I pay no attention whatsoever to the critics. I watch what I want to see.
Have you found yourself watching a lot of crap that you paid $8 a ticket for?
I find movie reviewers to be helpful insulation against the marketing machine that the studios throw at us. I read the movie reviews every week. Some reviewers, like Kael before her death, just plain write too darn well to ignore. They combine their writing skills with a passion for the subject, which is truly infectious.
My personal current fave is Roger Ebert. After reading a few of his books, I tend to know what his likes and dislikes are, and I usually get a pretty good understanding of a movie based on his reaction to it. That doesn’t mean I like everything he likes, it’s just that he’s a pretty good predictor of my tastes.
Any critic worth his salt will tell you to make your own judgement about a movie. If that critic is honest, he’d know there’s absolutely no way to try to reflect the public’s taste in his review; he must simply offer his own viewpoint up to the masses.
If I like the premise of a movie – or what I think is the premise of a movie – I’ll see it, period. That was how I found Shallow Hal, after all. contented sigh
I watch what I want to see, but I don’t completely ignore the critics.
Comparing movies that I like with movies that critics like, it appears that I have the taste of a barnyard animal. That said, I also know what I like. I do a pretty good job picking movies based on the impression I get from the trailers/advertising, as well as my own educated guess based on previous work by the director and the performers. It is fairly unusual for me to see a movie (either in the theater or on video) and have it be something other than what I was expecting.
At the same time, I am interested in what critics have to say. I enjoy hearing about other people’s impressions of a given film, whether they are my friends, coworkers, or complete strangers who are paid to write reviews for a newspaper. In some cases, critics have tipped me off to things that have been helpful in making choices – sometimes a film’s advertising doesn’t reveal that it contains a lot of violence, which is something that I like to know when making a choice. I guess I could say that I pay attention to the reviewers comments about content, but mostly gloss over their comments about quality.
I like to use Rotten Tomatoes as an indicator of a movie. If a movie is panned by nearly every critic, that’s usually a good indicator that I wouldn’t like the movie. On the other hand, I like a lot of blockbusters, so I have to read their reviews and see if their complaints match what mine would be.
I’ll read the critics and see what they have to say, but I make the final decision. If a critic completely pans a movie and I agree with his criteria, then I may take that into account when I decide. But if it’s a movie that I really want to see based on the previews, then there’s no way in hell I’ll let a critic’s opinion keep me from seeing it. F’r example, all the critics I read hated The One for the usual reasons; poor acting, weak storyline, et cetera. I didn’t care – I’m a Jet Li fan, and besides, you can’t go into his movies expecting high theater or anything. I went in expecting a flashy-but-dumb chop-sockey flick, and that’s exactly what I got, and I enjoyed it! Same’s gonna go for LotR – I don’t care whether the critics’ll like it or not, I’ll be there on opening night with a tub full o’ popcorn and a big-ass gamer geek grin.
Conversely, I won’t let a critic talk me into seeing a movie I’m not interested in. I don’t care what Roger Ebert thinks of Riding in Cars with Boys – wild horses couldn’t drag me there. 
I read reviews, not for the critic’s opinion, but for their descriptions of the movie. I try to look at a few different reviews to hopefully filter out the worst of the reviewers’ biases, and make my decision based on that.
If I think a movie sounds interesting, I will ignore the critics’ opinions–what the heck do they know, anyway? I put more weight on word-of-mouth. 'Course, I have some friends that I know if they recommend a movie I’ll love it, and some that if they recommend the movie I know I’ll hate it. . . Takes all sorts.
And there are some movies that, let’s face it, I’m going to see, just because it’s a geek thing and it must be done, and no number of negative reviews by intelligent people will sway me. Like, “Planet of the Apes” (ugh) or “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” (Yay!) or “Epsiode One” (eh).
A few times, even though I thought a movie looked stupid, I’ve stumbled across a review that make me reconsider, but that’s pretty rare.
I have to admit that the critics are having more of an effect. Mainly I am more eaisly turned off of a movie by a bad review than I used to be. So, for example, Planet of the Apes – I was excited, wanted to see it, was going to see it . . . it got panned, I’m waiting for the DVD.
I read Harry Knowles’ site. They usually geek out on many of the movies I would enjoy, e.g. sci-fi, horror, subtitles. Moriarty is a noteworthy erudite editorialist over there (they all have geeked-out nom de plumes, since supposedly some of the information they divulge could cause them to lose their industry-insider jobs). AICN is how I discovered Battle Royale and many others. Battle Royale was not easy; I had to get a VCD of it on eBay. On their recommendation, Session 9 and Brotherhood of the Wolf are currently on my short list.
