Film Critic Rating Methodology

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10 - Cinematic Masterpiece

9 - Exceptional

8 - Great

7 - Good

6 - Better than Mediocre

5 - Mediocre

4 - Poor or forgettable

3 - Uninteresting or poorly made

2 - Severely flawed execution

1 - Unwatchable

0 - Incomplete or unfinished

Acting

Cinematography

Dialogue

Directing

Editing

Overall Attraction

Plot

Soundtrack

Theme

X-Factor

As of January 2, 2026, Shade Studios uses a weighted rating system to ensure consistency among all our critic's coverage universes.  Each film critic's rating, if they have written at minimum 50 reviews, is weighted using a proprietary model that considers multiple factors but not limited to:

(i) a critic's average rating across their own coverage universe

(ii) a critic's rating compared to ratings across the team's entire coverage universe   

(iii) a critic's historical track record at film festivals, if film-festival specific

(iv) a critic's track record of similar films in the genre

Decimals are permitted with tenth increments.  Some ratings are subjectively assigned but others may be a straight calculation of the graded areas above, averaged together.

For our Letterboxd equivalent ratings, Shade ratings may not always correlate to the five star system and space is allowed for each critic to subjectively round up or round down to best reflect their own rating on the Letterboxd platform.

For Rotten Tomatoes-eligible critics, the Shade rating and Rotten Tomatoes fresh/rotten recommendation correlation is not a positive linear relationship.  Whereas Shade ratings above a 6.0 are generally considered to warrant a "Fresh" rating, there is no guarantee that every rating over a 6.0 will results in a "Fresh" recommendation.  

In addition, since a full film review contains more complete information concerning the critic's views, readers should carefully read the critic's review, in its entirety, and not infer the contents from the numerical rating alone.  A reader's decision to see or not see a film should depend on individual circumstances, such as the reader's personal taste and preferences among other considerations.

Where possible, Shade Studios will indicate how a critic's rating compares with their coverage universe, to further provide context to the numerical rating's relative strength or weakness to historical grades.