Methodology

How we rate films

Every film on this site carries a score out of 100 and a rating out of five. Here is exactly what those numbers mean, how we arrive at them, and what they deliberately do not measure.

What the scores mean

The score is a whole number from 1 to 100. It is not an average of category scores and it is not derived from any external source. It is a single judgement, written down, and then tested against the argument in the review. If the argument does not support the number, the number changes.

Score	Rating	What it means
95–100	5 / 5	Essential. A film we expect to still be watched and argued about in thirty years, and one we would defend in detail against any objection.
88–94	4.5–5 / 5	Outstanding. Reserve your evening for it. Any flaws are real but do not undermine what the film achieves.
80–87	4 / 5	Strong. We would recommend it without hesitation to anyone interested in the genre or subject.
70–79	3.5 / 5	Good with reservations. Something substantial works, and something substantial does not. Worth your time if the subject interests you.
55–69	3 / 5	Mixed. The film is doing something, but it does not add up. We would explain what before recommending it.
40–54	2 / 5	Weak. A specific failure — script, structure, or direction — that the rest of the film cannot compensate for.
Below 40	1 / 5	We would tell you not to bother, and explain exactly why.

What we consider

We assess five things, in this order of weight:

1. Structure and screenplay. Does the film know what it is doing? Is the shape of the story purposeful, or does it collapse under its own weight? We weight this most heavily because it is the hardest thing to fix and the most consequential.
2. Direction and staging. How does the film communicate? Does the camera do work or merely record? Can you follow the geography of a scene, and does the staging carry meaning?
3. Performance. Not the volume of the acting but the coherence of it. We favour restraint and physical specificity over declaration.
4. Technical craft. Photography, editing, score, sound, production design. We assess these as arguments rather than as decoration — the question is whether they serve the film's purpose.
5. Durability. Will this still be worth watching in a decade, or does it depend on a moment, a technology, or a trend?

What we deliberately ignore

We do not weight box office, awards, cultural ubiquity, or how many people have seen a film. These are measures of reach, not quality, and they systematically reward the same films. A film that nobody watched can score 96, and a film that everybody watched can score 55.

We also do not adjust scores to fit a consensus. Our ranked lists are built from our own numbers and they frequently disagree with each other across genres, which is a feature rather than a bug.

How we watch

Every film is watched at least twice before a score is written, and the second viewing is usually with the sound design and the editing in mind rather than the plot. Reviews are written after the score, not before, and the score is revised if the argument does not support it. We publish the date on every review so you can see how current it is.

Corrections

If we misstate a fact — a date, a credit, a runtime — we correct it and note the change at the foot of the review. Scores are only revised when we rewatch a film and change our minds, and when that happens we say so explicitly. We do not quietly edit numbers.

Frequently asked questions