I have been reviewing movies for The Globe a little over a year now. One question that I am asked is how my rating system works and what is my criteria for a good film. This week, I’ll be laying some of the ground rules I follow when writing my review.
The first rule I adhere to is that the film must be readily available to the movie-going public. While I do attend special screenings when I have the opportunity, most of the time I watch the first showing available at the theater on opening day. It’s because of this rule that I don’t review any limited releases, art house films that are screened for a limited amount of time, or any film that is not available nationwide. If the readers of my review aren’t able to see it in theaters, then there’s no point in reviewing it.
If you have been reading my reviews for a while, then you’ll most likely have noticed that I tend to put unofficial partitions between criteria. I usually boil it down to two major areas.
The first area I focus on is the story, how well the film manages to tell its story and how invested I get into the events and characters. The second is the technical aspects of the film, how it’s written, shot, edited and various other factors that pertain to the actual production of the film. Using these two general fields I rate on a scale of 1 to 5, which I have outlined below.
5 – This rating is given when the film is perfect in every way and can be enjoyed by any movie-goer regardless of demographic. A good example of a film I would rank a number five would be Back to the Future.
4 – This would be when the film is good, but is only enjoyable by a specific audience or the film may have flaws that are noticeable, but doesn’t detract from the overall experience. This is where I rank films such as The Dark Knight Rises or Snow White and the Huntsman a four out of five.
3 – Here is where the film’s flaws detract from the viewing experience, but I am still moderately entertained. This is also where I rank films that are boring and bland. A recent example would include both In the Cold Light of Day and the remake of Total Recall.
2 – I would give this rating when the film is so bad that I contemplate walking out of the theater, but still somehow manage to stay through the whole film. I’ve yet to actually find a film this bad, but the best example of a film I would give this rating to would include Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet and the 1990s remake of The Haunting.
1 – This is where the film is bad enough that I walk out of the theater or stop the DVD. The only film that I have given this rating to in my video reviews is Dragonball Evolution. Other films that would fall on this list include the Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil films and The Last Airbender.
Next Week:
In honor of the release of Dredd, we’ll take a look at the history of the character and the comic’s magazine, 2000 A.D.
