Ratings

I'm a movie nut. I like to watch movies. Sure I like to get outside once in awhile and do outdoorsy, active things, but most nights I enjoy just watching a movie. Or sometimes I combine them both and do some nice outdoor activity or something that involves travel, but then just end the night with a movie. That is my perfect day. Movies are awesome. I quote them all the time. Sometimes, I don't even mean to quote them. They are just so ingrained in my being that the movie lines just come out. I even wonder sometimes what heaven will be like and I like to think that we will be able to watch back our lives on  Celestial-Ray Discs  or something. I could watch some of the cool things I did. Like that time a fly was resting on my elbow and I caught it in my hand - That was pretty cool. Maybe instead of watching it on a Disc, it would be more like YouTube. Maybe I could just type in a search, such as  "That one time I caught a fly off of my elbow" and it would pop up and I could watch it and leave a comment like, "That was awesome!" (because it was). Anyway, I'm getting side tracked, back to the original point. I like movies and I've seen a lot. Maybe not as much as my amazingly awesome brother, but I've still seen a lot and I like them. Do you get what I am trying to say here?

There are a ton of movie rating systems out there, and frankly, I think they are all crap. 3 out of 5 stars. Two thumbs up! 3 out of 3 stars! 4 and 1/2 bees. If I am reading about two different movies and they both get "Two Thumbs up" how am I supposed to know which one is better? Which one get the better thumbs up (I imagine in this situation that one set of thumbs has warts and the other one doesn't. Obviously I would want to see the unwarted movie). All the different rating systems kind of remind me of those surveys that I hate to answer. The ones where they ask you to fill in one of the following circles: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree. A lot of the times, none of those answers work. It's like on Netflix, they ask you to rate movies and the choices are: Hated It, Didn't Like It, Liked It, Really Liked It, Loved It. How am I supposed to rate all my movies based on those ratings? And however I rate things on Netflix determines what kind of suggestions they will give me. How am I supposed to show my different feelings for different movies. I might " Really Like" two different movies but I like one a bit more than the other, but I don't quite "Love" the better one. What am I supposed to do in that situation, huh Netflix??

Rotten Tomatoes has found a pretty good system that I am quite satisfied with. They pull all the critic reviews from around the world (it might just be the USA, but around the world sounds cooler) and then give the movie a percentage rating based on whether the reviews were favorable reviews or bad reviews. So if the critic gives a good review, the movie would get a fresh tomato rating. If they movie gets a bad review, it gets a rotten tomato rating. Then they add all those up and take a percentage and boom, you know how good the movie is. It gives you 100 different options instead of just a few. That is a great system. So when people ask me from now on how a movie was, I will give them a number from 1 to 100. At least, that is one way I'll do it. The other way, is more of a system just for myself, but I occasionally share this rating system with others as well.

So, my rating system.... Let's call it... Mike's Movie Rating System. Or MMRS for short (I am very creative). And here it goes:

1. I never want to watch this movie again. I will turn it off if it's on TV or leave a party if it is the movie of choice (Example: The Lorax)
2. I didn't like this movie. I'd really rather not watch it again, but if it was on TV and I couldn't find the remote I'd watch it. Or if it was the movie choice at a social gathering, I'd stay but I'd probably play a little Where's my Water on my phone while "watching". (Example: Gulliver's Travels)
3. I liked this movie alright. If it were on TV at some point in the future I'd set the DVR to record it. Or if it was on Netflix instant viewing I'd watch it again. (Example: Iron Man 2)
4. I liked this movie (proceeded by a shoulder shrug). I'd buy it if it showed up in the Walmart 5-dollar bin. (Example: Clueless)
5. I liked this movie (said with a smile, while nodding). I'd buy it if its on sale somewhere or if I have some gift cards to use. (Example: Grown Ups)
6. I really liked this movie. I'm going to buy it as soon as its out of theaters. (Example: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol)
7. I really really liked this movie. In fact, I may go see it again in the theaters with somebody else. (Example: Inception, The Dark Knight).

I know that seven is only two more than five stars, and with stars you can do halves and such, so that would actually make 10 different options. BUT, with my system, the possibilities are endless. You can just say how you felt about a movie (this could be a plethora of words. Such as "meh","it was fun", "cool", wobble your hand side to side in a "so-so" motion, etc etc) and then just add on what your future plans are for the movie. Its a perfect system! That's all I am saying. And now I am done. Just thought I'd share.