Film is the greatest art form. That’s an admittedly bold statement. But when you consider all the other arts that motion pictures encapsulate – literature, photography, theatre, music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, living history, fabric and even culinary arts – the claim is justified.
If one accepts that argument, it follows that movie criticism is one of life’s noblest pursuits, insomuch as it promotes the analysis and appreciation of film while embracing freedom of speech and artistic expression. I’m not trying to elevate the reviewer above his or her station. After all, critics don’t save lives, broker peace accords or do the tireless, selfless work of teachers, doctors and firefighters. And we don’t risk our lives for our country. But if you accept the premise of Frank Woods, arguably the world’s first movie critic, that film is poetry in motion, then it’s easy to contextualize the words of Robin Williams’ Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society: “Medicine, law, business, engineering – these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for.”
Cameron Meier interviews Sam Rockwell at the 2015 Florida Film Festival.
With that in mind, let me welcome you to MeierMovies, the site for people who like to watch movies and love to discuss them. It’s one of the most detailed, list-loving film sites you will ever see.
Here you will find rankings, ratings and/or reviews of more than 4,300 feature films from 1911 to today. (Click here to go straight to those reviews.) You’ll also find something that no other site offers: ALL those feature films in order of quality, starting with the top 200 movies ranked in order of quality and ending with the worst of all time, all rated in quarter-star increments. In addition, don’t miss this unique chronological list, which ranks the REAL best films of each year, not what the Academy told us were the best. You can also see ratings of more than 3,000 shorts dating back to the dawn of cinema in 1888, and hundreds of TV and web programs. But before you do anything, please visit the Introduction, which will give you insight into the process.
Of course, all of this is the opinion of just one guy: Me, Cameron Meier. So before you get too deep into this site, you might want to examine why you should be listening to me in the first place. For that, click Who is Cameron Meier? In brief, I’ve been a film critic for roughly two decades, with my reviews appearing in The Orlando Weekly, The Detroit Metro Times, The San Antonio Current and other publications. (MeierMovies offers most of those film reviews too, plus some exclusive ones, in addition to some past art, theatre and music critiques.) Also please note that most of the movie lists are in PDF form. If you can’t view them, you can download Adobe PDF reader for free here.
Before wishing you well on your journey through this site, I offer you an introduction to myself and my take on cinema: my interviews with Sam Rockwell, Sissy Spacek, Bob Balaban and others. Enjoy!