As far as big studio releases, my moviegoing ebbs and flows. Sometimes I’m seeing everything out there, sometimes not so much. I do read critic reviews. Why not? I love to read.
I generally follow the critics advice. The only alternatives I see are to follow the advice of people who are paid to try and get you into the theater, i.e. the ad/publicity people, or to make your decision based on intrinsic factors like who’s in a particular picture.
The first choice is obviously not very useful because a well made trailer and publicity campaign can make even a piece of crap look good. The second choice is better but even people who are generally good make plenty of stinkers.
In the end, I have only a limited amount to time and money to use on movies so the better job I do filtering out the crap, the happier I’ll be. And critics (good ones anyway) are by far the best crap filters.
I also caught Battle Royale on VCD - makes Survivor look like a sitcom (which it was).
As for the movie critics, I don’t like to listen to them. They are often burnt out and overworked blokes who live a completely different life (in the cinama) from me.
I don’t HAVE to watch 10 to 20 movies a month. Thus, I won’t feel like I’ve seen this plot before, or this film technique before…and more things seem innovative to me.
My real beef with critics is how they SPOIL many of the films they critique. Instead of debating the points, or mertis, they often go into specifics, which ruin many films for me.
Also, I wish more critics would embark on the meaning behind movie themes, and/or concepts…more than just the nuts and bolts (which I can do myself). I’d also like to see critics use more reference when reviewing movies based on plays, books, and/or real history. Often, I don’t see enough background study in their work (not to say they don’t know it, but the end result doesn’t show it).
Roger Ebert, I have read, is a very educated man, and extremely well rounded. A shame they have paired him to Roper - but that’s my opinion…of course, it’s good to have a counterpoint…even when you do trust the reviewer.
Jet Black
Echoing throatshot here, I almost always check out RottenTomatoes.com before going to see the movie. Oftentimes I’ll see a movie anyway because I like the premise and use RT to raise/lower my expectations, but if I’m uncertain about a movie, RT will usually tip me one way or another.
One critic panning a movie isn’t much, but when 48 out of 50 say it’s a bomb, run away.
Professional critics? No. SDMB critics and IMDb users? Yes.
Every week, I submit a list of all movies playing in Seattle-area theaters to a Sooper Seekrit Cabal of professional movie critics. Not just some movie critics, either – all of them. Every last person on earth who’s paid to put their opinions of movies on paper (or Web) gets a vote.
I go see any movie that gets a supermajority of votes.
I haven’t seen a movie since Toy Story II.
I don’t read reviewers. I read critics. And yes, there’s a big difference.
And then I write my own. Well, I used to, until a couple of months ago. Long story. I hope to get the site back up to date soon, but (shakes magic 8 ball) “signs are not good.” For what it’s worth, here’s my site for anybody who hasn’t seen it. Jet Black, based on your comments, you may find it worthwhile.
Oh, and Billy Baroo, I strongly recommend you downgrade your interest in Session 9. I saw it at a special advance screening; shortly after, the studio decided to cancel its release and send it straight to video. It’s not an outright failure, and it is interesting on a couple of levels, but it hardly deserves to be on some sort of special “must see” list or anything.
I ignored the critics and went to see the sequel that shall not be named (may he that names it never see Zeist again), and only stopped bleeding from the eyeballs in 1999.
So ever since then I’ve paid attention. They made me avoid The Kid for ages, but when I finally caved and watched it because my wife wanted to, I actually found it genuinely entertaining. So now I’m unsure. I don’t want to get hurt again…
Cervaise,
I’ll check out the link you posted, thanks. Likewise, I also agree about the defining point between reading reviews,and reading critics. Though I find it hard to communicate this to others, at times…being that most folks read the openeing catch phrase of a review, and stop there.
I do wish many reviewers would drop the bad movie title puns. “Spy Lame”, and ever worse, “Harry show-stopper”.
There should be a law.
Jet Black
I do read reviews (I like the Moviegeek’s reviews, for example :)) but I see what I want anyway. A review that absolutely pans a movie would probably induce me to wait until it’s on video for rent, and a positively glowing review would probably make me that much more eager to find it in theaters (we only have a crappy two-screen theater in town, and most movies never reach it, but Great Falls and Missoula aren’t that far away).
I put more weight in the reviews of my friends and relatives (except for a few who have absolutely no taste … :D) than of professionals. I saw Clerks on the weight of the word of one of my friends. I loved it.
Reviews do influence me, but I see my own movies. I bought Metropolis (with many thanks to the Straight Dope :D), M, Nosferatu, and Shadow of the Vampire all because I thought they would be good movies to see.
A better barometer of a movies worth is to check the box office receipts. If the bottom falls out the second week, it sucks.
I’ve always thought that there’s an inverse relation to the number of commercials for a movie and the quality of a movie.