Movies and Critics

I will say this once:

I do not always agree with the critics on movies.

Sometimes, the critics will love a movie I hate and sometimes they will hate a movie I love, though other times I do agree with them. However, I would never make a decision to see a movie soley based on the critics reviews.

Often, if I on the fence regarding whether to see a movie or not, I will check the reviews. For example, I did this for the lego movie. I saw the previews for it and thought I might like it, but really wasn't sure. I am not a big lego fan, but it did look kind of interesting. So I read the reviews and it appeared that the critics liked the movie, so I saw it.

And guess what?

It was 'just ok', I am not going to write a full review of it, but the storyline wasn't all that great, and the song "Everyone is Awesome" is annoying, however, it is cute in some parts, and it funny at times, but I could easily live without seeing it (Well movies aren't food, water or air, so no one literally needs them to survive but you know what I mean).

I'd probably give it a 6.5/10 or maybe even a 7/10 at the highest, but I certainly wouldn't rate it as high as the critics rated it.

That's just a recent one. There have been some movies that the critics gave GREAT reviews, but I didn't like. For example, As Good as it Gets. The best thing about that movie was that the dog was cute and the when the guy started getting attached to him/her (sorry, can't remember the gender, if it was even stated). The plot was boring, the characters were annoying and they made mental illness seem funny and I think the movie kind of made people with mental disorder seem 'bad', but the critics liked it.

Oh, and then there was The Kids Are All Right. The humour in that one really wasn't my type. It also included stereotypes about homosexuality, which is not my think at all. I'd give about a 3.5/10 or maybe a 4/10. Yet, it was nominated for best picture and received very positive reviews. What?

There are numerous other examples including Chicken Run (I think I walked out of that one) and Black Robe (that I had to watch for school, and I missed it in class so watched on my own and turned it off because it was so boring).

Also, there have been some movies that I really liked, that the critics did not.

For example, I really like The Outsiders, but that did not great reviews, I also really liked the movie 'About Time' and that only received mixed reviews. Same with the Lorax and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie trilogy.

You may be thinking 'Do you EVER agree with the critics?'

The answer to that is yes, but not all the time. For example, I really liked Catching Fire and so did the critics. We both thought Saving Mr. Banks was a pretty good and neither of us liked Yours, Mine and Ours (2005). We also both agreed that 'Good Boy' (I don't know if anyone remembers this movie, it came out about about 10 or 11 years ago), was just okay.

But do reviews influence my desicion to see a movie? Usually not. If I am interested in seeing a movie,I will see it no matter what the reviews say and if I have no interest in seeing a movie, the reviews will not change my mind, but if the movie sounds like it might be good, but it easily go they other way as well, the reviews may have some influence on whether I choose to the movie or not, but not a ton. I will ask other people what they think, see if anyone wants to go with and find out more about the movie from other resources (eg: Kids in Mind)

Thanks,

AP