North by Northwest

The Top 63 Marathon, part 32



Data
Title: North by Northwest
Year: 1959
Length: 131 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (color) and Best Editing; currently #35 on the IMDb's Top 250



My reaction
Synopsis: an ad agent is mistaken for a secret agent
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Indifferent.  Ridiculous, predictable and plot-holey.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Indifferent.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). I was entertained. But if it weren't for Hitchcock's visuals, Herrmann's not-John-Adams score, and the general absence of cars flipping end-over-end through the air, it would be indistinguishable from every mediocre action movie from the 80's and 90's.
Objective Rating: 2.7/4 (Good).

Red Dwarf: Series Two

Data
Title: Red Dwarf: Series Two
Year: 1988
Network: BBC
Episodes: 6, at c. 30 minutes each
Creators: Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
Director: Ed Bye
Writers: Rob Grant & Doug Naylor
Starring: Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules
Music: Howard Goodall

My reaction
Synopsis: The Odd Couple in space
How I saw it: on tv and online several times, most recently over the past few days (streaming from Netflix)
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Indifferent.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). Like the first series, the none of the jokes are funny except for Cat - but this time around, all the good Cat gags had been used already.
Objective Rating: 2.0/4 (Indifferent).

Newsies

Data
Title: Newsies
Year: 1992
Length: 121 minutes
Director: Kenny Ortega
Writers: Bob Tzudiker & Noni White
Starring: Christian Bale, David Moscow, Bill Pullman, Robert Duvall
Music: Alan Menken & Jack Feldman (songs); J.A.C. Redford (score)

My reaction
Synopsis: newsies go on strike, and sing and dance about it
How I saw it: on video, too many times; most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Concept: Terrible. It's a cheerful, catchy Disney musical... about child labor.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Bad.
Dialog: Bad.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Indifferent.
Music: Terrible.
Subjective Rating: 1/10 (Eew get it away). I hate this movie. I hate it so much.
Objective Rating: 1.0/4 (Bad).

The Other Guys

Data
Title: The Other Guys
Year: 2010
Length: 107 minutes
Director: Adam McKay
Writers: Adam McKay & Chris Henchy
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton
Music: Jon Brion (and non-original music)

My reaction
Synopsis: loser cops try to become heroes
How I saw it: in the theater, two days ago
Concept: Bad.
Story: Terrible. How good any particular bit of this movie is is inversely proportional to how much it has to do with the story.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good. Great when it's funny, terrible when it's not.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Bad.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good. I really hope Michael Keaton is making a comeback.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Uneven, but mostly hilarious. The good bits are as great as anything you'd expect to see in a Will Ferrell movie. But a lot of it is just dumb; there are large portions of the movie where they're not even trying to be funny.
Objective Rating: 1.8/4 (Eh).

Citizen Kane

The Top 63 Marathon, part 31



Data
Title: Citizen Kane
Year: 1941
Length: 119 minutes
Director: Orson Welles
Writers: Herman J. Mankiewicz & Orson Welles
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane, William Alland, George Coulouris
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Welles), Best Score (dramatic), Best Cinematography (black-and-white), Best Art Direction/Interior Decoration (black-and-white), Best Editing and Best Sound Recording; currently #36 on the IMDb's Top 250



My reaction
Synopsis: the life of a newspaper tycoon who can't love
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently yesterday (rented from Netflix)
Concept: Bad.
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Good. Kane is horribly unlikable and unsympathetic, but he's also convincing and thoroughly realized.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good. Not as boring as I remembered it being.
Cinematography: Great. The only good thing to come out of the recent 3D nonsense is the accidental revival of this movie's "universal focus."
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). It's nice to look at, but I just don't know why I'm supposed to care about this guy.
Objective Rating: 3.0/4 (Good).

The Professional

The Top 63 Marathon, part 30



Data
Title: Léon
Year: 1994
Length: 110 minutes
Director: Luc Besson
Writer: Luc Besson
Starring: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman
Music: Eric Serra (and non-original music)
Distinctions: currently #34 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: an orphaned girl moves in with a hit man
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Bad. Shouldn't this star Tom Selleck?
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Great. Léon is the most lovable murderer ever.
Dialog: Bad. My wife tells me this isn't meant to be a comedy.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Great.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). I just don't know what to make of this movie. I'm pretty sure it's good, and I'm definitely sure it's not great, but beyond that I'm baffled.
Objective Rating: 2.4/4 (Okay).

