Ranking John Singleton Movies

R.I.P. Mama Dell

R.I.P. Adam West

Top 15 Prince Songs Performed by Other Artists

Thursday Movie Picks Television Edition: Police

R.I.P. Bill Nunn

Tupac: 20 Years Gone

R.I.P. The Greatest - Muhammad Ali

My Purple Life, Part 2

My Purple Life, Part 1

R.I.P. Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest

R.I.P. Expavious Tyrell Taylor

R.I.P. Wes Craven

1939-2015

R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy

Blog Announcement: No More Numbers

Posting my best and worst movies of 2013 made me re-think a certain aspect of my reviewing process. More accurately, those were the straws that broke the bull's back. From this point forward, I will no longer include "MY SCORE" as part of my reviews.

Over the last few months, I've become disenchanted with finishing off my reviews by trying to sum it all up in one number, or a score. The score serves as a hindrance to lists like the two mentioned above which I do enjoy making. The problem is I start to beat myself up over ranking one movie over another even though the scores I've assigned to them suggests that it should be the other way around. After all, what if someone actually went back to those reviews and called me on it?

The fact of the matter is that the score is actually the least reliable part of my review. Instead of being a true representation of how I feel about a movie, it becomes how I think I feel about it at a particular moment in time in comparison to other movies I've recently seen. For instance, I rated Blue is the Warmest Color as my third best movie of '13. My initial score for it was 8.5/10. A number of movies I ranked behind it had better scores, including 12 Years a Slave which I initially gave a perfect ten. For Blue I saw it at a time when I knew I would still see many more movies from that year and had already seen a number of its better movies. Most of them I had given an 8.5/10. I loved Blue, but wasn't sure it was head and shoulders above any of the others, so that score felt justified. By the time I watched 12 Years, the tide had changed a little. My initial viewing of The Place Beyond the Pines blew me away, so I immediately gave that one a 9/10. I thought 12 Years was clearly better, so 10 it was. As the weeks and months passed, my opinion of Pines started to wane a bit while that of Blue elevated. See how complicated this became?

It's an unnecessary and silly stress, too.

My true opinion of a movie is much better summed up in the actual reviews themselves. That's why I write them. The reasons I like or dislike a movie are far more stable than a number I slap on after the last paragraph. Those things are hard-wired into my feelings on what I've just watched. They're less likely to change since each review is a self-contained examination of an individual film. Of course, exceptions are made for sequels, prequels, and remakes when I often refer to their predecessors. Still, they aren't comparisons to other movies released within a given time period.

Not including scores is beneficial to you, the reader, too. It's too easy to forget what's been written about a movie because whatever score it's given carries its own connotations which overwhelms everything else. I might give a movie a glowing review, but give it a score higher or lower than someone thinks it should be and that's where the focus is. I've done it myself on a number of sites, perhaps even yours. It's a pretty natural thing to do, really. We've been doing it ever since that very first time a paper we turned in didn't get the 'A' we think it deserved. Without having that tidy little summation, the reader is forced to deal with the reasoning laid out and then decide whether they agree, or not. That's really all I want for my blog. Well, that, and to not fret over my own grading system when trying to decide if one movie is better than another.

R.I.P. Lauren Bacall

September 16, 1924 - August 12, 2014

Many of us are still reeling from the untimely passing of Robin Williams. However, another Hollywood legend has also left us. Lauren Bacall passed away yesterday at the age of 89.

Her death provides an interesting contrast with that of Williams. Since she was 89 and hasn't been in the public spotlight for many years, her passing is something we more readily accept. It's not something we feel the need to make a big fuss over. That's not to diminish who she was, just that the way she left us feels more organic. It's part of the natural order of things.

As for me, personally, I must say I'm woefully disconnected to Bacall. I recognize her status as one of the true starlets of her era, but somehow she's escaped me. To this point, at least. Looking over her filmography, I'm pretty sure the only thing I've seen her in is Key Largo opposite Humphrey Bogart. I love the movie, and love her in it, but just haven't gotten around to seeing any more of her work. Still, just knowing she's gone creates a bit of an empty spot.

R.I.P. Robin Williams

July 21, 1951 - August 11, 2014

mer·cu·ri·al

mərˌkyo͝orēəl/

adjective

1. 1.

   (of a person) subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.

