MovieChat Forums > Separate Tables (1959) Discussion > How to rate movies on IMDB...??...??

How to rate movies on IMDB...??...??

posted 14 years ago by lebiglebowski
1 reply | jump to latest

Ok, here is a perfect example of a film that I can totally see the value of and see that it is great filmmaking BUT.. I also became so frustrated with the ridiculous treatment of the Major that it almost ruined my enjoyment factor.. Now here I am being reminded of how HORRIBLY people judge their fellow brothers and sisters in the world and at the same time realizing that I am only having these strong emotions because of good filmmaking.. HMMMM.. Ok so GREAT filmmaking and ruined enjoyment factor by the COMPLETELY sad and ridiculous (but all too real, and happens all too often) treatment and judgment of the poor old major.. So what to I rate this film on IMDB?? I own it on dvd and I am a HUGE collector of classic films, everything from 400 Criterion Collection dvds to maybe approx 2,000 dvds released by WB, Fox, MGM, Universal, Paramount, Colombia, IMAGE, Sony, and others.. and I watch them all repeatidly and eat up every featurette and documentary and commentary availible. So anyway between a extremely large dvd collection that grows daily because of things like John Huston's The African Queen being finally released on reg. 1 dvd and bluray to the new Casablanca Ultimate Collectors Edition bluray box, new Gone With The WInd bluray Box set,new Wizard Of Oz bluray Box set, and all the things such as The Third Man, The Black Narcisuss and others coming out on BluRay and watching Turner Classics constantly for old film noir etc that hasnt been released on regeion 1 dvd that I feel as if I have a decent base knowledge of what both "good filmmaking" is and what I like is.. Now I just am curious as to how to balance these two things when rating a movie on IMDB. I am thinking that with this movies Seperate Tables, the enjoyment rating for me is only a 6, but the good filmmaking rating is like a 7.5 to a 8, so if I avg. it out I get close to a 7, but is that an unfair rating given the fact that I realize that it is a great piece of cinematic art? Any input on how other members balance how much they like a film against how well the film is made etc when rating would be great and I would liek to know when you all rate a film on here do what all do you consider? Do you only rate based on how much you enjoyed the film or do you take into consideration the fact that it may be a really well made film as well?

Thanks!

a few of my favorite films that I own on dvd:
-Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
-Casablanca - MichaelCurtiz(1943)
-The Third Man - Carol Reed (1949)
-Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa(1954)
-Touch of Evil - Orson Welles (1958)
-Rules of The Game - Jean Renoir (1939)
-Singing In The Rain - Stanley Donen (1952)
-Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
-Charade - Stanley Donen (1963)
-Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
-Gone With The Wind - Victor Flemming/George Cukor (1939)
-Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean (1962)
-400 Blows - Francois Truffaut (1959)
-The Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (1937)
-8 1/2 - Federico Fellini (1963)
-The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman (1957)
-The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles (1942)
-The Red Shoes - Powell & Pressburger (1948)
-Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Houston (1948)
-Gaslight - George Cukor (1944)
-The Black Narcissus - Powell & Pressburger (1946)
-The Maltese Falcon - John Houston (1941)
-Now Voyager - Irving Rapper (1942)
-Sunset Blvd. - Billy Wilder (1950)
-The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks (1946)
-All About Eve - Joe Mankiewicz (1950)
-North By Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock (1959)
-The Trial - Orson Welles (1962)
-Laura - Otto Preminger (1944)
-The Lady Eve - Preston Sturges (1941)
-Night of The Hunter - Charles Laughton (1955)
-The Searchers - John Ford (1956)
-On The Waterfront - Elia Kazan (1954)
-Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)
-The General - Buster Keaton (1927)
-Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard (1959)
-Sweet Smell Of Success - Alexander Mackendrick (1957)
-L'Atalante - Jean Vigo (1934)
-Metropolis - Fritz Lang (1927)
-Out Of The Past - Jacques Tourneur (1947)
-The Lady Vanishes - Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
-Mr. Arkadin - Orson Welles (1955)
-Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock (1954)
-The Killers - Robert Siodmak (1946)
-Ace In The Hole - Billy Wilder (1951)
-The Theif of Bagdad - Michael Powell (1940)

(I like all of my dvds reall but those are a few)

and a few of my fav directors are:

-Alfred Hitchcock
-Orson Welles
-John Ford
-Billy Wilder
-Akira Kurosawa
-Howard Hawks
-Ingmar Bergman
-John Houston
-Carol Reed
-John Houston
-Federico Fellini
-Michael Curtiz
-George Cukor
-Elia Kazan
-Jean Renoir
-Frank Capra
-Victor Flemming
-Francois Truffaut
-Preston Sturges

p.s. - please add a few of your fav films and if you want directors in your reply post, it gives me ideas on stuff to re-watch or if I am lucky discover something new that I havent seen. Oh and I do also like newer stuff from Fargo, Goodfellas, and Blade runner to Deer Hunter, Amadeus, and The Graduate... Its just that I like 1930-1965 or so the best.

[–] Felonious-Punk 14 years ago

I agree "Out of the Past" is excellent. As far as your main question, it seems that what you are asking, in essence, is whether you should you rate according your intellect or according to your love for a movie. I think this is a very important question and certainly one with many answers. Personally, I have gone through different stages in my rating process. But at the moment, I go strictly according to my love for a movie. If it's a tale I've heard a million times before, but I find flaws in the acting, the story isn't particularly ground-breaking, the direction and camera-work are fairly conventional, but I still have a fondness for it long after its ending, I give it a high score. If it is very clever in its ingredients, free of any technical errors, employing the best acting, the best writing, camerawork, and editing, and themes, yet I can't really care about it much, then I rate it about a "5" or so. The way I think of it is that some movies are good to watch with friends, while others are not only good to watch with friends but also manage to comfort and inspire and mystify me when I am alone.

As far as "Separate Tables" goes, I don't think it introduces us to any technique we haven't seen before, but the way its ingredients come together is what led me to rate it a "9". Its wonderful writing, at turns comedic, at other turns tragic, but always brisk, its quaint setting, its crisp picture and art direction, its fabulous performances by the actors, all blend together in a subtle but harmonious way that has me yearning to watch it again.

I hope that helps.

*This is a place to write anything I think is important or smart or cute. It ends all my comments.*