Retro Reviews Reference

Following the body of the review, the Footer Block and the Content Block is the Viewpoint Block, where I analyze the viewpoint of the work reviewed.

The fourth and final line of the Viewpoint Block is the (Judeo-Christian) Political Values Line.

The (Judeo-Christian) Political Values Line might look like one of these examples:
🗽 -4 ➕🗽🗽🗽🕰️🕰️🕰️🏦
🗽 +0 ➕🗽📜💛💛 ➖💻💻☠️
🗽 +2 ➕🟨🟨🚓🏛️
🗽 -3 ➖💻💻💻🫄🫄🫄

🗽 (Judeo-Christian) Political Values are rated from +4 to -4

This rating measures whether the viewpoint of the work is favorable or unfavorable towards Judeo-Christian political and social values, such as God-given rights, freedom, equality, individual liberty, and personal responsibility. This includes whether individuals are judged on their own merit or stereotyped as members of a group.

+4: Very Strongly Favorable
+3: Strongly Favorable
+2: Moderately Favorable
+1: Slightly Favorable
+0: There are no positive or negative biases shown against Judeo-Christian political values or mixed messages cancel each other out. Or the viewpoint of the work about Judeo-Christian political values is not discernible or clear.
-0: The viewpoint of the work does not agree with Judeo-Christian political values, but the work has no agenda against them. It assumes you already agree with its contrary viewpoint and seeks to entertain without advocating its viewpoint or a non-Judeo-Christian agenda.
-1: Slightly Unfavorable
-2: Moderately Unfavorable
-3: Heavily Unfavorable
-4: Extremely Unfavorable

The (Judeo-Christian) Political Values rating can be followed by emojis that indicate positive or negative messages put forth in the work that impact the rating.

An emoji can be used up to three times indicating a light, moderate or heavy impact on the ratings. An emoji in parentheses indicates a positive or negative bias clearly held by the work, but perhaps only referenced in passing, not promoted. In these cases, the work is typically assuming you share similar values, while being more focused on entertaining you than persuading you. (Many works also assume you share their values while still promoting or even glorifying those values. In such a case the emoji will not be in parentheses.)

➕Positive Explanatory Emojis

🗽 Pro-Judeo-Christian political and social values, anti-PC values
🕰️ Historically accurate (portrays history truthfully, correctly highlighting the impact of Christian, Biblical and Judeo-Christian political values on historical events, or accurately portraying events that contradict the current PC narrative)
📜 Promotes American constitutional values, conservatism, individual freedom, democracy, populism, anti-progressivism, anti-authoritarianism
🇺🇸 Pro-American, patriotic, pro-nationalist, pro-fair trade, anti-globalist/anti-internationalist, includes supporting justified warfare and opposing illegal immigration (also includes patriotism/nationalism found in countries other than America, if those countries generally follow Judeo-Christian political values)
🏦 Pro-free markets, individual property rights, low taxation, disapproves of entitled greed and grift, anti-socialist, anti-communist
🟨 Promotes honesty, integrity, self-sacrifice for others in public servants for the public good or to achieve Judeo-Christian political goals
🚓 Pro-police, anti-crime
🏛️ Advocates for justice, law-and-order, equal justice, constitutionalist judges, pro-death penalty
💛 Disapproves of racial slurs, disparaging racial stereotypes, racial discrimination (including reverse discrimination against whites)
🤱 Pro-life, anti-abortion

➖Negative Explanatory Emojis

Universal (will also be included under Christian Values and Biblical Values)

😐 Humanist viewpoint (atheistic, anti-supernatural, anti-religion, Anti-Christian, anti-private property, anti-family, anti-nations, pro-socialism, pro-communism)
🦠 Evolutionary viewpoint (a humanist viewpoint about science, denies God’s agency in creation, physical laws and scientific truth)
😍 Romanticist viewpoint (man is basically noble and good, and should follow his heart and feelings, not his intellect and logic, truth is subjective, not objective)
🗿 Pagan viewpoint (a wide range of beliefs in false gods, often nothing is sinful, anything goes, often sensual pleasures and material wealth are life goals, may include New Age beliefs)
👹 Anti-colonial viewpoint (favors pagan, tribal, indigenous values over Western Christian values)
🔮 Occult viewpoint (a more specific pagan viewpoint focusing on supernatural beliefs, including astrology, witchcraft, Satanism)
☢️ Other false religion viewpoints (followed by religion in parentheses)
🏳️‍🌈 Homosexual viewpoint (promotes homosexuality, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
🏳️‍⚧️ Transgender viewpoint (promotes transgenderism, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
♻️ Environmentalist viewpoint (worships creation over creator, may tend towards misanthropy, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
☮️ Pacifist viewpoint (favors appeasement over confronting evil, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
🥱 Isolationist viewpoint (favors ignoring foreign evils)

Specific (will only be included under Political Values)

💻 PC viewpoint (at odds with Judeo-Christian values, individualism, expresses Anti-Christian, anti-conservative or anti-Republican bigotry, promotes currently popular left-wing “progressive” political values, such as leftist climate policy, social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion, promotes tokenistic or “re-imagined” casting, co-exists with and may include humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints, includes environmentalist, homosexual and transgender viewpoints)
⏰ Revisionist history (a subset of the PC viewpoint that portrays history falsely, imposing modern leftist values on historical events, or selectively portrays true events while ignoring other historical truths in order to promote a false unbalanced narrative)
📢 Authoritarian viewpoint (a humanist political viewpoint antithetical to freedom, democracy, and individualism, may coexist with political views considered left-wing or right-wing. Favors censorship, gun control and big government elitist control over the population.)
🇺🇳 Globalist/internationalist viewpoint (a humanist anti-American, anti-patriotic, anti-nationalist political viewpoint, includes promoting illegal immigration, and anti-American “free-trade” agreements)
💲 Anti-free markets, anti-wealth, promotes high taxation, class envy, stereotypes the wealthy, promotes entitled greed and grift, get rich quick schemes, and/or gambling
🇻🇳 Socialist viewpoint (a humanist political viewpoint promoting government redistribution of wealth)
🇨🇳 Communist viewpoint (a humanist political viewpoint similar to socialism, but more authoritarian, usually prohibiting religion and ownership of private property)
🟫 Promotes or glorifies selfishness, lying, deception, dishonesty in public servants for personal gain or to achieve PC political goals (ends justify the means)
🤕 Anarchist viewpoint (favors chaos, against law and order)
☠️ Anti-police, pro-crime viewpoint
🙈 Mistrusts equal justice, advocates “equity”, activist judges, social justice, anti-death penalty
🤎 Promotes racial slurs, disparaging racial stereotypes, racial discrimination (including reverse discrimination against whites)
🫄 Pro-abortion, anti-life

This line may be followed by a line of explanation to include or clarify info not easily explained by the emojis. More significant discussion may be included in the body of the review.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-27
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-16

Retro Reviews Reference

Following the body of the review, the Footer Block and the Content Block is the Viewpoint Block, where I analyze the viewpoint of the work reviewed.

The third line of the Viewpoint Block is the Biblical Values Line.

The Biblical Values Line might look like one of these examples:
✡️ +4 ➕✡️✡️✡️🌗🌗😠💎🤍🤍🤍
✡️ +1 ➕🌗😠😊🤍🤍 ➖🌓🌓🫢
✡️ +3 ➕🌗🌗😠😠😠💎🤍🤍 ➖🤬🤬
✡️ -3 ➖🤬🤬🤬💣🌓🫢🫢

✡️ Biblical Values are rated from +4 to -4

This rating measures whether the viewpoint of the work is favorable or unfavorable towards God, the Bible, Judaism, and Old Testament values, such as objective truth, Biblical morality, right and wrong, justice and punishment.

+4: Very Strongly Favorable
+3: Strongly Favorable
+2: Moderately Favorable
+1: Slightly Favorable
+0: There are no positive or negative biases shown against Biblical values or mixed messages cancel each other out. Or the viewpoint of the work about Biblical values is not discernible or clear.
-0: The viewpoint of the work is not Biblical, but the work has no anti-Biblical agenda. It assumes you already agree with its non-Biblical viewpoint and seeks to entertain without pushing its viewpoint or non-Biblical agenda.
-1: Slightly Unfavorable
-2: Moderately Unfavorable
-3: Heavily Unfavorable
-4: Extremely Unfavorable

The Biblical Values rating can be followed by emojis that indicate positive or negative messages put forth in the work that impact the rating.

An emoji can be used up to three times indicating a light, moderate or heavy impact on the ratings. An emoji in parentheses indicates a positive or negative bias clearly held by the work, but perhaps only referenced in passing, not promoted. In these cases, the work is typically assuming you share similar values, while being more focused on entertaining you than persuading you. (Many works also assume you share their values while still promoting or even glorifying those values. In such a case the emoji will not be in parentheses.)

➕Positive Explanatory Emojis

✡️ Positive portrayals of God, the Bible, and/or Judaism
🌗 Correctly identifies right and wrong in agreement with Biblical morality, advocates for self-control
😠 Pro-punishment of crime, righteous violence acceptable to put an end to evil behavior
😊 Promotes sexual self-control, celebrates sex only in traditional marriage
💎 Promotes charitable and responsible use of wealth, disapproves of greed, grift
🤍 Promotes honesty, integrity, self-sacrifice for others, truth is objective

➖Negative Explanatory Emojis

Universal (will also be included under Christian Values and Political Values)

😐 Humanist viewpoint (atheistic, anti-supernatural, anti-religion, Anti-Christian, anti-private property, anti-family, anti-nations, pro-socialism, pro-communism)
🦠 Evolutionary viewpoint (a humanist viewpoint about science, denies God’s agency in creation, physical laws and scientific truth)
😍 Romanticist viewpoint (man is basically noble and good, and should follow his heart and feelings, not his intellect and logic, truth is subjective, not objective)
🗿 Pagan viewpoint (a wide range of beliefs in false gods, often nothing is sinful, anything goes, often sensual pleasures and material wealth are life goals, may include New Age beliefs)
👹 Anti-colonial viewpoint (favors pagan, tribal, indigenous values over Western Christian values)
🔮 Occult viewpoint (a more specific pagan viewpoint focusing on supernatural beliefs, including astrology, witchcraft, Satanism)
☢️ Other false religion viewpoints (followed by religion in parentheses)
🏳️‍🌈 Homosexual viewpoint (promotes homosexuality, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
🏳️‍⚧️ Transgender viewpoint (promotes transgenderism, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
♻️ Environmentalist viewpoint (worships creation over creator, may tend towards misanthropy, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
☮️ Pacifist viewpoint (favors appeasement over confronting evil, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
🥱 Isolationist viewpoint (favors ignoring foreign evils)

Specific (will only be included under Biblical Values)

🤬 Profanity/blasphemy (disrespects God) or promotes or glorifies obscene language
💣 Anti-Biblical, antisemitism (disrespects God’s Word and/or Judaism)
🌓 Incorrectly identifies right and wrong in disagreement with Biblical morality
🚨 Anti-punishment of crime, promotes or glorifies crime, criminal violence
🫢 Promotes or glorifies sexual immorality, promiscuity, adultery, sexual perversion
🤑 Promotes or glorifies greed, grift, gambling, covetousness, theft, blackmail
🖤 Promotes or glorifies selfishness, lying, deception, dishonesty to achieve personal goals, truth is subjective

This line may be followed by a line of explanation to include or clarify info not easily explained by the emojis. More significant discussion may be included in the body of the review.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-27
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-16

Retro Reviews Reference

Following the body of the review, the Footer Block and the Content Block is the Viewpoint Block, where I analyze the viewpoint of the work reviewed.

