My Scoring Scale: Using the Entire Spread
My film scoring scale is slightly different than the default scale I encounter. Like the IMDb default scale. You know where a 6.5 is alright and a 7.5 is good. Almost like taking your k-12 grading criteria and applying it to a scale of 10, where a 60 is passing and then going into letter grades. I don’t like this scale because you almost never give scores below 5 when you score intuitively like this. When you almost only use the top half of a 10-point scale it functionally turns into a 5-point scale. I like the granularity of a 10-point scale though. At the same time I stay away from decimals — if you’re using decimals you need a bigger scale (there’s no difference between a 7.7/10 and a 77/100).
For this reason I do something like bell curving my scale in the interest of using closer to the entire spread of 10. I think of my scores as follows:
10 — Perfect
9 — Almost Perfect
8 — A special, excellent movie
7 — Great, ie worthy of greatness, and with substance; think Kurosawa baseline
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
6 — Good, as in I liked it a lot (maybe stylistically) but I didn’t perceive enough substance to push it into the range of the greats (per my personal preferences); think Guy Ritchie baseline
5 — Fine or Average
4 — Passing, think MCU baseline
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
3 — Failing
2 — “Man wtf”
1 — I’ve never given this score to any movie I’ve ever seen
Those dashed lines are where the biggest jumps in quality are. If you hear me call something a 7+ or a 4–6 then these brackets are what I’m referring to; and if you see me give something a 4–6, it’s probably closer to IMDb’s 5.0–7.5. Also keep in mind this is a scale oriented around craft and emotional substance —I want a movie to make me feel something. Likewise I might give a movie a 4 and then rewatch it 162 times because it rules, although I usually will bump it a point if it’s just plain enjoyable. I might refer to a 4 that I really liked with qualifiers, eg “a fun stylish 5.”
Artistic Intent
It’s also very important to consider the artistic intent when scoring something. I’ve said it before; I think you’re trash if you knock a movie for not doing something it intended not to do. For example, applying realist criteria to a formalist movie, applying classicist criteria to an absurdist movie, etc. Your opinion on art shouldn’t matter if you don’t get art. Likewise I try my best but I’m not literate. I’ll probably miss things and that’s where I become open to dialogue… with people who not only take the piece in question as seriously as they should but also are attempting to understand the piece for what it’s trying to be. If not liking things is your personality, I don’t give a toot why you think Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) is overrated. And no one else should either.
Likewise I’ll have movies grouped in the same score that are vastly different in intent. Eraserhead (1977) and Reservoir Dogs (1992) are both 7’s to me. I’m trying to be fair to each artist and evaluate how much I liked what they did adjusting for what they were trying to do.
My Preferences, Apathies and Antipathies
I generally prefer stories that feel more abstract to stories that feel more concrete. Not that I dislike concrete stories but I appreciate when an artist can illustrate a character’s first person experience or maybe even when an artist uses metaphorical imagery to heighten a story beyond something I can directly relate to. I like it when an artist pushes the limits of their medium. I want art to take me places I have never been more than I want it to make the news more relatable.
I also prefer character-driven plots more than plot-driven characters. Stories that show me what a character is thinking and feeling, rather than telling me, in order to emphasize the point at which that character makes a decision to drive the plot in a new direction tend to be my favorites. Although plot-driven movies like My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) can also be well-made and most noir films probably fit this description, so I’m willing to flex to see when an artist is using it as a narrative approach to some meaningful effect.
I admittedly care less about how big of a deal something was when it came out, but I do care about that. That might impact my acknowledging a movie’s specific position in the 7+ club, for instance, but not whether it belongs in the 7+ club or not. The Dark Knight (2008) is not as good as The Batman (2022) to me, but it will never fall below a 7 because of how good it was at the time it was released. If there’s a Platonic ideal of a certain type of story, what are the odds the first iteration of that story would capture it the best? Probably low.
As a rule I try to avoid hating things but I’m only human. I’m especially not immune to disliking genres in general (eg musicals or simple, optimistic movies) so my scores will reflect that, however I’m constantly trying to push my tastes and broaden my scope of appreciation. I was raised with 90’s Bollywood in a context where I kind of wasn’t allowed to watch the movies I wanted so I tend not to like Bollywood or musicals now. This hasn’t stopped me from giving Bollywood another go recently and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I like some of it. Still, this is a bias that I have to make an effort to look past. If you’re not in the mood for a story where the main character waxes exposition with a morally superior air, it’s going to be hard to accept such a story as being good for doing something that would constitute a writing sin in any other industry.
Ultimately scoring as an endeavor is something I do because I have to. I’m a compulsive categorizer. Like I said, I’ll fall madly in love with a 4 if it’s fun. We all go to the movies for different reasons and there’s beauty and substance in our mutual love for this artistic medium alone. Don’t get too wrapped up in my scores; they’re more of an expression of my personality with the understanding that yours can be different and that that can fuel a fun, interesting conversation.
