Jo's Belt System for Movie and Book Reviews

Since I'm pretty much horrible at writing reviews about books and movies and such, I decided to give myself a system to follow. It's good for everyone, because it should keep me from rambling.

I'll introduce the movie, probably with the blurb from IMDB or the back cover of the book (because I suck at them) and maybe some opening comments.

Each movie or book will receive a score 1-40.

White Belt is 1-10

Yellow Belt is 11-20

Purple Belt is 21-30

Brown Belt is 31-35

Black Belt is 36-40

(Please, do not rage about the belt system. There are like a thousand, and I did consider making them plaid, polka doted, see-through, paisley and shiny, but refrained. Mostly because I couldn't find pictures...)

To get their scores, each movie or book will be judged (by me) in the following categories, worth 5 points each.

Why did I come to this movie/read this book again?

The hook and why I was excited to partake of this particular title. Unless I'm forced against my will, the hook will usually score high.

Characters

Are they awesome? Did I want to kill them? Did I cheer when the good guy got injured, or did I cry when the love of her life drove off into the distance with the bimbo next door? Where would I take them to dinner if I had the chance? My thoughts and harsh judgments of the characters.

Did I care what happened?

Or was I, once again, kind of hoping the bad guy would actually win? Oops, did that sparkly vampire just get staked in the heart? (Sorry, had to be done.)

Plot Holes

Now that I've written half a dozen novels and a few seasons of Babes in Spyland, I'm more forgiving of little plot holes, but if they rub me the wrong way, you bet you're going to hear about them here.

How many times did I yawn?

Or did I come out of it with finger nail marks in the palms of my hands?

Cool Factor

Impress me. Please.

The End

If the character I liked the most died, you will hear about it (no spoilers, just rage). If the end made no sense, I will let you know. Or if the end left me teary eyed and/or wishing for more, I'll express that as well.

Overall Enjoyment

I know I liked a movie if I cheer in the theater, have to keep from clapping or wish I had another package of tissues in my purse. The same goes for books. I enjoy books and movies, and usually find some part of the experience to love. You'll hear about that here.

Each category will be scored, and then I will add them up. You can trust me, I am qualified to use a calculator. The amount of points the movie/book scores will determine the belt ranking it gets.

Pretty easy, right? And it might even make sense. :) 

I'll try one out tomorrow.