I often wait to read a movie’s reviews until after I have seen the movie myself. I do realize that one purpose for reading reviews is to help make a more informed decision about whether or not to see a particular movie. Most of the time I just rely on recommendations from friends and family and by word of mouth before deciding whether or not to watch something. Most of the time I’m pleased with the movies I see and am rarely so disappointed that I wish I could get my money and my two hours back.
The reason I wait to read reviews until after seeing the movie is that the reviews may spoil part of the movie and give away too many of the details ahead of time. Also, as many critics are, well, critical about things I usually don’t pay attention to or really care about, I don’t want the negative tone of a particular review to lower my expectations or even disappoint me into not wanting to see it. After I see the movie, then I will go to Rotten Tomatoes and see what the critics have to say about it. In some cases I agree with them, in others I don’t, and then there are some comments in which I don’t really have an opinion one way or another.
last night I saw The Italian Job which I enjoyed. After my friend recommended it I checked it out on IDMB to see if it would be something I’d want to see, but I didn’t read any of the reviews for the reasons I explained above. Today I went to Rotten Tomatoes and while I was glad to see that it’s got a fairly healthy 73% fresh rating, some of the negative comments from some reviewers might have changed my perceptions of the movie had I read them beforehand.
I’ll look at a couple of reviewers and see what rating they gave it (4 outta 5 stars, etc), listen to some friends who’ve seen it… all the stuff you mentioned.
But I don’t actually read the reviews until after I’ve seen the movies. Hell, I’d rather not even see commercials for the movie until after I’ve seen it. They just give too much away.
I hate reading reviews before I see the movie. They give away spoilers not just about plot development but also about the general themes and tones of the movie. I find it fascinating to read them afterward to see whether I picked up on the same things as the critics (and sometimes just to make sense of the movie).
For instance, I like romances, and it’s nice to see them without knowing for certain who will end up with whom. If you read a review that talks about the chemistry or lack thereof between two characters, that completely colors how you view the movie.
Sometimes the opening scenes of a movie set a tone that can never be recaptured if you know in advance where the story will go.
Of course my spoiler avoidance goes beyond movies. I never read the introduction or cover blurbs of books before I read them, and my T.V. guide is embargoed to prevent me from learning too much advance information.
I do it too! I’ve been walking around for weeks with my fingers in my ears going la la la la la everytime anyone LOOKS like they’re saying something about Matrix Reloaded.
i’ll never read a review before I see the movie, which sometimes can be quite a drag. I would like to know what others think, but by the time I get around to see the movie, everything has been said and done.
That said, even after I have seen a movie I prefer to read a review from a source I trust. German magazines like to spoil completely unrelated movies, like: “This is reminiscent of Movie XY, where it also turned out the butler did it.” I hate it when that happens.
Then I try to get it out of my head, but it’s seared into my brain and I know I’ll never forget this particular tidbit of information. Not like birthdays, my shopping list or other stuff I’d like to remember.
I pick and choose. Entertainment Weekly doesn’t go overboard on spoilers, and I can usually get a sense from the brief version (“Now Playing”), with a paragraph summary and a letter grade, whether I want to see it or not.
More in line with the rest of you, though, part of the movie-viewing ritual for me (whether in the theater or on video) is to check out Ebert the next day.
Not me. I don’t go out to see a lot of movies, and I don’t want to waste my time and money. So I ALWAYS read a couple of reviewers I respect before seeing ANY film.
It doesn’t really spoil anything for me.
Reading reviews has gotten me out to see some movies I wouldn’t otherwise have paid any attention too also.
I go to lots of movies. Here most movies start a few weeks after their release in the US. Since I know what’s coming I usually just look at the tomatometer rating at Rotten Tomatoes to cull the absolute crap. I usually don’t read the detail of any reviews at all because I write reviews for the magazine at work and its easy to feel like a plagiarist when writing a few hundred words about something.
I watch a lot of movies, both in theaters and on video/DVD. Here is the routine I’ve developed:
If I am really excited about a particular movie and I’ve been looking forward to it for a while, then I WON’T read any reviews before seeing it. I know that I’m going to see it anyways, and I want to form my own opinion first without any negative bias from a review. Then I will read some reviews to see what others think.
If a movie comes out that I’m only mildly interested in, I’ll check out a few reviews to see whether I want to spend the time and money on it, but I try to avoid reading anything that will spoil the plot.
And like someone else mentioned, sometimes reviews turn me on to a movie that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about or seen.
I read reviews of movies I’m pretty sure aren’t worth my time. Otherwise, I don’t read reviews until months later, when I find them in old magazines in reception rooms.