While the debate rages on between film geeks over whether Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes is the superior criticism aggregator, their is now a third aggregator that has entered the mix, called Movie Review Intelligence. Movie Review Intelligence plans to separate itself from the Big Two by using an even smaller group of critics (somewhere in the neighborhood of 65) and weighting their reviews based on how much “pull” they have.
So far the site seems to have some impressive metrics working behind it, making it a bit of a thrill to read for those of us who enjoy crunching numbers. And while I’m happy to see Star Tribune critic (and friend of the site) Colin Covert being included within this select group, I’m a bit at a loss on why his compatriot across the river at the Pioneer Press, Chris Hewitt, is being left out.
The other negative that I have is that I’m not exactly happy that mediocre critics with wide ranging publications like Roger Ebert, Owen Gleiberman or ugg, Peter Travers, means that they might skew the reviews simply due to their wide readership, rather then their competency. And while the limited amount of critics does reduce the number of highly questionable critics being included, a major fault of Rotten Tomatoes, the same small sample size means that the resulting aggregation might potentially be widely skewed. It will be something to keep an eye on over the coming months, and hopefully this site proves as reliable and accurate as its lofty claims.
You haven’t truly suffered until you’ve survived at least one Minnesota winter. Between the stifling sub-zero temperatures (coldest day for me so far is -67) and the copious amounts of snow (Minnesota averages over 60 inches per winter) you re left with a perfect storm of winter wonderland that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, let alone myself. Yet year after year I am somehow still content to remain in the frozen wasteland that is Minneapolis and suffer not all that silently.
Take for instance today, as we here in Minnesota are currently being hit by our second major storm … of the week. To add insult to injury, this previous weekend it was 40 degrees outside, offering a bit of an unusual respite for all of us. Unfortunately, that warm weather resulted in a rain storm yesterday, and when the thermometer dropped well below zero over the evening, you can imagine the result. But wait, the joke isn’t finished. You see due to the relatively balmy weather I incorrectly assumed that my car would be fine and I wouldn’t need to start it during the night. But when I woke up to a temperature of -18 (not including the lovely 30 mph winds) I ran into a bit of a problem when I tried to head to work at 5am.
Sure enough the car wouldn’t start, and as an added bonus all the doors were frozen shut so it took me five minutes just to get into the thing so I could find out the fruits of my labor were thoroughly spoiled. Thus I was left with no further option but to awaken the sleeping giant, Anna.
If all goes well I will have another review posted tomorrow, this time on an obscure slasher film from the late 80’s that is best known for starring both Sam and Ted Raimi, as well as having a brief appearance by Bruce Campbell. Only this isn’t any ordinary slasher film, it is Intruder.
I know I am several days late in posting this review. I know I am also late in posting the preview for next week. Hell, I know I will probably be late in posting my theatrical and DVD move releases for next week as well. But you see I have had a bit of a busy week. I like worked and stuff. By stuff I mean I joined Andrew James and Kurt Halfyard on the Row Three Cinecast this week. I also spent my one vacation day attending multiple screenings, leaving me with little to no free time to actually contribute anything to this site. Also, my cat ate my homework.
Now I know that sounds like a lame excuse that I’ve cooked up to explain why I am late, but it really is true. Those few of you that have had the pleasure of meeting Kali know of her addiction to eating paper. Christmas tends to be her favorite time of year, what with the wrapping paper, ribbons and bows strewn about for her to chew on. But it seems in recent years that she has grown especially fond of Netflix envelopes.
Now Anna and I learned pretty quickly that leaving the envelopes on the coffee table was a less then bright idea considering Kali’s particular vice. Inevitably we would come home from work to discover little nibbles of paper strewn about, and a half eaten envelope laying in tatters. The number of shoddily taped up envelopes we’ve sent back to Netflix is too numerous to count, and until recently we had solved this particular problem. We began hiding the envelopes far above Kali’s reach, and more importantly out of her sight, atop our DVD shelves. But unfortunately, Kali is a bit of climber.
It is time I let you in on a little secret, Gossip wasn’t the movie I originally intended to review for this week. What I had wanted to review was a small film from the Czech Republic called Sílení (Lunacy). It was described as a mixture of live action and stop-motion animation that was based on the works of the Marquis de Sade but also borrows from several short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. I know, it sounds like all manner of awesome. But there were some … complications.
Now we lucked out and received the film from Netflix over a week ago, ensuring us plenty of time to screen the film and review it. Both Anna and I were looking forward to the film, and the DVD certainly had us intrigued, what with an image of a cow’s tongue inching along as if it was a worm for the cover art. Then, when the film opened with a disclaimer that the film would disgust and revile all those who watched it, our interests was definitely piqued. But something funny happened on the way to the film’s ending, it didn’t disgust us, it bored us.
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