Do you take a critic's opinion before you go and buy and album or see a film? Do certain critics influence your decisions?

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

Answers

Well, This Guy does a great movie review. Really. I am very influenced by him in my movie watching.

Ok, you caught me. That guy is my husband. He also reviews here. But I think there is a big difference between a critic and a reviewer. I listen to reviewers. I don't always agree, but I listen to them. Critics, never.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

Yeah, I do listen to critics, but I have critics I trust and critics I think are idiots and critics whose tastes just differ from mine. I usually agree with Diane and Roger Ebert. (Actually, I said that wrong. I usually like the same movies that Diane and Roger Ebert like. I don't always like or dislike them for the same reasons.) I sometimes agree with you and I sometimes agree with Patrick and once every ten years or so I agree with our local weekly paper, and I always disagree 100% percent with the critic in our local daily paper.

So I'll go see a movie if it interests me, and it helps if people whose opinions I trust have already given it a good review. But if I like something the critics hated, I don't worry too much about it. If I hate something the critics liked, I don't feel insecure and worry about whether I'm too dumb to get it. (I usually assume the critics didn't get it either and they're just showing off.)

And I've changed my mind about a film after reading a review, even if I've already seen the film. Sometimes knowing the backstory really can change your opinion, and I don't think that's a bad thing. So you might say The Cradle Will Rock was fine and entertaining as far as it went, but it wouldn't appeal to someone who knew the history. I don't think that means you're too easily influenced, Pamie.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

By the way, Pamie, Roger Ebert liked And the Cradle Will Rock, for whatever that's worth.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

Oops. That was the title of that heavy metal album from the 80's, wasn't it? I meant Cradle Will Rock. Shows how much attention I've been paying.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

i used to "listen" to the austin chronicle movie and music critics, until i realized that they had NO IDEA what they were talking about. i was a film major (no brownie points there), and i am usually 90% right if i THINK i'll like a movie, then see it and LIKE it. this annoys many people around me. i tend to be too picky. for music, i listen to my husband, but not when he says anything about john cage or other weird-o not-really-music-types.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

I honestly think that some movie critics (not to name names, but a lot of live really close to one...) get burned out on seeing movies because it's a job, not just fun like the rest of us. When you go see a movie, you generally expect it to be good, and critics have to go in as their job and see everything with critical eyes. It can really take the fun out of going.

I was talking to one such critic -- and what's funny is he gets criticized pretty hard for his views, and he really does take that stuff seriously. It honestly hurts his feelings when people say he knows nothing about film, he's an idiot, etc... People seem to forget that it's one person's opinion, however volatile that opinion may be. Not everybody likes Spielberg, not everybody dug The Green Mile. I don't agree with a lot of his stuff either, but the hate mail he gets is pretty disproportionate to what he does for a living

Just my opinion, I could be wrong -- :)

o.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

I try not to read reviews of most films before I go and see them, because I'm terrified that they'll give some critical plot point away.

I went to see "The Blair Witch Project" the night it opened because I didn't want any of my friends to go see it before me and inadvertently give away a surprise. We even bitched at the people in line behind us at the theater for talking about the reviews of it too loudly (yes, we are big dorks).

AFTER the movie is a different story. I read most of Roger Ebert's reviews of movies I've seen, and depending on how much I liked a particular film, I read a bunch of other reviews, too. If I really loved the film, I always want to read everything that's been written about it, so I can get other people's interpretations of it. If I hated it, I might read a few to see if they agreed with me.

Either way, it's very rare that reading a film review after the fact makes me change my opinion of a film. Then again, I probably feel far too strongly about most movies. I dunno.

--Jan

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

I read a number of critics on the Web (Ebert, Berardinelli, Renshaw, etc.), and they certainly exert a fair bit of influence over which movies I see. I have read all of these critics for some time and I've gotten a good feel for where our tastes overlap and where they diverge. Thus, if I read several reviews by these folks of a given movie, I'm pretty good at figuring out how much I will like it. There are a lot of critics out there, however, that are either so inconsistent or so slavishly devoted to cultivating their own reputations as cineastes (e.g. any Hollywood movie loses at least half a star just for being from Hollywood, and any movie in French gains at least half a star just for being in French) that they are utterly useless to me, and they mostly just piss me off.

