Which criticism platform is the most useful?

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by mwynn

Isn't Cinemascore only done at a single theater?

Really? I thought it was countrywide.

[drb999]

I find them all pretty useless for me. And Rotten Tomatoes just causes way too much friction online to be worth it. It’s used as a sharp instrument in too many debates.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by drb999

I find them all pretty useless for me. And Rotten Tomatoes just causes way too much friction online to be worth it. It’s used as a sharp instrument in too many debates.

To be fair, most of the movies with a high RT score I tend to like and movies with a really low RT score I tend to hate. This isn't always the case but it is the case an awful lot of the time.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

Really? I thought it was countrywide.

Wikipedia says There are 35 to 45 teams of CinemaScore representatives present in 25 large cities across North America. Each Friday, representatives in five randomly chosen cities give opening-day audiences a small survey card.

CinemaScore typically receives about 400 cards per film the company estimates a 65% response rate and 6% margin of error.

This seems as reliable as the Nielsen ratings.

[spanky87]

Originally Posted by mwynn

Isn't Cinemascore only done at a single theater?

5 randomly chosen cities, and it’s done on opening night only. The entire audience doesn’t participate, and they receive an average of 400 score cards per film. I think it’s flawed and don’t know why it’s held in such regard.

It’s no wonder so many franchise films typically score in the A’s since people that go on opening night are the most likely to love the film. And you wouldn’t expect the typical moviegoer to be judicious when assigning grades.

For me, I think the “verified” RT audience score is a better way to gauge how much of an audience liked a film. And it’s better that it just gives a percentage of how many people like it or not rather than a grade. Still not perfect either, but at least it offers a bigger sample size.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by mwynn

Wikipedia says There are 35 to 45 teams of CinemaScore representatives present in 25 large cities across North America. Each Friday, representatives in five randomly chosen cities give opening-day audiences a small survey card.

CinemaScore typically receives about 400 cards per film the company estimates a 65% response rate and 6% margin of error.

This seems as reliable as the Nielsen ratings.

That seems pretty reliable to me and they are reviews given by real people rather than someone who could have a fake email address.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by spanky87

5 randomly chosen cities, and it’s done on opening night only. The entire audience doesn’t participate, and they receive an average of 400 score cards per film. I think it’s flawed and don’t know why it’s held in such regard.

It’s no wonder so many franchise films typically score in the A’s since people that go on opening night are the most likely to love the film. And you wouldn’t expect the typical moviegoer to be judicious when assigning grades.

For me, I think the “verified” RT audience score is a better way to gauge how much of an audience liked a film. And it’s better than it just gives a percentage of how much audiences enjoyed it rather than a grade. Still not perfect either though.

I definitely think the audience score on RT can be manipulated far more easily than the critic score. I pretty much ignore the audience score.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

That seems pretty reliable to me and they are reviews given by real people rather than someone who could have a fake email address.

The issue is with the small sample size. With Nielsen it is all guestimates. They take the number of people in the country. Which is not accurate. Then says they have 2 tvs. Then they have like 1000 people take surveys. Each single survey represents 10,000 people. That is not an accurate way to gauge anything. Nor is 400 surveys from a single movie.

[spanky87]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

I definitely think the audience score on RT can be manipulated far more easily than the critic score. I pretty much ignore the audience score.

The audience score on RT now has a “verified” section that only tallies votes from people who have have proof of a ticket. I don’t think any other movie site has that.

[Panson]

[jess1581]

My own...

[drb999]

I can pretty much gauge by the trailer if I’ll like the movie. 90% or so of the time I’ll like the movie.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Go with your gut.

This.

[Samus Aran]

Good film critics can tell you whether you'd like a movie or not regardless of how they feel about the movie. Many of the ones today are just chasing clicks or clout.

[Boccaccio]

I don't use any of those 3. Looking at the director, cast and a synopsis of the movie will most of the times be enough to decide if I'm interested.

For reviews I use Empire magazine or this site.

I try to avoid trailers but that's not always easy in the cinema.

[unberechenbar]

I don't read reviews or watch trailers. If a movie looks interesting to me I'll watch it.

[D00mM4r1n3]

I don't find any "professional" critic useful and never read or listen to their opinions before seeing a movie, in general whatever they hate I like, and whatever they love I hate. If I'm undecided on a movie, a rare event itself, I'll read the user reviews on Rotten Tomatoes to see if any of the general consensus is confirming my suspicions about the movie (political agenda, woke-ness, male nudity getting the R rating, etc...)

Overall, I love just going to a theater to watch whatever is playing and being entertained.

[Abdrewes]

Printed media > Radio > TV > Internet > word of mouth

[Phillip c. Niethe]

I strictly use magic 8 ball for all of life’s most important cinematic viewing decisions… I had to shatter my first one after the “2010 BURIED” Viewing suggestion but other than that it’s worked out fine

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Go with your gut.

What are you putting in your gut?

Synopsis?
Actor?
Director?
Trailer?