No, it can be. Sure it's ridiculous to have a 66% scale or Yahoo's shitty ABC scale, but a simple four star scale is not tedious at all. It's not hard to consider a film a *** or **** film. Good or excellent. That's simplifying how good you think it is. Reviews is where the real appreciation is, because that opening describes the film and why it's great. A rating is nothing more then a stance on how good you think a movie is.