Apples and oranges. When you’re grading movies from 1 to 5 stars, you’re not looking for infinite granularity.

When I first started doing reviews here, I asked if we had half-stars, and the decision was, no, because once you give half-stars, you might as well be grading from 1 to 10. And I agree with that stance.

Also, one has to decide; if you’d only give a 10 to a perfect movie, than probably almost every movie would fall short, except your half-dozen favorite movies from childhood, or the proverbial CITIZEN KANEs, or whatever.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD is an amazing powerhouse performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. But overall the movie has uneven parts.

THE TEN is a collection of comedy sketches. In rating from 1 to 5, I’m not rating whether the movie is as powerful an experience as THERE WILL BE BLOOD, it’s how well does it works as a comedy. The sketches detail 10 commandments, and about 6 of them are really funny, so that was a pretty easy way to value 3 out of 5.

WHITE NOISE 2 is a horror movie, so it’s on a scale of how well it works as a horror movie, not whether it’s better or worse than Daniel Day-Lewis making an Oscar bid.

Also, of course, this is a movie site called Movies For Guys. The greatest Chick Flick in the history of movies will probably not get a five here.

My own wholly subjective take on 1 to 5 stars:

1 star: Don’t see this movie, unless you want to play Mystery Science Theater 3000 with it.

2 stars: Watch it on cable or network TV.

3 stars: Worth a DVD rental or perhaps a matinee viewing.

4 stars: Worth seeing in the theater at full price and perhaps owning on DVD.

5 stars: Worth seeing in the theater and owning on DVD.