At The Movies: Data reveals Margaret and David's likes and dislikes

Updated

We analysed 1,925 At The Movies reviews to find out what David and Margaret really think about different genres, actors and directors.

Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton say farewell to viewers on ABC TV's At The Movies for the final time tonight.

We scraped 1,925 reviews from the program's website, and analysed them to find out what David and Margaret really think.

1. David's top genre is animation; Margaret's is arthouse

Over the past 11 years, animation has been David's favourite genre, with the critic awarding them an average of 3.586 stars.

But animated flicks only win out by a narrow sub-decimal margin, closely followed by music, history and documentary films.

Margaret's top-scoring genre is arthouse. Animation ranks ninth on Margaret's list, and the reviewers' varying views on the genre are perhaps best captured by this exchanged about Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa:

"The animation is as breathtakingly beautiful as before and if anything, the sequel is funnier and sharper than the original thanks to a witty screenplay. "Animated films as good as this are a pleasure to sit through for children and adults alike." - David

"Oh, David... "I feel like such a miserable creature at this time of the year when all these animated films are coming out because I'm not a mad fan of this." - Margaret

Here's the complete chart of genre rankings.

2. Margaret likes teen flicks and westerns a lot more than David does

If you sort that chart by 'difference of opinion', you'll see animation is not the only genre where there's a difference of opinion.

In particular, Margaret has much more of a soft spot for teen flicks and westerns.

Then again, it wouldn't be hard to have more of a soft spot for teen flicks than David, going by his review of Project X:

"Project X is not a film made for mature audiences, or anyone with an ounce of sophistication. It's well and truly aimed at teenagers who will think that getting drunk, stoned and trashing the family home is hilariously funny. What's disturbing about the film, which is directed by Nima Nourizadeh, is that it celebrates the sexist, minority-hating attitudes of its characters... "I doubt I'll see a film this year I'll dislike more than this one." - David

3. They both like R-rated movies best

On average, R-rated movies get more stars from David and Margaret than other classifications - in Margaret's case by a significant margin.

That might not surprise those who remember Margaret's numerous outspoken stands against censorship over the years, in particular when she was detained by police for screening controversial film Ken Park in Sydney.

"I think everybody involved in the screening tonight knew what we were doing, that we were actually trying to, you know, let a broader adult audience experience this film because we disagree so strongly with the decision of the OFLC classification board and the Review Board." - Margaret

4. Keira Knightley and Brad Pitt are their top-scoring actors

David and Margaret don't score actors' performances directly, but films starring Keira Knightley and Brad Pitt score the most stars compared to any other actors over the past 11 years.

For this category, we scraped At The Movies data about who were the leading actors, and only looked at those who had starred in five or more films David and Margaret reviewed.

Aside from Knightley, most of the top-scoring actors are men, with Philip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise among the 11 men on the list above the next-highest-ranked woman, Toni Collette.

5. Vin Diesel is the most divisive

David really doesn't like Vin Diesel's movies but Margaret is much more open to the fast-paced Fast and the Furious series.

It really comes as no surprise, then, that Diesel is most divisive actor, with Margaret giving his movies an average of three stars and David scoring them just 1.4.

Here's a taste of their exchange about Diesel in another film, Babylon AD:

"The action set pieces are clumsily staged, the performances - from the catatonic Vin Diesel on down - are appalling ... and crucially the film's a crashing bore." - David

"I actually think Vin Diesel has something. You know, there is something... I don't know but I mean I feel a certain safeness with him on the screen. You know, it's really weird... But, you know, I think if I'm stuck at the end of the world..." - Margaret

"You'd like Vin Diesel to come and rescue you?" - David

"Yes. He's got a real solidity about him that I trust." - Margaret





6. Clint Eastwood and Tim Burton top the director stakes

Margaret's top-ranked director is Tim Burton, known for dark, gothic flicks such as Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands and more recently for blockbusters such as Batman Returns, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.

David also ranks Burton highly, but top of the pops for him is Clint Eastwood, the screen star who is also behind films such as Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven and Gran Torino.

"If nothing else, [Million Dollar Baby] confirms that, at the age of 75, Clint Eastwood has become a major director in the classic tradition. The film is impeccably made, but more than that, the director who also composed the lovely music score, brings a rare degree of humanity to the intensely moving conclusion ... This is his masterpiece, I think." - David



7. But the critics are split on Woody Allen

Aside from Peter Berg (director of Friday Night Lights), Woody Allen is the most divisive director, with Margaret giving his films 2.8 stars on average compared to 3.5 from David.

One example where they split was on 2006's Match Point, starring Scarlett Johansson.

"Allen has mastered the nuances of contemporary British society with great skill; there's not a wrong note in this tale of ambition and ruthlessness, and his actors are exceptionally fine. There are some nods to Alfred Hitchcock as the drama progresses, and some very neat twists..." - David

"I ... have a problem with Woody Allen because he's made a couple of films that have been so misogynistic. They might have been out here on DVD but they weren't released in cinemas, that really, I don't get it, why this man, once he turned 70, started disliking this lovely sex that he so obviously loved when he was young." - Margaret

8. And neither is a fan of Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith, best known for his debut Clerks, gets the lowest average review of any director, mostly due to poor showings for Jersey Girl and sequel Clerks II.

Here's the complete chart of how the directors stack up.

9. They both like long movies

For two people who have spent so much time over so many years in cinemas, perhaps it's no surprise that David and Margaret show a preference for longer films over shorter ones.

10. Independent distributors score better

Distribution houses come out relatively even, but generally speaking the independents score highest.

Unfortunately, the data does not capture any hard numbers on just how much David hates shaky-cam.

Notes

This data is based on a scrape of reviews from the At The Movies website.

All categories - such as genres, ratings, lead actors and directors - are based on the metadata published alongside those reviews.

For the actor and director categories, only people associated with more than five reviewed films were included.

Topics: film-movies, television, australia

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