First, let me say that when it comes to beauty in movies, I believe that Benjamin Franklin (not that Ben knew much about movies) had it right when he said:

“Is but supported by opinion
Beauty, like supreme dominion”

In other words, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s true in all things – especially the movies. Almost every movie I’ve loved or hated, one of my most valued friends or members of my family has conversely hated or loved. Keeping that in an open mind, here’s the bottom line of what I see as beautiful in the movies, which of course means what I’m for and against in movies, and how I rate and rank them in my reviews.

I am for:

• Any kind of movie. Comedy, drama, suspense, western, chick-flicks, whatever. No pigeonholing allowed.
• A good script. No matter who produces, directs, or acts, without a good script, forget it.
• Good direction.
• Good acting.
• Good music.

I am against:

• Gratuitous violence, especially for kids.  No matter who insists on it, I believe it desensitizes and enables a worse society. I don’t believe that The Wizard of Oz’s flying monkey scene or wicked witch landed on by house scene is bad for any kid. I do believe that Friday the Thirteenth is bad for anyone, young, old, stable, or deranged.
• Gratuitous foul language. The F-bomb snuck into our movie culture in the Sixties, but give me a movie without and it, and the rest of the needless, mindless and worthless mind numbing gibberish being passed off as relevant banter, and it would have been a better movie, guaranteed.
• Gratuitous sex. ‘Nuff said.
• Revisionist or inaccurate history, because as George Santayana said: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” More to the point, if the only history most of our young people are getting is from the movies, how important to the future of our country and indeed our world is accurate history, and how dangerous is purposely inaccurate (better known as propaganda) history?
• My Own Waffling: I hate to waffle, but here goes.  All of the things I hate I admit I sometimes throw out the window. For instance, I am a sucker for Mob movies. The Godfather trilogy, The Sopranos, Good Fellas, Casino, etc. – can’t get enough of ‘em. There’s plenty of gratuitous everything in most of them. Make your own decision, as an adult, that’s the beauty of living in a free country, isn’t it? But I still say they’re not for kids under eighteen.

Ratings

• Everyone – The littlest kid to the biggest kid amongst us.
• Kids Caution – May have some content that could disturb kids – dying dogs, sick horses, scary clowns, etc. I’ll explain in each review, you be the judge.
• Mature Kids Only – Better for older, more mature kids (15+?). I’ll explain in each review, you be the judge.
• Adults Only – I’ll explain in each review, you be the judge.

Rankings

• 1-10, 10 being the best of the best, 1 being avoid at all costs.