Out of four stars (★ ★ ★ ★)
★ ★ ★ ★ - great
★ ★ ★ ½ - pretty good, but not great
★ ★ ★ - okay, decent, enjoyable; sometimes slightly good
★ ★ ★ ★ - great
★ ★ ★ ½ - pretty good, but not great
★ ★ ★ - okay, decent, enjoyable; sometimes slightly good
★ ★ ½ - acceptable/so-so/adequate, but definitely lacking
★ ★ - lame, but still watchable; mediocre
★ ½ - bad, but still has at least a few definite notable positive aspects
★ - terrible, but has a few small glimmering positive points
½ - terrible, very little redeeming value (hardly worth mentioning)
Zero Stars - completely awful, negligible (if any) redeeming value
Well, you get the idea! It's the same rating scale they use on the Roger Ebert website, and the one James Berardinelli and Peter Travers uses.
