"Rape is a culturally fostered means of suppressing women. Legally we say we deplore it, but mythically we romanticize and perpetuate it, and privately we excuse and overlook it." -- Victoria Billings (Sex: We Need Another Revolution)

Movie Star Schema

Inspired by my friend Katrina, I've been posting some movie reviews on my LiveJournal. Feel free to head over there and check them out.

I don't like the look of posting what my star system means every time I post one, though, so I'm writing the explanation here and then linking to this. These are my opinions only! You may like the movies I give as examples of bad movies and be offended that I think they suck.

---

***** = a masterpiece, one of the best films you'll ever see, everyone should see it, the message is so valuable everyone should absorb it

Lawrence of Arabia, Hotaru no Haka, Citizen Kane, Shichinin no Samurai

****+ = just short of a masterpiece

Dances With Wolves, Mononoke Hime, Brokeback Mountain, Glory

**** = an excellent film that's not quite masterpiece level, has something valuable to say or some cultural importance

Hotel Rwanda, Orfeu Negro, Akira, Amadeus

***+ = a good movie, solidly entertaining with no glaring flaws

Finding Nemo, Battle Royale, Cast Away, Iron Man

*** = a good movie, solidly entertaining, worth watching

Alexander, Shrek, Cold Mountain, Flatliners

**+ = a tolerable film that's an entertaining waste of time

Akeela and the Bee, Six Days and Seven Nights, Clue, Millennium

** = a poor film that's an entertaining waste of time

Beastmaster, Death Race 2000, The Craft, X/1999

*+ = a bad movie you can put up with because your friend likes it

The Prince and Me, Dungeons and Dragons, The Mask

* = a really bad movie that's not worth your money or time

Dogma, Austin Powers, Howard the Duck, Highlander II

0+ = a movie so god-awful bad you want those 2 hours of your life back

Seijuki Cyguard, Cinderella II, Tarzan and the Trappers, Plan 9 From Outer Space

0 = a movie so bad you want those 2 hours back to get a root canal instead

Genocyber, Minerva no Kenshi

"Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious and we're the first to get fired and what we look like is more important than what we do and if we get raped it's our fault and if we get beaten we must have provoked it and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos and if we don't we're frigid and if we love women it's because we can't get a "real" man and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy and if we expect childcare we're selfish and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and "unfeminine" and if we don't we're typical weak females and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man and if we don't we're unnatural and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion and ... for lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement."
-- Author unknown, The Torch, 09-14-87