The second line of the Viewpoint Block is the Christian Values Line.

The Christian Values Line might look like one of these examples:
✝️ +4 ➕✝️✝️✝️🎁🎁🎁😇😇😇❤️❤️❤️💒🩸💜
✝️ +1 ➕😇❤️❤️🩸 ➖💣💣
✝️ +0 ➕💒💜💜💜 ➖🤬🤬♀️🚬
✝️ -4 ➖🤬🤬🤬💣💣💣❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹💧💧💧♀️♀️

✝️ Christian Values are rated from +4 to -4

This rating measures whether the viewpoint of the work is favorable or unfavorable towards Jesus Christ, Christians, Christianity and New Testament values, such as the Gospel message, including repentance of sin, forgiveness and eternal redemption.

+4: Very Strongly Favorable
+3: Strongly Favorable
+2: Moderately Favorable
+1: Slightly Favorable
+0: There are no positive or negative biases shown against Christianity or mixed messages cancel each other out. Or the viewpoint of the work about Christianity is not discernible or clear.
-0: The viewpoint of the work is not Christian, but the work has no anti-Christian agenda. It assumes you already agree with its non-Christian viewpoint and seeks to entertain without advocating its viewpoint or a non-Christian agenda.
-1: Slightly Unfavorable
-2: Moderately Unfavorable
-3: Heavily Unfavorable
-4: Extremely Unfavorable

The Christian Values rating can be followed by emojis that indicate positive or negative messages put forth in the work that impact the rating.

An emoji can be used up to three times indicating a light, moderate or heavy impact on the ratings. An emoji in parentheses indicates a positive or negative bias clearly held by the work, but perhaps only referenced in passing, not promoted. In these cases, the work is typically assuming you share similar values, while being more focused on entertaining you than persuading you. (Many works also assume you share their values while still promoting or even glorifying those values. In such a case the emoji will not be in parentheses.)

➕Positive Explanatory Emojis

✝️ Positive portrayals of Jesus, Christians, the Church and/or Christianity
🎁 Missionary values (promotes evangelism, spreading Christian values)
😇 Advocates for repentance, redemption, forgiveness, mercy and reconciliation
❤️ Advocates for love, kindness and compassion
💒 Pro-marriage
🩸 Pro-family
💜 Positive male messages and role models
🩷 Positive female messages and role models
🥴 Shows negative consequences of and/or advocates for treatment of substance abuse

➖Negative Explanatory Emojis

Universal (will also be included under Biblical Values and Political Values)

😐 Humanist viewpoint (atheistic, anti-supernatural, anti-religion, Anti-Christian, anti-private property, anti-family, anti-nations, pro-socialism, pro-communism)
🦠 Evolutionary viewpoint (a humanist viewpoint about science, denies God’s agency in creation, physical laws and scientific truth)
😍 Romanticist viewpoint (man is basically noble and good, and should follow his heart and feelings, not his intellect and logic, truth is subjective, not objective)
🗿 Pagan viewpoint (a wide range of beliefs in false gods, often nothing is sinful, anything goes, often sensual pleasures and material wealth are life goals, may include New Age beliefs)
👹 Anti-colonial viewpoint (favors pagan, tribal, indigenous values over Western Christian values)
🔮 Occult viewpoint (a more specific pagan viewpoint focusing on supernatural beliefs, including astrology, witchcraft, Satanism)
☢️ Other false religion viewpoints (followed by religion in parentheses)
🏳️‍🌈 Homosexual viewpoint (promotes homosexuality, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
🏳️‍⚧️ Transgender viewpoint (promotes transgenderism, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
♻️ Environmentalist viewpoint (worships creation over creator, may tend towards misanthropy, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
☮️ Pacifist viewpoint (favors appeasement over confronting evil, co-exists with humanist, romanticist and pagan viewpoints)
🥱 Isolationist viewpoint (favors ignoring foreign evils)

Specific (will only be included under Christian Values)

🤬 Profanity/blasphemy (disrespects Jesus)
💣 Anti-Christian bigotry (disrespects Christians, the Church and/or Christianity)
🛑 Anti-missionary, anti-evangelism
🔥 Promotes revenge
😖 Promotes or glorifies hatred, anger (including obscene slurs)
❤️‍🩹 Anti-marriage, pro-divorce, pro-adultery, or redefines marriage
💧 Anti-family, or reimagines family
♂️ Anti-male messages or stereotypes, poor male role models, promotes feminization of men
🩳 Objectifies men via revealing clothing or nudity
♀️ Anti-female misogynist or sexist messages, poor female role models, promotes masculinization of women
👙 Objectifies women via revealing clothing or nudity
🚬 Promotes or glorifies smoking
🍺 Promotes or glorifies alcohol abuse
💉 Promotes or glorifies drug abuse

This line may be followed by a line of explanation to include or clarify info not easily explained by the emojis. More significant discussion may be included in the body of the review.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-26
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-16

Retro Reviews Reference

Following the body of the review, the Footer Block and the Content Block is the Viewpoint Block, where I analyze the viewpoint of the work reviewed.

The first line of the Viewpoint Block is the Judeo-Christian Values Line.

The Judeo-Christian Values Line rates Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values on a scale of +4 to -4 as follows:

❎4️⃣ Excellent
❎3️⃣ Very Good
❎2️⃣ Good
❎1️⃣ Fair
❎0️⃣ Neutral (No clear values of any type or ⚠️ includes both negative messages and positive messages, which balance out.)
⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable (Not in alignment with Judeo-Christian values, but focuses more on entertaining, not on advocating its viewpoint or pushing an agenda.)
⛔1️⃣ Subpar
⛔2️⃣ Poor
⛔3️⃣ Very Poor
⛔4️⃣ Horrible

My rating for Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values will often influence my overall Grade that I give for a work, compared to how I grade the Entertainment Quality of a work. For explanation purposes, a grade step means going up from a B+ to an A-, an A- to an A, etc., or down a step in the same manner. A grade fraction means going up from an A-^ to an A v, an A v to an A >, etc., or down a fraction in the same manner. The overall Grade given will never be higher than A+^ or lower than F v, so the following guidelines will potentially have a lesser effect on works that begin with a very high or very low Entertainment Quality:

A rating of ❎4️⃣ Excellent, will likely earn a work a Grade that is as much as four grade steps higher than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of ❎3️⃣ Very Good, will likely earn a work a Grade that is as much as three grade steps higher than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of ❎2️⃣ Good, will likely earn a work a Grade that is as much as two grade steps higher than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of ❎1️⃣ Fair, will likely earn a work a Grade that is from one grade fraction to one grade step higher than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of ❎0️⃣ Neutral, will mean that the Grade of the work will be the same as the Entertainment Quality, but the EQ does not include grade fractions (arrows), while the Grade given will include those.

A rating of ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable, will usually mean that the Grade of the work will be the same as the Entertainment Quality, but the EQ does not include grade fractions (arrows), while the Grade given will include those, and might drop a grade fraction as a penalty.

A rating of ⛔1️⃣ Subpar, will likely earn a Grade that is penalized from one grade fraction to as much as three grade steps lower than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of ⛔2️⃣ Poor, will likely earn a Grade that is penalized from two grade steps to as much as six grade steps lower than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of ⛔3️⃣ Very Poor, will likely earn a Grade that is penalized from three grade steps to as much as nine grade steps lower than its Entertainment Quality.

A rating of⛔4️⃣ Horrible, will likely earn a Grade that is penalized from four grade steps to as much as ten grade steps lower than its Entertainment Quality.

My rating for Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values is shaped more by intent than content. If there is content that makes a work less appropriate for younger viewers, or acceptable only for adults, I am concerned with whether or not the work disapproves and condemns the behavior or promotes and glorifies the behavior. In the same way, if the work comes from a viewpoint I don’t agree with, I’m not too concerned, unless it promotes or glorifies that viewpoint.

My rating for Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values originates from my agreement with Christian values, Biblical values, and Judeo-Christian conservative political values.

Therefore, the next three lines of ratings in the Viewpoint Block are: Christian Values, Biblical Values and (Judeo-Christian) Political Values. They all contribute to my rating for Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values. Positive ratings on those lines usually contribute positively, and negative ratings usually contribute negatively. However sometimes low ratings on those lines or ratings that balance out can lead to an overall viewpoint rating of ❎0️⃣ Neutral or ⚠️0️⃣ Tolerable.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-26
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-16

Retro Reviews Reference

In the Content Block, we looked first at the Family Suitability Line, and examined the Family Suitability rating and how it is determined.
The next line of the Content Block is the Content Detail Line where we will look at the five component content ratings. All five areas of content will be rated from +4 to -4 and parallel the overall content guidelines, which are as follows:

✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+)
✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+)
✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+)
✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+, ⚠️Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults.)
⚠️0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults.
❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content.
❌2️⃣ Moderate adults-only content.
❌3️⃣ Heavy adults-only content.
❌4️⃣ Extreme adults-only content.

Now we will look at how that scale applies to each individual area of content.

😡 Violence/Scariness

+4 = At most, a light or moderate amount of cartoonish violence, possibly too scary for preschoolers.
+3 = A moderate or heavy amount of cartoonish violence, possibly too scary for younger kids.
+2 = Less realistic fantasy violence, including superhero or sci-fi. Light to moderate standard TV violence, including injuries with a little blood, or bloodless deaths.
+1 = Moderate standard TV violence, including bloody injuries and deaths with little or no blood.
-0 = A little worse, maybe a good bit of blood, not quite R-rated violence.
-1 = Light R-rated violence.
-2 = Moderate R-rated violence, moderate blood, little gore.
-3 = Heavy, very violent, very bloody, moderate gore.
-4 = Extreme, very violent, bloody and gory.