Apocalypse Now

The Top 63 Marathon, part 29



Data
Title: Apocalypse Now
Year: 1979
Length: 153 minutes (original version)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: John Milius & Francis Ford Coppola, with Michael Herr, loosely based on a novel by Joseph Conrad
Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Albert Hall
Music: Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Sound; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Duvall), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Editing; currently #38 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a soldier is sent into Cambodia during the Vietnam War to assassinate a mad colonel.
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Good. "The horror..." Seriously?  The voice-over narration is great, though, and turned what might have been an unbearably slow movie into a quasi-noir thriller.
Pacing: Good. I really was not expecting a 2½-hour Vietnam movie to hold my interest, but it totally did.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. Most of it is great. But then there's Brando, taking a crap all over this movie. Dude just didn't care anymore.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Most of the movie is a solid 8/10. The ending sort of falls apart, though. [spoilers ahead] The movie builds and builds an increasing level of horror, all the time promising us the Mad Genius yet to come. But all we get is a sad, mumbling man and a crowd with spears. And a very annoying Dennis Hopper.
Objective Rating: 3.2/4 (Very good).

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Data
Title: Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed
Year: 1926
Length: 66 minutes
Director: Lotte Reiniger
Writer: Lotte Reiniger [based on Arabian Nights]
Music: Wolfgang Zeller



My reaction
Synopsis: a prince kidnaps a demon woman, then has to rescue her from further kidnappers
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great. The first ever animated feature film.
Story: Good.
Characters: Indifferent. Fairytale archetypes.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Indifferent. It moves way too quickly. If you blink you'll miss something.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Indifferent.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). It's no Snow White, but it's pretty awesome. Coming from someone who has been so far generally underwhelmed by silent films, this is by far the best one I've seen.
Objective Rating: 3.1/4 (Very good).

Brief Encounter

(update of a previous post - original is here)



Data
Title: Brief Encounter
Year: 1945 (UK), 1946 (US)
Length: 86 minutes
Director: David Lean
Writers: Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean & Ronald Neame, based on a play by Noel Coward
Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard
Music: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress (Johnson) (1947); currently #216 on the IMDb's Top 250



My reaction
Synopsis: an ordinary mother/housewife imagines telling her husband about a man she fell in love with
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great. The depth and realism of the characters in this movie is remarkable. Take the scene where she lies to her husband – something you see on just about every episode of every bad sitcom, not to mention almost every “romantic” movie ever made; this movie is probably the only time it feels as gut-wrenching as it should.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Great.
Music: Great. I don’t care for Rachmaninoff, but it's a lot better than your typical film score. And they use the music cleverly: what’s on the radio while she’s “telling” the story is the flashback’s score.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). One of the best things a movie can do is to give you a look inside someone, and I don't know of any movie that does that more convincingly than this.
Objective Rating: 3.7/4 3.8/4 (Great).

Forrest Gump

The Top 63 Marathon, part 28



Data
Title: Forrest Gump
Year: 1994
Length: 142 minutes
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writer: Eric Roth, based on the novel by Winston Groom
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field
Music: Alan Silvestri (mostly non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Hanks), Best Editing and Best Visual Effects; Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Sinise), Best Score, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Makeup, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing; currently #37 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: the young life of an idiot who can run fast
How I saw it: on video many times, most recently two days ago (rented from Netflix)
Concept: Bad.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). It's mostly entertaining, but it's so very dumb. If the movie had just been about Forrest, it could have been pretty good. Instead it's a sort of aimless nostalgia-fest for baby boomers, bathed in disgustingly bad philosophy.
Objective Rating: 2.5/4 (Okay).

American Beauty

The Top 63 Marathon, part 27



Data
Title: American Beauty
Year: 1999
Length: 122 minutes
Director: Sam Mendes
Writer: Alan Ball
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper
Music: Thomas Newman (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Spacey) and Best Cinematography; Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Bening), Best Score and Best Editing; currently #39 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a middle-aged loser turns his life upside down
How I saw it: in the theater, c. 1999; on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. Bening is great. The actors playing teenagers are mediocre.
Music: Good. Great score, cheesy soundtrack.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). It's interesting that this, Fight Club and Office Space all came out in the same year. What's with people in 1999 hating their jobs/lives? Back then Lester Burnham seemed like the ultimate middle-class hero, but now he seems like an irresponsible shmuck (but a lovable irresponsible shmuck who's fun to watch).
Objective Rating: 3.6/4 (Great).

