Star Ratings (for my Film Reviews)

Hey, Andrew Bowcock here,

Different critics use different criteria for reviewing films.  Most use a 4-star system, but ever since using Flixster on Facebook I have accustomed myself to this 5-star system, which I actually prefer.  The reason my bias leans this way is because it leaves room for more clearly differentiating between good films, great films, and incredible, or life-changing films.
Of course a degree of this can be very subjective to the viewer, but I have created a chart that I hope will make it clear to anybody reading one of my film reviews what I really feel about a film.  Please note that my criteria is based on the plethora of films I have seen and my bias towards the films I consider my favorite, or the “greatest of all time.”  I plan on posting a link to this post whenever I write a review so people can refer back to it.  Here we go:

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1/2 Star:  I will only rate something this low if I honestly believe it is among the worst films I have ever seen.  I have no “no-star” rating, so this is the lowest in the spectrum.  Again, reserved for films that almost cause me physical stress from how poorly they are constructed (although sometimes they can also be comic gold, depending on how much pain you can take).  Again, this goes to films with absolutely no redeeming qualities outside of riffing them to shreds with your friends, and sometimes that’s not even worth it.  The lucky winners for this are films like Ben & Arthur, Turkish Star Wars, Troll 2 and Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.

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1 Star:  Usually a painful, grueling experience.  Lacking in every area imaginable and a failure in pretty much every way possible.  A pitiful excuse for a film.

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1 1/2 Stars:  Pretty darn bad.  A film that should not have been made, but may have had one or two redeeming qualities (though they may not have been intentional).  Overall, it’s nothing an amateur film student couldn’t pull off on a bad day (had he a budget…in some cases).  Often times films rated this or lower are ones that I either “hate” or “love for the wrong reasons.”

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2 Stars:  Really missed the mark.  The filmmaker may at the very least have potential but the film wasn’t a success in my eyes.  May not be a complete disaster, but pretty close.  Usually not worth your time, but not beyond having an appeal to someone or another.

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2 1/2 Stars:  This isn’t terrible, it’s just usually underwhelming.  I often give this to films that I feel deserve credit for effort but can’t really follow through with succeeding in a film’s intention.  This rating is usually for films I have the most mixed feelings about.  Sometimes I will admittedly give this rating if I honestly don’t know what to think and need more time to mill over a film, but usually I will have made up my mind if I review it on here.

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3 Stars:  A moderately appealing to good film.  More often than not I feel the film had potential for much greater things but settled for something less.  A decent flick…not great, but the issues it may have don’t destroy it from at least a somewhat enjoyable experience.  Usually worth the time for people who are interested enough in seeing the film already.

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3 1/2 Stars:  A good, sometimes very good film.  The movie has a lot going for it and succeeds for the most part.  Usually I will have taken issue with one or two things in the film, but this is usually what I rate a film if you ask me how I felt about it and reply, “yeah, it was pretty good!”  I will more often than not recommend people to see films rated this or higher.

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4 Stars:  My stamp of approval – this is a great film!  By great, I mean there are no noticeable flaws detracting it from being what it set out to be.  This is a film definitely worth seeing, and this rating represents what I believe should be the standard for a successful film.  Obviously I have no real complaints about it (and if I do they’re usually trivial).  There are a few exceptions where I do find a problem or two, but believe the rest of the film overall to be so well realized that these flaws have very little bearing on cheapening the experience.  See this film, I think it will be more than worth your time!

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4 1/2 Stars:  This goes beyond the standard of being a great film, into being an amazing one.  If anything gets above 4 stars I believe it deserves a place in film history (if it doesn’t have one already).  4.5 stars is akin to having a wonderful pizza in a restaurant, but then the next week having a real Italian chef cook you his special recipe, making you realize that you didn’t know food could be this good!  Anything above 4 stars is the real deal, meaning I absolutely LOVE these films!  Don’t think of it as not having a perfect rating – my standard for greatness is 4…beyond that is simply icing on the cake.

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5 Stars:  Here it is – a perfect rating.  This is a rating I will only give to films I consider to be my favorites and/or the ones I believe deserve to be considered the greatest in history.  Not all may agree that the film is flawless, but usually I find no real fault in the film and it usually holds a place of deep significance in my heart.  Be forewarned, I will likely urge pretty much EVERYBODY to watch any 5 star film, and thus I try to give the rating out sparingly.

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Well, there you have it. I sure hope that helps in gauging the reviews I will be posting. Let me know if you have any questions.

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photo sources:

http://www.facebook.com/adroctheviking (from private profile content)

https://www.aabookings.ie/ (original photo)

~ by Andrew Bowcock on July 28, 2009.