My dad demands a score before the credits finish, and I am tired of defending every movie I choose

My dad and I started going to movies together after he retired. It was meant to be an easy ritual: Tuesday discount tickets, the same diner afterward, no pressure to make a whole family event out of it. The problem begins the second the screen goes dark.

Before the first credit appears, he turns to me and asks, “Out of ten?” If I hesitate, he starts negotiating on my behalf. “Six? Six and a half? You cannot give that an eight.” At the diner, he wants to rank the acting, pacing, ending and whether the ticket was “worth it.” By the time our food arrives, I feel as if I am defending a purchase request.

Last week we saw a strange, quiet movie that I am still not sure I liked. One scene has stayed with me for days. Another felt painfully long. When he asked for my score, I said I wanted to think. He laughed and announced that needing time was “film-club language for bad.” I gave it a seven just to end the exchange, then spent dinner arguing for a number I did not believe.

I know this is how he has fun. He reads consumer reviews for almost everything and likes turning vague impressions into decisions. He is not trying to make me feel stupid. He gets excited when we disagree, and the debate is probably part of what he looks forward to.

For me, immediate scoring closes the movie too quickly. Some experiences need to sit unfinished. I would rather begin with one image we liked, one choice that bothered us or one question we cannot answer. A number makes every conversation sound as if we are determining whether other people should buy the same evening.

I considered creating a rule that we do not score movies until the drive home, but even that feels like accepting a system I do not enjoy. I could also stop choosing ambiguous movies and save them for friends who like slower conversations. That would keep our ritual peaceful, but it would shrink what we share.

How do I ask him to change the post-movie conversation without rejecting the part he enjoys most? Is there a compromise that preserves his love of rating things while giving me room not to know what I think yet?