Who is the Film Critic that you personally trust the most?
When it comes to deciding whether or not you are going to see a Film, whose reviews play the biggest role in your decision, and why do you trust them?
Mine are the Hackfrauds at Redlettermedia.
I trust them because they are Film Makers themselves and review films based on their own expertise in making movies.
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24 Answers
It used to be Roger Ebert but he died.
Ebert was the best.
Nowadays, Anthony Lane for the New Yorker.
None. I don’t want anyone to ruin it one way or the other. I prefer absolutely untainted suspension of disbelief.
I don’t even like to watch the whole trailer most of the time.
Film critics can kiss my arse, i’ll make my own decisions thanks.
As much as I trust anyone or anything, I find that Rotten Tomatoes is a pretty good indicator.
I just check RT and IMDB scores. For example, I hate horror movies, but the RT and IMDB scores along with word of mouth piqued my curiosity and that movie was incredible in my eyes.
Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle.
@Blackberry
”...that movie was incredible in my eyes.”
What movie was that?
Used to be Siskel and Ebert. Now I usually just go on what looks interesting to me. I may read reviews in the NY Times or The New Yorker.
@janbb, I thought Ebert’s old partner Gene Siskel was a better critic.
I liked both Siskel and Ebert and felt that their divergent views balanced each other out nicely.
But Ebert was really such an excellent writer. Even today his past reviews are still accessible at his eponymous site and I’ll frequently reread them if there’s an older movie playing on TV. No small wonder he won a Pulitzer.
I even enjoyed a little book he wrote about using a small rice cooker to prepare healthy meals even while on the road. Good writing is just good writing regardless of subject matter.
@Pachy
The movies preferred by Siskel were usually more highbrow whereas Ebert was generally more often willing to give schlock a chance if he felt it was well done or even humorous schlock :)
Yeah – I never watched Siskel and Ebert religiously but I always turn to the Ebert review first if there is one on IMDB. Very sad what happened to him.
My partner’s. Our appreciation of films is similar despite the difference in our backgrounds. There is the occasional movie that one of us soldiers through in order to appease the other, but it is rare. Then there are others where one recommends it and the other says, “This is so you. You should watch it while I’m at work,” or “You watch it while I do something else.”
As for outside critics, we tend to rely on the Rotten Tomatoes professional critics’ reviews. IMDb is incredibly skewed based upon the fact that anyone can rate a film/tv show. It only takes reading the reviews to get the gist of why some are rated so highly when they shouldn’t be.
Myself. There are films having a lot of positive reviews but I find crappy, and film considered horrible by critics but awesome by me. Critics are just people with their opinion, so why can’t I have mine?
Having said that, I sometimes have to depend on various reviews to make sure I don’t waste my hard disk space for nothing.
I loved Siskel and Ebert on TV. They taught me many lessons about movies and about movie critiquing, perhaps most importantly that one’s opinion of a movie is no more nor less valid than another’s opinion.
@Pachy With all sincerity, I have to disagree with the latter part of the latest post. It takes someone well-versed in a wide variety of films of quantity and quality in order to accurately write a valid review. When a teenager scores a movie a 10 out of 10 to a Disney film, how much credibility do you place on that review? What are the chances that they have seen some of the truly great films that stand the test of time?
There are a couple of current trends on IMDb right now that crop up in the Top 250 list: the more recent Batman movies, Indian movies, and Anime. The one that continues to hover in the #1 spot is Shawshank Redemption. Are any of these films worthy of a ten out of ten? After reading your reviews, I trust your opinion more than I do of the IMDb ratings.
My friends and acquaintances who have similar taste in media to my own. You are pretty high on that list, btw
@zenvelo I am pretty surprised anyone would say Mick LaSalle. He is a fairly good writer with absolutely no taste in movies. If he recommends a movie, I avoid it. If he hates a movie, I get in line. Example: most film reviewers highly praised “Fury Road”, and it was the best reviewed film in the nation. Only 2 reviewers gave it a negative review, and MLS was one of them. His background on silent movies is pitiful, though he has a fairly good background on foreign films.
Oh oops lol. The movie was It Follows.
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