System 2 Re-reviews

Here are short re-reviews of the past three movies I've reviewed. In this post I'm only addressing the questions that are new to System 2, and using the same answers I gave to the System 1 questions to recalculate the new System 2 ratings. For the impatient, here are the new ratings without any comment:

The Big Lebowski System 2 rating: 255, or 11111111
Gun Crazy System 2 rating: 178, or 10110010 
Ils (Them) System 2 rating: 56, or 00111000

System 2

This is a minor modification to the questions from System 1. I considered calling it 1A, but decided that it's better to make sure each system is distinct. Even changing the wording of a question ought to merit it being considered a new system, because even small changes in wording can affect the answers we give.

1. Would you watch this movie again?
2. Did you connect with the movie on a personal level?
3. Did you feel the emotional impact that you think the film intended?
4. Do you think the movie satisfies what you consider to be the goals of cinema?
   
5. Do you think it satisfies what you consider to be the goals of art?
6. Do you think the movie's artistic intent is interesting?
7. Do you think those intentions are well executed?
8. Do you agree with the theme or moral you feel the film tries to convey?

Review: Ils (Them)

Ils (English: Them, 2006): French and Romanian, 74 min, written and directed by David Moreau & Xavier Palud, starring Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen and Adriana Mocca.

System 1 rating: 100, or 01100100

Review: Gun Crazy

Gun Crazy (1950): English, 86 min, directed by Joseph H. Lewis, written by Dalton Trumbo & MacKinlay Kantor, starring John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Harry Lewis, and Nedrick Young.

System 1 rating: 231, or 11100111

Review: The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski (1998): English, 117 min, written and directed by the Coen Brothers, starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buschemi, Julianne Moore, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, Tara Reid, Peter Stormare, Ben Gazzara.

System 1 rating: 253, or 11111101

Progress?

So apparently writing a coherent, well thought out blog is hard. I'm finding out because I'm trying and failing, and my roommate isn't trying and is also failing. I suppose I should link to his blog, as if the same two people who follow me don't already follow him. It's called Between a ROC and a Hard Drive but that URL might change to a sweet, totally awesome A Bad Joke subdomain because that's what all the cool people are doing. Plus, he's my roommate, so I can bother him about it every day.

System 1

The first system I've formulated to evaluate a movie is straightforward 8 yes-or-no questions arranged in order of importance. The questions are as follows:

1. Would you watch this movie again?
2. Did you feel the emotional impact that you think the film intended?
3. Do you think the movie satisfies what you consider to be the goals of cinema?
   
4. Do you think it satisfies what you consider to be the goals of art?
5. Do you think the film's artistic intentions are interesting?
6. Do you think the film properly execute its artistic intentions?
7. Do you think the film's technical intentions are interesting?
8. Do you think the film properly execute its technical intentions?

A Little Theory

People always say that art is subjective, that it's impossible to quantify, that two works of art are so different that they can't possibly be compared. Everyone accepts these ideas as a given. Most of our social interactions hinge on the idea that some things just can't be compared, that some opinions are neither right nor wrong.

That's boring. Let's try another idea.