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Reading movie reviews before the movie... yay or nay?

NintendoKing

NintendoKing

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Skip the first 4 paragraphs if you don't care for back story...

It's way too early in the morning and I just got finished watching Cop Out. I had a few laughs here and there and thought the movie was entertaining at best but it definitely wouldn't go into my Kevin Smith collection.

I wanted to see other people's opinions on the movie so I hopped on over to rotten tomatoes to take a gander on what the 'critics' were saying, then ran over to see what Ebert said about it. The general consensus was the movie was mediocre to bad basically. I felt my opinion greatly mirrored there's.

Then I got to thinking, "What about all my other favorite movies?". So I did some hunting and once again found myself agreeing with a lot of what the critics were saying, but not all of them.

All these reviews began turning some gears in my dome and I thought just briefly, "I could read some reviews to determine whether or not I should go see a movie in order to preemptively save some cash." I immediately stopped the gears from churning on that idea for I remembered that I love seeing movies, good or bad. I love the fact that I can go to a movie with only my friends' opinions (not all of them awesomely articulated), my preconceptions of what the movie will be liked based on commercials, and an open mind as to take in the movie's feeling it's trying to convey to me.


So that's my take on reading reviews before a movie. So what about ya'll? Yay or nay? And hell give some back story if you'd like.
 
joeplicate

joeplicate

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i really don't like seeing a movie after reading the review, personally

instead of just watching the movie, i'll find myself comparing the movie and the review and critiquing the review, based on my thoughts of the movie. that's too much analyzing; i'm trying to go to the movie for a break!

also, i think there's like some sanctity to your first impression of a critical thing (movies, music, etc) and it can get ruined by having too many expectations going in. some of my favorite movie experiences have been ones i've known nothing about, and **** completely catches me off guard. it's awesome. i feel like even previews can give away too much information sometimes.

on the plus side, i was really into reading reviews for awhile, especially from www.pajiba.com [i don't know if that site doesn't suck now, there's a fair chance it might], and i went to see a lot of good, smaller movies that would've flown under my radar otherwise.
 
NintendoKing

NintendoKing

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Comparative analysis is a big worry of my own as well. That's a really good point, Joe.

I also happen to agree with reading obscure reviews that aren't for movies of the present time because you generally can find some gems you'd otherwise never have known about.

I absolutely love watching movies, but lately it feels like I can't just appreciate the movie at a superficial level, I have to keep pushing deeper. Considering how shots are set up to invoke a specific emotion or reaction, noting the dialogue being rich or minimalistic (both could be good or bad; taking wall-e for instance, almost no dialogue for the good part of the movie and it was SPECTACULAR or its complete movie opposite, pulp fiction, with TONS of amazing dialogue), and even critiquing lighting and filter effects are just some of the things I find myself doing constantly.

Is that just part of the way I enjoy movies though? Or is an amazing movie something where I just stop thinking about all that and just go with the flow.

The King's Speech is one of those movies where I just stopped critiquing altogether cause I was so immersed in the dialogue the entire time, which I found to be just absolutely amazing. The movie even conveyed feelings of anxiety and tension in certain parts that I actually could feel, without me having to over-analyze the entire scene to find the intended feeling for it.

I just love movies really.
 
Life

Life

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I don't mind as long as you can get a spoiler-free review. But eh, I usually use hearsay for recommendations anyway.
 
joeplicate

joeplicate

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i think that overall, a fantastic movie will move beyond being a technically perfect film into being emotionally complete

the king's speech was
SO
****ING
GOOD

i honestly haven't seen a movie that made me feel that way since i watched The Miracle Worker. both brought me to tears.

in my opinion, the trademark of a fantastic movie is that it's more than the sum of its parts. even if a film has perfect lighting, great acting, solid dialogue, etc, that's no guarantee that it will have the emotional core that brings it to the next level. a really great film will craft every detail to create magic.

my 2 cents :)


NK!
when are we hanging out again? come to sheridan's for that santa rosa tournament!! :D
 
Sizzle

Sizzle

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Unless I've already made up my mind to see the movie, I will go to rottentomatoes to check to see how decent the score is. If it's alright, then I'm more willing to go see it at the theater. I'd rather save my money, then go see a movie without checking out what the critics say and then be disappointed.
 
frotaz37

frotaz37

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I'll usually only read reviews for movies if their average score on movie websites is 6 to 7 out of 10. Oddly enough I've found that these are usually the worst movies; it seems like the best movies are either loved by most or hated by most.
 
