Trusted Film Critics

justinisfilming

justinisfilming

Before I see a movie, I always go to Roger Ebert's site and look at his ratings (1-4 stars), but not his review (I wanna go to a movie fresh). I also pay a visit to RottenTomatoes to see if the movie is rotten or fresh. These 2 would then help me determine if I'm going to see the movie or not... most of the time. :)

Anyway, do you guys have a go-to film critic? If so, who? And if you just don't give a damn about what these critics has to say, feel free to let your voice be heard. :D
 
I always look at the stars/read the reviews from Dave White on www.movies.com. Mostly because he has a sense of humor, and he qualifies why he gave it a particular rating. Even though I don't always agree with his star ratings, I do agree with his reasoning behind them.

I will also read through the reviews on www.pluggedinonline.com -- I'm generally not concerned with the "content" sections (unless I'm seeing it with someone else who would care), but the "conclusion" section is pretty much always very well thought-out and usually offers some really good insight.

But truthfully, I may read either of these sites' reviews after I see the film. If one looks good enough I will go on my own regardless of the review.
 
I rely pretty heavily on Rottentomatoes. I don't very often read an entire review, because too many of them give too much away. Instead, I read all of the blurbs that are on a movie's front page. That way, I think I get a pretty good feel for what kind of movie it is, without it being ruined by spoilers.

And I'm not necessarily swayed too much by the score. This past week, I saw "Chernobyl Diaries" (25% tomatometer) and "MiB3" (67% tomatometer), yet I enjoyed them both equally the same. Each movie gets a "C+" in my book.
 
No time for reading strangers' opinions of films.

My circle of friends have a much more accurate system... "Sure, SuckerPunch sucks, but Zen will dig it 'cos of the blahblahblah..."

You're not gonna get that kind of informed personalised opinion from Ebert.
 
I like Ebert and Rottentomatoes too. I also pay attention to the reviews The Onion gives movies; they give letter grades. But if I read a review at all, I've fallen into the habit of reading the last paragraph for a summation, or hoping for a summation, then possibly reading up/backwards. =) I've also been swayed or had my interest piqued or dimmed by IndieTalk's own favorite son's creation, The Clapper Bored. =P I also used to like to hear Leonard Maltin's reviews, but I've sort of lost track of him. I should pay more attention to him. I also like to see Peter Travers's seal of approval on a film. And I second Steve's sentiment about liking to hear friend's and family's etc suggestions.
 
I tend not to read reviews until after I've seen a film. My opinions are often...well, outside the norm. After I see a film, I do (particularly if I liked it) like to read what other people have thought of it. Like Zensteve, I take a friend's recommendation over a good review for something I wasn't already interested in. In addition to friends knowing my tastes, I know THEIRS, which is important.

Of course, at the end of the day, I'll watch anything at least once, and some of my favorite films have received awful, awful reviews (and some of them are bad movies...but I love them anyway!)
 
I am such a fan of movies I don't even look at reviews until after
I see it. I just love seeing movies so I don't decide not to see one
based on the opinions of others. One of my favorite things in my
life is going to a film festival and buying tickets based on the time
a movie plays - I don't read about it and I try not to even know
the title.

I don't have a problem seeing bad movies. I learn as much (maybe
even more) from a bad film as I do from a good one. And my taste
in movies is quite different from most people - I have found that
very often I love a movie most people don't like.
 
I'm in a cool position where one of the perks of my current employment is that I get to see them all for free :) Even the ones I would normally have no interest in seeing. I'm spoiled. But, I've never used reviews of any sort to sway me, I've done the hollywood thing and gone by directorial track record (Dark Shadows really disappointed, BTW), genre, and casting.
 
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