For a good time. . . . . . . . . call Netflix.com

[derfman]

There's no accounting for taste.

I know I'm not the first to make that observation. In fact, if you do know who said it first, let me know--I want to make a trivia question out of it.

There is some simply great entertainment to be had on Netflix--and I don't mean the movies, necessarily. The Customer Reviews!

Don't stop at their Featured Customer Reviews. Click on "See All Customer Reviews" and you'll find that, whether it's a movie you liked or you hated, you are totally screwed up. You must be!

How could you have liked THAT? What's with you, Bozo? Don't you know anything about art? (or humor, special effects, cinematography, plot, acting, direction, or whatever?) How could you have been disappointed in that one, Nitwit? Don't you know anything about . . . well, whatever?

For just about every movie in there, somebody says it's simply the greatest flick they've ever seen, and somebody else says it SUCKS!!! Or BLOWS!!! (Are these, like, you know, sort of, different things?) It never seems to be enough to observe "I just didn't like it."

So what do you think: are there two kinds of people in the world: those who "get it" (along with me), and those who don't? Those who have those other folks' tastes (bad), and my own tastes (good and proper)?

BTW, my favorite movie, the only one I actually bought (on VHS, some years back), because I can watch it over and over--"Airplane!" (1980, with Hays, Hagerty, Stack, Bridges, Nielsen, Abdul-Jabbar)--comes out pretty much unscathed. It is so well done and so funny that every "customer" loved it! Maybe there is some accounting for the most excellent of taste! :Q

OK, I have lied. Mea culpa. I also bought "The Muppet Movie" (1979--that was a great period in flickdom) because that movie feels so good. Also because I'm just a big kid inside. Since it has just now came out on DVD, though, the Netflix subscribers have yet to give their endorsement or condemnation. Whadda ya bet I'm considered seriously screwed up by at least half of 'em?

 

[mithrandir2001]

"the movie seemed to be great except for the fact that the director and main actress speak through the whole thing and I couldn't get through the movie as a result. would be much better if the commentary wasn't included"

Duh! Turn off the commentary track at the menu screen. Sheesh, people are dumb.

 

[pulse8]

<< So what do you think: are there two kinds of people in the world: those who &quot;get it&quot; (along with me), and those who don't? Those who have those other folks' tastes (bad), and my own tastes (good and proper)? >>



There are 4 types of people in this world for every movie made:

1. The ones that get it.

2. The ones that don't.

3. The ones that get it and feel superior for getting it and look down upon all that don't. Not realizing that &quot;getting it&quot; is just a matter of opinion and basically think that all else &quot;sucks&quot; or &quot;blows&quot;.

4. The ones that don't get it and feel superior for seeing what the general public doesn't. Again not realizing that it's a matter of taste and opinion and think that all else &quot;sucks&quot; or &quot;blows&quot;.

 

[derfman]

pulse8, you have it so right. People can't just like or not like something--food, women of a certain hair color, men of a certain build, parts of the country or the universe, you name it--they feel a need to be superior in their taste for whatever it is. I'm no different. What SUCKS? Heavy metal! What ROCKS? The Big Bands! SUCKS? East Coast and Midwest. RULES? West Coast. (Oh, am I gonna get flames for that one!) BLOWS? McD Hamburgers. GROOVES? Anybody's Pizza. Well, you've got the idea . . .

Netflix's Customer Reviews are just a convenient place to see this very human trait in practice.

I'm gonna have fun watching the replies to this post and some observations on The Way We Are. Come on, AnandTechers, don't disappoint me! Right up there with Netflix and its Customer Reviews, you are prime a laboratory in my realtime watch on human nature.