really, what are the options? Levi's or Wranglers. And you just pick one. It's one of those life choices

This group includes a couple of the best I've ever seen, and one of the worst. I'm still working on a better way to quantify my reviews - without at the same time increasing the amount of time it takes to get them into print (so to speak). Ideas welcome.

The Master (2012) - "A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader."
I watched it because: the possibility of watching all of Amy Adams' films was discussed a couple of months ago. I picked this up at that time. Tonight seemed like the right time to see what it was all about.
IMDB: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 85% Audience: 61%
story: 3/5
visuals: 2.5/5
acting: 3/5--standout: Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant here. He totally embodies the role of Lancaster Holt.
intangibles: 1/5--this movie is a horrible, surreal, unfathomable hallucination. It is simultaneously pretentious and ridiculous, leaving the viewer feeling foolish for having been taken in by it. None of the characters is even slightly sympathetic. At least one of the actors seems to have gone without direction, and is like a wind-up toy careening through the film. In sum, just because something is well acted or clever doesn't make it entertaining.
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actor--Joaquin Phoenix
• Best Supporting Actor--Hoffman
• Best Supporting Actress--Adams
overall: 2.375/5

Double Indemnity (1944) - "An insurance representative lets himself be talked by a seductive housewife into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses the suspicion of an insurance investigator."
I watched it because: it's a classic - #38 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (1998) and #29 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – 10th Ann. Ed. (2007) - and I hadn't seen a Fred MacMurray film yet.
IMDB: 8.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 97% Audience: 95%
story: 4/5--intricate
visuals: 3.5/5
acting: 4.5/5--standouts: MacMurray was extraordinary as the slightly skeevy but debonair and charming Walter Neff, and Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes, logical and clever.
intangibles: 4/5--I love Raymond Chandler's poetry. He wrote the script (along with Billy Wilder), and it sounds like poetry.
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Picture
• Best Actress--Barbara Stanwyck
• Best Director--Wilder
• Best Writing, screenplay--Chandler & Wilder
• Best Cinematography, B&W
• Best Sound, recording
• Best Music, score
overall: 4/5

From Russia with Love (1963) - "James Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naïve Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E."
I watched it because: I'm trying to watch the James Bond series in order, and this was the next on the list.
IMDB: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 95% Audience: 84%
story: 3/5
visuals: 2.5/5
acting: 3/5
intangibles: 2.5/5--just so implausible
overall: 2.75/5

Face/Off (1997) - "In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a criminal mastermind, who murdered his only son. The plan turns sour when the criminal wakes up prematurely and seeks revenge."
I watched it because: I was in the mood for something action-packed and unemotional.
IMDB: 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 92% Audience: 82%
story: 4/5
visuals: 4.5/5--it's well done. It's ridiculous, but creepy as hell.
acting: 3/5--standouts: Nick Cassavetes (Dietrich Hassler) and Gina Gershon (Sasha Hassler). Ass-kicking romantics.
intangibles: 2.5/5--I mean, come on. The birds. Jesus.
Academy Award nominee: Best Effects, sound effects editing
overall: 3.5/5

Gone with the Wind (1939) - "A manipulative woman and a roguish man conduct a turbulent romance during the American Civil War and Reconstruction periods."
I watched it because: it is a classic. Maybe the classic: #4 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (1998), #6 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition (2007), and #43 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers (2006). This is a disturbing film, as one of the characters reminds me very much of someone that I know.
IMDB: 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 91% Audience: 93%
story: 3.5/5
visuals: 4.5/5--sumptuous. Intriguingly lit, phenomenally set. There are even some funky camera angles.
acting: 4.5/5--standouts: this cast is wonderful. Vivien Leigh was extraordinary as Scarlett O'Hara, fiery and spectacular. Olivia de Havilland was a graceful counterpoint as Melanie Hamilton. Leslie Howard was dashing and complex as Ashley Wilkes. But the very best, the most compelling and charismatic, was Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.
intangibles: 3/5--this moving is SO. Damned. LONG.
Academy Award winner:
• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Best Adapted Screenplay
• Best Actress--Leigh
• Best Supporting Actress--Hattie McDaniel
• Best Supporting Actress--de Havilland
• Best Cinematography, Color
• Best Film Editing
• Best Art Direction
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actor--Gable
• Best Visual Effects
• Best Music, Original Score
• Best Sound Recording
overall: 3.875/5

Patriot Games (1992) - "When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge."
I watched it because: it's the second in the Jack Ryan series, and I was looking for something less "heavy" than the last thing that I watched.
IMDB: 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 72% Audience: 73%
story: 2.5/5--it's really kind of silly. This guy has all the bad luck of Jessica Fletcher, stumbling into one cockamamie mystery after another. And the people who don't like him really do not like him.
visuals: 3.5/5
acting: 3/5--standouts: Samuel L. Jackson (Robby Jackson) and Richard Harris (Paddy O'Neil). I also liked James Fox as Lord Holmes.
intangibles: 3/5
overall: 3/5

[the title quotation is from Harrison Ford]