MD’s Movie Grade Guide Criteria

Over the past decade plus, many have enjoyed, debated, disagreed, and agreed with the “grades” that I’ve given the movies I’ve seen. As somebody who used to be a paid movie reviewer (before going to graduate school and pursuing a career in education), I understand that every critic has their own criteria for how to ultimately judge a film.

Mike’s Movie Grade Guide (since its creation in 2000) has always tried its best to align itself with Academy Award standards, meaning that I look at everything from costume design, makeup, choreography, and cinematography to the writing and acting performances themselves. As a published author, however, I admittedly place a great deal more on the quality of writing that informs the creative storytellers (e.g. Directors, Producers, and Actors) involved. Simply put, without “good” writing, the story is usually doomed to fail.

Times have dramatically shifted though in Hollywood since 2000, and one of the primary differences is what I call the “Marvelization” of movies. Gone are the days of solid, “good” action-adventure flicks (in the vein of films like “Die Hard”, “The Fugitive”, and “The Goonies”), and ushered in are the days where action films need displays of super human powers and over-the-top special effects at the expense of “good” writing. “Marvelized” movies (so-to-speak) will never compete for the Academy Award of ‘Best Picture’, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t sometimes fun to watch.

So while Mike’s Movie Grade Guide will continue to present a final grade in accordance to Academy Award-type standards, I’m introducing a new element to help readers figure out if a particular movie is for them or not, because I realize that not everybody goes to the movies to experience Academy Award type of brilliance. Some people go to just unplug from the world and they don’t need deep themes that make them think about life and how to be better human beings. Explosions, cheesy one-liners, and simple plotlines are exactly what they are looking for.

Mike’s Movie Grade Guide will now feature a “Certified Good” (CG), “Certified Fun” (CF), and “Certified Good & Fun” (CG&F) labels along with its grade (or no label at all).

“Certified Good” (CG) will be an indicator of if a film displays Academy Award type brilliance.

“Certified Fun” (CF) will be an indicator of if a film allows one to unplug from reality and forget the troubles of reality for 2+ hours.

“Certified Good & Fun” (CG&F) will be an indicator of if a film does both of the above.

Some examples of films that are “Good”, but not “Fun” are “Hurt Locker”, “Moonlight”, and “Schindler’s List”.

Some examples of films that are “Fun”, but not “Good” are “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, “Fast and the Furious”, and just about any Will Ferrell movie.

Some examples of films that are both “Good” and “Fun” are “Forrest Gump”, “Gladiator”, and “Little Miss Sunshine”

Some examples of films that aren’t in either category are “The New World”, “Shooter”, and “The American”.