Movie Reviews, do you pay them any mind when watching a movie?

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I am a HUGE Stephen King fan. I have read all the books, watched most of the movies, you all know the drill. Recently A Good Marriage, one of my favorite short stories came out as a film, so naturally I was excited. However, after reading all the reviews, I kind of ended up getting depressed over it. I usually don't pay too much attention to reviews since most critics tend to have the complete opposite taste to mine, but I honestly wanted to see if it would be worth my time. Everyone knows that most of Stephen King's books do not translate well into film. The film usually cuts out certain parts of the story, or changes certain aspects of it that disappoint fans. (The ending of The Mist is a prime example!)

But, after reading the reviews and watching the movie, I felt kind of disappointed. Usually I don't read reviews until after I watch a movie, but this time around I did it the other way around, and kind of found my opinion altered a bit.


My question is, does anyone else tend to read reviews and base their decision on watching a film on someone else's opinion? And has anyone ever really agreed with what critics say?

 

[Vanessa Delamare]

I tend to read reviews, in case of movies I don't really anticipate - before and the ones I need to see - after. Mostly I agree with them (but not always). And many times they prevented me from wasting my money. I like to visit IMDb for more opinions but some commenters can be biased, especially so-called fanboys or haters.

 

[Dervish]

If it's a movie that's new that I have no real solid idea of the quality of it, I'll read some stuff up on it, but not too much because reviews are super spoiler territory. Generally, if people are giving it a 60+ and it still looks interesting to me, I'll go see it. It's when I find out it's a case like Expendables 3 where the rating went to PG-13 and the director was the guy who made that shitpile called Olympus Stands Still, I avoided it like the plague. Other times, I decide to go see something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles against my better judgement and the fact Michael Bay is a sumbitch who doesn't understand why people like the franchises he lobotomized and regret it. Sometimes a few minutes of Google can save you a few bucks.

 

[Hatsune Candy]

I usually don't read movie reviews, before or even after the movie, because I find that I can never agree with them.

Like, I'll watch a movie, think it's great, and then find out that it's actually considered to be horrible on most review sites.
Stuff like that just ruins my day, man, it makes me feel like my opinion is wrong and bad; and then I just feel like even more of an outcast than I already am.

 

[Dervish]

I usually don't read movie reviews, before or even after the movie, because I find that I can never agree with them.

Like, I'll watch a movie, think it's great, and then find out that it's actually considered to be horrible on most review sites.

Stuff like that just ruins my day, man, it makes me feel like my opinion is wrong and bad; and then I just feel like even more of an outcast than I already am.

Don't ever feel like your opinion is wrong and invalid because some jackwad who watches movies for a living hees and haws about its merits or lack there of in a weekly column or some such. Film critics are usually about as worthless as wine critics, as in their whole trade basically comes down to "This is my opinion, eat it lesser person".

If you like something, great! Don't let somebody tell you your tastes and values are wrong.

 

[Vanessa Delamare]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Well, I saw the first trailer and I had enough without reading any reviews/spoilers. Looked dumb from the beginning. Instead I saw GOTG and it was great :) After reading some opinions I also watched The Maze Runner and Gone Girl and they didn't disappoint me, despite the first one being quite YA-generic the second one slightly predictable.

As for now, I'll probably save money only for Mockingjay because Interstellar seems to contain too much family drama and not the scifi premise which I'd like to see (seriously, going to another galaxy to end up on some weird ice rock next to a giant black hole?).

 

[Brovo]

Generally I find reading a whole sum of reviews is pointless. Pick a couple reviewers you really like and whose opinions you really agree with and follow them consistently, if you should so choose to listen to them at all. Which for most films, I don't.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

Yeah, I made the fatal mistake of reading the reviews, and it definitely tainted my opinion. I noticed what some of the reviews commented on (The male lead being rather dry, how quickly thing escalated.) It probably wouldn't have even been noticed before if I hadn't read the review first.

And on that note, I know not to read anything about Cell before I got see it! There's no way I'm letting anyone ruin the movie of one of my very favorite Stephen King books, the choice in actors already has me leery. Samuel L. Jackson as Tom? Really? Who the hell thought that one up?!?!

 

[Diana]

I hate reading reviews, before and after movies. >> I find that people's reviews will color my own perception of the movie. Someone's comments good or bad can totally ruin a movie for me. .__.; Whatever they said about it will get stuck in my head and then I always end up remembering that when I see the movie.

Not to say that I dun like seeing what friends feel about a movie though. But only their vague opinion on whether or not they liked it, then I watch it and we can talk about it. O_O

I think my thing is that I don't wanna listen to someone hate on a movie I liked. XD If I hated it too, we can have a rant fest together about how much it sucked. And if we both liked it, we have something to chirp about. But otherwise, If we dun agree about the movie, I don't wanna sit there debating the damn thing. D:

 

[Jorick]

I utterly disregard what film critics say about movies and avoid their reviews entirely. They just don't matter to me. I'll decide whether I want to watch a movie or not based on the plot and maybe sometimes a trailer, but I usually don't even bother with those because they're trying to way hype up the movie and thus often give unrealistic depictions.

