BlownPotential

How We Grade Movies

Po·ten·tial	(noun) capacity to develop: the capacity or ability for development or achievement.
Blown	(adjective) to have wasted: to have spoiled or bungled (an opportunity, etc). (informal)

At BlownPotential, we strive to bring you the type of reviews that we, as movie fans, would like to see.

Every idea for a film has an inherent amount of potential, and filmmakers attempt to convert that potential to the silver screen using the resources available to them. Chances are, if you’re reading a movie review, you’re already interested enough in the movie to be reading an article about it. And if you already have that level of interest, then you probably know the basic idea of what that film is supposed to be. Our reviews compare the initial potential of the idea to the finished product by assessing how well the filmmakers accomplish what they set out to do given the premise of the movie, star power, source material, budget, etc. This does not necessary coincide with what critics determines to be fine art.

We strive to avoid summarizing movies or describing anything that happens after, say, the first 20 minutes or so, as that only serves to take the fun out of a movie by turning the reader’s viewing experience into a checklist. Sometimes, however, movies are so bad that examples are a must.

Our grading scale – the Blown Potential Meter (BPM) – contains only three grades-

Exceeded	went far beyond what the filmmakers should have been able to do
Realized	pretty much achieved what the filmmakers were trying to do
Blown	could not accomplish what the filmmakers should have been able to do

Enjoy our site, and feel free to send questions, comments, suggestions, etc. to comments@blownpotential.com.