Doctor Who #108: The Horns of Nimon

Data
Title: Doctor Who: "The Horns of Nimon"
Year: 1979-1980
Network: BBC
Episodes: 4, at 25 minutes each; the fifth story (of five or six) from season seventeen
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Kenny McBain
Writer: Anthony Read
Starring: Tom Baker, Lalla Ward
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Dudley Simpson

My reaction
Synopsis: a would-be war-like planet makes sacrifices to a minotaur-ish alien in exchange for technology
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Bad.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Indifferent.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Bad.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). There are a lot of nice silly bits (this is from Douglas Adams' season as script editor, and it shows), but otherwise it's crap.
Objective Rating: 1.7/4 (Eh).

Winter's Bone

Data
Title: Winter's Bone
Year: 2010
Length: 100 minutes
Director: Debra Granik
Writers: Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes
Music: Dickon Hinchliffe (and others whose credits I can't find online)
Oscars: nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress (Lawrence) and Best Supporting Actor (Hawkes)

My reaction
Synopsis: a teenager needs to hunt down her bail-jumping father
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good. It feels longer than it is, but it wouldn't work nearly as well if it moved faster.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.  Unless this year's movies pick up a lot, Lawrence is pretty much guaranteed an Oscar nomination, if only because it's such a great role.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). Intense, without ever giving you the unpleasant feeling that an intensely bleak movie usually gives. It has the detached, matter-of-fact tone and delivery of an old Appalachian murder ballad - which is an impressive feat for a movie to pull off, absolutely perfect for these characters, and kind of awesome to watch.  Reminds me of Cormac McCarthy, except with a plot.
Objective Rating: 3.8/4 (Great).

Doctor Who #96: Underworld

Data
Title: Doctor Who: "Underworld"
Year: 1978
Network: BBC
Episodes: 4, at 25 minutes each; the fifth story (of six) from season fifteen
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Norman Stewart
Writers: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
Starring: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Dudley Simpson

My reaction
Synopsis: an ancient spaceship crew has been pursuing another ship for 100,000 years
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Indifferent. The first episode is great, but eventually it devolves into the old Rebellion of Oppressed People crap.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Indifferent.
Cinematography: Terrible.
Special effects/design: Terrible. A lot of the story uses a blue screen, but the way it looks, they might as well have used rear projection.
Acting: Indifferent. A lot of it's good by classic Who standards, but the villains are pretty bad.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). A pretty shoddy episode, but with some interesting science fiction behind it.
Objective Rating: 1.8/4 (Eh).

American History X

The Top 63 Marathon, part 26



Data
Title: American History X
Year: 1998
Length: 119 minutes
Director: Tony Kaye
Writer: David McKenna
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Avery Brooks
Music: Anne Dudley
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Actor (Norton); currently #40 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a teenager is following in his ex-con, skinhead brother's footsteps
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Bad. Skinheads? Seriously? Why do I want to watch a movie about skinheads?
Story: Good. But much of it is painfully predictable.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Great as a character study. Bad on the "we'd like you to know that violent hatred is a bad thing" front, because, uh, yeah, no kidding.  Unless you happen to be a crazy-as-f*** seething racist, it's not exactly going to be a life-effecting film.  And I don't like it when movies have A Point at the best of times.
Objective Rating: 3.1/4 (Very good).

Doctor Who #64: The Time Monster

Data
Title: Doctor Who: "The Time Monster"
Year: 1972
Network: BBC
Episodes: 6, at 25 minutes each; the last story (of five) from season nine
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Paul Bernard
Writers: Robert Sloman & Barry Letts
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Nicholas Courtney, Katy Manning
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Dudley Simpson

My reaction
Synopsis: the Master manipulates time to summon an ancient, powerful creature
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past couple days
Concept: Bad.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Terrible.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent). There's not anything especially wrong with it, except for the general lack of anything good about it. It's fairly dull and unimaginative (except for episode four, where two TARDISes are each one inside the other, which I think is kind of brilliant), but it's watchable.
Objective Rating: 1.4/4 (Bad).