Some movies, especially intense horror movies, can have enough suspense to increase fear and scariness. Typically I will subtract one more point in such a case, unless the violence alone is already a -4.

😵‍💫 Substances (Smoking, Alcohol, Drugs)

+4 = No substances are mentioned or portrayed.

Pipe smoking and wine at meals are acceptable for all remaining ratings.

+3 = Two or fewer other instances of smoking or alcohol usage are mentioned or portrayed. No drunkenness is mentioned or portrayed. No drug use is mentioned or portrayed.
+2 = Five or fewer other instances of smoking or alcohol usage are mentioned or portrayed. Drunkenness counts double, but may not be a main character or lead to violence. No drug use is mentioned or portrayed.
+1 = Ten or fewer other instances of smoking or alcohol usage are mentioned or portrayed. Drunkenness counts double, but may not be a main character or lead to violence. Drug use may be mentioned, but not portrayed.
-0 = Twenty or fewer other instances of smoking or alcohol usage are mentioned or portrayed. Drunkenness counts double, triple if it includes a main character, and quadruple if it leads to violence. Two or fewer instances of drug usage are mentioned or portrayed, but may not be a main character or lead to violence. Drug sales counts double.
-1 = Heavy smoking, heavy alcohol abuse and drunkenness with violence are portrayed. Five or fewer instances of drug usage are mentioned or portrayed. Drug sales counts double.

Excessive smoking, alcohol abuse and drunkenness may be portrayed in all remaining ratings.

-2 = Ten or fewer instances of drug usage are mentioned or portrayed. Drug sales counts double.
-3 = Heavy drug usage or sales is portrayed.
-4 = Excessive drug usage or sales is portrayed.

Please note that for these content ratings, “drug” refers to any drug used for recreational purposes, or abused for any purpose, whether legal or illegal in the portrayed setting.

🤬 Language

First let me define a couple of terms. I use the term “profanities” to describe language taking the name of God or the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. I use the term “obscenities” to describe other foul language, including disgusting, lewd, filthy or offensive terms or slurs.

Next I begin the rating process by classifying specific words used into groups according to generally accepted public views as to how offensive they are, informed by usage and public ratings of works over the years. While I personally would put many profanities into more offensive groups than the public does, it makes more sense to go with the generally accepted views so that we all start with the same frame of reference. I don’t want to provide a vocabulary guide for bad language, so I will include only a few examples for each grouping.

Language Categories:
Insults: Idiot, Stupid, etc.
Stand-In Language: Dang, Heck, etc.
Borderline Language: Damn, God, Hell, etc.
Mild Language: Ass, Bitch, Crap, etc.
Problematic Language: D*ck, Sh*t, etc.
Moderate Language: A**hole, Jesus, middle finger gesture, etc.
Heavy Language: F-word and variants, certain obscene gestures, etc.
Extreme Language: Filthy sexual or genital words, etc.

Special case: Depending on the specific language, some racial and sexual slurs were considered less offensive in the past than they are today. I will take into account the era a work was created, but still consider that language to at least be problematic even in very old works. The same language in more recent or current works might be considered to be moderate or heavy. (Language considered extreme today is bad enough that it’s never really been acceptable.)

Now, while I don’t personally like to spend my viewing time counting bad words in a film, other people seem to, so I will use their counts whenever possible, supplemented by my own only when necessary. That will lead us to the following ratings:

🤬 Language

+4 = May include up to five insults to stand-in terms, and up to two stand-in terms, nothing worse.
+3 = May include up to ten insults to borderline terms, up to five stand-in to borderline terms, and up to two borderline terms, nothing worse.

Unlimited insults to stand-in terms may be used in all remaining ratings.

+2 = Fits older TV standards. May include up to ten borderline to mild terms, and up to five mild terms, nothing worse.
+1 = Fits more modern TV standards. May include up to 25 borderline to problematic terms, up to ten mild to problematic terms or up to 5 problematic terms, nothing worse.

Unlimited borderline terms may be used in all remaining ratings.

-0 = May include up to 25 mild to moderate terms, up to ten problematic to moderate terms or up to five moderate terms, nothing worse.

Unlimited mild terms may be used in all remaining ratings.

-1 = May include up to 25 problematic to heavy terms, up to ten moderate to heavy terms, or up to five heavy terms, nothing worse.

Unlimited problematic terms may be used in all remaining ratings.

-2 = May include up to 25 moderate to heavy terms, or up to ten heavy terms, nothing worse
-3 = May include unlimited moderate language, up to 25 heavy to extreme terms or up to five extreme terms, nothing worse
-4 = Doesn't qualify for any higher level.

🤭 Sex

This rating will be influenced by sexual obscenities that also influence the language rating, and by sexual and/or gratuitous nudity that also influence the nudity rating, since both influence the overall sexual tone of a work.

+4 = No sexual discussion or situations.
+3 = May include sexual innuendo or situations that only adults are likely to notice. May include public kissing.
+2 = May include a bit more innuendo that children won't get, but teens might. May include light private kissing.
+1 = Fits older TV standards. A small amount of sexual discussion may occur, without obscenities. May imply sexual situations, including with preliminary kissing or undressing, but without nudity or simulated sex portrayed.
-0 = Fits modern TV standards. Sex is openly, perhaps even frequently discussed or implied, but with minimal or no obscene language, and without technical nudity or simulated sex portrayed.
-1 = Light adults-only sexual content. Sexual situations are not frequent, but when they occur they may include more adult sexual language, gratuitous nudity and simulated sex portrayals without nudity.
-2 = Moderate adults-only sexual content. Sexual situations are not uncommon and there may be a lot of adult sexual language. There may be a moderate amount of gratuitous nudity and nudity may be included in simulated sex portrayals.
-3 = Heavy adults-only sexual content.
-4 = Excessive adults-only sexual content.

🫣 Nudity

+4 = Costuming is not revealing or sexual. No nudity is mentioned, implied or portrayed.
+3 = Costuming may be slightly revealing or sexy. Offscreen nudity may be mentioned or implied, but no nudity is implied or portrayed on screen.
+2 = Fits middle 20th century TV standards. Costuming may be slightly revealing or sexy. Onscreen nudity may be implied, but it is covered, with no nudity actually shown.
+1 = Fits later 20th century TV standards. Costuming may be moderately revealing or sexy. May include one or two instances of characters in underwear or swimwear, such as topless men, or women in bikinis. Onscreen nudity may be implied, but it is covered, with no nudity actually shown.
-0 = Fits modern TV standards. Costuming may be very revealing, gratuitous or inadequate, including characters in underwear, thongs or swimwear, such as topless men, women showing considerable cleavage, or in skimpy bikinis. Onscreen nudity may be implied, but it is barely covered, with no nudity technically shown.
-1 = Brief nudity. No below the waist frontal nudity.
-2 = Moderate nudity. Too much or too graphic to be considered brief.
-3 = Heavy nudity. Too much or too graphic to be considered moderate.
-4 = Extreme nudity. So much or so graphic that it would most likely earn the most restrictive public content rating of its time.

As exceptions, works rated +1 and -0 may include babies’ bottoms in live-action works, or any non-sexualized buttocks in animated works. Artwork or mannequins in live-action works rated +1 or -0 may include non-sexualized buttocks and “smoothed” non-explicit frontal nudity. Artwork or mannequins in live-action works rated -0 may include slightly more explicit nudity if it is background and not prurient.

Final Notes

In all five areas of content, a mitigated rating is indicated by up or down arrows. This indicates that while a rating technically represents a certain level of content, mitigating factors, such as the overall viewpoint, message or tone of the work, make this content less (^) or more (v) troubling than the numerical rating indicates.

When rating Substances (Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs) or Sex, both the terms “heavy” and “excessive” can refer to an unlimited amount of the content in question. The difference is that the term “excessive” is used, and the -4 rating applied, when the work can be characterized as being about that content. The term “heavy” is used, and the -3 rating applied, when the work is ostensibly about something other than the substances or sex, but still includes the “heavy” content.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group in five parts, 2025-01-22, 2025-01-23, 2025-01-24 and two parts on 2025-01-25
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11
Last updated 2025-12-30

Retro Reviews Reference

The body of the review and the Footer Block are followed by the Content Block. The first line is the Family Suitability Line revealing the overall content rating, followed by the official public rating. It’s followed by the Content Detail Line with the five areas of content rated.

Here are two examples of possible Content Blocks:

Family Suitability Detail
✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) | PGa
😡+3 😵‍💫+2^ 🤬+3 🤭+3 🫣+3

Family Suitability Detail
❌4️⃣ Extreme adults-only content. | R
😡-1 😵‍💫-0 🤬-2v 🤭-4 🫣-1

Emoji index:
✅ + (plus)
❌ - (minus)
😡 Violence/Scariness
😵‍💫 Substances (Smoking, Alcohol, Drug Abuse)
🤬 Language
🤭 Sex
🫣 Nudity

All detail ratings can range from +4 to -4. The Family Suitability rating can range from ✅4️⃣ (+4) to ❌4️⃣ (-4). The Family Suitability rating will equal the lowest detail rating, taking into account mitigated ratings.

A mitigated rating is indicated by up or down arrows. This indicates that while a rating technically represents a certain level of content, mitigating factors, such as the overall viewpoint, message or tone of the film, make this content less (^) or more (v) troubling than the numerical rating indicates.

For example, 😵‍💫+1^ means that for purposes of determining the Family Suitability rating, the Substances rating is +2. Or 🤬-1vv means that for purposes of determining the Family Suitability rating, the Language rating is -3.

Family Suitability Ratings

✅4️⃣ OK for younger kids. (Grades K+) Typically rated G or TV-G.
✅3️⃣ OK for older kids. (Grades 4+) Typically rated G, PGa, TV-G or TV-PG.
✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) Typically rated PGa or TV-PG, includes standard 20th century TV fare.
✅1️⃣ Mostly OK for teens and adults. (Grades 10+) ⚠️Might be considered inappropriate for sensitive teens and adults. Typically rated PGa, PGb, PG-13 or TV-PG, includes standard TV fare of today that would have been considered borderline TV in the 20th century.
⚠️0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults. Typically rated PGb, PGc, PG-13 or TV-PG, includes questionable standard TV fare of today that would not have been allowed on TV a few decades ago,
❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content. Typically rated PGb, PGc, PG-13 (heavy), R (light) or TV-MA (light).
❌2️⃣ Moderate adults-only content. Typically rated R (moderate), UN for an unrated version of a PG-13 rated work, or TV-MA (moderate).
❌3️⃣ Heavy adults-only content. Typically rated R (heavy), UN for an unrated version of an R rated work, or TV-MA (heavy).
❌4️⃣ Extreme adults-only content. Typically rated beyond R such as X, NC-17, UN for an unrated version of an R rated work, or TV-MA (extreme).

