Films total on 23.2.12: 4880
Latest review: Disturbia
Welcome to my film guide, something I’ve worked on for over 20 years and moved to the internet in 2007. In it, I offer my humble opinions on the many movies I've viewed over the years. Below is all you need to know about the guide, from ratings, to how it is ordered, to what you will find here, and more. So first up...
The ratings system explained
Unlike most film guides, films really have to earn their stars in my system. If you’re familiar with the stars system is Halliwell’s Film Guide, then that is probably what my marks are most closely modelled on. While it may appear at first to be a too-strict system, I feel it is the best. Think of it as assessing movies by the same high-standard criteria that The Good Food Guide assesses restaurants.
So, a brief summary, and you are advised to read this: No stars means a film which could be anything from desperately poor to merely adequate, it is not an actual mark in itself. These films are never worth setting aside time for. One star could indicate a good try, a movie that’s far from perfect but has some redeeming features; or it could be a commercially successful or important picture that isn’t actually very good. Two stars will usually be a film worth seeing and could be highly enjoyable or technically excellent. Three stars indicates a supremely proficient production, notable for all sorts of reasons, and definitely worth watching. Four stars is the pinnacle – only around 2% of all films on this site earn this accolade – and denote a masterwork or perennial personal favourite.
I feel that this star system, which is admittedly weighted towards indicating shades of differences at the upper end of marks rather than the lower end, is a superior system, particularly for a film ‘book’. (It would not be suitable for a weekly or monthly magazine reviewing films because it would seem unnecessarily stingy and not exhibiting the necessary excitement that greets ‘new’ products. There, films are largely rated against other movies out at that time, and not against classics from the past – that would hardly be fair.) This system rewards real value and doesn’t stoop to the ‘all must have prizes’ way of thinking.
You are recommended to also read the reviews of the films before flying into a state of apoplexy about the [too high/too low] star rating.
Obviously there isn’t a soul out there who will agree with all of these ratings. But they have all been arrived at after much consideration, and hopefully reflect both consistency and wisdom. Over time, I reserve the right to tweak ratings, because times change, the reputation of films changes, and imitators come along and either do the job better or erode the power of the original through familiarity.
How it's ordered and what's in it
If a film has more than one title, the title the film will be reviewed under will tend to be the one that is most recognised in Great Britain or the one most generally recognised as the 'proper' one. Foreign-titled films can be listed under their original title or more likely the English title; again, it is the one which is most familiar.
Alphabetically I go by the word-at-a-time arrangement rather than paying attention to the complete title. So, for example, In Like Flint comes before The Incredible Shrinking Man. Hyphenated or apostrophized words are counted as one word. Compressions like Dr (doctor) are treated as if they were spelt out. Titles that are acronyms do not necessarily go at the front of a section.
You will find most or all of the films of the following people: Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Spielberg, Pete Walker, Tinto Brass (’76 onwards), Quentin Tarantino, Laurel and Hardy, Peter Sellers, Jim Carrey*, Bruce Lee*, Marilyn Monroe*, Will Hay, Jacques Tati.
You'll also find too many of the following sort of films: James Bond, Star Wars, Sherlock Holmes, Hammer horrors (and British horrors generally, especially ones from the 1970s), Carry Ons, Beatles-related, Spider-Man, British sex comedy/drama (especially ones from the 1970s), Universal monster movies, official video nasties, Monty Python, Tarzan, Star Trek, the Doctor series, St Trinian's, Hamlets (and plenty of other Shakespeare adaptations), Friday The 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Man From UNCLE, Robert Youngson compilations, Harry Potter, the Christopher Lee Fu Manchus, Matt Helm. You will not find any films whose main content is hard core pornography.
Most films accepted as 'classics' should be here. I have, for instance, seen all of the Best Picture Oscar winners, most of the imdb's top 250 and the majority of films that are awarded the maximum four stars in Halliwell's Film Guide. Unfortunately there's also a load of trash here, a lot of it sci-fi or horror from the 1980s. We all have to start somewhere.
Who might like this guide
This blog is for people who like films but aren’t totally obsessed with them. It’s for people who don’t see it as their duty to see all major new movies and find something good in them. It’s for those who are incredulous at the over-enthusiastic star ratings in Radio Times; for those who find Halliwell’s Film Guide schizophrenic and unreliable; for those who don’t buy into the lefty attitudes of the Time Out guide; for those who feel that the imdb has too many morons on it, people who have little knowledge of films that aren’t recent and/or American; for those who have seen a good deal of films but appreciate something a bit different or a little eccentric, or appreciate a sophisticated film that is also entertaining. I guess, essentially, it’s for people like me. If not me exclusively…
How this all came to be
This project originated around 1985, when I started to write capsule reviews of films I watched into a notebook. Halliwell's Film Guide and Michael Weldon’s Psychotronic Encyclopedia Of Film were a great influence on me. I soon transferred these reviews to a folder where they were alphabetical-ised, allowing additional films in each letter to be added. I continued this way for about 17 years by which time I had catalogued nearly 4,000 films. In 2006 I decided it was about time I transferred all this data to my computer and set about the huge task of doing so. The advantages of this hardly need noting but were as follows: the reviews could be rewritten and errors eradicated; alphabetical order would make it easier to find films; cast and director could be added; the work could later be transferred to the internet.
It took me around a year and several hundred man hours to not only rewrite the majority of reviews and synopsises but to add the name of the directors and input several members of the casts, particularly those who feature in other movies in the files. I am indebted to the miraculous website that is the imdb for help in doing this.
Transferring and rewriting reviews from films I had seen some 10 to 20 years previously occasionally proved tricky as I only had my own badly written thoughts and very vague memories. Consequently, the shorter reviews in the file tend to be films seen long ago. Longer reviews are often films I have seen more recently, but there are exceptions. While I staunchly stand by most of the evaluations, it could be that I need to see certain films again to appreciate them more. And I imagine that I am also too generous with the odd movie due to youthful inexperience. But all should come good: the film guide is an ever-changing, ever-evolving project that hopefully improves by the month.
Many of these reviews are capsule versions of longer ones I have written for various publications. These publications include everything from the Newcastle Herald And Post to Sky Magazine, FHM, DVD & Blu-ray Review and SFX. So I have actually been paid to watch a good deal of the films I have sat through.
Despite doing this guide and watching these films I am never quite sure whether I'm someone who loves films but dislikes lots of them, or loathes films but happens to like a lot of them. Maybe I'll get back to you on that one.
If you spot any errors please email me at lewinir@hotmail.com and they will be rectified. Also feel free to email me with suggestions, comments and constructive criticism.
* main starring roles
