Hi @coldsteem! imdb's ratings are based on a weighted average from all their registered users online. You don't have to be a critic to vote, tendency is however, popular pulse wins, hype wins. While most of their ratings are spot on, it doesn't reflect a movie's true quality.

Rotten tomatoes do away with this by separating the people's meter from the critics meter. Still, there are still movies that makes me scratch my head why they gave such a rating as it is which is where you turn to us bloggers for some cross checking insights haha