Official ratings abbreviations and descriptions:
TV-Y This program is designed to be appropriate for all children.
TV-Y7 This program is designed for children age 7 and above.
NR Not Rated, but would likely be G, PG or PG-13 if it were.
Approved (1934-1968) Approved for all audiences.
G (1968-present), General audiences – All ages admitted.
TV-G Most parents will find this program suitable for all ages.
PGa (July 1, 1984-present), Parental guidance suggested – Some material may not be suitable for children.
TV-PG This program contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children.
SMA (1966-1968) Suggested for mature audiences.
M (1968-1970) Suggested for mature audiences. Parental discretion advised.
GP (1970-1972) All ages admitted – Parental guidance suggested, may not be suitable for pre-teenagers.
PGb (1972-1977) Parental guidance suggested – Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers.
PGc (1977-June 30, 1984) Parental guidance suggested – Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG-13 (1984-present), Parents strongly cautioned – Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
TV-14 This program contains material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age.
R16 (1968-1970) Restricted – Persons under 16 not admitted, unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.
R (1970-present), Restricted – Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
TV-MA This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17.
UN Not Rated, but likely would be R or NC-17 if it were.
X16 (1968-1970) Persons under 16 not admitted.
X (1970-1990) No one under 17 admitted.
NC-17b (1990-1996) No children under 17 admitted.
NC-17 (1996-present), Adults only – No one 17 and under admitted.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-21
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

The body of the review is followed by the Footer Block. The last line of the Footer Block is the Genre Line, following one or two Review Lines.

I want the Genre Line to be a “readable out loud” description of the reviewed work, read from left to right, ignoring duplicate words or subgenres in parentheses. So a Genre Line looking like 👻👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🌑🦄🤴😥🎧 would indicate that the movie is a supernatural family dark fantasy drama about music. The fantasy (classic) emoji isn't spoken out loud because we’ve already said the word “fantasy” and because parenthetical subgenres are for additional information, not for the reading of the Genre Line. As another example, a supernatural monster slasher horror drama would show a Genre Line of 👻🧌🔪💀😥.

Don’t read the words “romance”, “drama” or “comedy” out loud if you've already read “romcom” or “dramedy”.

When an emoji represents a genre with a word/word format, only one word is read aloud, whichever you think fits best, even though either would probably be fine.

For readability, the order of the emojis in this index is the order they would be used in a review.

Genre index

👶 Children’s
🪦 Biographical
⏳ Historical
🙏 Faith-based/Christian
👻 Supernatural
🧛 Gothic
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family
🛹 Teen
⛱️ Summer
🎈 Holiday
💌 Holiday (Valentine’s Day)
☘️ Holiday (St. Patrick’s Day)
🤪 Holiday (April Fools’ Day)
🐇 Holiday (Easter)
🧨 Holiday (4th of July)
🎃 Holiday (Halloween)
🦃 Holiday (Thanksgiving)
⛄ Holiday (Winter)
🎄 Holiday (Christmas)
🎅 Holiday (Christmas Eve)
🎆 Holiday (New Year’s)
💪 Superhero
🪐 Sci-Fi
🚀 Sci-Fi (Space)
🌎 Sci-Fi (Earthbound)
👽 Sci-Fi (Aliens)
🤖 Sci-Fi (Robots/Androids)
♾️ Sci-Fi (Time Travel)
⚛️ Sci-Fi (Tech)
☄️ Sci-Fi (Future Society)
🍌 Slapstick
⚔️ Swashbuckler
🗄️ Workplace
🎶 Musical
🤠 Western
🥷 Martial Arts
🪖 War/Military
⚕️ Medicine
⚖️ Legal/Courtroom
✈️ Aviation/Airplanes
🚂 Railroad/Trains
🚗 Road/Cars
⚓ Nautical
🏆 Sports [see Sports subgenre index below]
🌐 Spy
👤 Crime
🚔 Crime (Police)
🔎 Crime (Detective)
🤐 Crime (Organized)
💰 Crime (Caper/Heist)
🧌 Monster
🌪️ Disaster
🔪 Slasher
🤔 Mystery
💥 Action
⚠️ Suspense
💀 Horror
🌑 Dark*
🦄 Fantasy
🧚 Fantasy (Fairy Tale)
🤴 Fantasy (Classic)
🧙 Fantasy (Contemporary)
🛡️ Adventure
🥰 RomCom
💘 Romance
😏 Dramedy
😥 Drama
🌑 Dark*
🥸 Comedy
🤪 Comedy (Screwball)
😛 Comedy (Parody/Satire/Spoof)
🛋️ Comedy (Sitcom)
🎢 Thriller
🎞️ Documentary
🎨 About Art
📚 About Books/Literature
🎲 About Games
♟️ About Games (Board Games)
♠️ About Games (Card Games)
🎰 About Games (Casino Games)
🕹️ About Games (Video Games)
🎭 About Theater
🩰 About Ballet
🎧 About Music
💃 About Dancing
🤩 About Show Business
🎬 About Movies
📻 About Radio
📺 About Television
🐾 About an Animal
🐾🐾 About Animals
[see About an Animal subgenre index below]

*Dark (🌑) is used most frequently with Fantasy or Comedy, so to prevent other genres from interrupting a correct reading, and to allow searching for either combo, it is used directly before the partner genre and can occur twice on a genre line if a work is both Dark Fantasy (🌑🦄) and Dark Comedy (🌑🥸).

Below are the subgenre indexes for the Sports and About an Animal genres. Unlike the main index, these emojis are used on the genre line in order of greatest weight in the reviewed work, not in a reading order. So they are listed alphabetically here.

Sports subgenre index

🏹 Sports (Archery)
🏁 Sports (Auto Racing)
🏸 Sports (Badminton)
⚾ Sports (Baseball)
🏀 Sports (Basketball)
🎳 Sports (Bowling)
🥊 Sports (Boxing)
🧗 Sports (Climbing)
🏏 Sports (Cricket)
🎱 Sports (Cue Sports)
🥌 Sports (Curling)
🚴 Sports (Cycling)
🎯 Sports (Darts)
🏇 Sports (Equestrian)
🤺 Sports (Fencing)
🏑 Sports (Field Hockey)
🎣 Sports (Fishing)
🏈 Sports (Football)
⛳ Sports (Golf)
🤸 Sports (Gymnastics)
🤾 Sports (Handball)
🏒 Sports (Ice Hockey)
⛸️ Sports (Ice Skating)
🥍 Sports (Lacrosse)
🥋 Sports (Martial Arts)
🏍️ Sports (Motorcycle Racing)
🏅 Sports (Olympics)
🛼 Sports (Roller Skating)
🚣 Sports (Rowing)
🏉 Sports (Rugby)
🏃 Sports (Running)
⛷️ Sports (Skiing)
🛷 Sports (Sledding)
🏂 Sports (Snowboarding
⚽ Sports (Soccer)
🏄 Sports (Surfing)
🏊 Sports (Swimming)
🏓 Sports (Table Tennis)
🎾 Sports (Tennis)
🎽 Sports (Track and Field)
🏐 Sports (Volleyball)
🤽 Sports (Water Polo)
🤿 Sports (Water Sports)
🏋️ Sports (Weightlifting)
🤼 Sports (Wrestling)

About an Animal emojis are used twice to indicate that a work is about more than one of the particular animal. Generally speaking, the animal must be a significant character in the work for the work to be considered about that animal, with more leniency in interpretation given towards more rare animals, than, say, a dog, cat or horse.

About an Animal subgenre index

🐊 About an Animal (Alligator/Crocodile)
🐜 About an Animal (Ant)
🦍 About an Animal (Ape)
🐻 About an Animal (Bear)
🦫 About an Animal (Beaver)
🐝 About an Animal (Bee)
🐆 About an Animal (Big Cat)
🐦 About an Animal (Bird)
🦅 About an Animal (Bird of Prey)
🐂 About an Animal (Bull)
🐪 About an Animal (Camel)
🐱 About an Animal (Cat)
🐛 About an Animal (Caterpillar)
🐔 About an Animal (Chicken)
🐿️ About an Animal (Chipmunk/Squirrel)
🐮 About an Animal (Cow)
🦗 About an Animal (Cricket)
🐦‍⬛ About an Animal (Crow/Raven)
🦌 About an Animal (Deer/Reindeer)
🦖 About an Animal (Dinosaur)
🐶 About an Animal (Dog)
🐬 About an Animal (Dolphin)
🫏 About an Animal (Donkey/Mule)
🦆 About an Animal (Duck)
🐘 About an Animal (Elephant)
🐲 About an Animal (Fantastic Beast)
🐟 About an Animal (Fish)
🪰 About an Animal (Fly)
🦊 About an Animal (Fox)
🐸 About an Animal (Frog)
🐐 About an Animal (Goat)
🐹 About an Animal (Guinea Pig/Hamster)
🐴 About an Animal (Horse)
🦘 About an Animal (Kangaroo)
🐨 About an Animal (Koala)
🦁 About an Animal (Lion)
🦎 About an Animal (Lizard-like)
🦣 About an Animal (Mammoth)
🐵 About an Animal (Monkey)
🫎 About an Animal (Moose)
🐭 About an Animal (Mouse)
🐙 About an Animal (Octopus/Squid)
🦉 About an Animal (Owl)
🐼 About an Animal (Panda)
🐧 About an Animal (Penguin)
🐷 About an Animal (Pig)
🐻‍❄️ About an Animal (Polar Bear)
🐰 About an Animal (Rabbit)
🦝 About an Animal (Raccoon)
🐀 About an Animal (Rat)
🦈 About an Animal (Shark)
🐑 About an Animal (Sheep)
🦨 About an Animal (Skunk)
🐌 About an Animal (Snail)
🐍 About an Animal (Snake)
🕸️ About an Animal (Spider)
🦢 About an Animal (Swan)
🐯 About an Animal (Tiger)
🦜 About an Animal (Tropical Bird)
🐠 About an Animal (Tropical Fish)
🐢 About an Animal (Turtle/Tortoise)
🦦 About an Animal (Weasel Family)
🐳 About an Animal (Whale)
🐺 About an Animal (Wolf)
🦓 About an Animal (Zebra)

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group in two parts, 2025-01-19 and 2025-01-20
Updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

The body of the review is followed by the Footer Block. The first line or lines of the Footer Block are the Review Lines with information on when I most recently, and also firstly, experienced the reviewed work, how many times I’ve experienced it, if more than once, and how I experienced it. For video works, how I experienced the work is compared to its original aspect ratio and sound mix.