I do, however, pay some mind to overall user scores on things like IMDb and Metacritic. If the average rating is overwhelmingly bad or good, then odds are decent that it's actually bad or good. If it's anywhere in the center then it could go either way so I pretty much disregard the user ratings too. I also pay attention to what friends say they think of movies they've seen, with more weighting if I've found that their opinions generally do line up with mine.

All of that said, I've never let that dissuade me from watching something I thought looked interesting, nor have I been persuaded to watch something that looks like totally boring garbage just because people hyped it up. I just watch whatever looks neat, screw what other people say.

Also, off the reviews topic, there's one Stephen King story that was adapted into a visual medium that's just utter shit. The TV show Under the Dome is perhaps the worst bastardization of an adaptation I have ever seen. If you've read and liked the book and give a shit what other people think about media things, avoid that show like the plague.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

I don't bother with movie reviews at all. Generally speaking, the highest scoring movies are the ones that I consider to be average, whilst films that get average (or atrociously bad) reviews are some of my favourites. My sister only watches the top-rated films but I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would only watch films that OTHER PEOPLE had deigned to be "the best". Why not make your own decisions about movies you like/dislike, instead of letting someone else tell you what to think? I really don't get it.

I do read reviews that people leave for stuff on Amazon, though. It's hard for me to take someone's opinions seriously when I know they're being paid to write movie reviews, but if a person has bought something and found it to be so good (or bad) that they've seen fit to leave feedback online then I know that their opinions will at least be honest. If someone leaves feedback on a razor and calls it the worst razor ever then at least I'll know that they have a good reason for saying it, based on their own real experiences, and not just the manufacturer paying them to write a review...

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I utterly disregard what film critics say about movies and avoid their reviews entirely. They just don't matter to me. I'll decide whether I want to watch a movie or not based on the plot and maybe sometimes a trailer, but I usually don't even bother with those because they're trying to way hype up the movie and thus often give unrealistic depictions.

I do, however, pay some mind to overall user scores on things like IMDb and Metacritic. If the average rating is overwhelmingly bad or good, then odds are decent that it's actually bad or good. If it's anywhere in the center then it could go either way so I pretty much disregard the user ratings too. I also pay attention to what friends say they think of movies they've seen, with more weighting if I've found that their opinions generally do line up with mine.

All of that said, I've never let that dissuade me from watching something I thought looked interesting, nor have I been persuaded to watch something that looks like totally boring garbage just because people hyped it up. I just watch whatever looks neat, screw what other people say.

Also, off the reviews topic, there's one Stephen King story that was adapted into a visual medium that's just utter shit. The TV show Under the Dome is perhaps the worst bastardization of an adaptation I have ever seen. If you've read and liked the book and give a shit what other people think about media things, avoid that show like the plague.

I tried to watch it, but I just couldn't get into it, but that's probably because I couldn't really get into the book either. Now if they made a TV show based on The Talisman/Black House, or the Dark Tower series I'd be all over that like white on rice no matter what anyone said. lol

 

[Razilin]

i use reviews to determine if i pay theatre price or wait to rent

 

[Beatrix]

When going to see a new movie, I glance at the ratings and watch the trailers. Then again, with a kid, we can't necessarily go fly by the seat of our pants when we get the rare but well loved date, so our movie choices are planned ahead before we go, making the score and trailers an important factor of my choice in movies (Yes, I choose the movie, as Mike is more indecisive than I am).

 

[Dawn]

Movie Reviews, do you pay them any mind when watching a movie?

Nope.

My opinion is my own. Plus, I'm not very picky and easily entertained.

 

[Darog]

Nope.

My opinion is my own. Plus, I'm not very picky and easily entertained.

Well, I usually just go with the flow. It's hard to disappoint me, so I'm the same.

I do, however, pay some mind to overall user scores on things like IMDb and Metacritic. If the average rating is overwhelmingly bad or good, then odds are decent that it's actually bad or good. If it's anywhere in the center then it could go either way so I pretty much disregard the user ratings too. I also pay attention to what friends say they think of movies they've seen, with more weighting if I've found that their opinions generally do line up with mine.

However I do this ^ if the movie is something I'm particularly excited for.

 

[Dioxyne]

If it's a movie I'm certain I want to go see, I don't care for reviews. For example, the new Hobbit and Dracula movie.
If I just want to go to the theater to get out of the house for a bit, I always check a website. I look for a general rating of 6/10 or 3/5 stars or higher, and then I check the 1 and 5 star ratings to see what both sides of the coin have said, but mostly the 1 stars; if people have to cherry-pick and dig for reasons to bitch, I think it's probably a solid movie.

I've gotten burned by so many crappy movies in the past, by not being picky, that I simply can't justify avoiding review websites. On top of burning 30 bucks, driving 40 minutes, wading 20 minutes through lines and sitting to watch 10 minutes of television commercials before the 2 hour movie, then 40 minutes back, I lose a majority of my day. I have to be really sure it's worth my time and money.

 

[tokious]

I normally read reviews right after I've seen the movie. Don't want to risk reading spoilers, or possibly ruin my expectations. Plus, I find amusement when I compare my own opinion, on whether the movie was great or not, with what the critics have to say (especially if their opinions clash with mine.)