Who are your favorite movie reviewers?

[Muse]

The first 3 of Roger Ebert's Twenty-five things you should know about going to the movies (he wrote this in 1994) are quoted below. In deciding to see a movie he highly recommends checking out the reviews, and before that he says you should determine who your favorite movie reviewers are. Roger was my favorite (I didn't always agree with him, but he was a great writer and I loved a lot of his reviews). Unfortunately he died.

Who are your favorite movie reviewers and why?

1. How to Prepare for a Movie
Life is short. Try to avoid, whenever possible, wasting two hours of it on a movie you will not enjoy. Do not trust the ads for two reasons: (1) Until after the opening weekend, most of the critics' quotes are from publicity-hungry lightweights who dictate them straight to the publicists. (2) Serious movies are often marketed with ad campaigns that make them sound like a jolly fun time for all. (MR. JONES, the Richard Gere film about a manic-depressive, had ads that made him look like basically just a very happy guy.) Read the reviews.

2. How to read a review
A good critic should provide enough of an idea of a film so that you can decide if you'd like it, whether or not he does. (I once got a call from a reader who asked what I thought about Ingmar Bergman's CRIES AND WHISPERS. I said I thought it was the best film of the year. "Oh, thanks," the reader said. "That doesn't sound like anything we'd like to see.")

3. How to Choose Reviewers
Since you will probably not be attending nine out of ten movies, find someone whose reviews are worth reading for themselves. Go for the writing style, the insights, the asides. Never look for an "objective" critic. All criticism is subjective. I got a letter once from a reader asking me to keep my opinions out of my reviews. I wrote back asking him to keep his opinions out of his letters.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Myself. Reviewers are too full of themselves and jaded. Entertainment is completely subjective and/or self relevant.

 

[Muse]

Myself. Reviewers are too full of themselves and jaded. Entertainment is completely subjective and/or self relevant.

Well, ultimately, certainly. After seeing the movie it's your take that matters most to you, obviously. However, you have to have some way to determine what movies to see in the first place. For that reason (says Ebert), you should read reviews by people you trust, relatively speaking.

Edit: I'd also like to say that seeing a movie (for me, anyway) can be about a lot more than "entertainment." Same with any art form. I'm generally looking for more than something to divert me from whatever. I want inspiration, an experience that enhances my life beyond a couple of hours of diversion.

 

[MongGrel]

I prefer to look at aggregate data sites like IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes instead of a particular reviewer.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Redlettermedia

 

[soulcougher73]

Myself. Couldn't care less what random person 01 thinks of a movie.

 

[IronWing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4ojGuA33X4

 

[brianmanahan]

I prefer to look at aggregate data sites like IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes instead of a particular reviewer.

same, rotten tomatoes is my go-to site

 

[Ichinisan]

Still alive? Mike and Jay. No question.

 

[Ichinisan]

Redlettermedia

This. (Mike and Jay)

 

[MongGrel]

I still like hitting up Mike and Jay now and the also, and Honest Trailers are a kick to watch.

 

[Muse]

same, rotten tomatoes is my go-to site

I used to haunt Rotten Tomatoes Forums several years ago. So many great people went there. There were dozens of just phenomenal threads and they were popping up all the time. I learned a ton there. Then they kind of blew it. They made changes, technical, perhaps otherwise and the links to their past threads didn't work any more! They really screwed up the site. At one point I wasn't able to access my account and I sent the administrators post after post and I still couldn't log on. I gave up. I think I can maybe log in there now, but it's not the same there. Probably still worth checking out, I suppose, maybe hang out there too.

What I do pretty regularly is go to the main RT page for most any movie I see and save their data, such as this for Silver Linings Playbook:

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Reviews Counted: 230
Fresh: 211
Rotten: 19

It tells you something. I usually read the reviewettes on that page by professional reviewers, but I generally do these things after I see the movie.

What I want is a way to determine that I want to see a movie without finding out too much about it ahead of the experience. Yes, that's a conundrum. Of course, just about any "professional" reviewer figures their readers feel that way.

Edit: So, curious, I just went to Rotten Tomatoes Forums and found I was logged in already, cool...

I go to the General Discussion Forum (where most everything is happening), and scan down the thread titles and see an interesting one:

Off Topic - What Has Happened to This Forum?

ATM, there are 9 posts in the thread. Here's the OP. It very much mirrors the experience I had, described above:

I was a frequent user through 2008 up til about 2012. I know the boards have migrated multiple times and have even been near death multiple times. I remember the glory days. I tried logging into my account but couldn't. Then it showed me as logged in under my real name but I couldn't post. Did some work arounds on Firefox and magically was able to log in under my old account.

I'm shocked anyone is still here. Last I browsed the forum it was being shut down and RT was being sold and people were posting at another forum. What can be done to make this forum great again? Full migration?

 

[purbeast0]

Myself. Couldn't care less what random person 01 thinks of a movie.

this is me too. sometimes i will refer to imdb just to see ratings on a movie but it usually won't sway me whether i watch something or not.

