We are fast approaching August and this can only mean one thing in CW's calendar (Denton's sitting out for this one. He thinks movies are for pansies) - the publication of the latest Movie and Video Guide (honestly, with the amount of plugs I give to Leonard Maltin and his book, you'd think I'd be getting a commission by now) and of course I've got my pre-ordered copy - All I can say is G-d bless Amazon.
So the annual battle begins. CW picks up the book, reads the preface with growing anticipation and tries to guess how Len (we're on first name terms don't you know) will rate the movie and whether there will be agreement.
More often than not, we do agree. Unlike Mr Maltin, I do not give lectures at the University of Southern California, but dammit, I pay my £3.50 for a movie ticket, so I'm entitled to an opinion aren't I?
So what have we agreed on this year? Well, virtually nothing!
He rates movies out of four stars, whereas I prefer the five star system (I feel it gives a little more leaway) and so far we've been at loggerheads over:
Movie
Meet The Fockers
My Rating
3
Leonard Maltin
½
Movie
Closer 2½
Me
4
LM
2½
Movie
Shark Tale
Me
2½
Leonard Maltin
3
However, we sort of agreed on:
The Aviator, Star Wars and National Treasure (we both gave them similar ratings).
I accept that we are approaching films with different sensibilities and he is considerably older than I, however, I do question some of his more interesting ratings and comments.
The important thing is that, at the end of the day, we both share a love of movies and that's really what counts. Now, onto the 2007 challenge...
So the annual battle begins. CW picks up the book, reads the preface with growing anticipation and tries to guess how Len (we're on first name terms don't you know) will rate the movie and whether there will be agreement.
More often than not, we do agree. Unlike Mr Maltin, I do not give lectures at the University of Southern California, but dammit, I pay my £3.50 for a movie ticket, so I'm entitled to an opinion aren't I?
So what have we agreed on this year? Well, virtually nothing!
He rates movies out of four stars, whereas I prefer the five star system (I feel it gives a little more leaway) and so far we've been at loggerheads over:
Movie
Meet The Fockers
My Rating
3
Leonard Maltin
½
Movie
Closer 2½
Me
4
LM
2½
Movie
Shark Tale
Me
2½
Leonard Maltin
3
However, we sort of agreed on:
The Aviator, Star Wars and National Treasure (we both gave them similar ratings).
I accept that we are approaching films with different sensibilities and he is considerably older than I, however, I do question some of his more interesting ratings and comments.
The important thing is that, at the end of the day, we both share a love of movies and that's really what counts. Now, onto the 2007 challenge...
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