Rating System

The rating scale for the movies I review runs from A to F, just like in school. It's pretty easy to understand:

A - Exceptional quality. Don't hesitate to rent the video, or if you're lucky, catch it on the widescreen. My highest grade is an A+ -- if a film recieves that mark, see it tomorrow!

B - Above-average. Hollywood churns out hundreds of crap movies every year, but this isn't one of them -- you don't have to rush out and see it, but it's not a waste of your time.

C - Average. This is a waste of your time, the type of movie Hollywood churns out by the dozens every month, but if you're up late at night and it comes on USA and you're tired of watching Star Trek reruns...

D - Below Average. Even if this comes on late night cable and you're really bored, read a book or play a video game or something. A waste of your time, but in an unpleasant way.

F - Poor. Films of this grade are used as torture methods by the CIA. Do not under any circumstances rent or distribute such garbage -- the world is much too beautiful a place for such pollution.

Just like in school, there's variation within all of these grades -- I'm not going to go into detail about the differences between B+, B, and B-, but you should get a feel for the differences after a while (and when it comes to grades, I'm not anally scientific - I go mainly by feel myself). The exception, as in school, is the F - there's no such thing as an F+ or an F-, all films that get an F are complete failures. As you'll see, so far the grades are heavily slanted towards the higher end -- that's because I generally watch movies I like. I know how to avoid crap, but like everyone I'll get suckered into sitting through a crappy movie I thought would be good (and sometimes I'll even sit through a movie I know is bad - camp has some value, after all).

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A+

M
Raising Arizona
12 Angry Men
The Wild Bunch
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A

Anatomy of a Murder
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Barcelona
Barton Fink
Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Metropolitan
Slacker
Straw Dogs
Suburbia
Z
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A-

Army of Darkness
The Big Lebowski
Children of the Revolution
Cross of Iron
Dazed and Confused
The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
The Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn
The Last Days of Disco
Miller's Crossing
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Over the Edge
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Pickpocket
Say Anything
Singles
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B+

Alphaville
Before Sunrise
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Decline of Western Civilization
Fargo
The Getaway
Office Space
Still Crazy
Velvet Goldmine
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B

Blood Simple
Convoy
The Killer Elite
Major Dundee
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B-

Jerry Maguire
Junior Bonner
The Osterman Weekend
The Last Supper
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C+

Eating Raoul
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas
Heroes For Sale
Your Friends and Neighbors
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C

8 1/2
The Hudsucker Proxy
Swoon
20 Dates
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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C-

The Evil Dead
The Wild Life
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D+

Go
Zabrieskie Point
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D

Cruising
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D-

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F

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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