The Twizard Rating System

I had always struggled with giving films ratings out of 5 or 10. There is so much that goes into making a movie, and so many details to consider when critiquing them. How can we just grade them out of 5 points?

So a few years back, I decided to come up with my own 100-point rating system. Wine is graded using a 100-point system, so why shouldn’t something that is equally as complex, such as film, do the same?

I’m a firm believer that there is good and bad in every film, and my rating system attempts to prove this. Should a bad film be on the same level as a much much more terrible film? The good amongst the bad is where my rating system comes in and can help compare the two.

Here’s how I break it down:
1-60 pts = How much I personally like the movie. Let’s say that I would give a film an 87% based off of my personal taste, I would calculate it so that it would come out to a portion of 60 points ((87 * 60)/100 = 52.2, but I would just round to 52). The amount that a person likes a movie is a really huge part of their final consensus. I picked the number 60 because it’s an acceptable portion without taking up too big a fraction of the total.

1-10 pts = Script. Dialogue, storyline, character development.

1-10 pts = Story. I’ve dedicated 20 points to the script and story because I feel that it’s the most important aspect to a film being technically sound. Most of the film can be attributed to a good or bad script. The script and story greatly contribute to the film as a whole, as they are the foundation. As for the story specifically, its points may also reflect the direction and narrative of the movie.

1-10 pts = Character depth and development. I usually break it up as 5 points for the depth/complexity of the character and 5 points for the overall story arc of the character. A small piece of this also reflects how well the actor portrays the character (which is another category on its own).

1-5 pts = Acting.

Other Categories: These are 5 categories that are allocated one point each if they succeed at doing a good job. If they do a great or exceptional job, they can be given 2 or 3 points, respectively. These categories are Directing/Editing, Cinematography, Art, Effects, and Sound/Music. So, although a film could technically get up to 110 points, it will just be rounded down to the 100 point ceiling.