I've created a new system for rating movies, and I'd like to share it with you. It's what I call Value Over Big (VOB). It's unlike the thumbs up or the number of stars rating systems in that it employs the use of a specific film, the 1988 Tom Hanks comedy about a boy who magically grows into a man overnight, as a baseline for comparing other movies. A film that I find to be worse than Big will receive a negative numerical score, while a film that I find superior to Big receives a positive score.
For example, the original Star Wars receives a 26.3 VOB. It's one of history's great films, and its score reflects that. However, a movie that I only barely liked more than Big, the 1977 Paul Newman hockey comedy Slap Shot, managed a 1.7 VOB. The Da Vinci code, another Tom Hanks movie and one I recently reviewed here, scored a -9.2 VOB. To give more context, the Scary Movie series ranges in score from -34.6 to -52.9.
What are the advantages of this rating system? As far as I can tell, there are none.
The disadvantages are numerous. Firstly, and most glaring, Big is not an average film. Indeed, it is a very good film. Therefore the baseline is not an average or a neutral one, but instead quite arbitrary. This leads to confusing rating systems where a perfectly good movie might very possibly receive a negative score. The classic Hitchcock film, Vertigo, for example--a prefectly fine movie--scored just a -0.8 VOB. Furthermore, there is no paramater to the number system. Each number is assigned a score relative to other movies I have seen, with no limits on either the positive or negative ends of the spectrum. As opinions of movies change over time, this causes a tremendous strain on the integrity of other scores closesly located on the VOB scale. Like a giant spiderweb, each score is closely related, and one shifting opinion is akin to a string breeze that causes the web to flap uncontrollably in the wind.
So, you might be asking yourselves why I would come up with such an ureliable movie rating system. The answer is simple: I felt modern movie discourse had gotten to the point where it wasn't focusing enough attention on Big. What better way to solve that error than by creating a movie rating system where everyone must constantly remember and analyze the merits of Big in comparison to the film one has just viewed? It rightly transforms Big from a cinematic memory into the very essence of the moviegoing experience. Though highly unreliable and largely uninformative, it is a sacrifice we must make as viewers and citizens.
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Topic: A New Movie Rating System (Read 6247 times)