Are you a tough or easy film critic?

[zorbonaut]

I'm not sure how many people on the forum use the ratings function but I'm always curious how my film ratings stack up against everyone else's. I always thought I was a fair when it came to ratings but maybe I'm actually a bit harsher than others after looking at my numbers.

Of the nearly 1200 films that I've rated on imdb and then imported to Blu-Ray.com, my average score is 5.99 which is -1.26 lower than the average rating. I usually only watch films that I think I'll enjoy (with a few exceptions), so this number could actually be quite a bit lower if I watched many of the films that come out in the theater. Keep in mind, I've only been consistently rating films since 2012 and I've been an avid filmgoer for almost 40 years so their is a huge gap in the films that are not rated. I do revisit older films often and also rate films that I watched in the past if I have a good recollection of a particular film.

I'm a little stingy when it comes to giving out perfect scores as I have only given 17 films a perfect 10 out of those nearly 1200 ratings but I also almost never give out a score of 1 (only 6 films).

I'm curious as to the film rating habits of others in the forum.

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

Do you rate films at all?

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

Please share your overall average if you have them imported to Blu-Ray.com

[Markgway]

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

TOUGH

Do you rate films at all?

YES

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

OH, YEAH.

[Groot]

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

Easy. I'm usually looking to be entertained, I don't feel the need to nitpick over most films.

Do you rate films at all?

I did, but I mostly stopped cause I don't care. I may vote in polls, but to actively rate a film now is something that does not interest me in the slightest.

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

I've been on opposite sides of the fence before. Highly rating something like BvS, but giving a lower rating to something like The Witch.

[levcore]

On movies I enjoy i'm pretty easy, on movies I don't i'm tough

[llj]

I'm not a good critic, I don't really respond to films in practical ways anymore. So I don't necessarily go down a checklist "Is the directing good? Script? Acting?" The important thing is I get something out of it. I can respond well to an objectively bad film and be totally cold to a really well made one.

[imsounoriginal]

I tend to find something good in most movies I watch, but that's mainly because I avoid most movies I can tell I probably wouldn't like. But I'm tough when it comes to overpraising movies; I very rarely call a movie great and even more rarely call anything perfect or a masterpiece.

[octagon]

Overall I'm probably pretty easy. Basically anything that's not embarrassingly bad starts with a C and moving the needle up is probably a little easier than moving it down. I also try to take films on their own terms rather than rate them according to what I wish they were.

Do I rate films? Generally no. I don't really care for stars or letter grades or the like. Liked it, loved it, didn't much care for it, couldn't even finish it...that's pretty much my grading system. The main exception is the October horror thread here every year. I've really come to like sharing my ratings of all the films I watch as well as reading everybody else's.

[Jasonic]

I would say I'm pretty easy for the most part. I always try to look for the positives in everything, and make sure to judge movies accordingly to the intention. The number one thing I look for is simple entertainment, which doesn't take a whole lot for me since I enjoy the movie watching experience no matter if I end up liking the film or not. I tend to rate most movies a 3.5/5 or 4/5. And according to my letterboxd, since I started using it, I have had a positive reaction to 72% of the movies I've seen, which is 3.5/5 and higher. Though I'm probably just as tough to giving something a negative review as I'm giving a film a 4.5/5 or 5/5.

Three recent films that have bad critical consensus that I have liked are Warcraft (3.5/5), Independence Day Resurgence (3.5/5), and The Legend of Tarzan (4/5).

[zorbonaut]

To answer one of my own questions:

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

One of the biggest surprises is that I rate the remake of Sabrina (1995) a perfect 10 which is 3.5 points higher than the average user. I just think it is the perfect example of a romantic film. It has great humor and is just so well directed in my opinion. I was always a big Sydney Pollack fan as both an actor and director and its too bad that he died a few years back.

[Foggy]

I'm a honest film critic, if I'm not entertained by something, I tend to dig for reasons, but if I enjoy something I won't actively find ways to pull it apart.

According to the site, my average score is 6.92, which is 0.49 less than the average of the films I've seen. I tend to avoid things I won't enjoy, so I think it shows me as quite easy, I know my ratings on Letterboxd are massively skewed towards being positive.

[Astro Zombie]

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

No

Do you rate films at all?

Yes

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

Maybe

[Rodney-2187]

I would be the worst critic ever because I genuinely like almost everything and love a great many. The list of movies I don't like is very short.

I think the problem is people want a movie to be what they thought it was instead of trying to appreciate what it actually is.

Plus I rate based on my own enjoyment and not on what others may think.

[kurtis21]

Originally Posted by rodneyfaile

I would be the worst critic ever because I genuinely like almost everything and love a great many. The list of movies I don't like is very short.

I think the problem is people want a movie to be what they thought it was instead of trying to appreciate what it actually is.

Plus I rate based on my own enjoyment and not on what others may think.

I'm on the same page as Rodney here....I try to find the best in most movies. So I generally like most of the ones I watch.

[Captain Flint]

I'm an easy critic. I either like something or don't. I don't waste my time sitting there absolutely tearing apart something I don't like. I shrug my shoulders, say "Oh well. I gave it a shot" and move on with my life.

It seems like a lot of movie watchers have an agenda. It's like they want to tear everything a new ass hole because they can. I watch movies to kill a couple hours. I'm just along for the ride.

[seabterry]

Originally Posted by kurtis21

I'm on the same page as Rodney here....I try to find the best in most movies. So I generally like most of the ones I watch.

Finding the best is all well and good until you see something like The Room or Birdemic. Then you know you have seen the worst the medium has to offer.

[Michael24]

For the most part I think I'm fairly easy to please. I don't need everything about a movie to be absolutely perfect, and I like my thinking man's movies as much as I like my cheesefests. However, it does seem like in recent years when I dislike a movie, I really dislike it. I can't really point to specifics as to what I look for because it can always vary. Something I might like in one movie could be present in another movie but just not work for me there.

[MisterPilgrim]

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

I'm pretty easy if it's a film that appeals to me. If it's not, then I tend to be a bit tougher on it.


Do you rate films at all?

Of course.


Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

Yes. Many.

[Troll2fan]

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

I think I'm a bit of both. I tend to be less harsh on most popcorn type action/fantasy than I am on some other genres.



Do you rate films at all?

Yes, when I think about doing so, but it's not automatic for me to rate a movie.

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

Oh, I'm sure.

Overall average for movies is 6.82.

[ThatOneGuy]

Are you a tough or easy film critic?

I'd say I'm in the middle. I know films are made to entertain for the most part but I also look at them objectively. I'm mean to the films that I love, I'm nice to the ones I don't like.

Do you rate films at all?

I did but I haven't for some time.

Are their any films that you've rated either really high or low that may surprise others?

If you know my taste in film and how I critique, probably not. I can't think of any post where I gave my score of a film that made people question me. Although I'm sure if I gave my score of L'Avventura, the cinema lovers would probably jump me... such a boring, torturous movie.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by kurtis21

I'm on the same page as Rodney here....I try to find the best in most movies. So I generally like most of the ones I watch.

And there's the other side of being a glass is half-full kind of reviewer: I'm much more inclined to rave about the movies I loved than to trash the ones I didn't. That's not to say trashing movies can't be fun but I would much rather spend my time raving about Ex Machina than *****ing about Looper.