Sadly, another star has exited stage left. This time, Robin Williams has died of an apparent suicide. For me, this one is a little extra sad because he truly is a person I grew up watching. I first became aware of him when I was about eight, thanks to a couple of guest spots on one of my favorite TV shows at the time, Happy Days. This turned out to be his big break as he played a quirky extra terrestrial known as Mork from Ork. Watching reruns lately, I realize how insane it was to include an alien on one of the most square shows of all time. It was so out of left field, something I couldn't really appreciate at the time, yet it worked. It worked so well, the character was given his own series, Mork & Mindy which I watched religiously. "Na-nu na-nu" and "Shaz-but" become part of my everyday vernacular.

As the years went by, I learned of his wacky stand-up act, and heard stories of his habits. Eventually, he began doing lots of movies. By this time I hadn't totally lost interest, but I paid less attention to him than I once did. Still, I did see a number of the films in which he appeared. Somehow, I haven't fully witnessed many of his most popular performances in their entirety. Good Morning, Vietnam, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Hook are movies I've only seen in pieces. Occasionally, I'll catch a bit of the beginning, but can't finish it for some reason. More often, I'll catch a bit of the end, or somewhere in the middle and stop watching a few minutes later rather than try to catch up. The Best of Times, The Fisher King, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are movies I've not seen at all.

In what I have seen Williams in, I've almost always enjoyed his performance, even if I hated the movie. I love Dead Poets Society. He was great in The World According to Garp, Jumanji, Good Will Hunting, and Aladdin. He was even good in the Night at the Museum movies. That said, I was strangely drawn to the roles where his character was miserable. I thought he was excellent in World's Greatest Dad and downright brilliant in both The Final Cut and One Hour Photo. I guess having an inkling of some of his troubles in life gave these portrayals a truth his more jovial work didn't have. In those roles that required him to be funny, it feels like him giving us the Robin Williams persona. His more conflicted characters felt closer to reality. The clown was exposing the tears behind the smile.

It's been said that inside every comedian is a sad man refusing to weep. Williams has extraordinary success in channeling this other person. How strange that the same actor can play some of the most uninhibited of all characters, and some of the most morose. - Roger Ebert

If you're at all familiar with him you know that he was a ball of kinetic energy, seemingly with a serious case of ADHD. To watch him in action was not to witness anything coherent. It was a study in unfiltered, stream of conscience. Listening to him was quite literally hearing someone verbally brainstorm, using our ears as the paper he's scribbling numerous random thoughts on. Even in death, he proves that if each person were only allowed one word to describe them, mercurial would most certainly be his.

R.I.P. Ruby Dee

October 27, 1922 - June 12, 2014

Another great has left us. The great Ruby Dee has passed today. If youngsters knew her, they did so as the widow of Ossie Davis, or that old lady from that movie. If her passing accomplishes anything, it will be to teach people that she was so much more than that. Sure, she was an actress with a great number of roles under her belt. Most notably, she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in 1961's A Raisin in the Sun. Ms. Dee would get nominated for the same award in 2007 for her role in American Gangster. She didn't win that award, but did take home a number of honors through the years. She won an Emmy, a Screen Actors' Guild Award, and an Obie.

Aside from acting, she was also a poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and most importantly, an activist. She even won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Spoken Word Album. During the 1960s, Ruby Dee and husband Ossie Davis were on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement. In fact, they had a vantage point very few did because they were good friends with both Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They participated in marches. Dee herself emceed on occasion. She was truly a legend and will be missed.

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman

1967-2014

Unfortunately, we have to bid farewell to another one. This time, the great Philip Seymour Hoffman has left us prematurely. He was not a household name, but a household face. People who watch an average number of movies have seen him in something. This is no surprise since imdb.com gives him 62 cinematic credits (plus one TV show). More people learned his name this past summer as he became part of the Hunger Games franchise. His arrow was pointed up.

Those of us who call ourselves movie buffs know that Hoffman was no mere character actor popping up with bit roles in a lot of films. He was a master thespian, one of the finest actors of his generation. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for playing the titular role in 2005's Capote. He was also nominated for three other Oscars during his career.

Of those 62 movies he made, I've personally seen about a third of them. In nearly every one of them, he stood out to me as giving an enjoyable performance. This is true even in the films I didn't enjoy. For instance, take Synecdoche, New York. Lots of people love this movie. I could launch into a diatribe about why I hate it, but that's beside the point. The point is he was brilliant in the lead role. For that reason, I always look forward to seeing movies in which he is cast. Since starting this blog, I've reviewed a number of his movies and in most of them, I speak glowingly about his work. Click here to read my reviews of his work.

So long, friend Philip. You will be missed.