I don't recall having changed my opinion of a movie completely based on reviews that I read after the fact (although to be fair, I almost always read reviews by everybody before seeing the movie), but I can certainly envision a sharp critic pointing out a nuance I had missed and forcing me to revise my opinion of a film.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

More often than not, if the critics pan it, I'll love it. If they adore it, the movie will bore me to tears.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

I'm with you, Jan -- after the late, great Gene Siskel spoiled the "surprise" of "The Crying Game," I try to hear as little as possible beforehand about a film, especially if it's one I'm really excited about. I also try to go as early in its release as I possibly can, so no one can tell me about it.

I read Roger Ebert religiously -- he's like a god (and role model) to me -- but I can't read his reviews before I see a film. He just influences me too much, because I find 85% of the time I agree with him. But that other 15%! Yikes! For example, he LOVED "Magnolia," and the more distance I get between me and my viewing of that film, the less I liked it.

I don't know that I've ever changed my opinion of a film after reading what a critic said about it, although I find that sometimes I love a film when I first walk out, but the more time that passes, the less I liked it. "Magnolia" was one; "Fight Club" was another recent one.

Ya know, I just don't get what the big deal is about Harry. I do read his site from time to time, if I'm looking for info I know no one else will have, and I do agree that he doesn't deserve so much hate mail (I'm sure that's who you were talking about, Omar!), but for the most part I find that he and his reviewers ramble on way too long, and the grammatical and punctuation errors drive me batty. Although -- I must admit that Roger occasionally gets things wrong, mostly plot details and stuff.

I do, however, read the review SUMMARIES before I go see them -- the "Dallas Morning News" grades on an A-F scale, and I'll see how many stars Rog' gave something. But I save the reviews for after. And, like Jan, I read everything I possibly can if I liked it.

I'm so sad that Janet Maslin retired, because her reviews were brilliant.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

Critics know how to win the race but they don't know how to drive the car.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

I think that an awful lot of critics are frustrated film-makers. Like, they have no talent so they must trash somebody else's.

Sour grapes, yo.

I mean, bad reviews outnumber good ones 10-1. Usually, when choosing films, I go with my instincts. I'm a film student/pop-culture junkie extraordinaire, so I generally have a pretty good idea about what a film's going to be like. I am, however, no snob, and am therefore not interested in what some cranky, stuffy critic has to say. Aside from that, they invariably have an agenda one way or another so it's not as if they're giving an impartial, objective view. Bah.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

I admit to being heavily influenced by what I read about a film before I see it. If I've read a few bad reviews before I see a movie I'll be a lot less willing to see it, generally because I don't go to movies often (penny-pinching) and I wanna make sure I'm going to enjoy myself before I go.

Here's an interesting example. I read somewhere on the Internet (Mr. ShowBiz, I think?) about "Sixth Sense". The reviewer hated it. In fact, I think he called the performance of the kid in the movie the worst child performance he's ever seen. Consequently, my friend and I skipped SS to see "Mystery Men" instead (which my friend really despised, unfortunately). *Now* I know that practically every other critic LOVES this kid and he'll probably be up for an Oscar. I guess I just read the wrong review....Well, I still haven't seen SS yet. What do y'all think of the kid? Is he worth the hype?

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

To the above: actually, it wasn't Harry I was talking about, but Harry does get an awful lot of (unnecessary) hate-mail. Which is sad because he is a really nice guy and IMHO does a really good job at what he does. I've found some reviews of Harry's I disagree with, but damn if I'm not gonna read it anyway. I particularly liked his reviews of Fight Club and of Being John Malkovich. He's managed to write stuff without giving too much away and discuss serious issues. Yeah, he misspells often, but I like where he's coming from and he's not afraid to like a movie that everybody despises (Phantom Menace, The Haunting, etc...)

