The Argument to be Informed
Last weekend, Dear John took over as the box office champ for that weekend. When I first heard this I couldn’t help but wonder “how or why?” The reviews had been terrible. Now this weekend, Valentine’s Day is opening, and I don’t know what the initial results for last night’s box office totals, but it’ll probably do “ok” this weekend too. The reviews have been even worse for this film.
I’d like to discuss why this happens, or at least get some of your opinions about it. Aside from not wanting to be told how to think about a film, which I’ll admit that reviews can affect my judgement of a film as well, why do you think the general public do not pay attention to them? Or is it just specific demographics (i.e. Twilight’s success)?
Let’s get some comments going on this.
4 Responses to “The Argument to be Informed”
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When I used to work at a local movie theater you’d be surprised at the shear number of people who would show up uninformed. I would get asked questions about what was good, what the films were about, even what starts soon etc…I think alot of people just sort of casually go to the movies…Which isn’t a bad thing.
I think trailers either help or hurt people’s decisions as well. Most people probably just catch the trailer on TV and say “that looks good” and just go see the movie. And I’ll be honest, I read about movie reviews a lot more than say, music album reviews, I almost never read those. If a film looks good enough I’ll go see it no matter what critics say, but if enough of them are saying its bad, like on Rottentomatoes.com then, I usually won’t go see it or bother with it.
I get more frustrated with the outpouring of critics and from other viewers who think that a movie is the best thing ever! Some of the movies that get a huge following and numbers like, The Hangover, Old School, Sideways, Twilight, and yes even Avatar, usually are ok, but I don’t think that they qualify as the most amazing movie ever.
In my opinion, movies that can be described the most amazing thing ever usually end up being overlooked pretty fast by the average group of movie goers.
No and I agree, usually films that are seriously popular are never my favorites either. A good example would be Children of Men for myself. Same typically applies for music for me as well. Avatar follows under The Beatles rule…so many people have seen it and liked it that everyone just assumes its good no matter if it is or not and that ticket sales or record sales indicate the quality of the work.