 

[Anubis]

Myself. Reviewers are too full of themselves and jaded. Entertainment is completely subjective and/or self relevant.

this

i don't read any reviews, so its not possible to have a favorite

 

[madoka]

I like reading the flithy critic. He does all his reviews in character, which is a hoot. He did the Warcraft review as his nerdy cousin Jimmy.

http://www.filthycritic.com

Warcraft the Movie:

The humans in the movie look like super rad people, like dudes you’d totally have over for a round of Settlers of Cataan. They’re all white guys who look a lot alike, enough to confuse mortals, I dare say. They all have starter beards and greasy hair. In my experience, the coolest people on Earth look like this (yours truly, for example). I bet they have cans of Mountain Dew Code Red in their robes. The guy who plays the secretly bad Guardian Medivh looks like a Creepy Jesus, like he could start a cult tomorrow. Or, at the very least, make his mom bring him another sandwich. He is awesome. Another human (Khadgar) looks like the guy in the back of biology class who skeeves girls out and has manga of hypersexualized Japanese children in his locker. And he’s the good guy. It’s about time society started treating us like heroes.

And while the humans look as cool as I do in this world, the Orcs are the idealized version of me, with muscles as big as the Vikings’ on the side of a conversion van. That is to say, while the humans represent the real world physical manifestation of me, the Orcs version are the online version, which is where muscles matter. I always feel so bad for guys who work out all the time. My muscles are bigger than theirs on the screen, and the only exercise I have to do is eating Cheetos.

As for plot. Warcraft’s plot is what separates the losers from the Warcraft players. If you can’t understand why Gul’dan wants a dark portal to another world, or why the lovely green Orc lady Garona would fall in love with a man, or why Durotan wants to side with humans, you’re a loser. It is not the movie’s job to make you care or understand it. That’s your job.

The movie is also filled with so much cleverness, things that have never, ever been dreamed up by humans before, like dwarves as comic relief, and Orc-human battles. A perfect example of how original this movie is comes in a scene where an Orc mother in distress puts her baby in a basket and sends it down the river. Nobody else has ever thought of this idea. EVER.

 

[Muse]

this

i don't read any reviews, so its not possible to have a favorite

So, you see a movie based on the hype you're seeing? Do you take off your headphones or at least look both ways before you cross the street?

 

[NuclearNed]

Ebert was my favorite. I rarely read just one single reviewer anymore, instead opting for RottenTomatoes.

...but if I do care enough about a movie to read one single reviewer, it's James Berardinelli. Based on the reviews of his I've read, it seems like we have similar tastes in film.

 

[soulcougher73]

So, you see a movie based on the hype you're seeing? Do you take off your headphones or at least look both ways before you cross the street?

I think he is saying he see's it based on the trailer and if it appealed to him or not.

Save​

 

[Anubis]

So, you see a movie based on the hype you're seeing? Do you take off your headphones or at least look both ways before you cross the street?

no I ignore hype

I watch whatever I want for whatever reasons I want. If a friend says " hey check out XXXX, it was pretty good you might like it" ill look it up if I don't know what it is, watch a preview or whatever. but "reviews" are not part of the equation, and neither is hype

 

[cbrunny]

My right hand.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Roger Ebert was my favorite.

Now, I dont really follow anybody too closely, I like a lot of the various reviews from the threads KeithTalent used to run, but I havent really kept track as of late ...

 

[Thebobo]

My right hand.

Sounds like a movie. Remember my left foot?

Oh and I just look at RT and IMDB. Fios TV shows thier percentages along with thier own for most movies.

 

[Muse]

I'm bumping this... forgive me. It's 3.5 years old. I think it's still interesting and can use more (up-to-date) input...

 

[Muse]

Ebert was my favorite. I rarely read just one single reviewer anymore, instead opting for RottenTomatoes.

...but if I do care enough about a movie to read one single reviewer, it's James Berardinelli. Based on the reviews of his I've read, it seems like we have similar tastes in film.

If I watch a movie from 1997 or earlier I often open Cinemania '97. 1997 is the last year Microsoft put it out. I bought it at a computer show back then. Most movies are reviewed, some a lot more thoroughly than others. Movies are reviewed by some or all of:

Leonard Maltin (short reviews)
Pauline Kael (longer reviews)
Roger Ebert (by far the longest reviews)
CineBooks (pretty extensive, but relatively impersonal)

Cinemania is filled with hyperlinked info to its own content, e.g. other movies an actor was in, other movies a director produced, etc. There's a search function for movies, directors, actors, ...

 

[brianmanahan]

If I watch a movie from 1997 or earlier I often open Cinemania '97. 1997 is the last year Microsoft put it out. I bought it at a computer show back then. Most movies are reviewed, some a lot more thoroughly than others. Movies are reviewed by some or all of:

Leonard Maltin (short reviews)
Pauline Kael (longer reviews)
Roger Ebert (by far the longest reviews)
CineBooks (pretty extensive, but relatively impersonal)

Cinemania is filled with hyperlinked info to its own content, e.g. other movies an actor was in, other movies a director produced, etc. There's a search function for movies, directors, actors, ...

dang, i forgot all about cinemania

microsoft had quite a few info-tainment programs like that in the 90s that got obsoleted by the internet. i always liked reading stuff in encarta.