Zivilyn Bane

Zivilyn Bane

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NintendoKing said:
Don't really give a **** what you think. I find it interesting. If you don't like movies or discussing them, get the **** out. No one told you to come in this thread.
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LOL NK, why you get so mad? You know I was just kidding.

I will SOMETIMES read reviews before I watch a movie.

For example, one of my favorite movies is Donnie Darko. Like two years ago, there was a sequel made called S. Darko. I knew it was a long time after the first, so I decided to read a review to see if it was legit. Turns out that it was written and directed by a different dude (not Richard Kelly) and that Richard Kelly himself said that he wanted nothing to do with the film. Needless to say, I didn't watch it.

I just figured I'd give you a hard time, cause it's hilarious.
 
Taco Head

Taco Head

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B

brownsheep

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ive recently made rules for myself about this. I was initially stoked when i heard about Rise of the Planet of the Apes. and then I watched the full length trailer. I no longer have any desire to watch the movie. it made me realize how much i hate spoilers.

So now I check the percentages on rottentomatoes, then avoid the trailers and reviews for anything above 70-80% depending on the genre, hype, etc. sometimes i let myself watch a teaser, but i try to avoid spoilers as much as possible.

Critical reviews often contain spoilers, if even just by telling you what emotion the reviewer felt while watching the movie. I like not knowing what to expect to feel; the emotions that come up are more powerful that way. I think movies are best when approached with as little knowledge about them as possible.

TLDR no spoilers. no reviews till after.
 
NintendoKing

NintendoKing

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I purposely watched the trailers for rise of the planet of the apes and was sorely disappointed in the quality of the trailers. I was so depressed with the marky mark planet of the apes that I was completely turned off to the idea of another planet of the apes, so I figured hey, no big deal if I check out these trailers, AH just what I expected... but they are just trailers so I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt... cause apes taking over the planet is ****ing awesome sounding.

I just went to see the movie a few hours ago and freakin fell in love with it.

Partially basing your perceptions on trailers is a horrible way to go about things. Trailers are always meant to entice the audience to see a movie, either through a **** ton of editing, ruining the movie by showing you the best parts, making it more epic than it is, or hell, even giving the viewers a false sense of what the movie ACTUALLY is. A good example of combining all of these would be Tron. The trailers were better than the ****ing movie. So basically I'd say take trailers for what they are, trailers.

REVIEWS however... **** they can spoil, they can guide your train of thought, they can make you forget that you're the one watching the movie, and they can be pretentious enough so that you think they know what they're talking about. In reality, they're just opinions. Some of my favorite movies are reviewed horribly by most critics, but I don't give a **** cause I enjoy them for some reason or another, regardless of what "Pro Critics" deem good quality.
 
B

brownsheep

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NintendoKing said:
Partially basing your perceptions on trailers is a horrible way to go about things. Trailers are always meant to entice the audience to see a movie, either through a **** ton of editing, ruining the movie by showing you the best parts, making it more epic than it is, or hell, even giving the viewers a false sense of what the movie ACTUALLY is. A good example of combining all of these would be Tron. The trailers were better than the ****ing movie. So basically I'd say take trailers for what they are, trailers.
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i hate the disappointment that comes after watching a bad movie with an awesome trailer though. it feels like getting trolled and then rewarding the troll with money. id rather just go in with no expectations. i also dont like knowing whats going to happen as i watch a movie. it happens too much with trailers. and AVOID AVOID AVOID comedy movie trailers.

teasers are good for me. i can still get a good feel for how the movie is shot, its design, mood of the movie etc without revealing much of the plot.
 
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