About Ratings

Any rating system is to some extent an arbitrary one, so here's an explanation of how movies are rated on the movieroll. Movies are rated from 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest rating. The rating is indicated by the little dots being either filled or empty with a maximum of 5 filled dots.

I'll be the first person to point out that I'm not a professional movie critic. I'm just some guy who watches movies and jots down what he thinks of them. I pay attention to such things as storyline development, music, effects and acting that strikes me as believable. I'm about as biased, frivolous and moody as you might expect from any human being.

The aim of the rating is to provide an indication of how much I liked the movie, without being overly precise so as to provide at least a semblance of consistency over many years of rating movies. That's why it's not 1 to 10, for instance. I'd never be able to explain why some movie I found "pretty much OK" 5 years ago got a 6, whereas one from last week got a 7. And if you asked me straight up, I'd indicate they were similarly enjoyed. Not that I need to explain myself at all, but that's a different story.

That being said, you might expect some elitist view of what constitutes a "good" movie to seep into the rating system. In which case, you will be disappointed. I can stomach movies of quite different ilk and tend to rate them by what I expect from a certain type of movie. If that sounds complicated, what I mean is: I don't expect an action movie to be littered with quotes from Shakespeare. Neither do I expect to get lots of laughs from a war drama based on actual events. But if someone were to make an action movie with lots of Shakespeare quotes that made me laugh, that would most likely yield a high rating. (Just kidding; no it wouldn't, because I'm unlikely to actually recognize the quotes as originating from Shakespeare).

This is the easiest way to interpret the various ratings:

	I found this movie to be extraordinarily good. It's most likely one of my favorite movies and shines in many areas.
	Above average. This could mean the plot is surprising, the action is riveting, or I choked on some popcorn at the punchline of some joke. Really, there were some things that made this one stand out from the crowd.
	OK. Not great, not poor. Pretty much average.
	This movie doesn't meet my expectations for this kind of movie.
	I prefer scraping my nails across a blackboard for over an hour above this movie. Although I pulled through, this rating serves as a warning that you might not make it to the end. Consider it a service from me as a free alternative to expensive counseling you might otherwise require.

Take a look at the movies by rating on this page.