A typical Review Line for a reviewed film or video work experienced only once looks like:
viewed for review 12/27/24, sd7, 1.37, 1M

Or for literary works:
read for review 12/1/24, pb

Or for audio works:
listened for review 1/3/25, 2D

The Review Lines for a reviewed work experienced more than once would typically look like:
last viewed for re-review (3) 12/19/25, HDX7, 1.85v, 5M
viewed for review (2) 12/31/24, HDX7, 1.85v, 5M
first viewed December 1998, ThX, 1.85, 6

The viewing information will not have a line for a viewing not associated with a review or re-review unless it is the first ever time or most recent time I experienced the work.

There will only be a line between the first and last viewing of a work if there is a Rick Retro’s Review associated with that viewing, which is substantially different than the latest review.

The number in parentheses indicates how many times I've watched (or read or listened to) the reviewed work in my lifetime. It might show as “~#”, meaning the number is a guess, or as “#+”, meaning at least that number of times.

After the date, there will be one notation for a literary work, as follows:

hb – hardback
tpb – trade paperback
pb – standard paperback book
dS – a small digital screen, probably my phone
dK – my Kindle device
dM – a mid-size digital screen, probably a tablet
dL – a larger digital screen, probably my desktop computer
dX7 – a extra-large digital screen, in this case with a 7-foot (84") diagonal

For video works viewed, the viewing date is followed by 3 notations.

The first notation is my viewing picture quality (letters) and screen size (number representing diagonal in feet). For example:

ThX – I watched in a movie theater or even a drive-in. Probably my first viewing and I don't recall screen size, but I usually went to the theaters with the largest screens whenever possible.

HDX7 – applies to most modern movies and television series. I viewed in high definition (1080p) on my 7-foot (84") diagonal TV.

HDI5 – an older high definition format that's not quite as detailed (either 1080i or 720p). I viewed on my older 5-foot (60") diagonal earlier HD TV.

sd7 – the old standard definition from 20th century television (480i).

3DX7 – viewed in high definition 3D.

UHD8 – viewed in UHD (2160p). How I would view if I replaced my current TV with a 4K TV that has a 12" bigger diagonal. But I don’t want to give up my 3D TV yet... You can’t have both in one TV, at least not that I'm aware of. And they no longer produce new 3D TVs.

The second notation refers to the original aspect ratio of the work and the aspect ratio I watched if different.

Modern HD television would normally be the aspect ratio 1.78:1 (I will leave off the :1 part and just use the number that precedes :1) and fills a modern TV screen.

Old TV shows were shot in 1.33 and will have black bars on the sides when watched on a modern TV.

Some old television is upgraded to HD by chopping off the top and bottom of the 1.33 picture and zooming in on the resulting 1.78 picture so that it will fill the entire modern screen. I hate this and will avoid it. But if I do watch it, I will show this as <1.33>, representing that it is made to look wider than it would with the bars on each side.

Modern movies are typically shot in 1.85 and will usually have a little bit clipped off on the sides when shown on a modern television. I’ll use 1.85v to show the original aspect ratio, but I’m actually watching in 1.78. In rare cases if you see “vv” after the number, it’s a widescreen movie I watched on an old TV in 1.33 with the sides of the picture cut off even more.

If you see a number greater than 1.78, with no “v” following, I’m watching the original aspect ratio and there are black bars at the top and bottom of the picture so that nothing is cropped.

The third notation refers to what I’m hearing. (If I’m listening to a sound recording this will be the only notation.)

0 – a silent film
0D – a silent film with sound added later. The added sound is typically a mono or stereo soundtrack upgraded by modern equipment and played in Dolby Stereo.

1D – originally a mono soundtrack, but I’m listening to a stereo upgrade. When Dolby upgrades mono to stereo it pretty much sends it equally to both speakers of a stereo system or to the center channel of a 5-speaker or 7-speaker surround system like what I’ve got.

1M – originally a mono soundtrack, but I’m listening to an upgrade to 5-channel surround sound—At least theoretically. In practice it’s usually the same as 1D above.

2D – Dolby stereo. (Not a 2-dimensional picture as opposed to 3D)

2M – originally a stereo soundtrack, but I’m listening to an upgrade to 5-channel surround sound.

5D – 5-channel Dolby surround sound.

5M – processed sound that is sent directly to each of the 5 main speaker channels. It’s how most of my modern movies stream with Vudu. Lots of Blu-ray discs have it too.

7D and 7M – the same as 5D and 5M but sends some sound to my two rear speakers as well as the 5 speakers normally used in surround setups. Typically only available on discs, but rarely available on streaming services.

A number with no letter following estimates the number of tracks of sound in a theater viewing.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-18
Updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11
Last updated 2026-01-15

Retro Reviews Reference

As a reminder, the Opinion Block begins with the Grade Line and my overall grade for the work. Next the Entertainment Quality Line reveals my EQ (👍), my grade for the Entertainment Quality of the work divorced from my opinion about the viewpoint of the work. After the Dark Whimsy Line, the POPCAP Line reveals the popular opinion percentile (POP 🍿) and creative achievement percentile (CAP 🧢) of the work.

The fifth line of the Opinion Block is the Left-Right Line. Here, for additional comparison before the review begins, I give you percentile scores, ranging from 00 to 99, showing the percentage of works that differently aligned critics rate below this work.

The Left-Right Line might look like one of these examples:
L-R ☮️85 ◀️82 ▶️75 🛐54
L-R ☮️30 ◀️35 ▶️45 🛐71
L-R ☮️92 ◀️97 ▶️97 🛐98

The emojis used before the ratings stand for:
☮️ Far Left View: This percentile represents the opinions of far-left or “woke” critics, gleaned from their reviews or awards given by groups who share this viewpoint. This may include a diversity of leftist viewpoints, since different leftist groups and critics have a variety of agendas.

◀️ Mainstream View: This percentile represents the opinions of “mainstream” critics, gleaned from their reviews or awards given by groups who share this viewpoint. “Mainstream” critics usually claim to be unbiased, but generally have a left of center viewpoint, despite not relying heavily on obvious leftist terminology.

▶️ Conservative View: This percentile represents the opinions of conservative or “based” critics, gleaned from their reviews or awards given by groups who share this viewpoint. This group does not include those who expressly claim a religious basis for their viewpoint, so it tends to be right of center and libertarian in politics, but may be socially liberal at times.

🛐 Christian View: This percentile represents the opinions of religious conservative critics, gleaned from their reviews or awards given by groups who share this viewpoint. This group includes those who expressly claim a Judeo-Christian religious basis for their viewpoint.

It may take some time to gather enough data to report significant percentile scores, so if there is not enough comparison data for a particular work, the Left-Right Line will look like this:
L-R ☮️n/a ◀️n/a ▶️n/a 🛐n/a

I’m expecting it to take a few months at least before I’ve collected enough data to give relevant scores. It’s not my highest priority right now.

This Reference Rundown will be updated to include more details of component factors and how the percentiles are calculated once enough data has been collected to begin including the percentiles in reviews.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group in three parts, 2025-01-12, 2025-01-13 and 2025-01-14
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

The fourth line of the opinion block is the POPCAP Line, where I reveal the POPCAP, POP and CAP percentile scores of the reviewed work. The percentile scores, which range from 00 to 99, are the percentage of comparable works that rank below the rated work in the given category.

The emojis that stand in for the three acronyms and the acronym meanings are:
💯 POPCAP: POP and CAP combined (00 to 99)
🍿 POP: Popular Opinion Percentile (00 to 99)
🧢 CAP: Creative Achievement Percentile (00 to 99)

A typical POPCAP Line for a work will look like this:
POPCAP 💯86 | 🍿92 🧢61

But it may take some time to gather enough data to report significant percentile scores, so if there is not enough comparison data for a particular work, the POPCAP Line will look like this:
POPCAP 💯n/a | 🍿n/a 🧢n/a

I’m expecting it to take a few months at least before I’ve collected enough data to give relevant scores. It’s not my highest priority yet.

Once there’s enough data, the POP will let you know how the general public ranks and responded to the work compared to other works of the same type.

The CAP will measure the creative achievements of the work, compared to other works of the same type. This includes the popular reach of the work, as well as the influence the work has had on its industry, awards won and critical acclaim.

This Reference Rundown will be updated to include more details of component factors and how the percentiles are calculated once enough data has been collected to begin including the percentiles in reviews.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-11
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

The third line of the Opinion Block is the Dark Whimsy Line, where I reveal the Dark Whimsy score of the reviewed work. The Dark Whimsy score is based on the readings of the Dark Scale and the Whimsy Scale.

The Dark Scale and Whimsy Scale readings are integer values from zero to thirteen.

The Dark Whimsy score is the integer value of the lower of the two Dark and Whimsy readings on the respective scales. In addition, if one of the two scales reads higher than the other, a decimal value from 0.1 to 0.9 is added. This value is scaled to give about twice as much weight to the Whimsy reading as the Dark reading. If both readings are identical, no decimal value is added.

A work must have a Dark Whimsy score of 7.0 or higher to be officially considered part of the Dark Whimsy genre. Works appropriate for adults only are considered to be Dark Whimzy instead. This would be works with a Family Suitability rating of -1 or lower. (See Family Suitability Line.) Works with a Dark Whimsy score of 10.0 or higher are considered “Pure Dark Whimsy” or “Pure Dark Whimzy”. Works with Dark Whimsy scores below 7.0 are labeled “Not Dark Whimsy”.

