Some of the new review panel members still have a way to go on getting a good idea of what sort of ratings things should receive.  I agree the ratings were a little too low there; I've adjusted them.

While we do our best to find capable reviewers, the review and rating on almost any directory film is, ultimately, the opinion of one person.  Look at it as such; the main purpose of the directory is to recommend the top films to people browsing the site, not to give filmmakers feedback or an evaluation of their film -- that is what the releases forum is for.

Haha Thanks Scypax, thats really cool

A special kind of idiot, Tom...a special kind of idiot.

Into the darkness once more. I walk into the unknown. To a far better life than I've ever known.

I think it should be recommended, but the overall 5 is about right.

Into the darkness once more. I walk into the unknown. To a far better life than I've ever known.

Oh ok, I'll try to remember the other part of my post that I wrote:

Because of the fantastic response from the site I am surprised, and disappointed that the film didn't get on to the recommended list and have a proper review from a reviewer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do feel that this film out of all my films should deserve a place on the recommended list, I mean, my 3 random chipmunks film that was reviewed by Randy Yard got on to the list. I also think an overall 5 is too low, because a 7, 8, 5 and another 5 do not add up to an overall of 5. Is there anything that can be done of this? Can this be reviewed? Or am I just being silly - your thoughts?

The point of recommending films isn't to help the self-esteem of the people who submitted the films, it's to show users what films the staff thinks they should bother to watch, if they're not going to watch everything that's posted here.  This film is a fairly standard-issue lightsaber duel, to be honest; that sort of thing does take quite a bit of work to make, but it's been done to death in brickfilms, and with films like Fancypants' "The Force Unleashed" out there it's been done much better.

The main innovation in this film that would set it apart from other Star Wars duels that fall short of the best ones? A fart joke.  I'm not sure that merits recommending it to the public.  The chipmunks video, on the other hand, had a little more going for it in the originality department.

I didn't review the film and I thought the original ratings were too low, but the overall rating isn't an average -- a film is not necessarily equal to the sum of its parts.  There are plenty of technically well done films on this site that I don't enjoy.

As far as I'm concerned, it would be good if filmmakers here didn't heed much attention to how their films are received by the review panel.  The main guideline for the review panel is that their ratings and review are supposed to be for the good of the viewer, not the filmmaker.  Don't expect constructive criticism in a directory review; that's what the releases forum is for.  While we try to get the best reviewers who are willing to help, there are a lot of submissions so we can't have multiple reviewers look at each film, and this is reviewing films so nobody's going to be dead on 100% of the time, as with real film critics.  (Look at how frequently any respected film critic disagrees with the RottenTomatoes average rating, for instance.)

You just can't win.  If we are very selective with recommending films, we get complaints from people whose films didn't make the cut.  If we are less selective, we get complaints about low-quality films being recommended.  If we are very selective with reviewers, the review process is very slow and we get complaints about that.  If we bite the bullet and bring in new, inexperienced people, we get complaints about how they do the job.  It's a lose-lose-lose-lose situation, but we are working on getting the new reviewers up to snuff.

Are you just causing grief for us because you're mad we didn't add you to the panel?

My thinking was this: is that film going to be enjoyable one year from now, when no one has any context for what's going on? I don't think so. It's a single shot of a dude sitting on a couch and jumping up and waving his arms every so often for two minutes. Yes, the acting and animation are good, but once the 2010 World Cup has been forgotten I don't see that film holding many people's interest for the entire running time.

But if another reviewer has another opinion, they'll overrule me. May I ask what you feel makes it worthy of recommendation?

Don't ever become a lawyer.

With "Relieved," I'm going to reluctantly recommend it. The stated criteria for recommendation has always been whether a great majority of viewers would enjoy it, and I don't think we can argue that this wasn't the case. Note that this isn't necessarily an indication of the quality of the film, but more an indication of the average age of the site's members.

I stand by my decision on the world cup film. You make a good point about the the film's longevity; however, no matter how well animated and voiced it is, it's still just a guy jumping around swearing for two minutes. If another viewer wishes to recommend it, they will (after all, forum response was generally solid), but I didn't feel that the parts added up to enough of a whole with that film.

As you wish. The only thing I have to add is that it wasn't one of the new reviewers who originally reviewed "World Cup." It was me.