Tillie's Punctured Romance

Data
Title: Tillie's Punctured Romance
Year: 1914
Length: 74 minutes
Director: Mack Sennett
Writers: Hampton Del Ruth, Craig Hutchinson & Mack Sennett, based on a play by A. Baldwin Sloane & Edgar Smith
Starring: Marie Dressler, Charles Chaplin, Mabel Normand
Music: uncredited organ score
I saw it: on video (rented from Greencine), a couple days ago
Synopsis: a sleazy guy takes advantage of a bumpkin

My reaction
Concept: I would say it's bad, but it gets a bonus point for being the first feature comedy.
Story:
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Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). All the bits are good - often very funny - but it goes on for way too long.
Objective Rating (Average):

Star Trek: "The Trouble with Tribbles"

Data
Title: Star Trek: “The Trouble with Tribbles”
Year: 1967
Network: NBC
Episode: the fifteenth (of twenty-six) from season two; 50 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Joseph Pevney
Writer: David Gerrold
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, William Schallert, William Campbell, Stanley Adams
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Jerry Fielding
I saw it: on video and TV several times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: Klingons want to sabotage grain on a space station; also, tribbles

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
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Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, ). My wife pointed out that it's nice that they're not in a life and death situation for once. Yes. It's not as if the stakes driving a story in a TV show matter, as long as the problem to solve is important to the characters. I mean, it's not as if the good guys would ever lose, so what does it matter what they would lose if they did? (Not that this rant has much to do with Star Trek. Mostly I'm thinking of 2000s Doctor Who and its constant need to make the danger bigger and bigger every season, regardless of whether it makes a good story. You don't have to threaten to destroy a planet every week to keep your audience interested.)
Objective Rating (Average):

The Adjustment Bureau

Data
Title: The Adjustment Bureau
Year: 2011
Length: 106 minutes
Director: George Nolfi
Writer: George Nolfi, based on a story by Philip K. Dick
Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Terence Stamp
Music: Thomas Newman
I saw it: in the theater, a couple days ago
Synopsis: men with magic hats try to keep a couple apart

My reaction
Concept: I had really hoped that this would be a science fiction movie, and that the trailers looked like magical nonsense because they didn't want to spoil things.
Story: See, the thing with this kind of story is, it's supposed to build to something. There's supposed to be a twist, or a reveal, putting the rest of the movie into an interesting new light. Or at least explaining something a little. That is the whole point. If the writer(s) don't have any more idea what's going on that the audience? Then there's no story. It's not a bad story, or an unresolved story; it's simply a giant gaping void.
Characters: I'll give them some credit for making the protagonist likable. I always complain about protagonists not being likable. But, sorry, this guy's so likable it's just ridiculous. I'm surprised he didn't save a kitten at some point. As for the other characters... pretty much crap.
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography: A modern, big-budget movie with action scenes where it's always possible to tell what's going on? Automatic 3 points.
Special effects/design:
Acting: Not bad considering they had fuck all to work with.
Music: Managing to squeeze moments of pathos into a movie this badly written? Automatic 3 points.
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, ). While watching it, up until the last 20 minutes or so where it starts to really fall apart (the wife and I tried to pin down the exact moment where it falls apart - I've decided it's the scene where a previously good character transforms into a magical negro), I was actually enjoying it somewhat. Solid 6/10 territory, with hopes of a good ending upping it to a 7. Yeah, no. And the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off.
Objective Rating (Average):

Flight of the Conchords: Season One

Lynn’s Druthers Marathon, part 18

Data
Title: Flight of the Conchords: Season One
Year: 2007
Network: HBO
Episodes: 12, at 26 minutes each
Creators: James Bobin, Jemaine Clement & Bret McKenzie
Directors: James Bobin (6 episodes), Troy Miller (2), Taika Waititi (2), Paul Simms (1), Michael Patrick Jann (1)
Writers: James Bobin (7 episodes), Jemaine Clement (7), Bret McKenzie (7), Taika Waititi (1), Eric Kaplan (1), Paul Simms (1), Duncan Sarkies (1), Damon Beesley (1), Iain Morris (1)
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie
Music: Jemaine Clement & Bret McKenzie
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past week
Synopsis: a New Zealand band/comedy duo try to make it in New York

My reaction
Concept:
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Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). Some episodes are dumb. Others are doubled-over-and-crying-from-laughter funny. (Not surprisingly, the episodes in the latter category are all written by the show's creators. You have to wonder what they were thinking, handing a show like this show over to other writers.)
Objective Rating (Average):

Doctor Who #23: The Ark

Data
Title: Doctor Who: “The Ark”
Year: 1966
Network: BBC
Episodes: 4, at 25 minutes each; the sixth story (of ten) from season three
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Michael Imison
Writers: Paul Erickson & Lesley Scott
Starring: William Hartnell, Jackie Lane, Peter Purves
Music: Ron Grainer (theme); Tristram Cary
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: a generation ship carries the last of humanity and its servant species

My reaction
Concept:
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Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). All-around badly done, but entertainingly so.
Objective Rating (Average):