Movies rated by my students

[Umbugbene]

For the last 3 years I taught a Film History & Appreciation class at a community college in the U.S. Every semester I showed a different set of films (repeating only The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Meshes of the Afternoon). At the midpoint and last day of each semester I asked my students to rate what they'd seen on a scale of 1-10. Here are their combined average ratings:

1. City Lights (9.231)
2. Matchstick Men (9.118)
3. The Shining (9.029)
4. Wild Tales (9.000)
5. Full Metal Jacket (8.923)
6. Pan's Labyrinth (8.909)
7. Psycho (8.906)
8. Get Out! (8.800)
9. Strangers on a Train (8.778)
10. Mulholland Drive (8.667)
11. David and Lisa (8.667)
12. Holiday Inn (8.649)
13. The Lady Vanishes (8.605)
14. The Truman Show (8.438)
15. Monsieur Verdoux (8.432)
16. Arrival (8.429)
17. Born Yesterday (8.420)
18. All About Eve (8.355)
19. Modern Times (8.308)
20. Chase a Crooked Shadow (8.297)
21. Shadow of a Doubt (8.239)
22. Casablanca (8.191)
23. Charade (8.161)
24. I Wake Up Screaming (8.133)
25. Mildred Pierce (8.083)
26. A Man Escaped (8.000)
27. Rebecca (7.923)
28. Spellbound (7.889)
29. Dancer in the Dark (7.875)
30. 30. Midnight (7.839)
31. The Valet (7.793)
32. The Passenger (7.788)
33. Night of the Hunter (7.778)
34. The Naked Jungle (7.771)
35. Sunrise (7.750)
36. Purple Noon (7.733)
37. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (7.700)
38. The 39 Steps (7.661)
39. Ladies in Retirement (7.636)
40. The Burmese Harp (7.636)
41. Saboteur (7.633)
42. The Wizard of Oz (7.600)
43. Letter to Three Wives (7.583)
45. The Third Man (7.556)
46. A Place in the Sun (7.535)
47. Blow-Up (7.520)
48. Enemy (7.520)
49. The Hand of the Devil (7.500)
50. The Big Sleep (7.480)
51. Beauty and the Beast (7.463)
52. Blade Runner (7.366)
53. The Counselor (7.321)
54. Detour (7.313)
55. Seconds (7.300)
56. Phone Call from a Stranger (7.286)
57. I Knew Her Well (7.280)
58. Ministry of Fear (7.273)
59. The Nutty Professor (7.222)
60. Eyes Wide Shut (7.200)
61. La rupture (7.161)
62. Melancholia (7.161)
63. Diva (7.130)
64. La notte (7.077)
65. Dead of Night (7.067)
66. Cléo from 5 to 7 (7.040)
67. In the City of Sylvia (7.000)
68. The Servant (7.000)
69. The Sea Wolf (6.953)
70. Nosferatu the Vampyre (6.943)
71. The Exterminating Angel (6.907)
72. Bande à part (6.897)
73. 5 Fingers (6.881)
74. Lumière d'été (6.846)
75. La nuit fantastique (6.818)
76. Caché (6.811)
77. Veronika Voss (6.800)
78. Ugetsu monogatari (6.782)
79. L'eclisse (6.690)
80. Zabriskie Point (6.667)
81. Pierrot le fou (6.667)
82. The Quiller Memorandum (6.655)
83. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (6.643)
84. Les enfants terribles (6.636)
85. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (6.600)
86. Juliette, or the Key of Dreams (6.587)
87. Simón del desierto (6.522)
88. Where Is My Friend's Home? (6.417)
89. Orphée (6.417)
90. I Walked with a Zombie (6.400)
91. Nathalie Granger (6.400)
92. Nosferatu: a Symphony of Horror (6.391)
93. Mr. Hulot's Holiday (6.360)
94. Visiteurs du soir (6.333)
95. The Wind Will Carry Us (6.333)
96. Marnie (6.333)
97. Topaz (6.333)
98. Face Like a Frog (6.286)
99. Pickpocket (6.268)
100. Green for Danger (6.250)
101. Persona (6.194)
102. Winter Light (6.143)
103. Wild Strawberries (6.125)
104. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (6.103)
105. Black Narcissus (6.095)
106. L'avventura (6.091)
107. They Caught the Ferry (6.091)
108. Ornamental Hairpin (6.071)
109. The Day He Arrives (6.045)
110. Dead Reckoning (5.889)
111. Tokyo Story (5.875)
112. Stalker (5.727)
113. Moon in the Gutter (5.727)
114. Meshes of the Afternoon (5.687)
115. Alphaville (5.660)
116. Assassination of Père Noël (5.531)
117. Whity (5.500)
118. Last Year at Marienbad (5.479)
119. The End of Summer (5.444)
120. The Red Desert (5.357)
121. Voyage to the Moon (5.312)
122. Mirror of Holland (5.192)
123. Charulata (5.103)
124. Weekend (5.077)
125. Great Train Robbery (5.000)
126. The Music Room (4.837)

I wouldn't exactly say that my students put the films in backwards order, but a lot of my favorites are near the bottom (L'avventura, Stalker, Alphaville, Marienbad, Winter Light). Oh well... those are challenging films, and I can't expect most people to love them at first sight.

[Umbugbene]

Here are the ratings from my last class (Fall 2018):

1. The Shining (9.029)
2. Wild Tales (9.000)
3. The Lady Vanishes (8.605)
4. The Truman Show (8.438)
5. Beauty and the Beast (7.463)
6. Melancholia (7.161)
7. The Sea Wolf (6.953)
8. 5 Fingers (6.881)
9. Pierrot le fou (6.667)
10. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (6.643)
11. Simón del desierto (6.522)
12. Persona (6.194)
13. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (6.103)
14. Black Narcissus (6.095)
15. Meshes of the Afternoon (5.687)
16. Voyage to the Moon (5.312)
17. Charulata (5.103)

This class seemed a bit hard to please, although they were mostly good students. It could also be that I'm hitting diminishing returns in my film selections; for example The Sea Wolf and 5 Fingers are not the shining representatives of classic Hollywood that Casablanca and All About Eve are.

One of my greatest frustrations is the consistently low ratings I'm getting from Satyajit Ray's movies, which I think deserve much better. Maybe I can blame it on a cultural divide, but I'm a bit mystified.

This will be my last class for a while. I'm taking time off to finish some writing, and I'll look for a new teaching job when I'm done.

[rischka]

hmm i must have missed something amazing in matchstick men; i barely remember it

[Silga]

I like Matchstick Men well enough. Even re-watched it again this year. But I wouldn't call it a top tier Scott film. It has great performances, but the pacing of the film is where its problems lie.

[wba2]

hmm i must have missed something amazing in matchstick men; i barely remember it