Do you read reviews of what you plan to watch right before watching?

I've been doing that, but i want to stop, let me know how and why it's important to go in blind, especially when it's free or cheap to watch them. I remember a supplement with Wong Kar Wai where he stressed the importance of seeing even poor movies as they teach you to appreciate the good ones, i gotta see things even if it's got a poor reputation on say Letterboxd for instance.

I never read reviews before watching a movie, I find the plot can too easily be spoiled and I value my own opinion far more than any reviewer's thoughts. On occasion after I watch a movie I'll read a couple of 10/10 reviews and 1/10 reviews on IMDB.

However I do sometimes read the brief synopsis before watching a film. I've found on certain films it helps me understand and appreciate the movie if I have an idea of what the film maker is trying to say or do.

BTW take a look at my Top 10 profile if you haven't seen those movies give them a watch...you can thank me later

Thanks, i almost put Niagara on, sooner than later then!! Seen most of the others.

You're well watched! Niagara is visually stunning especially the wide screen, technicolor on-location, scenes, Marilyn looks great too though I'm a Jean Peters fan. I wish I could visit the Niagara falls in the 1950s ad it looked so good on film. But don't read reviews of Niagara as that's the kind of film that reviews can spoil the thriller/mystery aspects.

Whether you're suggestible (this is my problem), or just have the usual human thing of wanting to fit in, I think that reading reviews before watching a film puts something of a filter over your viewing experience. If everyone says it's terrible, you go in anticipating flaws.

I really love the horror movie Salvage (the 2006 one). But it has a pretty sad 5.3 average on IMDb, and at the time I first watched it, its rating was somewhere in the upper 4 range. I'm really glad I didn't see that before watching the film. It let me see the movie's strengths instead of its weaknesses.

I really enjoy reading other reviews during and after writing down my own thoughts. And every now and then a review will convince me to give something a second chance, or at the very least help me see an aspect of a film in a different light.

I think that going into a film on your own also helps you to hone your own sense of what you value in a movie and what makes a movie "good" to you. If you read a review before, someone else is explaining what makes the movie good or not good. If you watch with no advanced opinions, you have to decide on your own which elements you care about and which things you're willing to let slide.

This is very helpful, i might just kick this bad habit yet!!

Yes, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. A film is a commitment of time, effort, and money. I have better things to do than be disappointed when I spend sixty bucks to eat stale popcorn in the dark.



I will say, however, that during my time as a film critic, some of my greatest joys were walking into theaters with no expectations or prior knowledge. I watched a lot of films I would have otherwise never seen and was taken completely by surprise by some films. The difference, however, was that it was my job to watch those movies and not my recreation. And if I go to a restaurant, I will also read reviews (where reviews I trust are available).

That's a good point, when you want to know for sure whether something is worth your time, to go ahead and read them.

I read a few if I'm in doubt.

Gotta make sure sometimes, i hear ya!

And how many films have we watched because we got an odd but emphatic recommendation from a place like this? There's stuff I would have missed out on had I not sought out the influence of others.

I usually look for other's advice in a statistical way. By way of average ratings. Only when that's not conclusive, and the plot doesn't strike any cord, and the actors don't swindle it, and the director hasn't a great track record, do I read a review or watch the trailer, or both.

I never watch anything without checking its IMDB rating first.

Definitely yes. I don't want to spend time and/or money on something I won't like. I don't care very much about surprise endings and there are really not many of those anyway.

Generally 80% of my interest is not in the end, but how they get there and what happens along the way. I've seen enough movies to know that Julius Caesar always gets murdered, Tinkerbell always lives and the South always loses the Civil War.

Seen them all. 8/10 at best, some of them 7/10 or 6/10. You not a fan of non-American films?

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Preserving the sanctity of cinema. Subtitles preferred, mainstream dismissed, and always in search of yet another film you have never heard of. I speak fluent French New Wave.

I'm not surprised you've seen all of my current Top 10, you might be the best watched of anyone currently on the board?

Yes, I'm a fan of non-American movies. A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about noir so I changed my Top 10 to all noir. Before that I had Late Spring (1949) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) in my Top 10. Though my first love is mid 20th century Hollywood films, followed by mid 20th century non-American films.

I think there might be some crazy watchers lurking here, but I guess that as much as active posters go I take the crown number-wise. But there are some other people who can say more interesting/thoughtful things about the fewer films they've seen, of course.

Cool beans. Late Spring is my third-favorite Ozu (after Floating Weeds and Tokyo Twilight). The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is great as well. Watch Parking from Demy if you haven't already. It's more kitschy in that 80s way but it has Legrand's music all the same plus it stars Keiko Itô who I had seen in Japanese movies before (including pinku and pinky violence!). A great addition.

I've watched most of them, between a 6..5 and 7.5/10. In a Lonely Place looks like it could do the trick, I'll save that one for later.

I think it's perfectly fine to approach movies either way. I tend to use Rotten Tomatoes as a filter, like if it's a movie I haven't heard much about I'll check to see if it's a total waste of my time. I suppose in theory I'm missing some gems that go underappreciated, but that's life.

I've also done the experiment the other way, looking at the rating and reviews after the fact, and while sometimes the difference in appreciation is big, it's usually with lower ratings. So I doubt I ever lost on a "gem" when filtering out.