The emojis standing in for the genres and scales are:
😎😎 Pure Dark Whimsy
🕶️🕶️ Pure Dark Whimzy
😎 Dark Whimsy
🕶️ Dark Whimzy
🚫 Not Dark Whimsy
🌚 Dark Scale
🌝 Whimsy Scale

Examples of possible DW lines include:
DW 😎😎13.0 | 🌚13 🌝13
DW 🕶️8.5 | 🌚12 🌝8
DW 🚫5.7 | 🌚5 🌝9

Dark Scale

Let’s take a closer look at the Dark Scale 🌚. It’s actually a composite of points earned on three subordinate scales. 25 points total can be earned, 15 from the Mayhem Scale, 5 from the Monsters Scale and 5 from the Mood Scale (Dark). The total points earned convert to the Dark Scale reading as follows:

Dark Scale
0 to 6 points = Dark 0 to 6
7 to 8 points = Dark 7
9 to 10 points = Dark 8
11 to 13 points = Dark 9
14 to 16 points = Dark 10
17 to 19 points = Dark 11
20 to 22 points = Dark 12
23 to 25 points = Dark 13

The subordinate scales are scored as follows:

Mayhem Scale

Assign points according to highest applicable reading, including modifications applied to the reading. For example a film with peril of injury happening ten times to children (4+4 pts.) and peril of death to an adult just once (6+0 pts.) is assigned 8 points.

+0 safe space, no problems or conflict
+1 minor problems faced by a character
+2 moderate problems faced
+3 serious problems faced
+4 peril of injury happens
+5 injury happens
+6 peril of death happens
+7 death happens

Character Modification (all cases, except safe spaces)
-1 if it happens to non-sympathetic animal or non-human character
+1 if happens to child or to sympathetic animal or non-human character

Frequency Modification (all cases, except safe spaces)
+1 if happens two to four times
+2 if five to nine times
+3 if ten plus times
+4 mass disaster event

Intent Modification (all cases, except safe spaces)
+1 if death, injuries and problems are caused by evil intent to innocent victims, as opposed to righteous intent against evildoers, accidents or natural causes

Circumstance Modification (death or injury only)
-2 if it happens off screen (is merely referenced)
-1 if it is inferred on screen (for example a populated building blows up, but no dead bodies are shown)
+0 if dead or injured are seen in aftermath of their death or injury
+1 if moment of death or injury is portrayed, with character shown dying or suffering injury
+1 if dead or injured are seen with blood, but not graphic injuries or gore
+2 if dead or injured are seen with graphic injuries, blood and gore

Monsters Scale

Assign points based on the percentage of the length of the work that is taken up by scenes that include monsters.
+0 | 0% to 10%
+1 | 11% to 28%
+2 | 29% to 46%
+3 | 47% to 64%
+4 | 65% to 82%
+5 | 83% to 100%
Monsters include all types of non-human potentially frightening creatures.
Monsters can include good characters perceived as monsters and human villains who are monsters at heart.

Mood Scale (Dark)

Assign points based on the percentage of the length of the work that is taken up by scenes that include dark mood settings.
+0 | 0% to 10%
+1 | 11% to 28%
+2 | 29% to 46%
+3 | 47% to 64%
+4 | 65% to 82%
+5 | 83% to 100%
Dark mood settings would include nighttime scenes (excluding happy scenes and celebrations not interrupted by frightening moments), crime scenes (including locations where crime is planned), places associated with death (such as graveyards, battlefields, disaster sites), scenes with occult elements, scenes of suspense and horror.

Whimsy Scale

Now let’s take a deeper look at the Whimsy Scale 🌝. It’s a composite of points earned on four subordinate scales. 25 points total can be earned, 10 from the Mirth Scale, 5 from the Munchkins Scale, 5 from the Magic Scale, and 5 from the Mood Scale (Whimsy). Minuses can also remove up to 18 points of Whimsy. The total points earned convert to the Whimsy Scale reading as follows:

Whimsy Scale
-18 to -1 points = Whimsy 0
0 to 6 points = Whimsy 0 to 6
7 to 8 points = Whimsy 7
9 to 10 points = Whimsy 8
11 to 13 points = Whimsy 9
14 to 16 points = Whimsy 10
17 to 19 points = Whimsy 11
20 to 22 points = Whimsy 12
23 to 25 points = Whimsy 13

The subordinate scales are scored as follows:

Mirth Scale

Assign points based on how funny the work is:
+0 never funny
+1 sometimes, but rarely funny
+2 occasionally funny
+3 funny
+4 very funny
+5 non-stop laughs

Up to five bonus points can be earned for the percentage of the humor in the work that is childish/childlike humor, such as potty humor, insult humor, child observation humor, outrageously random humor, slapstick, physical humor and sight gags or that is playful adult humor such as parody, satire, wordplay and tongue-in-cheek humor. (Not included: typical situation comedy, typical romantic comedy, screwball comedy, adult observation humor, anecdotal humor, cringe humor, racial humor, adult language humor, sexual humor.)

Multiply the percentage times Mirth points already earned, and round off to determine bonus points awarded.

Munchkins Scale

Assign points based on the percentage of the length of the work that is taken up by scenes that include munchkins.
+0 | 0% to 10%
+1 | 11% to 28%
+2 | 29% to 46%
+3 | 47% to 64%
+4 | 65% to 82%
+5 | 83% to 100%
Munchkins include children, talking animals, inanimate objects, or cute creatures, or adults behaving as children, including playing games or sports or generally fulfilling childhood fantasies.

Magic Scale

Assign points based on the percentage of the length of the work that is taken up by scenes that include magical or fantasy elements.
+0 | 0% to 10%
+1 | 11% to 28%
+2 | 29% to 46%
+3 | 47% to 64%
+4 | 65% to 82%
+5 | 83% to 100%
Besides the obvious, scenes with magical or fantasy elements would include scenes with supernatural elements, scenes with superhero elements, scenes with dream or daydream sequences, and scenes with characters spontaneously breaking into song, or even whimsical music in the soundtrack.

Mood Scale (Whimsy)

Assign points based on the percentage of the length of the work that is taken up by scenes that include whimsical mood presentations.
+0 | 0% to 10%
+1 | 11% to 28%
+2 | 29% to 46%
+3 | 47% to 64%
+4 | 65% to 82%
+5 | 83% to 100%
Whimsical mood presentations include scenes with animation or puppets and scenes with unrealistic or caricatured costumes or settings (similar to those found in a stage play). Also included are scenes in which an actor (or character) plays multiple roles, and scenes of storytelling, whether one character to another, or a narrator speaking to the audience.

Minuses

Points can be deducted from Whimsy if there are negative ratings in any of the five Family Suitability ratings, or in the Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values rating. Across those six ratings, as many as 18 points can be deducted.

One point is deducted for every two ratings of -1.
One point is deducted for each rating of -2.
Two points are deducted for each rating of -3.
Three points are deducted for each rating of -4.

Even if deductions reduce the Whimsy points to below zero, the Whimsy scale reading cannot go below zero.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group in three parts, 2025-01-08, 2025-01-09 and 2025-01-10
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11
Last updated 2025-12-21

Retro Reviews Reference

The second line of the Opinion Block is the Entertainment Quality Line, where I reveal my opinion of the entertainment quality of the reviewed work, divorced from my opinion about the viewpoint that the work comes from or advocates, and the adult content it chooses to include.

Following directly after my overall grade, a quick comparison helps any reader learn how much of my overall grade came from the entertainment quality of the work, as opposed to my opinion about the viewpoint of the work. This also helps readers who don’t share my viewpoints evaluate whether or not the reviewed work might be right for them.

In addition to the composite grade that I give for entertainment quality, I grade four aspects of the work that contribute to its entertainment quality. All grades are on the same A+ to F grading scale used for my overall grade for the work, without arrows appended to add precision (see Grade Line).

The emojis standing in for the titles of the graded aspect of a work are as follows, with more detailed explanations to follow:
👍 Entertainment Quality
📖 Story
👥 Characters
📽️ Visuals
🎼 Soundtrack

A typical quality line might look like:
EQ 👍B+ | 📖B+ 👥A- 📽️B 🎼B+

👍 Entertainment Quality (EQ), A++ to F

This is the composite grade for the entertainment quality of the work. (Although the overall grade of a work will never be shown as higher than A+, an A++ is allowed here to indicate the best of the best.) While this grade considers and combines the four entertainment aspects of the work that are individually graded, the weight given to those aspects varies with the type and genre of the work.

For example, Story might be the most important aspect of a typical mystery. Characters might matter more in a romance. Visuals are very important to a film based on a sci-fi superhero comic book. And a musical flops without a good Soundtrack. It’s all about balance and context.

Keep in mind these grades are not a judgment on the production values of the work. These reviews are for audiences, not creators. That’s why I grade entertainment quality and aspects of that, as opposed to Academy Award categories. Good production values absolutely make for better entertainment. But I’m more interested in grading broadly accessible categories, validly debatable by any consumer of entertainment, as opposed to technical details where industry elites can claim superior expertise.

The most credit for a good composite grade, goes to the creators with the most influence over the four subordinate entertainment aspects. For films or TV, that would be the producers. For literary works, the authors and editors. For songs and albums, the songwriters, artists and producers.

📖 Story, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I look at how entertaining is the story that’s being told. I start with the premise and uniqueness of the story choice, and its appeal to genre fans. I consider setting choices, pacing, plot, dialogue, character relationships, and the climax and conclusion of the story. I consider the themes of the story. Are they clear and interesting? Is there a message and was it well-delivered? I ask if the storytellers achieved their goals by telling their story well. Even a song has lyrics to grade.

I don’t automatically penalize here for adult content I find gratuitous, assuming that the story is aimed at audiences that want extra content of that type. But if that content harms other factors considered above, it doesn’t get a free pass.

I do penalize for preachy stories, whether or not I agree with the message being preached. Showing is better than telling. Is the message of the story delivered naturally, or does it feel forced?

Credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect goes to screenwriters and authors of the original content behind a work, literary authors, and song lyricists.

👥 Characters, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I look at how entertaining are the characters in the story. Everything about how good the characters are is fair game. Acting performances are important, but don’t forget directors are responsible for getting good work from actors. Authors and screenwriters must deliver great characters to begin with. Interesting character motivations, arcs, and quirks start with the writers. Animators, if applicable, can make characters pop. Even costume and makeup artists might make important contributions, so film credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect may sometimes be broadly shared.

For literature and music, the credit here goes primarily to the authors and lyricists, whereas a music video would dole out credit more widely, like a film.

Some song lyrics won’t really include a character other than, say, an intangible concept like “love”. Don't expect to see a high grade for this entertainment aspect when that’s the case, but don’t expect that to have much weight in the composite EQ either.

📽️ Visuals, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I consider everything I see when watching a film, TV show or music video. If I’m reading a literary work or listening to a radio play or an album or song, then I consider the images evoked in my mind’s eye by the words I’m reading or hearing.

Beautiful images are great and perhaps preferred, but genre appropriateness is important too. Generally you want scary monsters, not attractive ones. The visuals should enhance the work, not overwhelm it, and be a good fit with the genre of the work. First and foremost, are we visually entertained, perhaps even delighted by what we see?

