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# Why my movie reviews seem a little harsh
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/why-my-movie-reviews-seem-a-little-harsh/
- Published: 2024-11-22T22:49:42.000Z
- Updated: 2024-11-22T22:49:42.000Z
- Author: Matt Birchler
- Tags: #Import 2025-03-29 19:29

I've watched 101 movies so far this year and I reviewed them all in [this thread](https://isfeeling.social/@matt/113507853951324610?ref=birchtree.me) on Mastodon (I'll be doing this [on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/birchtree.me?ref=birchtree.me) as well starting soon). Now,m truth be told, I love movies, and I think most movies I choose to watch are a pretty good time, but this is not the impression everyone gets from my films. Why is that? Well, two things come to mind.

## What my scale actually means

I give movies one of four classifications, and I think despite trying to make these clear, they're still seen as overly negative by some people. Here's what I mean with each score:

- **Loved it!**: *I adored this movie* and it connected with me enough that I would consider it a movie that you could use to define my taste. I didn't just like it a lot, I adored it. I think everyone should watch these movies, even if you aren't interested in them.
- **Liked it**: *I very much enjoyed* spending my time watching this movie. It didn't elevate itself to the "this defines Matt" category above. Again, I very well may have liked the movie a lot.
- **Decent**: *I am glad I watched it*, but it probably didn't connect with me a ton. That doesn't mean it's bad, it's just decent. If you told me you were interested in a movie I gave this score, I'd say go ahead and see it, you might like it. If you aren't interested in it, then I wouldn't tell you to go out of your way to see it, though. **This one seems to throw people the most.**
- **Didn't like it**: *I felt like I wasted my time*. I did not enjoy it and I don't recommend it to anyone. This one I think is pretty clear.

Also, these are impressions moments after watching the film. Don't take them as dogmatic beliefs and don't think of them as objective measures of a film (this is why I moved away from scores called "great", "good", and "bad" which implied objective states rather than subjective opinions.

## If I like everything, you don't get anything out of my opinions

Another aspect is that I'm posting a lot of reviews and if I just say I loved everything, then you don't get any useful information when I post one. I don't use the "loved it" score often, so when I do, it should make you raise an eyebrow. If everything is special, then nothing is special, after all.

Having a larger range in scores for the films I watch also gives you an idea of my taste. Maybe you have similar taste to me or maybe you don't, but if I say everything's good or everything's bad, then you don't know anything about me and you don't know how much weight to put on my opinion.

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Of course, this is just for me and maybe you want to do things differently. That's cool, you do you! I just wanted to share why I review things the way I do and what my scores mean.