Films offer the gift of transportation.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I’m currently studying for a PhD in maths at the University of Manchester. Though films have been a hobby of mine for as long as I can remember, I’ve come to realise that they’re what I find myself most passionate and excited about.

I live for that magical moment of departure we all experience when sitting in a cinema. When the adverts and trailers are finally over, the lights dim, the screen expands, we see that the programme has been classified for cinema exhibition, and then, we escape. But only if the film is good.

Yes, it sounds cheesy, but I love the immersion I feel when watching a great film. Sometimes a story is so tense that I can’t think of anything but how it will conclude. Other times, a film looks so spectacular that I’m in awe of what I’m seeing. Perhaps most curiously, a film explores a challenging theme that you can’t help but wonder what the meaning behind the story really is. The best films do it all.

Another outstanding threshold that films (and all fiction for that matter) can reach is how they can evoke strong emotional responses from us. They make us care deeply about people and ideas that might not even be real. Just think about how profound that is for a moment! It took until I was sixteen to truly understand what that meant, when I watched A Beautiful Mind and cried at a film for the first time – and not just because it was a film about a mathematician. Since then I’ve found myself able to invest myself in characters like never before. Events that are completely fabricated can fill me with joy, bitterness, rage, or even unrest. And as soon as the credits roll, I want to talk about it.

Two things attracted me to blogging. The first is that I’m very opinionated and love to blab my thoughts to anyone who’ll listen. Keep reading, and that someone will be you. Secondly, I’m a firm believer in criticism and debate as a means of improvement.

I feel like audiences sometimes forget why film critics exist. We often tarnish them all with a picky, snobby brush, believing that they’re too far separated from what the general public actually enjoys. And while that’s true in some cases, most critics are out there for a simple reason: they want to see good films. We only get good films by identifying the bad ones. More importantly, by identifying why they are bad.

Now you might say that it’s all just opinions, and that’s true. I also believe that you should see a film before you judge it and form your own opinion. However, I do think there are certain objective qualities that we all wish to see improved upon.

This is why in my reviews I will give two grades out of ten. The first is a measure of how well I thought the film succeeded in its ambitions – how I feel a film performed artistically. The second is a right-brained number to tell you how much I liked it. For example, the most well-crafted romantic comedy ever made might get a high grade, because it succeeded in exactly what it was trying to do, but I might not have enjoyed it. I give both because I’d like to give my readers both a more rational, objective view of a film that isn’t skewed (very much) by my own predispositions, and a fun, irrational score that might help you get to know what I like.

Now you might say again that there’s no such thing as an objective score. And yes, you might be right, but let me use a quote from Roger Ebert to explain what I mean: “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.” A film shouldn’t get a good score just because of what it chooses to talk about. It should get a good score if it talks about it well. Just like in my rom-com example, if it does everything right and succeeds in everything it’s trying to do, it deserves praise. If only Roger Ebert actually practised this notion – one must only read a handful of his reviews to see that his own biases ran rampant on his scores.

If there’s one thing to take away though, it’s that you shouldn’t really care so much about the actual scores. As I said, it matters not what score a film gets, but why it got that score. And remember that criticism isn’t all about criticising, it’s about evaluation. Expect me to poke holes just as much as I praise great accomplishments. Always remember that I love films, and love to see great ones. Join me in discovering what makes a film great, and in celebrating them.

Magoo