The Fi1m score 92
The number in the red box is our opinion, and it is presented as such. It is produced alongside the review, from the same reading of the film: what it sets out to do, how well the craft serves that, and whether it is worth your evening. It is not an average of anything, and it is not adjusted to sit near the critics' number, though we do watch the two over time and ask ourselves questions if they drift apart for a whole genre.
A Fi1m score is out of 100 because that gives us room to distinguish a very good film from a great one, which stars do not. The number is never the point; the review is. If the two ever disagree, trust the review.
The critics' score
A single figure that summarises what the UK and international press thought. We read each review, record the publication's own rating where it gives one, and convert it to the same scale:
| Published as | Becomes |
|---|---|
| Stars out of five | × 20 (half stars × 10) |
| Out of ten | × 10 |
| Out of four | × 25 |
| Letter grade | A+ 100, A 95, A− 90, B+ 85, B 80, B− 75, C+ 70, C 60, C− 50, D 35, F 15 |
| No rating | Scored from the review's verdict and marked inferred on the film page |
Scores are combined as a weighted mean. Publications on our core list of national newspapers, film magazines and long-standing critics carry a weight of 1.0; others carry 0.7. We do not show a critics' score until at least six reviews are in; before that the page says "Not enough reviews yet" and gives the count. Every review we count is linked from the film page, with the publication, the critic, the date and a one-line summary, so you can check our arithmetic.
We do not licence or copy scores from other aggregators. The critics' score is our own reading of the press.
Whose reviews we count
A fixed list, reviewed quarterly, of publications with a masthead, an editor and named critics. UK national and film press first, because you are deciding what to watch here; the American majors and trades for breadth; a smaller set of specialist titles for genre, animation and television.
| UK | US and international | Specialist |
|---|---|---|
| The Guardian · The Observer · The Telegraph · The Times and Sunday Times · Financial Times · The Independent · Evening Standard · The i Paper · Empire · Total Film · Sight and Sound · Little White Lies · Time Out · Radio Times · Screen Daily | RogerEbert.com · The New York Times · The New Yorker · Los Angeles Times · Variety · The Hollywood Reporter · IndieWire · The AV Club · Vulture · Slant · Film Comment | Den of Geek · Digital Spy · NME · The Skinny · Film Stories · HeyUGuys · Eye for Film · The Playlist · /Film · Collider · Paste · Consequence · The Ringer · Polygon · Deadline · The Wrap |
Specialist titles carry a lower weight in the mean than the first two columns. We never count YouTube or podcast reviews, sites without a named critic, or the numbers published by other aggregators. Every review counted is linked from the film's page.
The audience score
What Fi1m members thought, from their own star ratings, converted to 100 the same way. Only members can rate, one rating per person per title, and a rating can be changed but not multiplied. Ratings from very new accounts carry less weight for their first month, which takes most of the fun out of brigading. The audience score appears once fifty members have rated a title; below that we show how many have.
We do not scrape or reproduce audience figures from IMDb, Letterboxd or anywhere else. If our audience score is small, that is because our audience is honest.
What the bands mean
On browse pages and in Discover, scores are coloured by band. The same bands apply to all three scores.
| Band | Range | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 70+ | 70 to 100 | Positive. Worth your evening, with the review telling you why and for whom. |
| 45 | 45 to 69 | Mixed. Something in it, but read the review before committing two hours. |
| <45 | 0 to 44 | Negative. We'll tell you what went wrong, and occasionally why you might still enjoy it. |
Why one review per title
Most review sites publish several takes on the same film, and the reader ends up doing the aggregating. We publish one, and we make it earn its place: a clear verdict, specifics about the craft, an honest account of the flaws in films we like and the virtues in films we don't, and no spoilers past the first act. Members can add their own reviews beneath it, under their own names, and those are a genuinely separate voice.
When a score changes
The critics' score moves as reviews are published, and the audience score as members rate. The Fi1m score changes rarely and only when the review does: a re-watch, a restoration, a correction of fact that alters the argument. When that happens the film page shows the previous score and the date it changed, and the change is listed on the corrections page. We do not revise scores because a film has become fashionable, or unfashionable.