IndieNational Reviews Board

Ahead of IndieNational’s first issue, Reviews Editor Andy Brown explores the murky and competitive world of movie reviews.

Ratings. Reviews. By the very nature of them, they’re subjective. There is no right or wrong mark to award a film (except for giving the S Club Seven movie Seeing Double zero stars). So what we do is find a medium, be it a website, television show or magazine where we trust the reviews. The IMDb is a website where users can log in and have discussions about a plethora of film related topics and give every film ever made a rating. This results in what could be perceived as a more trustworthy rating as it takes into account many opinions and isn’t just the thoughts of a single journalist. As such, the top five user rated independent films are; Pulp Fiction, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, The Usual Suspects, Psycho and Dr Strangelove. Not bad, eh. Especially considering Citizen Kane tops most ‘professionals’ charts. In a similar way website Rotten Tomatoes gives each film an average rating based on the general consensus.

We’ve all seen a film that we loved and skipped excitably to our favourite reviewer, only to have them rip apart said movie. I was particularly upset when one of our fellow film magazines awarded the excellent Charlie Wilson’s War, with Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman a mere three stars out of five. The same magazine went on the award St Trinians the same mark. Well, really. A bad review can cut our bond and trust with a particular writer and magazine.

Personally, I am a massive fan of the reviews of Jonathan Ross; he looks at films in a pleasing non pretentious way, and appreciates that a film can be a good film without necessarily being a masterpiece. And, of course, we all hope you will come to trust the reviews of IndeNational magazine.

For our first issue of IndieNational there was a debate over whether the rating system should be out of five or 10. We have decided to go with 10, on the basis that is gives the people who review films more scope and more information for you, dear reader. For instance, there are many films that could comprise a four out of ten, but if a film is awarded a nine out of ten then you know that it’s something special. If you agree, or disagree with this then make a comment and make your views known!

Like everything else in today’s world, the way that films are reviewed is changing thanks to the digital revolution and citizen journalism, thanks Harry. So watch this space for more information on the IndieNational Podcast, so you no longer have to go to the effort of actually reading. Instead just sit back and let the words wash over you…

Andy Brown – desperately trying to avoid a joke about this being a 10 star blog…