Rating the films this weekend reminded me ... I need to think of a new system of rating. The problem with the letter grades is that it connotates something worse than a film might be. I don't want to add plusses and minuses, because sooner or later you're working with a fifteen point system. What's the difference between a B-minus and a C-plus? That's a pretty fine line. In addition, It's hard for me to reconcile giving a film like No Country for Old Men, which on original viewing I found a little less than outstanding-enough for an A, the same B as 21, which I found better than the expected C. I'm not sure that works.
If anyone has ideas, please let me know.
2 comments:
I understand your pain with ratings, I don't particularly care for them. A few of my readers asked for them though, so I intiated the four star thing about six months ago. The problem with ratings is that they, for me anyway, are so arbitrary. A three star picture can very easily be a two star picture a month later, and readers (especially with more famous sites than mine) can tend to concentrate and the rating and nothing else.
Though I guess this isn't brain surgery, a misrated film shouldn't keep too many people up at night.
Hey Chuck,
I had that sliding problem with No Country for Old Men, which I gave a B initially, but after further consideration,ended up at the number 3 position on my year-end list. Definitely an A by that point.
Ratings are arbitrary. ONe of things I like about a true four or five-point system is that it forces a gut-level call. There's not a lot of hassling between the border of a B-minus and a C-plus. On the other hand, it ends up with odd juxtapositions, as I point out in the post.
On some level, you just have to say screw it.
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