It's always bothered me seeing a movie rated out of 4. I wrote this because I was just on Rotten Tomatoes which counts a 60% as a positive which means a 2/4 would make it a 50% and a 3/4 would make it 75%. Even if we're not on Rotten Tomatoes it's still stupid to do it. We wouldn't rate things out of 8, so why do they stop at 4?
share1 = it sucks. Stay away. Don’t waste your time or money
2 = it’s bad but might have one or two good things, like a good scene or one actor puts on a good show. Has a niche appeal or potential to be a cult classic
3 = it’s generally good but has some flaws, like a bad ending or flaws in the production. Maybe skip the cinema but watch it on streaming.
4 = it is a good product, it might even be excellent. In any case, you won’t waste your money.
I look at 2.5/5 like it's average, 3/5 is above average, 3.5/5 is where we starting getting to "good enough to recommend."
shareI didnt even know 4/4 stars was a thing until my early teens. I remember seeing an ad on TV for a movie that had a critical review giving it “four stars!”, and I thought “kinda weird that they’re boasting about how they got a 4/5 stars, which is an 80/100. Like, it’s good, but not critic-quote worthy.” It wasn’t until I started following Roger Ebert that I realized 4/4 stars was a thing.
I still don’t get it, honestly. What about 6/6? 7/7? 3/3? People say “why do you need the range for 5/5 or 10/10?” But through basic math, you’ll get the same number anyways. A 2.5/4 equals a 6.35/10, which is WAY more specific and unnecessary than 3/5 or 6/10. People say giving something .5 is pointless, but .35 is alright?
I think people used out of 4 so it would be easier to find the percentage but then people started noticing they needed a wider range.
share4 is not enough, at least 5 offers more nuance. The difference between 50% and 75% is too big.
shareSome people would say go for 2.5/4 because it's 62% but I still think it's strange. If you make it out of five, you get more even percentages and it even looks better:
0.5/5 = 10%
1.0/5 = 20%
1.5/5 = 30%
2.0/5 = 40%
2.5/5 = 50%
3.0/5 = 60%
3.5/5 = 70%
4.0/5 = 80%
4.5/5 = 90%
5.0/5 = 100%
I think 4-rating is good enough from the consumer prespective. It is mostly used as TV guides of some sort...
1 is wasting your time
(Birdemic, The Last Airbender)
2 is for when you have nothing to do / popular but flawed
(Sharknado, Batman v Superman)
3 is for good but not very mainstream / you might like
(Megamind, John Wick)
4 is for recommended / anything that's trendy / must see
(Basically all succesful blockbusters... Disney/ Marvel, Joker, The Godfather, etc.)
So it's not rating the objective quality of the art per se, but more on what enjoyment you might recieve from such an entertainment.
That's how my brother rates his movies, I prefer to rate things out of either 5's or 10's.
shareIt is odd it kind of means that there isn't a middle ground. You would think out of 5 would be better if you wanted it that low or even 3 although that doesn't leave much wiggle room.
sharei think 10 is a good measure
share