Boiling Point: 10 out of 10

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 17, 2009

bp-district9

There was a time when 10 out of 10 meant something. One hundred percent. A+. Perfection. Something to strive for but, most likely, never achieve. I mean, honestly, how many times can you achieve perfection? How many pitchers throw a no-hitter? How many paintings can be called a masterpiece? How many films are without flaws? Not that many, but you’d seem to think otherwise these days.

There are plenty of enjoyable movies that come out of every year. 2009 hasn’t been a great year by any means, but there have been some fun flicks. Star Trek was a blast, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen was praised to the high heavens by all critics (wink wink) and District 9 is currently kicking all sorts of sci-fi ass. Toss in Moon and Drag Me to Hell and whatever else you want, there have been some good movies. Even great ones. But perfect? Nah. I don’t think anything that’s come out this year deserves to be called a 10 out of 10. I loved Star Trek, even saw it twice. I totally dig District 9 and it deserves much of the acclaim it’s getting. But is either perfect? Because that’s what a 10 out of 10 implies. Sure, there is a little wiggle room. Maybe you forgive this or that, but we’re talking 99.5% rounded up. Not 95% or 98% or just a regular old A as opposed to an A+. A 10 out of 10 is the pinnacle of not just film making, but story telling. Acting, directing. When you watch this film there is no hesitation or doubt. No room for improvement. No “but” or “well.” Just the film, as is, perfect.

Yet some critics hand out four stars (out of four) or the 10/10 stamp with apparently little thought. Do they really feel that so many films achieve perfection every year? Do they grade on a curve? Are they honest? Or are they cheating you? Lying to you? Do they favor a certain genre over another, despite claiming to be a movie site rather than a horror site or a sci-fi site? What are their grading criteria? Are they being honest to you? Are they being honest to themselves, to the film? I don’t know. I’m not certain this many films can be perfect. Especially on a 10 out of 10 scale. If you’re dealing with 4 stars, 3 out of 4 or 3.5 out 4 is mathematically a 75% or an 88% so you’re not getting much to work with. But a 10 out 10 gives you 7, 8, 9, whatever out of 10. That’s a whole lot of room to put the critic in critical. I mentioned Drag Me to Hell earlier and that film really dumbfounded me. Somehow it was perceived as this amazing film, perfect, 10 out of 10! and other bullshit exclamations. Sure it was pretty fun and comedic, but if you think that is perfect, or even perfect for Raimi or comedy-horror, then you’ve got some learning to do.

I’m not against good films, in fact, I love them. I’m down for giving movies good grades too. Hell, I’m the guy who liked Transformers 2. I gave it a good grade. But not a 10 out of 10. Because it wasn’t perfect and that’s what it means. When we celebrate everything as being perfect, we lessen what it means to be perfect. Pretty soon, Transformers 2 will be a 10/10 if we keep this up. What’s wrong with 9 out of 10? Or hell, 9.5 out of 10? All I’m saying is that we have to respect the 10/10. Keep it special. Reserve it for those rare films that actually do fire on every single cylinder without a single misfire. There is no sense of time watching those movies, it never slows, it never bores, it never drags. It doesn’t skip around or have plot holes or poor acting or lame shots. It is in a word perfect and to spread that rating around makes it less meaningful when its passed out. We all know of certain critics who are cakewalks and give a thumbs up or a great rating to any pile of shit paraded in front of them and we don’t respect those opinions. Unfortunately, their ranks are growing, though those joining the perfect army would tell you they’re still just as fair, just as critical. Right, and I’m sweeter than Splenda. Let’s keep 10/10 sacred and reserved because otherwise I’ll have to keep perfectly hitting my boiling point.

What films, if any, were a 10 out of 10 this year? Do you think critics are too positive with some films?

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deltavoyage

I gave two films this year 5 stars out of 5, meaning I honestly thought these films were perfect and nothing about them could be improved. I gave Up 5 stars and I gave District 9 five stars.

Personally, I don't think critics are overrating movies. I think that random people online, like those who rate movies on IMDb or Facebook, are overrating movies. It's so easy to just put 10/10 when you think that something is good that you don't take the time to think about whether it actually is worth getting a 10/10. I used to do that, but then I stopped because I knew that all of the stuff I had give full marks wasn't actually worthy of those full marks. But District 9 was perfect and Up was perfect. I expect to see both of those films get Oscar nominations for Best Picture.

mitch

there is only one movie that i have ever seen that is for sure, without a doubt, perfect:
Pulp Fiction

Franz Hernadez

Pulp Fiction, while seminal, is by no means perfect. Close though. 9.5. Quentin Tarantino as an actor. Also that random, untalented chick from Saturday Night Live appearing for absolutely no reason other than to take you out of the flow.

Landon_Palmer

When I gave Transformers 2 a B- people asked me, "then what would you give The Godfather?" and I simply can't grade on a scale like that. A criteria for judging a movie can't be based on the merits of other movies. You can't grade one movie based on your grades given to others...that's just a mess waiting to happen. Every movie should be judged on its own, not in comparison to others.

