The late, great Roger Ebert once said that it was foolish to pit films against each other. I agree. Films are meant to stand on their own two feet. They are stand-alone pieces of art, and they need to be judged that way. We don't pit artists' paintings against each other. We don't criticize a musician based on how his work stands up to others. Why do we have a desire to pit movies against each other? Not every film is meant to be a masterpiece to rival Citizen Kane. Some films are merely meant to be entertaining, to be a fun way to spend a couple of hours. When we compare a film like Gremlins to, say, Platoon, we do both films an injustice, trying to fit them into a mold that they were never meant to fit. How, then, are we to judge films? You can usually judge what a film is trying to do by its promotional materials. For instance, you can tell if a movie is a comedy or drama, whether it's Oscar-bait or a summer blockbuster, etc. Once you've got that down, you go to the film with your expectations based on what you learned. If you're going to see a summer flick, you go expecting to be entertained. If the film is gunning for the Oscars, you can go hoping to be amazed.