As for The Sixth Sense, I thought that kid was incredible. He wasn't cute or precocious or any of the other things that annoy me about a lot of child actors. How many kids can honestly pull off HAUNTED? This kid is haunted in nearly every moment of that movie, and the look on his face just breaks your heart because it's so real. This is probably not the best comparison, but it reminded me a bit of Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. Remember how haunted he was through that whole movie? He's haunted by the death of his wife, by being blamed for it, by being on the run. And you just see it on his face, this haunted, sad look. I think that's 50 percent of why The Fugitive worked -- you believe this guy is being hunted.

In The Sixth Sense, you believe this child sees what he sees and that in his mind, there's not a thing in the world he, or anybody else, can do about it.

Whew... I love talkin' movies... :)

o.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

Generally, I couldn't care less about what most critics say. Sure, I read the reviews, but I think I get a pretty good feel of a movie from watching the trailers. 'Three Kings' was an exception- I don't think I would've gone to see just any Marky Mark/George Clooney/Ice Cube movie without some pretty rave reviews.

If there's an independant or otherwise un-advertised film, well this is Austin. Between my roommates and the girl in the cube across from me, I'm lucky to go a day without an "expert" (read wannabe film maker, actor/actress, writer/director or super-trendy leech) review of some artsy-fartsy thing or another.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2000

Most of the time, I'll agree with several points that the critic makes about the movie, but disagree with the review in general - like with Sixth Sense (yes, the kid was great, yes, I was very surprised to find Bruce Willis could act, but it wasn't that wonderful in general), among others that it's too early to think of right now.

I'm actually looking forward to Cradle Will Rock, historical inconsistencies and all. I just want to see an interesting movie with some of my favorite people, some of them I actually *know*. (I know. I'm freaked. I've never seen a movie with someone I've actually had a conversation with before.)

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2000

I like Roger Ebert because he really seems to enjoy movies despite how long he's been a movie critic. He gave "Congo" three stars, for crying out loud, because he thought it was fun. (I thought it was excruciating, but I guess it was excruciating in a fun way.)

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2000

God, yes. And it's nothing to be proud of. And let me tell you, it's a lot more fun to enjoy movies than to sit around and intelligently -- that's the catch, intelligently -- pick them apart and always be right and justified in your critique. And it's much much less fun to enjoy a movie and then read somebody else intelligently tell you why it shouldn't be enjoyed.

That's it, from now on I'm changing. I'm saying to the cynical reviewer: "Go fuck yourself. You don't understand art at all." But first I'm going to bed.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2000

I honestly don't care what critics/reviewers think. I don't need mainstream America telling me what I should be thinking.

A-MEN.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2000

I'm more likely to listen to friends then critics - unless it's a romantic comedy - if they don't like it I probably will.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2000

Pauline Kael, a hundred times Pauline Kael. How many contemporary critics say things like, "I would like to suggest that the educated audience often uses "art" films in much the same self-indulgent way as the mass audience uses the Hollywood product, finding wish fulfillment in the form of cheap and easy congratulation on their sensitivities and liberalism."

or in her "Fear of Movies"

"There's something repressive in the atmosphere. People are rejecting the rare films that could stir them, frighten them, elate them. Audiences hiss at the sight of blood now as if they didn't have it in their own bodies."

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000

I listen to critics, unless Julia Roberts is in it, then I see it and like it. It's my rule. A review can help me find something in a movie that I wouldn't have noticed on first-viewing, but it can't make me hate it if I like it. So, between me and the critics, I like most movies.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2000

I admit I listened to the critics about "Cradle Will Rock." Sort of. Everyone kept raving about how great it is, and I went to see it and I was like, "Huh? THIS train wreck?" I was so bored after the first half-hour I almost walked out, but I've never walked out of a movie in my life, and just couldn't do that to Susan Sarandon. Or Tim Robbins, John & Joan Cusack, or the rest of the amazing cast. Anyway, I'm with you, pamie, although for a slightly different reason: Would I know a good movie if it bit me on the ass? I didn't like "Affliction" either. Nor "Fight Club" particularly. But would I have liked "Cradle" better if I had actually KNOWN the history of it, and could follow the action or plot or whatever that was? I kinda doubt it. My husband and best friend both had the same reaction I did -- it was boring and impossible to follow, although the ending was pretty great. We all wanted badly to leave, even though we were enjoying small parts of it. So what exactly are we missing?

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2000