer
An intteresting movie that has garnered a lot of attention recently. I'm not sure it is all that is cracked up to be. Yes, it is cool that it was made for so little money. Unfortunately the narrative is very difficult to follow after a while and the movie gets a little tiresome. I don't really care how much money the movie was made for so: **

Saw
Another interesting movie with a cool premise. Too bad it falls into that category of american film making that just wants to shock and surprise with gore and twist endings. Yawn... *

Movie Review: The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener
Just out this weekend, this is a movie based on a LeCarre book. The first layer of the story involves investigations into pharmaceuticals, testing, aids and poor Africa. But, there are several other layers - notably a beautiful love story. The acting is first class, the photography stunning and the direction great. Go see this movie ****

A Great Ebert Review

You have to check out this review by Roger Ebert! Though I haven't seen the Deuce Bigalow 2 movie, from Ebert's comments it would seem that the only good thing to come from this movie is his review. I can only fantasise that one day I could write such a witty and yet still useful review.

Quick Reviews: Big Fish & Leboweski, Passion of the Christ

Big Fish:
This was a nice looking film that was all style and little substance. It had the advantage of containing an interesting story and some very likeable characters. The movie is about an oldman with many stories dying and a son who isstruggling to understand the fantastic stories. The stories are very fantastic and we struggle to figure out, with the son, what it all means. Unfortunately the stories are fullof sound and fury, the brief candle is extinguished and we are left with a tale told by an idiot. Idon't think I've spoiled anything. The movie should be better knowing that one need not expend neural energies trying to find underlying meaning.

** Two Stars

The Big Lebowski:
A fun movie with some great characters. The movie is full of great moments and great lines. It is entertaining and is almost a cult classic, but in the end it lacks the qualities that makes a movie great.

*** Three Stars

The Passion of the Christ:
This movie was full of formula and second rate tricks. Slow moton shots, lingering shots, a cheesy score and symbolism with a sledgehammer. This doesn't diminish the importance of the movie or the power of the message. The movie is just a substandard piece of cinema telling an important story.

** Two Stars

Review: Sin City

What can I say, this was a bad movie. The only thing worse than living in Sin City would be to live in a city that enjoyed Sin City.

The movie has no coherent narrative structure. The movie is organised around three stories that are VERY loosely related - they all passed through one bar. The characters are all bad, they differ only by degree.

The great thing about comics is that they develop very intricate characters with rich back stories. Of course comic series develop over years. Part of the challenge of puting comics on screen is to develop those characters in an hour or two. Sin City has three stories and three sets of charactres. It can't develop any of those characters except as caricatures. Consequently, the movie is a caricature. Cliches and rediculous lines get tossed about as easilly as the bullets and the whole thing is over the top.

Then, there is the violence. It takes a lot to get me to baulk at the violence. The violence was just extreme for the sake of extreme violence. There was nothing symbolic or purposeful in the violence except that it was demanded by the fact that these guys are all bad. All the violence got tiresome.

Of course there is the style. The style is not as original or great as people seem to think. Schindler's List effectively used well placed colour in a B&W film. But, as a comic based movie it does look and feel like a comic book. Comic books, however, are more than just entities that exist preserve a style their characters and stories are what sustain them - not style. Thus a movie like this that is all style and no substance is very much defective.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Sin City gets one star.
*