Grading Philosophies

Having now completed one full round of Mediocre Movie Reviews, I can’t help but think about our similarities and differences in grading philosophy.  I have been trying to gauge how most of us grade movies, and I feel that we all approach things at a slightly different angle.  This is definitely a good thing – it’d be extremely boring if we all just gave out the same grade.  It’s fun to have divisive movies like Machete Kills out there; the most interesting discussions have come from the movies that divided us the most.  That being said, I was hoping each of us could briefly sum up how we grade movies, just to give the rest of us a better idea where we’re coming from with our grades.

Now, I know on the spreadsheet, Kissel has included his "rubric" if you will.  I’m glad that works for him, but it feels a little too “checklist” for me personally.  I have a feeling that if Kissel took a Myers-Briggs personality test, he’d score high in the Sensing category (See: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/sensing-or-intuition.asp).  My personality type doesn’t jive with that sort of system (I’m pretty in the middle on sensing vs. intuition, but I tend to end up closer to the side of intuition), and I end up grading on a much more blurry scale.  That said it’s impossible to give out a grade without having some sort of criteria.  Here are some of the questions I ask myself when formulating my final grade for a movie:

Did this movie achieve its implied objective? – This is far and away my biggest consideration.  Not every movie is made to be a best picture nominee.  If the goal of a movie is to make me think, and it makes me think, I’ll probably give it a decent grade, regardless of my enjoyment.  Not surprisingly, this is VERY difficult to do with comedy, as comedy is so subjective and drawn from personal experiences.  We all have those movies that we basically say “I get it.  Someone probably finds this funny.  I’m just not one of them.”  The example that sticks out to me for this is Bad Santa.  I don’t remember what grade I gave it, but it’s an F- for me personally.  I probably gave it a higher grade because I know some people do find that crap funny, and Billy Bob does a good job of acting in it.

Did I enjoy this movie? – Seems simple enough, but I figured I’d point out it isn’t my chief concern when grading.  As difficult as it can be, I try my damnedest to remove my personal taste best I can.  For example, I must admit that I enjoyed The Game more than Holy Motors while watching.  However, I gave Holy Motors a higher grade.  I felt that it was definitely a better movie, even if it didn’t necessarily enjoy the experience.  This is an issue I will forever have with character pieces.  To me, they tend to meander.

Would I rewatch this movie? – This is a concern depending on the type of movie.  There are several movies I absolutely love that I really don’t need to watch again.  My brother has a theory that many movies only have so many “good watches” in them.  Eventually, you just can’t be emotionally impacted by them anymore.  Gladiator is maybe my favorite movie ever, but I’m pretty confident I’ve exhausted all my “good watches.”  Likewise, I still have a few in the bank for Shawshank Redemption, and I’ve made sure to save them.  Comedies and action movies need to be rewatchable to be good.  They have to pass the “channel surfing test” that I referenced in my Machete Kills review.  The “channel surfing test” is simple – if I were flipping channels and saw this movie on, would I stick with it, and if so, for how long?  If a Rocky movie is on, I might stick depending on what the scene is.  If The Two Towers is on, I’m almost assuredly going to be sucked in for the duration.

Is this movie meant to be watched this way? – Let’s face it, some movies stand on their own, while others demand an experience.  I’m not talking Rocky Horror Picture Show levels necessarily, but some movies are undeniably better to watch in a group.  Not to keep referencing it, but Machete Kills feels like a movie that is meant to be watched with a group of people while everyone is drinking.  Pineapple Express is meant to be watched while stoned (probably).  Again, this is tough to consider, and even tougher to simulate for the purposes of this group.  I wonder what our Machete Kills reviews would have been had we all watched it together, then reviewed on our own after the fact.

That’s a quick summary of some of the things I consider when reviewing.  I know there are a handful of things I do not consider while others do.  Here are two of the biggies that I’ve seen mentioned in other reviews on here that I don’t personally ascribe to.

One of the big things I do not consider that I think many of us do is time & place for older movies like Taxi Driver.  I kind of understand the social climate going on, but I wasn’t watching in 1976.  I watched the movie in 2014, and I want to discuss how the movie felt to me in 2014.  Most people aren’t going to pick up on cultural subtleties of the movie, as they may not have that personal well of knowledge to draw from.  I can only review the movie as a cultural outsider, so I’ll review it from that perspective.  An older movie doesn't necessarily have to draw on its time and place to be interesting.  Some movies are timeless and translate in any climate (see: The Graduate).

I also do not consider whether or not I actually remember the plot.  For the most part, people have terrible memories when it comes to the plot of anything, especially for movies they’ve only seen once.  I cannot tell you a great number of details from Big Fish.  However, I remember the experience and how it made me feel at the time.  If that was strong enough, then it’ll get a higher grade from me.  Many older movies that I did not grade were movies that I watched but could not remember for the life of me any major plot points or my own feelings.  Odds are these are a bunch of B-/C+’s for me, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to rewatch and figure it out before actually grading.

So, with that, how does everyone else grade?  Do you have a checklist method?  Is it purely based on your enjoyment?  Or are we all reviewing the exact same way?