That being said, I agree that praise is being handed out way too liberally, and I think it has to do with what deltavoyage was saying, that when you walk straight out of a movie you're still elated with the experience that you don't have time or space to think about it and assess it objectively. I had that experience with away We Go, a movie I really liked walking out of the theater but then I had larger problems with the more I thought about it. But the pressure of getting reviews up in a certain time I think often prevents people from looking at movies from an objective critical distance after the smoke clears.

RobHunter

Your terribly misguided T2 grade aside, you make a good point here. A perfect example of that immediate enthusiasm for a movie is my A grade review for Ong Bak 2...

But I'm kind of torn on your first point, about grading movies in relation to one another. I don't think the reviews should be directly related to each other, but should there be some kind of understandable standard for what the grades mean? Yes yes the detailed explanation is in the review itself, but the grade should still stand for something. I think. Maybe.

Which brings up a more specific thought I've been debating with myself for a while now... should the reviewer make concessions/allowances depending on the film's genre or budget? Like a horror movie gets an A within the confines of the horror genre but isn't a great movie overall... or low budget limitations are forgiven when those same shoddy effects or poor set design would earn criticism for a studio pic.

And I agree with your Away We Go assessment to a degree. A 2nd viewing highlighted things that bugged me more than I realized the 1st time.

Landon_Palmer

Yes, I do agree that a reviewer should have a certain degree of standards (whether articulated to the readers or not) when reviewing films, but i think that comparing films is mostly arbitrary and that not all films should be judged by the same standards. When somebody says "[Blank] is the best movie of all time," that statement is inherently misleading because it applies that a movie works on all levels, that it is simultaneously the best of all genres or simultaneously has the best script, acting, directing, etc. And yes, you're right, it's the content of the review itself that really matters, and I would argue much more so than the star rating or letter grade, which are, for the most part, just shorthands, and invite comparison (which I'm obviously not a big fan of--that being said, as you pointed out, stars and letter grades shouldn't be taken lightly).

Should one make concessions for movies with limitations is an interesting question, and I guess it's okay if other aspects of the movie are so strong that one can still enjoy it with these shortcomings (i.e., crappy/unbelievable special effects within a good story). And with genres, I think "good movies" exist within every genre, and even if it's a B movie within a B genre should be held up to certain standards, albeit not the same standards as something like mid-December Oscar bait. As you pointed out, it's a tough balance to find. I'm hesitant to make any ultimatums or standards in stone when reviewing, as I prefer to approach it with more a film-by-film basis.

Landon_Palmer

Also, it seems that buzz is even harder to overcome AFTER one has seen a halfway decent blockbuster rather than before, like Star Trek

RobertFure

When I write the Coroner's Report I generally judge horror movies against other horror movies. Like Friday the 13th Part VI can be an A- or whatever because for a horror movie and a Jason movie its good. Does it stand up across other genres? Not totally. But I think people recognize that there is some inherent apples to apples comparison in grading genre films. Now that said if you call "The Thing" the greatest movie of all time, not only are you right, but you're also specifically comparing it to everything, not just other sci-fi-arctic horror movies.

You can totally rate a movie like Evil Dead II a 9 out of 10 if you so desire and I think that's ok. It's more like you're grading the movie against itself. Out of the premise you gave me, how well do I think you did? Its like homework. I assign the movie to be "well paced, humorous, silly and with some minor scares" and I get turned in "Drag Me to Hell" and hey, what do you know I can give that an 8 out of 10 or whatever. But the main thrust (tee-hee) of this rant was that no matter the genre or whatever you want to compare movies against, 10/10 is rare and should be reserved for movies that, whether within their own genre or compared to every movie in existence, are virtually perfect.

And just on an aside, in terms of genre vs mainstream, two genre movies that definitely kick enough ass to be compared positively to any movie anywhere ever are John Carpenter's The Thing and Alien. Booyah.

Michael_C

You're placing way too much importance on the various numbers and letters we arbitrarily use to denote quality. Suppose I say I'd give District 9 a perfect 10. That tells you I liked it a lot, but these grading systems mean different things to different people. I'm not necessarily saying District 9 is a flawless, timeless masterpiece that transcends science fiction, it could just mean I had a better time at the movies than I have all summer, and while the film has some flaws I consider them to be negligible.

Everyone has different criteria by which they award a "perfect" score, and to discern what that may be you have to read some of their reviews and become acquainted with their opinions so that you know how big a deal it is if they give something an A+ or whatever.

You can't ask everyone else to conform to the standards by which you assign a 10 out of 10, you have to *gasp* actually read the review to get an accurate perspective on the person's opinion. Deal with it.

RobertFure

I won't deal with it. Though it's hard to argue against 10/10 as mathematically being 100%, aka the highest attainable percentage of quality. Also known as perfect.

Boiling Point: 10 out of 10

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