No More Ratings
When I used to use Plot (RIP) to track movies that had a thumbs up or down system. When I switched to my own CMS for this I did the same thing. Then when I switched to Letterboxd I translated what was essentially a 1-3 rating system to the five-star system (even though it's actually out of ten not five) Letterboxd uses. From my Letterboxd profile:
★☆☆☆☆ : Never again
★★★☆☆ : Fine
★★★★★ : Good movie, would watch again
The problem with this system is I mostly don't watch bad movies. Or a better way to put it is I kinda like bad movies. Despite knowing intellectually that Shawshank Redemption is a "better" movie than Olympus Has Fallen they're both rated 5 stars in my system. I could change my system to use the full spectrum of the five stars but I just don't have the energy or the inclination to do it. How do I decide what gets 4.5 stars and what gets a 5? Is there really a discernible difference between those two ratings? Also, who gives a shit what number I've ordained upon a movie?
So fuck it. No more ratings.
@robb Guess you got owned too hard by that guy from the other day 😬
@pseudorizer still crying now
@robb I’ve always found rating anything to be really hard. I always end up fighting internally with myself on having a really consistent system which I’ll never stick to. My ideal would be 👍/👎 as a “liked it / didn’t like it” plus an optional ⭐️ to say “this stood out as special to me”.
@robb after rating over 3000 movies between 1–10 over fifteen+ years I feel the same. Hard to compare a documentary, low-budget horror and a summer popcorn blockbuster. And by avoiding DVD-bin-esque movies you rarely actually get 1–3 ratings. Is that comedy really as good as that “classic”.
They’re my ratings, based on feeling *at the time* and it’s all subjective so I’m never wrong!
@dunc That would be good. Being consistent is the hard part which is why I've given up.
@trovster The comparison is where I was having issues - I don't think nearly as deeply about movies as other people so for me, I barely have the capacity to rate on a 3 scale let alone out of 10.
@robb Amen. Also I love your website design.
@Ampsonic Thank you 😁
@robb Sorry to learn you've taken this decision. If I may try and answer your (rhetorical) question, 'who gives a s**t what number I've ordained upon a movie?', your Letterboxd followers probably do/did. I actually started followed you recently, in part because of your interesting rating system. Also, I suspect you care about whether you liked a film. At least, I like to have a log of films I watched, and I like to find out years later how my taste has changed in time. Thanks for 'listening' 🙂