Let’s say you like a movie called “Killer Wombats.” You often rewatch it, you read information about it, etc. One day you see an article or video called “Why Killer Wombats was a bad movie!” Do you read it or click on the link? Or do you skip it?
I tend not to look at them just because I like what I like, but perhaps my opinion should be able to hold up to a little criticism or snarky jokes.
I read bad reviews almost exclusively. They are much more fun than good ones.
I do out of curiosity. I think it’s interesting that the one thing I thought made a movie great will be the one thing that someone else thought made the movie terrible.
Not after watching, just before. Unless someone links to one.
But yeah, I went to review "Cuffs" a Brit Police procedural on Amazon. One of the leads is shown as a gay man. There are dozens of one star one line reviews complaining only that the show is “woke” and they it is “about gays”. I reported several to Amazon, but they did nothing about the bigoted ignorant reviews.
I like the negative reviews up to a point, once they cross the line from honest review to hot-take-with-an-axe-to-grind then that’s a turn-off. The more tongue-in-cheek ones can be fun, though.
I’ve been watching some YouTube channels reviews of the recent Picard and Strange New Worlds seasons, and the ones who end up all boiled over over stupid details quickly got tiresome.
Trekkies are notorious for nitpicking the shows. There were even Nitpicker’s Guides published in the 90s for the Original Series, Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine.
Somewhat related–I watched the entire run of Star Trek: The Next Generation before I got on the Internet to read reviews and criticisms of the show. And I was baffled by the hatred for the character of Wesley Crusher from the show. I never found him to be THAT annoying.
I prefer to watch movies/shows in a bubble without reading reviews beforehand that might influence me from making up my own opinions. Afterwards I might read bad reviews but I usually don’t bother.
I watch the reviews after watching the episodes.
I’ve read and enjoyed the Nitpicker guides, they were made with a respect for the shows… these latest reviewers are vehemently opposed to the smallest of deviations from canon.
(I do agree there are more examples of egregious errors in this era of Trek, especially Discovery)
Part of the reason I avoid reading negative reviews of hardcore fans of either Star Trek or Marvel is because they are invariably have one of two criticisms that are in opposition to each other:
And I just get annoyed how narrow minded these so-called fans can be.
I agree. But given your username and the movie title, I am unsure if your opinion is unaffected…
Given the dearth of choices in marsupial action/horror movies and none in the near to medium future due to the preference of studios to reboot the same things every 4-5 years, I’ll happily throw money at any creative works, just to support the subgenre.
…as long as they leave Kangaroo Jack dead in the ground where he belongs (unless it’s done Willy’s Wonderland style, then just maybe…)
Completely agree. The ones that say how horrible the show is…but still watch every episode are the worst.
Red Flags: “Woke. Wokity wokewoke wokity woke.” These people see woke boogiemen under their beds. Yes, sometimes a dumb agenda may creep into an episode, but that doesn’t mean every single thing one dislikes is woke. People were calling “Obiwan” woke…and there’s not a fucking thing woke about it.
Not grasping “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.”
“It broke canon!!” It’s one thing for Star Trek: Discovery to look more advanced then TNG…its another to cry “Ja Grund Inquishitor cant be dead cuz he diesh in Rebelz!!”…when anyone with a braincell knows he’s not dead!!
/rant off
Wesley wasn’t annoying, and towards his end, his real potential was shining. Well…his original costume was annoying. Gawd almost every effort to put people in non-militaristic* ‘future costumes’ is annoying. Picard and Rikers night-gowns…etc…
*And even then…STOP WITH THE JUMPSUITS. I hated the DS9 costumes.
Nailed it.
I rarely go to a movie chat board that I really used to like for film discussions, to compare notes, and gain info and insights just because of people like that. You can’t swing a stick around without hitting the word “woke”. While that word is used very widely, it’s the whole politicization thing. These people are the absolute embodiment of “If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.
Many a good threads I’ve seen ruined by political hijackers.
But those were really fun. Not just nitpicking.
Yes.
Exactly
In part because digital marketers, even in recent books, always seemed to use the very dated example of Target and a pregnant woman (despite huge advances in technology, numbers and interest), I have read more about the uses and limitations of digital marketing - and recommend The Hype Machine for a learned and up-to-date discussion. Takeaway: digital marketers have had every incentive to exaggerate their efficacy, often by enormous amounts. P&G showed real limitations in the model and some ways forward. Digital marketing can work very well indeed, but it often succeeds in convincing people already convinced. It often works better in new and unpersuaded markets than in fanboy members of the choir. It can certainly influence elections and convince some people to vote or stay home, but will only make a difference in very close races.
Anyway, according to this book, 92% of consumers read reviews. These influence 46% to purchase and 43% to defer a purchase. Only 3% of those who read reviews claim to be unaffected. Presumably negative reviews are preferred by the deferred. The book suggests only 6% of people write reviews. (Channel Advisor Consumer Survey, 2010. Nielsen Survey commissioned by Yelp, Oct. 11, 2019. Websites listed in book.)
Do I read negative reviews? Not so much. Very generally, I am interested in the 2 star and 4 star reviews more than the 5s and 1s. It probably depends on the distribution, what is being reviewed, how I feel about that thing and how credible the reviews seem.
ill read reviews on how horrible something is and then read or watch it anyways sometimes in the spirit of mst3k and sometimes not … But in video games, I read reviews to see what’s messed up about it like game crashing bugs or slowdown type of things … and sometimes ill play something that’s considered a world-class POS just to see the train wreck …
Sure, I’m interested in other people’s thoughts about creative works, and that includes criticism. I’m more interested in how insightful or interesting the reviews/commentary are, rather than whether it’s pro or against.
Separate but related: fandom as an identity - including being intolerant of criticism and identifying with the work/brand/whatever so much that you feel like an attack on it is an attack on you is a psychological trap and doesn’t belong anywhere in a rational society. It’s not new, but it seems like that sort of thinking has become more prevalent recently.
I don’t go out of my way to avoid them, but often I’ll just agree to disagree.
“OMG, Moby Dick is soooooo boring!!!” Well, I didn’t think it was particularly boring, but whatevs.
Patton Oswalt had a very popular routine about KFC bowls and how they looked so horrible. I dunno, the commercials made it look pretty tasty to me, so I found his routine more puzzling than funny.
Another star from above book: the author did an experiment with a major review site where, before writing reviews, of which there were thousands, there was exposure to a single “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” review in half the subjects. Showing a single positive review increased the likelihood of a positive review by 32% in this one experiment, causing a 25% increase in mean rating. (Science 341, 6146(2013):647-51.)
Often I do, mostly to make sure I don’t get trapped in a bubble. If people don’t like something I like, I want to see if I’m missing something. They’re almost always wrong, though. 
These days, though, it’s mostly wokety woke woke.
I did laugh one time, when I read a negative review of Tombstone, and the reviewer said it was a badly inaccurate movie, and we should all watch Wyatt Earp, which was much better. The I read a neg review of Wyatt Earp that said it was a badly inaccurate movie, and we should all watch Tombstone, which was much better.