Basic Principles of Film Criticism

Below are listed eleven rules and principles that anyone truly interested in films and writing about them should follow*:

1)      No good movie can be too long.  No bad movie is short enough.

2)      Movies are not about what they are about, but about how they are about it.

3)      Directors are to be respected, but only to the level that they respect their audience.

4)      You cannot write a review of a film you have not seen.  To do so is to lie.

5)      Going into a screening with biased expectations never yields unbiased results.

6)      Movies are a community art form.  They should be made and experienced together.

7)      “Originality” is a claim made only by those who are ignorant of history or who are liars.  

8)      Theatres are (unfortunately, increasingly commercial) palaces. DVD players and streaming are (increasingly valuable) tools.

9)      Sound and color are not prerequisites for viewing. 

10)  Preserve original aspect ratios whenever possible.  

11)  No amount of special effects is a substitute for narrative, character development, and dialogue.

*Many of these rules are taken from Roger Ebert, who mastered them all, not in a spirit of piracy, but as tribute to that mastery.