After thinking about this a bit (and stealing some ideas from how other people are breaking it down), here’s my 5-star conversion chart:
1 star = 0-1/10
2 star = 1.5-3.5/10
3 star = 4-6.5/10
4 star = 7-9/10
5 star = 9.5-10/10
The rating out of 10 = the percentage of the film that is working, succeeding as a narrative (even when that narrative is anti-narrative, non-narrative, etc.). The degree to which the film sets its terms, comes to those terms, surpasses those terms—its “hit rate” so to speak. So 1/10 = 10% etc. … additionally there are films that I’ve given 1 star that maybe “work” more than 10% of the time––they simply happen to be films I never want to watch again (which cancels out any or all of their effectiveness for me). Likewise for higher ratings: the # out 10 is sometimes weighted lower (or higher) based on, for a lack of a better term, the film’s “degree of difficulty.” And nearly every time I re-watch a movie its rating tends to shift, at least a little.
2012 Favorites (as of 5/22/12, out of 180 movies total)
UPDATE 4/27/12: Decided to change the order from chronological to the top 25 rating-wise.
This list includes films seen FOR THE FIRST TIME in 2012 (with ratings), and is likely to change by the week:
01. Black Sun (dir: Koreyoshi Kurahara; 10/10)
02. Pigs and Battleships (dir: Shohei Imamura; 10/10)
03. Mother Joan of the Angels (dir: Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 10/10)
04. Suddenly, Last Summer (dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz; 10/10)
05. The Moon in the Gutter (dir: Jean-Jacques Beineix; 9/10)
06. Love Exposure (dir: Sion Sono; 9/10)
07. Sans Soleil (dir: Chris Marker; 8.5/10)
08. Cries and Whispers (dir: Ingmar Bergman; 8/10)
09. Heroic Purgatory (dir: Yoshishige Yoshida; 8/10)
10. Wake in Fright (dir: Ted Kotcheff; 8/10)
11. Blade Runner (92 Director’s Cut; dir: Ridley Scott, 8/10)
12. Eyes Without a Face (dir: Georges Franju; 8/10)
13. Take Shelter (dir: Jeff Nichols, 8/10)
14. Decoder (dir: Muscha, 7.5/10)
15. The Deep End (dir: Jerzy Skolimowski; 7.5/10)
16. Point Blank (dir: John Boorman; 7.5/10)
17. Twentynine Palms (dir: Bruno Dumont; 7.5/10)
18. Repo Man (dir: Alex Cox; 7.5/10)
19. The Skin I Live In (dir: Pedro Almodóvar; 7.5/10)
20. Seance on a Wet Afternoon (dir: Bryan Forbes, 7.5/10)
21. Diabolique (dir: Henri-Georges Clouzot; 7.5/10)
22. Eye of the Beholder (dir: Stephan Elliott; 7/10)
23. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (dir: Sergio Martino; 7/10)
24. UV (dir: Gilles Paquet-Brenner; 7/10)
25. Septien (dir: Michael Tully, 6.5/10)
UPDATE 4/27/12: Decided to add a bottom 25 as well; all FIRST TIME VIEWINGS (director Brian Trenchard-Smith has the dubious distinction of appearing twice on this list; good for him):
01. Slaughter Hotel (dir: Fernando Di Leo; 0/10)
02. Night Train Murders (1975; dir: Aldo Lado; 0/10)
03. Autoerotic (dir: Joe Swanberg, Adam Wingard; 0/10)
04. Death Line (dir: Gary Sherman; 0.5/10)
05. Triple Cross (dir: Terence Young; 1/10)
06. Salt (dir: Phillip Noyce; 1/10)
07. Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol (dir: Brad Bird; 1/10)
08. Young Adult (dir: Jason Reitman; 1/10)
09. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (dir: Zach Helm; 1/10)
10. Games (dir: Curtis Harrington; 1/10)
11. Stunt Rock (dir: Brian Trenchard-Smith; 1/10)
12. Dead of Winter (dir: Arthur Penn; 1/10)
13. Myshoes (dir: Elisa Resinaro; 1/10)
14. Turkey Shoot (aka Escape 2000; dir: Brian Trenchard-Smith; 1/10)
15. Murder Syndrome (aka Murder Obsession; dir: Riccardo Freda; 2/10)
16. Safe House (dir: Daniél Espinosa; 2/10)
17. Blue Car (dir: Karen Moncrieff; 2/10)
18. Harlequin (AKA, Dark Forces; dir: Simon Wincer; 2.5/10)
19. Pilot Pyrx’s Inquest (dir: Marek Piestrak; 2.5/10)
20. The Grey (dir: Joe Carnahan; 2.5/10)
21. The Dead Mountaineer Hotel (dir: Grigori Kromanov; 2.5/10)
22. Silent House (dir: Chris Kentis, Laura Lau; 2.5/10)
23. Silent Running (dir: Douglas Trumbull; 3/10)
24. Dust Devil (dir: Richard Stanley; 3/10)
25. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011; dir: David Fincher; 3/10
