Ratings Scale

You know, the process of reviewing movies is not a simple one.  It requires a lot of genuine thought and evaluation, from a movie's story, to its direction, all the way to the most obscure of details.  However, that is only part of how I review movies at The Fanboy Review, the rest is entirely based upon gut reaction.  How did I feel when watching the movie?  Those sort of things.  With that all said, I figured I would take the time to share with you more about how movies are reviewed at The Fanboy Review.

For starters, there are three types of reviews at The Fanboy Review...


First, there are plain old Movie Reviews.  This the heading I use for new movies that have been released within the past year.


Second, there are Vintage Movie Reviews.  Being still relatively young, I have not seen every single movie ever made, and a lot of times I am seeing older movies for the very first time.  When I review any movie that is not a current release within the past year, that is when a review gets labeled a Vintage Movie Review.


Third, there are Second Takes.  A Second Take review is when I re-review a movie I have already reviewed once.  Sometimes as you age, your opinions on certain movies change.  Other times there are other factors that affect your initial impressions of a movie.  Sometimes you saw the movie with a bad audience or the there was a technical error at the theater that hampered the experience.  Then there are the times where I just wasn't in the right mood for the kind of movie that I was reviewing, and trust me, head space can affect your impression of a movie a lot.  And then there's the challenge of a movie not meeting all of your expectations, and you treat it more harshly than it should be treated.  I have fallen victim to all of these things before, which is why I do Second Take reviews.  Now this is not me saying that I disagree with my initial review of a movie, because I do believe that what I thought then is what I truly believed about the movie.  As people we change, and as a part of whatever change I went on in the intervening years, that is why I feel Second Takes are important.


So those are the three types of reviews at The Fanboy Review.  Now on every type of review, I rate movies on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the absolute worst, and 10 being the absolute best.  Here's a full break down of what I think every number means, so that you can better understand what I am saying when I rate a movie a 5 out of 10, or a 7 out of 10, or...  You get the picture.


10 out of 10 - A great movie that is an instant classic.


9 out of 10 - A great movie that lacks a final emotional or philosophical push to make it a true classic.


8 out of 10 -  A good movie with a few flaws that can easily be overlooked.


7 out of 10 - A movie with many flaws, but is emotional or thoughtful enough to still be good.


6 out of 10 - An OK movie that has enough OK moments to make it worth seeing once.


5 out of 10 - An OK movie.  You should proceed with caution.  This is not for everyone.


4 out of 10 - This movie might be an acquired taste for some, but for the rest it's not even OK.


3 out of 10 - This is a bad movie that might have had good intentions, but never worked at all.


2 out of 10 - This is a truly bad movie that you're truly grateful to see end.


1 out of 10 - This movie is unwatchable.  Absolutely never watch this movie.


So now, hopefully you have gotten a better understanding of the way movies are reviewed at The Fanboy Review.  Happy reading!