Movie critics

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Anyone read what movie critics say then go or not go
to a movie? For example I read that the critics
gave the new Die Hard movie bad reviews. The preview
looked good.

I don't usually decide on single reviews... However, I do check the aggregate response to a movie on sites like Rotten Tomatoes..

If the aggregate is generally unfavorable, I usually wait for NetFlix... unless its a movie I really want to see.

Bad ratings on Rotten Tomatoes made me skip the last Conan movie (which wasn't too bad in my opinion), but did not stop me from wasting money to go see John Carter...

I've noticed that movie critics often say action-packed movies with relatively simple plots aren't very good, but then movies with complicated plots where everybody stands around talking constantly often get rated highly by them.

That's just because they prefer Oscar nominated movies over the brainless side.

Movies where everybody stands around blabbing constantly are often boring in comparison though, but then again people usually consider those types of movies to be "mature" or "sophisticated" I guess.

I try not to listen to the critics. Oftentimes they'll give bad ratings to movies I like and vice-versa. For example, they gave good ratings to Frankenweenie and I thought it sucked, but they gave bad ratings to Alice in Wonderland (2010) and it's one of my all-time favorite movies.

Sometimes I agree with the critics, sometimes not. They thrashed Hunger Games and so did I. They loved Looper but I thought it was implausible nonsense. They loved Amadeus and so did I. I forgot if they loved Avatar or not. I thought it was boring and the special effects couldn't hide the weak plot, kind of like the Star Wars movies.

The new Die Hard movie that the OP mentioned is probably pretty good, but some of the critics gave it bad reviews cause it has more action and less dialogue.

I loved Looper, and loathed Avatar. As for critics, i read Total Film magazine and they are slightly unbiased, but always drool over the next Paul Thomas Anderson film like its fashionable. They gave Looper 5 out of 5 and likewise Avatar (can't imagine why)

Critics are just people, and they all think about movies in different ways. The most important thing is to read the same critics over and over again. This is because you will gradually get an idea of how each critic thinks, and so you will be able to figure out whether you yourself will like the movie.

For example, I very often read Roger Ebert's movie reviews. And since I now understand how Ebert thinks, sometimes I can read a review by Ebert and go "Well, Roger hated it, but I can tell that I would like it."

I only listen to what critics have to say after I've seen the movie. Usually it's when I hate a movie so much, that I want to hear other people mock it and rip it apart.

Critics have a certin criteria they want to see in a movie I have noticed. The template usually is something like Drama with strong interpersonal relationship content, good romance etc. Next comes things like effects, music etc. Most of the times the critics and the Lenard Malton book are at odds with me, the only movie we agree on is Humphry Bogart's the African Queen though I watch it for the boat travel scenes not the relationships. Infact I find interpersonal relationships to be very hard to follow and very boring.

The last theatre movie I saw was Red Tails and it made it clear the critics(unlike me) knew very little about the subject the movie was about so with that said why did they boather to review it when they did not know or care?

Years ago, a friend suggested that a bunch of us who would drink or see movies together ought to only go to movies that the critics hated. After going to the theater to see a horror movie (can't remember it's name) that had been universally panned, my friend told us that the next time he got a dumb idea like that, we should pay him no mind.
Moral of the story - while whether a movie is good or bad is really the opinion of a particular critic, the fact remains, nobody is going to endorse crap.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I'd also like to add that sometimes I do agree with the critics - To use more Tim Burton movies as examples (since he's my favorite director), I agreed with them on Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - they loved these movies and so did I* (though they gave Sleepy Hollow a lower score than I would have), as well as Planet of the Apes and Dark Shadows - they thought those movies were Tim Burton's weakest, and I agree.


* On Rotten Tomatoes, these movies' scores are as follows: Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood - 90% range, Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 80% range, and Sleepy Hollow - high 60% range. Out of all of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's collaborations, only Alice in Wonderland had a questionable score (around 50%) and Dark Shadows was the only one with an outright terrible score (around a measly 30%).

Using this data, my question is: Why do so many people hate Tim Burton and/or Johnny Depp movies and think that they are terrible at directing and acting (respectively), or that they need to stop collaborating? I have heard those things on pretty much every website I go to and it both confuses and enrages me.

Everyone's a critic, truth be told.

I did see the newest Die Hard movie earlier today and I thought it was good! I met Bruce Willis as a teen in high school when he came on US Army base in South Korea. I believe Planet Hollywood opened up in Seoul. I never saw the previous Die Hard movies so I can't compare this one to others. I hear that the first one is by far the best. I think Bruce is a great actor. I liked him in Fifth Element. I think Hostage was a movie he and his daughter were in together. The worst movie I saw that critics gave horrible reviews, but I saw it anyway was the 2nd Ghost Rider. I saw the first one and enjoyed it. The 2nd one was so awful! Dad and I went to see it on 3D and we wasted money on it. Critics also gave Transformers horrible reviews. Not sure which one, but I saw all 3 and enjoyed it. The whole idea of robots turning into cars interested me.