Taxi Driver

The Top 63 Marathon, part 25



Data
Title: Taxi Driver
Year: 1976
Length: 113 minutes
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Foster) and Best Score; currently #41 on the IMDb's Top 250



My reaction
Synopsis: a NY cabbie is creepy
How I saw it: on video several times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Concept: Great. A character study of a twisted, scary person - sounds fun to me.
Story: Good.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. The more De Niro movies I see, the less impressed I am.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Emotionally distant, but fascinating. After having seen it a few times, the fascination is wearing off, though.
Objective Rating: 3.6/4 (Great).

Doctor Who #16: The Chase

Data
Title: Doctor Who: "The Chase"
Year: 1965
Network: BBC
Episodes: 6, at 25 minutes each; the eight story (of nine) from season two
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Richard Martin
Writer: Terry Nation
Starring: William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Maureen O'Brien
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Dudley Simpson



My reaction
Synopsis: chased by Daleks through time and space
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Bad.  Much of the story centers around gags that aren't funny.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Bad.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Bad.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad). Just plain dumb. Every now and then they have to bring in Terry Nation to write a story, to make the rest of the show look good by comparison.  It could have been a lot worse (and some 1980s stuff is a lot worse), but I can't think of any significant redeeming value.
Objective Rating: 1.6/4 (Eh).

Vertigo

The Top 63 Marathon, part 24



Data
Title: Vertigo
Year: 1958
Length: 129 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Alec Coppel & Samuel A. Taylor, based on a novel by Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac
Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Sound; currently #42 on the IMDb's top 250



My reaction
Synopsis: a retired cop is hired to follow a woman whose husband claims she's possessed
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Good. (but see below)
Characters: Good. Bonus points for Midge.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Good. The design is great. The special effects are pretty sad.
Acting: Good. Jimmy's got a hard character to sell, and I'm not sold.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). It's kind of two different movies, one after the other. About two thirds of the way through the film, the first story comes to a climax, things twist around, and a new story starts in a different direction. I guess this is kind of the point, and I would be okay with that if it weren't for the unfortunate fact that the second story isn't as interesting as the first one.  The first part is great - suspenseful, fairly unique, and unmistakably 1958.  The second part is still good, but once the suspense breaks, it never comes back at full Hitchcock force.
Objective Rating: 3.3/4 (Very good).

Inception

Data
Title: Inception
Year: 2010
Length: 148 minutes
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe
Music: Hans Zimmer
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Score and Best Art Direction; currently #83 on the IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a team of criminals commits industrial espionage in peoples' subconscious minds
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Concept: Indifferent. If the concept is the basic idea of the plot, it's pretty bad. If the concept is "Christopher Nolan makes a movie about whatever nonsense he wants because he's Christopher f***ing Nolan," then it's great.
Story: Indifferent. I was pretty disappointed by the story. It isn't convoluted like a game of Chess (like The Prestige). The actual narrative is actually pretty straight forward. Instead it's convoluted in its execution. Nolan's created a world with a lot of arbitrary (and unreasonably specific) rules, so that when it comes to following the details of the story it's pretty much impossible to know for sure whether you're looking at plot holes or not. One thing I'm sure of (and it's probably not intentional): what the characters keep referring to as "dreaming" has almost no resemblance to real dreams.
Characters: Bad. DiCaprio is sad because he's away from his family. And that is pretty much all there is to characters. It's not a characters kind of movie.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Good. Some of the action scenes are relatively dull.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. The casting is kind of distracting.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). It's a fun ride, but kind of frustrating. There's really only one scene where they take advantage of the possibilities of setting a story in a dream and put the amazing special effects to work on something cool. That scene is worth the price of admission, but it's early in the movie, and everything that follows it is annoyingly uncreative.  (There's some significant build-up to a mind-bending labyrinth which we never even get to see).  And I don't want to think about trying to figure out the plot to the degree where I could say whether or not it actually makes sense. I don't think there'd be any reward for the effort. None-the-less, I find myself constantly trying to figure it out, and I would like to stop.
Objective Rating: 2.8/4 (Good).