Here's a quick guide to what various ratings mean to me when I rate a movie.  It's important to realize that I have a very steep curve; even a rating of 5 qualifies as a watchable film.

 

10 - I reserve this for very few movies.  I've been doing this rating thing for about five years now and I think there have been fewer than five movies qualifying as a 10.  A film which resoundingly excels at story, character development, and cinematography.

 

9 - A film with very few problems yet doesn't quite soar enough to garner a 10.  Perhaps I felt the movie was slightly long or didn't like a particular scene.  Nines are also few and far between.  Both nine and ten films leave you thinking about the story long after you have watched it.

 

8 - A very good film.  Does well at the three basics of film (story, character development and cinematography).  May have editing issues (too long) or isolated problems with certain characters.

 

7 - A very solid film.  Seven is the start of what I consider to be a pretty good film.  May have done well in two of the three basics of film.  An example would be a very good action film which had an intriguing story, great cinematography and effects, but was typically light on character development.

 

6 - A good film.  Films which rate a six have flashes of brilliance, but fail to carry through completely.  Good "popcorn" films often rate a 6.  Character development is often neglected or left to just one core character.  The story may have holes in it representing lazy writing.

 

5 - A watchable film.  This is my minimal rating for what I would consider a recommended movie.  May neglect two of the three basics of film but show brilliance in the remaining feature.  Action/sci-fi films which are incredible in their CG effects but rely too heavily on them would likely get a five.

 

4 - A film which mainly fails.  The biggest culprit is usually lazy writing.  Dialogue is left to one liners and what is only necessary to advance the plot.  The story is completely predictable outside of perhaps the ubiquitous "twist ending".  If there is a twist, it is completely unforseeable and makes little sense in the story other than to mix things up.  Character development is minimal.

 

3 - I'm pretty disappointed I saw it.  We're getting down there now.  I tend to be picky with which films I watch so I tend to have few films I rate at 3 or below.  The film has some flaw which I cannot get past.  Doesn't engage me at all.

 

2 or less - I turn these off.  Why do we feel we need to finish a movie when it is clearly so poor?