July 18, 2008
James Berardinelli just gave 4 stars to Batman: The Dark Knight. In a meta-commentary he says:
Some reviewers hand out four-star ratings like candy. Such is their right. It's their rating and their system. I have always felt that, for a four-star citation to mean anything, it must be handed out on only the rarest of occasions to the most deserving of films. When I dole out a four-star rating, I'm making a statement about the quality of the movie. I'm saying that, for anyone with similar movie tastes to mine, this is a "must-see." For a production to get four stars, it not only has to impact me as I'm watching it, but it has to stay with me afterward, as I drive home at night, as I do my evening exercises, as I get ready for bed, as I shower the next morning, and as I compose the review in my head while cutting the grass… Four-star movies aren't easily forgotten or shrugged off. They demand attention. They are rare. In 2007, there were none. ...I believe this is a four star movie, the first in nearly two years. It has, to a degree, refreshed my believe that Hollywood can occasionally still make magic. When we find something like this, the goal should be to build it up, not tear it down. Here's hoping that everyone seeing it tomorrow night and Friday leaves the theater as stoked as I did. Not since The Return of the King has a movie left me this excited to be a film critic.
I know what he means. I don't hand out four-star ratings very often, myself. The last was Shingu, about a year ago.
This attitude is probably a good one for a reviewer, but it leads to frustration. James and myself, in our respective areas of quest, seek Holy Grails of entertainment -- and most of the caves we search in are empty. Most of the chests we open are full of dust and spiders. The search for four stars is like an addiction, like playing a slot machine looking for the big win that simply doesn't happen very often.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at
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Posted by: Robert at July 18, 2008 11:05 PM (MzfTd)
Florence King, once one of my favorite writers (and still one I like and respect) firmly believed that as a reviewer, if you are hard to please your praise actually means something. I'm not quite as stingy as some are when it comes to such things--Simon Cowell has made a whole career out of it, but often looks like an ass for example. But I do agree that a four-star (or five-star, if your scale is 1-5) SHOULD be something granted only very sparingly. The tricky part is when you realize, at least occasionally, that you should have heaped even more praise on a movie than you did. There have been movies (and albums, and books) that I didn't realize I liked as much as I did until some time afterward, maybe even a second viewing. I could list a few, some of which might surprise people; I didn't quite get what was so great about Casablanca the very first time I saw it for example; I thought it was good not great. As I came to appreciate it, I began to realize no, it was me that was missing it, it really was all that and more.
Still, better to underpraise than overpraise in cases like this, because it's always easier to go back later and say "you know, I underestimated that film" than it is to say "ok, it wasn't as good as I thought."
And I agree that the process of finding gold is very akin to the hunt for the elusive slot-machine jackpot. It can be addicting. Although the good part about the movies is, you definitely can improve your odds with knowledgeable selection, whereas your ability to control those slot machines is pretty small at best...
Posted by: deanesmay at July 19, 2008 03:11 PM (KTnNq)
Enclose all spoilers in spoiler tags:
[spoiler]your spoiler here[/spoiler]
Spoilers which are not properly tagged will be ruthlessly deleted on sight.
Also, I hate unsolicited suggestions and advice. (Even when you think you're being funny.)
At Chizumatic, we take pride in being incomplete, incorrect, inconsistent, and unfair. We do all of them deliberately.
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