For a film, the credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect starts with the casting director. Let’s face it, we want a (mostly) good-looking cast that gives us a little eye candy. Next, art directors build good-looking sets. Makeup artists make up for casting imperfections. Costume artists also run cover. Then the director oversees the shoot, hopefully helped by great cinematography. The producer oversees post-production including film editing and the eye-popping special effects to which we’ve become accustomed. It’s definitely a team effort.

Credit for good Visuals grades with other types of works? See Characters above.

🎼 Soundtrack, A+ to F

When evaluating this aspect of a work, I consider everything I hear when watching a film, TV show or music video, or listening to a song or album. If I’m reading a literary work, then I consider the sounds evoked in my mind’s ear by the words I’m reading. As with visuals, the soundtrack should enhance the work, not overwhelm it, and be a good fit with the genre of the work. We’re looking for auditory entertainment, wanting our stupendous Story, carefully crafted Characters and vivid Visuals, to also have superb sound.

This grade is not an evaluation of a film’s soundtrack album. That work, if reviewed, would be graded separately, but an equivalent or similar grade would not be surprising.

Once again, credit for a good grade in this entertainment aspect is shared broadly when it comes to films. The composer of the film score might deserve the most credit in most cases. But sound effects editors, character voices in animated films, and even live-action actors with interesting accents can contribute. When songs play a part of the soundtrack, the contributing artists deserve credit. Eventually we get back to the producer who hires the score composer and likely selects the songs used also.

With literary works credit still goes primarily to the author and how his words tickle your mind’s ear.

For musical works, significant credit switches more from the lyricists to the music composers, if not one and the same, while the performance artists perhaps deserve the largest share of the credit for great musical works.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group in two parts, both on 2025-01-07
Updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

Following the Header Block in a review is the Opinion Block.

The first line of the Opinion Block is the Grade Line, where I reveal my overall grade for the reviewed work.

Works are graded as if I were a schoolteacher, using an A to F scale, with a plus or minus possible for every grade except F. The letter grades are followed by an arrow (^, v, or >) indicating which third of the grade the work fits into, upper, lower or middle. The “^” means it’s roughly in the top third of the grade level. I might have considered grading it higher and could improve the grade in the future. The “v” means it’s in the bottom third and could be revised downward. The “>” is in the middle third of the grade level and is a fairly solid grade that’s less likely to change on further viewings. A “?” instead of an arrow indicates that the grade is preliminary. There’s a chance I may change any grade on further review, but a “?” indicates a grade particularly likely to be modified later, in some cases because I gave the grade before I routinely assigned arrows.

Unlike school, I don't consider D minuses to be a passing grade. I view a D-minus and F both to be dismal failures of approximately equal lack of value. But when I give an F, there was something I found Funny. Just something that tickled me in a so-bad-I’m-almost-entertained way that deserves special recognition. You’ll want to stay far, far away from anything I grade D minus, but a few of you might get a kick from checking out a grade-F disaster every now and then. Think D minus for Dreadfully Dreary and F for Frighteningly Funny.

When I grade, I grade the smallest units that can easily be divided up. So I’ll give just one grade to most standard theatrical films, while I will grade each chapter of a book, each episode of a TV series, or each song on an album.

The grades are given grade points as follows, from best to worst:
20.0 A+^, A+>, A+v
12.0 A ^, A >, A v
8.0 A-^, A->, A-v
5.0 B+^, B+>, B+v
1.0 B ^, B >, B v
0.2 B-^, B->, B-v
0.1 C+^, C+>, C+v
0.0 C ^, C >, C v
-0.2 C-^, C->, C-v
-2.0 D+^, D+>, D+v
-5.0 D ^, D >, D v
-10.0 D-^, D->, D-v, F
The arrows after a grade do not affect grade points given, they simply show which third of the grade the grade represents: top, middle, or bottom third.

When I review a simple work, such as a feature film, or a TV series episode, the grade will be reported like this:
Grade: B+^ (5.0)
...showing the grade and grade points assigned to one decimal point.

When I review a complex work, I assign weight, for example, to chapters or episodes of widely different lengths and then instead of one letter grade for a novel, TV series, TV series season, or album, I calculate a weighted GPA that will be from -10.00 to 20.00. The GPA for a complex work will be reported like this:
GPA: 5.25 (B+>) [49]
...showing the GPA to two decimal points and the approximate grade represented by the GPA in parentheses. The number in brackets from 00 to 99 is the percentage of works of the same type with a lower GPA. You could see an “n/a” (not available) in the brackets if there aren't enough of the same type of works graded yet to include a meaningful score.

In addition, I assign Hall of Fame points whenever something is graded A-minus or better.
These are also weighted by length and media type, but in general an A- is worth 1 point per unit, an A is worth 2 and an A+ is worth 6. I do also remove 1 point per unit for a D+, 2 for a D and 6 for a D- or F. Because I can. 😁

After the grade for simple works, the number of Hall of Fame points earned will be reported like this:
/ HOF: 12

After the grade for complex works, the number of total Hall of Fame points earned will be reported like this:
/ HOF: 71 [59]
The number in brackets from 00 to 99 is the percentage of works of the same type with a lower total of Hall of Fame points. You could see an “n/a” (not available) in the brackets if there aren’t enough of the same type of works graded yet to include a meaningful score.

Think of the GPA like a baseball player’s batting average that will give you the overall reliability of the quality of a complex work like a novel, TV series season, or album. In contrast, the HOF total is more like a ballplayer’s home run total. The HOF total shows longevity and counts the great moments along the way.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-05
Updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11
Last updated 2025-08-22

Retro Reviews Reference

In the Header Block, there will be one or more Franchise/Series Lines, if applicable. When used, the Franchise/Series Line or Lines will be the last line or lines of the Header Block.

Some works are included in more than one franchise or series, resulting in more than one Franchise/Series Line being included in the Header Block. The Lines will be listed in the order of number of total works in the franchise or series, from most to least.

A Franchise/Series Line will be in the format:
emoji#/# [type] in X [franchise]/series

The “emoji#” in the format represents the position number in the franchise or series of the reviewed work:
1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣🔟
(numbers greater than 10 will not use emojis)

The “#” following the “/” separator in the format represents the total number of works included in the franchise or series.

The type of franchise or series is usually the same as the reviewed work, for example “films” for feature films.

Exceptions:
“works” includes all types of works.

“movies” includes feature films, TV movies and direct-to-video movies.

“shorts” includes short films, TV specials and video shorts.

“videos” includes everything in “movies” and “shorts”.

“stories” includes micro-stories, flash stories, short stories, novelettes and novellas.

The “X” in the format represents the name of the franchise or series.

A franchise will usually be described as a universe, or if it comprises more than one fictional universe, as a multiverse.

Three more emojis may immediately follow the franchise or series designation, when applicable.

🔜 Remade
The reviewed work is followed by remakes based on either the reviewed work, or the original work on which the reviewed work is based. If the reviewed work is a modernized adaptation of an original work, later adaptations of that original work are not considered remakes of the reviewed work unless they include the same modernization.

⏮️ Sequel
The reviewed work is chronologically later in the story than the first work in the series or franchise.

⏭️ Prequel
The reviewed work is chronologically earlier in the story than the first work in the series or franchise.

🥾 Reboot
The reviewed work is a specialized remake intended as a restart of the franchise, usually serving as the first entry in a new series.

Here are a couple of examples of the Header Block (not including the Review-at-a-Glance Section or representative image) that might show up for a couple of well-known sci-fi films:

Star Trek (2009)
Feature film, 2h 7m
Based on TV series Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry
11/13 films in Star Trek multiverse 🥾⭐
1️⃣/3 films in Star Trek reboot series ⭐

Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (2002)
Feature film, 2h 22m
5️⃣/12 films in Star Wars universe ⏭️⭐
5️⃣/9 films in Skywalker Saga series ⏭️⭐
2️⃣/3 films in Star Wars prequel series ⏮️⭐

A ⭐ emoji used in the Header Block indicates that a Retro Roundup including the reviewed work is intended for future publication, and will serve as a linked list of related works. If a Retro Roundup has already been created, the relevant term(s) that describe the related works will be linked to the Retro Roundup.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-04
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

In the Header Block, there will be Secondary Information Lines, if applicable. They will follow the Review-at-a-Glance Section and the representation of the reviewed work with a movie poster, book cover or similar image.

The purpose of the Secondary Info Lines is to let you know the origins of the reviewed work, if it is not an original work. These lines may be omitted if the work is not original, but is part of a series of works that began with an original work (see Franchise/Series Lines).

The format of the Secondary Info Lines:
Based on [type of work] (literature subtype) [title] (year) by [creator]

For example:
Based on literature (novella) A Christmas Carol. (1843) by Charles Dickens

Also on this line, you may see one or more of the following emojis:

❗ Classic
This reviewed work is set in the same time period as the original work and usually follows the story closely.

‼️ Modernized
This reviewed work modifies the original work to tell a more contemporary story. It may follow the story of the original work closely, but it may follow the original only loosely, or barely at all.

🔙 Remake
The reviewed work is based on an original work of the same media type, but tells the same story, not being a sequel or prequel. Or if the reviewed work is based on a work of a different media type, it is not the first adaptation of the reviewed work’s media type.

🔜 Remade
The reviewed work is followed by remakes based on either the reviewed work, or the original work on which the reviewed work is based. If the reviewed work is a modernized adaptation of an original work, later adaptations of that original work are not considered remakes of the reviewed work unless they include the same modernization.

A ⭐ emoji used in the Header Block indicates that a Retro Roundup including the reviewed work is intended for future publication, and will serve as a linked list of related works. If a Retro Roundup has already been created, the relevant term(s) that describe the related works will be linked to the Retro Roundup.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-03
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

In the Header Block of each review, the title of the reviewed work comes first, with the year of initial public release in parentheses.

The next line is the Primary Information Line about the work.

This line begins by describing the type of work, for example novel or feature film.

If the work is a video work, such as a movie or television show, it is sometimes followed by a symbol describing the type of video. If there is no symbol, that indicates the video is standard live-action two-dimensional video in color.

Works are assigned symbols representing the primary type of video that best characterizes the film. Short sections of a film are not included unless they are numerous.

Video type symbols:
bw filmed in black and white
3D three-dimensional video
@ traditional animation
!@ stop motion animation
© computer animation
¶ puppets
/ preceding the animation symbol (/@, /!@, /©, /¶) means live action and the indicated animation are combined.

