The art of filmmaking is something that American culture takes for granted entirely. Its advanced format of storytelling takes the best parts from all other mediums (books, music, plays) and creates massive projects out of them. These undertakings end up costing millions upon millions of dollars and include hundreds of people, yet the viewers find it in themselves to grade these projects. I’m talking about the number score here. The sacred number, sometimes out of 10, more pretentiously out of 5, but anything numerical that can instantly say if something is worth the time or not, which  is a wild concept. Years of people’s lives could’ve been devoted to something, but if there’s a big 3/10 next to it, those who found enjoyment in it are suppressed by an objective ranking. 

Personally, I’m not brave enough to rank movies out of 5 or out of 10; There’s too much commitment involved. For example, I remember seeing Justice League (2017) in the theater and walking out thinking “WOW 8/10 PRETTY GOOD”, but as the days went by I quickly realized that I wasn’t as in love with the movie as much as caught up in it. The alternative scenario is also very true and very common. A while back I was trying to assign a score to one of the High School Musical films, which I had not seen since long ago. Just based on my memory of them being Disney Channel original movies, I have a presumptuously low score, which after rewatching them recently I can say does not do those movies justice.

Like the High School Musicals, I think that there can be subjective value found within any film, and to limit a film to a number score can have a severely negative effect on the way we think about what they watch. This is why for the Charlie Smash Show (name still pending) there will be no number scores, just takes. Takes that are not intended to pressure my readers into a certain way of thinking, but takes that are exactly what Charlie Smash got from the movie. 

Other than individual takes on films, this column will also be looking at lists and news and any other sort of occurrence that has to do with the film world.