Space Janitors: Season Two

Space Janitors: Season Two, 2013. A couple of guys are janitors on the evil empire's space station.

Created & written by Geoff Lapaire & Andy Hull. Directed by Lapaire. Starring Brendan Halloran & Pat Thornton.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). More of the same as season one, but with slightly less hilarity and one of the supporting characters (poorly) replaced.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.1/4 (Okay)

Doctor Who #155: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, 1988-1989 (the last story of four from season twenty-five). A sinister circus is sinister.

Directed by Alan Wareing. Written by Stephen Wyatt. Starring Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred.

Concept: 0/4 (Terrible)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible, 0/4). It doesn't make sense, it's poorly executed, and it fails to be interesting or entertaining in any way.
Objective Rating (Average): 0.8/4 (Very bad)

Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact, 1996. Alien invaders time travel to a point when Earth is more vulnerable.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Written by Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore, story by Rick Berman, Braga & Moore, based on a TV show by Gene Roddenberry. Starring Patrick Stewart.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It's not in any way remarkable, but it's entertaining without any major problems or low points, which is pretty good for a later Star Trek movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim, 2013. Giant robots save the world from giant monsters.

Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Written by Travis Beacham & del Toro; story by Beacham. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba & Rinko Kikuchi.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 0/4 (Terrible)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Pretty exciting to begin with, but then it just keeps going. Cartoons just keep punching each other. And the special effects seem to get steadily worse through the course of the movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)

The Blue Angel

Der blaue Engel, 1930. An old man falls in love with a singer.

Directed by Josef von Sternberg. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller & Robert Liebmann, based on a book by Heinrich Mann. Starring Emil Jannings & Marlene Dietrich.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). Boring. It has its moments, but it's mostly just a lot of outdated moralizing. (I'm not even clear on what the moral is supposed to be. "Women are dangerous?" Or maybe, "Easy girls are fun to spend the night with, but don't get attached." Whatever it is, they never let you forget that it's the whole point of the movie.)
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

The Birds

The Birds, 1963. A woman follows a man to a small town, where he lives with his over-protective mother.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Evan Hunter, based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier. Starring Tippi Hedren & Rod Taylor.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 1/4 (Bad)
Special effects/design: 0/4 (Terrible)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 0/4 (Terrible). The idea of not having music, just bird sounds, would have worked if (1) more than half the movie had anything to do with birds, and (2) the bird sounds didn't sound like somebody playing bongos with his cat.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). The first 90 minutes is awful - mostly boring "development" of shit characters, with the occasional unintentionally funny bird attack. The last half hour, on the other hand, is great. But why sit through the crap when you can just skip to the good bits by watching Night of the Living Dead instead?
Objective Rating (Average): 1.2/4 (Bad)

Man of Steel

Man of Steel, 2013. An alien raised on Earth defends his adopted world.

Directed by Zack Snyder. Written by David S. Goyer; story by Goyer & Christopher Nolan, based on a character by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams & Michael Shannon.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent). I can see how if you want to make a long-lasting franchise that takes itself seriously, you probably feel the need to do the whole origin thing to establish exactly what's what in this version. But why do I want to watch it? Also: General Zod? Seriously? That's almost as bad as using Khan as the "new" Star Trek villain.
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good). Since this is Snyder, I almost think I should give some bonus points for not using slow-motion.
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Cavill makes a great Superman. (He doesn't get a chance to play mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, though, which is a shame.)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). I'm looking forward to the sequel. This movie doesn't do much for me, and I suspect the action would be mind-numbingly dull on a re-watch. But there's a lot of potential. It establishes a great cast and setting for an epic DC Comics movie franchise, and that is exciting.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)