A Manner of Introduction

Hello, one and all! Whether you be an average Joe (or Jane), a fellow cinephile, a Hollywood producer, or Roger Ebert himself*, feel free to peruse my blog which will, after this post, consist in its entirety--or very close to it--of my personal reviews of as many movies as I can remember seeing and those new to me as I see them. Many of these films--in fact, most of them--will not be the latest to hit the theaters, as I am but a poor college student who rents her DVDs from the school library. Still, from time to time I will throw in a current film, so keep an eye out for those as they come.

HOW IT WORKS:

You will notice a rating at the beginning of each post which will look something like this:

Rating: • • • • ½

I believe this rating system is rather self-explanatory, but in case I'm wrong, I will explain. Each little dot is like a star or a thumbs up or what have you. It is a positive vote by me for the movie in question. I will be using a five "•" scale, so in my example, the movie would have received 4.5 out of 5.0 dots, which is pretty darn good. I will only be using half and whole dots, to keep things simple. Basically, any movie earning three dots and above I found enjoyable, but if the movie receives less than that you can guess it's not one of my favorites.

Below the rating, you will find an age recommendation. Because I find the MPAA G/PG/PG13/R system to be somewhat arbitrary and very inconsistent, I will be using my own age system that goes as follows:

5+
10+
15+
20+

A 5+ film is one I deem appropriate for all ages. These movies may be aimed at children, but not necessarily. It has more to do with the maturity level of the film content than the age of the intended audience. For example, I am quite certain I saw Star Wars between the ages of 5 and 10, (and possibly even before I was 5), and I thoroughly enjoyed it then. Even though it is aimed at an older audience, in my opinion this particular movie contains nothing so disturbing, graphic, profane, or sexual that would prevent it from being suitable for a child of 5; thus, I would rate it a 5+. The plus indicates that not only should a 5-year-old be able to handle the content, but so should anyone above that age.

A 10+ film would be one I believe to be suitable for anyone 10 and older, etc. etc. etc.

In addition you should know that, should you, upon reading one of my posts, find yourself with some opinion about said movie which you wish to share, be it positive, negative, or in between, you have a couple of options.

For one thing, you could always share said post with your friends, enemies, frenemies... whoever via e-mail, facebook, or other options you find available. I only ask that you credit me by at least listing the website, should you choose to copy and paste my work.

Another option is to click one of the buttons at the bottom of each post to express your positive, negative, or neutral stance in regards to my review.

Finally, feel free to comment on my posts, but please keep it clean and don't start arguing about politics because I've seen it happen on other movie review sites and it's not pretty.

In summary, I will be using my own rating and recommendation systems for each of my reviews. These reviews are my personal opinions which I wish to share with you. I look forward to feedback and friendly debate. Oh, and don't forget to check out the polls.

Enjoy!

Stephanie

* If you actually are Roger Ebert and you're reading this, first I must tell you that I greatly enjoyed interning at your film festival, and second... please send feedback!