Note: Since a high percentage of live action films now include computer animated special effects and even characters, this won’t be noted as /© unless a) it’s an early noticeable use of combining the two techniques, or b) the live action and computer animation represent different concepts in the film, so that the computer animation is not intended to blend in and simulate being filmed on camera, indistinguishable from the live action.

On the Primary Info Line, after the video type symbol (if applicable), you will find a symbol indicating the original language and the national origin of the work. If there is no such symbol, the original language is English and the national origin is American.

For national origin, often a work is a co-production of multiple countries. I only recognize the most significant. This will be the first listed country by the Wikipedia and imdb articles for the work that primarily speaks the primary language of the work. If the two disagree, I will use my best judgment, based on the nationalities of the production studios, creators, cast and filming locations.

[Language] and Country of Origin:

[English]
no symbol = United States
£ Great Britain
¢AU Australia
¢CA Canada
¢HK Hong Kong
¢NZ New Zealand
¢SA South Africa

[Spanish]
¿AR Argentina
¿CH Chile
¿CO Colombia
¿MX Mexico
¿SP Spain
¿US United States

[German]
ßA Austria
ßCH Switzerland
ßD Germany
ßEG East Germany
ßWG West Germany

[Russian]
€RU! Russia
€RU-SOV Soviet Union
€RU-UKR Ukraine

€SA [Afrikaans] South Africa
÷IS [Arabic] Israel
¥BD [Bengali] Bangladesh
¥HK [Cantonese] Hong Kong
€CRO [Croatian] Croatia
€DK [Danish] Denmark
€NL [Dutch] Netherlands
€FI [Finnish] Finland
çF [French] France
¥ING [Gujarati] India
¥INH [Hindi] India
€HU [Hungarian] Hungary
€IT [Italian] Italy
¥J [Japanese] Japan
¥K [Korean] Korea
€LA [Latvian] Latvia
¥CH [Mandarin] China
€NO [Norwegian] Norway
€SW [Swedish] Sweden
¥TH [Thai] Thailand
¥V [Vietnamese] Vietnam

This list includes all languages/country combinations of films currently tracked in my personal film database. I expect to discover other films with language/country combinations not yet included and will update the list as I come across them.

Directly after the language/nation origin symbol, you will see the emoji 😝 for a foreign-language (non-English) film, to enable easy searching for all such films. No offense to foreign-language speakers is intended. This emoji is intended to gently mock those who instinctively react negatively to non-English speakers and films.

I prefer to watch foreign-language works with English subtitles, instead of dubbed in English. But if both versions are available I will usually watch and review both. No notation will be made for a subtitled version, but I add a notation in the Title Line for special versions of a work. So for a dubbed work, that line would be:
Title of Work (year) <dubbed> (year) — Review sub-title repeated.

On the Primary Info Line, after the language/national origin symbol (if applicable), will be a parenthetical explanation of release year if different from the year in the title line, e.g. (unreleased until 2020).

The length of the work will follow next. That will be the number of pages for a literary work, shown as #p, or the length of time of an audio or video work, shown as #h #m.

🎖️ Stands Alone
When applicable, the emoji 🎖️ will follow the length of the work to indicate the work stands alone. This designation applies only to works of the same kind of media (literary, movies, television series) and length. TV movies and direct-to-video movies preclude this designation for related movies or related television series, but if there were a solitary film with only one TV series based on it, both would “stand alone”. So 🎖️ would mean, for example, that a feature film is not part of a film series, is not a remake and was not itself remade. There may be works or remakes of other lengths (such as a short film) or in other media in the same franchise.

A ⭐ emoji used in the Header Block indicates that a Retro Roundup including the reviewed work is intended for future publication, and will serve as a linked list of related works. If a Retro Roundup has already been created, the relevant term(s) that describe the related works will be linked to the Retro Roundup.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group in three parts, 2024-12-18 (part 1), 2024-12-28 (part 1, updated and re-posted) and 2025-01-02 (parts 2-3)
Post date revised to 2025-01-03, to maintain proper sequencing
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

In the Header Block, the first line of the review is the Title Line, which will include information formerly (before 2025-07-11) included separately in a Version Line.

The format for this line is:
Title of Work (year) *[<version> (year)] — Review sub-title repeated.
*if applicable

The title of a work will be italicized or in quotation marks depending on standard usage, usually based primarily on length, so the title of a feature film or a novel will be italicized, while a short film or short story will be in quotation marks.

The year indicated for a work is usually the year in which the work was first published or released or premiered to the public. This includes limited releases such as a film festival. Exceptions are that works which were unpublished or unreleased for decades, and are now available, will be listed by the year they are believed to have been completed.

The repetition of the sub-title is not ideal, but is necessary so that Substack gives useful information when a review is linked in another post.

The optional version portion of the line will appear only when applicable and indicates a non-standard version of the work is being reviewed.

In most cases I will have previously reviewed the original version of the work. If I haven’t, it's probably not currently available.

The version portion of the line, if included, will often have a different year listed, indicating when this version of the work was published or released.

A special case is that if a movie was originally released simultaneously in both 3D and 2D to movie theaters, I might watch and review the 3D version first. But I will treat the 2D version as the original version, and not use a version portion on this line, since home 3D televisions are no longer in production, and not easily available for most of my readers.

The Title Line of the 3D version will then look like this:

Title of Work (year) [<3D> (year)] — Review sub-title repeated.

And in these cases the year both years shown will match, indicating the simultaneous release.

If a 2D movie is later upgraded to 3D for a new release, that will be apparent because the year in the version portion of the Title Line for the 3D release will be later than the year on the Title Line for the original 2D release.

When a new version has an official name, typically included on a DVD cover, for example, then I will capitalize the name on the Version Line. I will only use the word “Version” in those cases.

When there is no official name, I will use a description of the version in lower case.

Here are some examples of typical film versions you may see:
<3D>
<colorized>
<Director’s Cut>
<dubbed>
<extended>
<Extended Edition>
<Special Edition>
<unrated>
<Unrated Version>

For a written work of literature, you might see:
<abridged> (though I will probably avoid reviewing abridged versions except to denounce them)
<English translation by [translator]>

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-03
Post date revised to 2025-01-02, to maintain proper sequencing.
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11

Retro Reviews Reference

Every Retro Review will begin with two blocks of information and end with three more blocks, including symbols and emojis, to give you a lot of info packed into a minimum amount of space.

Block 1 is the Header Block.
Line 1 is the Title Line, which includes the title of the work reviewed, with the year of initial release in parentheses. In some cases when necessary, a version portion of the Title Line will be included which indicates a different non-standard version of the work is being reviewed. The year of release of this version is also given in parentheses. The subtitle of the review follows in italics.
Line 2 is the Primary Information Line, recording type of work, type of video if applicable, foreign origin if applicable, year of initial release, length of work, and if applicable, an emoji indicating a work that stands alone with no prequels, sequels, remakes or otherwise related works of the same media type.

Review-at-a-Glance

Next in the Header Block you will find a Review-at-a-Glance section that includes key information given later in the first lines of other blocks: the Grade Line, the Family Suitability Line, and the Judeo-Christian Values Line.

Here’s an example of the Review-at-a-Glance section from The Sound of Music (1965):

A+^

Family Suitability
+ ✅1️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | G

Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎4️⃣ Excellent

After the Review-at-a-Glance section, the Header Block includes a representative image. Here you will typically see an original movie poster for a feature film or the first edition cover of a published novel. Some credits may be included in the caption of the images, such as the producers, screenplay authors and directors of films.

Following the representative image there may be Secondary Information Lines, mainly indicating story origination information. These lines will only be used when relevant.

Also after the representative image and the Secondary Information Lines, if they were used, there may be Franchise/Series Lines, indicating a work’s position in a franchise or series of works. These lines will also be used only if relevant.

A ⭐ emoji used in the Header Block indicates that a Retro Roundup including the reviewed work is intended for future publication, and will serve as a linked list of related works. If a Retro Roundup has already been created, the relevant term(s) that describe the related works will be linked to the Retro Roundup.

Block 2 is the Opinion Block.
Line 1 is the Grade Line where I report my overall grade (or GPA for some types of works), and the number of Hall of Fame points earned.
Line 2 is the Entertainment Quality Line where I report my grades for different aspects of the work.
Line 3 is the Dark Whimsy Line giving the Dark Whimsy score, and the two associated scale readings.
Line 4 is the POPCAP Line, still under development, which will have percentile scores that reflect public opinion and the creative achievements of the work, including opinions of the industry and critics.
Line 5 is the Left-Right Line, still under development, which will have percentile scores showing how the film is graded by critics from four different perspectives on the left-right viewpoint spectrum.

Block 3 is the Footer Block, which follows the body of the review.
All the lines in this block except the last are Review Lines. The first has information on when I most recently experienced the reviewed work, how many times I’ve experienced it, if more than once, and how I experienced it, compared to its original aspect ratio and sound mix. If I’ve experienced the work more than once, extra lines are inserted following the first, and give the info about when and how I first experienced it, or how I experienced it before writing an earlier, possibly different review.
The last line of the Footer Block is the Genre Line composed of genre emojis.

Block 4 is the Content Block.
Line 1 is the Family Suitability Line with the overall content rating, followed by the official public rating.
Line 2 is the Content Detail Line with five areas of content rated.

Block 5 is the Viewpoint Block. It summarizes viewpoints, opinions and messages promoted or disparaged by the reviewed work.
Line 1 is the Judeo-Christian Values Line that evaluates the viewpoints promoted or disparaged by the work compared to Judeo-Christian values. It aggregates the findings of Lines 2-4 of the Viewpoint Block.
Line 2 is the Christian Values Line that compares the viewpoints of the work to Christian values.
Line 3 is the Biblical Values Line that compares the viewpoints of the work to Biblical values.
Line 4 is the Political Values Line that compares the viewpoints of the work to Judeo-Christian political values.

Retro Reviews Reference Pages:

Reference Overview
Header Block:
Title Line
Primary Information Line
Review-at-a-Glance Section
Secondary Information Lines
Franchise/Series Lines
Opinion Block:
Grade Line
Entertainment Quality Line
Dark Whimsy Line
POPCAP Line
Left-Right Line
Footer Block:
Review Lines
Genre Line
Content Block:
Family Suitability Line
Content Detail Line
Viewpoint Block:
Judeo-Christian Values Line
Christian Values Line
Biblical Values Line
Political Values Line

⬅️Previous (all sections) | Next (all sections) ➡️

Originally posted to text group 2024-12-20
Updated and re-posted to text group 2024-12-27
Revised and updated for new review formatting 2025-07-11