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January 13, 2009
No Regrets: Why Even "Amateur" Films Deserve Honest Reviews
The whole issue of what's amateur versus what's professional, and whether such things should be even be considered at all in reviewing them crops up all the time, especially for those of us who spend a lot of our time on the fest circuit or have a stack of indie screeners sitting on our entertainment centers.
Do you review independent films and studio films by different standards?
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Posted by kvoynar at January 13, 2009 08:48 AM
Comments
I think there's a distinction between plays versus films, to this extent:
Amateur plays cost a whole lot less for a ticket than a Broadway production. Films, whatever their budget, all cost the same at the theater.
People read reviews to learn whether or not to spend their money. So with movies, it's more fair to apply equal standards across the board than with plays, where the varying cost of tickets might affect how harshly you review.
That said, if something plain out sucks, it sucks.
Posted by: LYT ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/filmessent/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 14, 2009 02:07 AM
I think there is a little bit of a sliding scale. Like Luke said, let people know whether its worth their time and money, but also acknowledge the limitations of the budget and how well the filming team dealt with that. Did it show ingenuity or intelligence that it would be worth seeing an early work of genius, even if the film as a whole wasn't spectactular?
Posted by: White Label at January 15, 2009 06:39 PM
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