Movies and its ratings

If you are a frequent cinema-goer you'd probably faced this problem before, how to know if the film you're about to watch is worth the money spent?

Over the years I've had my share of horrendously bad films that I went to see at the cinema. Off the top of my head are The Last Airbender and Dragonball Evolution. Those two were horrible. So what can you do to ensure that you'll never again find yourself watching piles of garbage at the cinema?

The obvious answer would be to check the ratings online. After I had enough of my bad intuitions, I learn to check IMDb ratings before going. The problem with IMDb is that it is based on users ratings entirely. This means if the movie has a huge fan base, the ratings will be skewed due to the fans all giving good ratings. I thought I was able to get around this by double checking with Rotten Tomatoes.

Rotten Tomatoes compiles ratings from film critics thus providing you with an overall rating based on people who rates films for a living. Downside? Is this a film about racism? Political issues? Environmental issues? Or controversial issues? If so then boom! Rotten Tomatoes ratings goes through the roof. Okay, maybe not all but after a while you'll see this predictable trend.

Not to mention the hard fact that if everyone else likes something, it doesn't necessarily mean you would too. I remember a few years ago, I was at the cinema with my ex (at the time, gf, duh). We were, obviously, looking for something good to watch and I had 'brilliantly' checked both IMDb and RT for the ratings of then current movies. What did we went to see? American Hustle.

The ratings were good. Can't really remember but at the time I believe it has more than 8.0 on both IMDb and RT. It also stars big names like Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence. Surely it's good right? Holy crap it was boring as hell. It has got something to do with American history or whatnot, I couldn't remember. Being a Malaysian with zero knowledge about any of these, of course it would be boring!

So, moral of the story? I don't know, just go with your instincts perhaps? Haha. Don't look at me, I'm not here to provide advices, I'm just feeling like writing stuffs today. Hahaha. Maybe just wait a week or two then ask your friends if the movie is good or not. Yeah, that's some solid advice there. Thanks for reading. Bye now.