Opinion vs. Objectivity

My wife once told me I was star-struck by movies, saying that I never wrote a negative movie review. This is mostly true; I am quite enamored with, and fascinated by motion pictures. For the record, I have actually written a negative review, for the film Westender, but that may be the only one.

What I generally try to do is write a fair and balanced review, so that people can draw their own conclusions about whether or not they might like the movie. I've always thought that giving movies stars is a little bit silly. How do you even begin to quantify a movie's quality on a scale of 1 to 8 (or 1-10)? In other areas of my life, I've been taught that prejudice is wrong; that one should not judge based on mere personal opinion. The problem is, every time I try be objective, someone always misses the point and asks me, "So....did you like the movie?"

When I read movie reviews, I like a combination of description and opinion, but I also value objectivity. Roger Ebert usually begins his reviews describing some aspect of what a movie is about, whether that be the plot, the filmmaker's motivations, or some of the major themes of the film. It's usually clear whether he likes a movie or not, but more importantly, he gives movies credit for achievement even if he doesn't like what they are trying to achieve. For instance, I believe he hated the movie Curious George, but he still gave it 3/4 stars because he also believed that it was made for children, and that they would enjoy it.

I glean the most value from reviews I read when I know a reviewer's work well. There are only a few people I can think of that fit into this category: my friend Ryan, my sister-in-law Steph, and Roger Ebert). For one reason or another, when these people talk about a movie, I can read between the lines and extrapolate a good idea of whether or not I would like the movie. By contrast, when I read movie reviews in Entertainment Weekly, I never have any idea whether or not I will like the movie.

So what are people looking for when they read my reviews? Apparently, my opinion. I've also heard that my reviews are too long, so I've been trying to shorten them up lately. I will most likely continue to experiment with different ways of reviewing movies, and whether or not they help anyone, I hope they will make interesting reading.