Given only to the greatest of overachieving pop culture losers. |
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I just spent a week trying to break my goal of posting the most reviews on Matchflick. I did it because I have a competitive spirit, seeing things that other people have done and thinking: "Hey! I can do that! I can even do it better!"
I didn't write the reviews because I like reviews. I don't mind sitting around with a group of friends after seeing a flick and tearing apart what we just watched. I don't mind sitting through a DVD with my mom and then discussing its finer points. Talking about what I like and don't like about movies comes natural for a loudmouth know-it-all like me.
But I don't like to read reviews. At least, not before I see the movie first.
I have a friend who thinks it's stupid for people to not utilize the critical mass out there to determine whether or not you want to see a flick. However, this same person also gets irritated when the critics all band together on an indie that he doesn't think deserves their praise. A person who chooses to embrace a "critical darling" will incur his "fangirl" wrath.
I like to watch everything. This includes blockbusters as well as those movies that make the rounds carefully cradled in the crotch of their filmmaker and crew while at Sundance. I do have favorite actors and directors that I look for and tend to follow their careers intently. It's not for this reason that I don't like reviews. In 
Now if he could only convince Roeper to follow in his footsteps. |
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fact, it's not the reviews that I hate. It's the people who follow them.
There's the recent trend of posting the term: "SPOILER ALERT" if something contained in a review gives away anything in the movie. Hold the phone for just a second. Isn't the point of a review that things are going to be given away? Doesn't the person pointing out what their opinion is on a movie have to give the reader at least some kind of idea what the hell went on that they liked or hated so much?
The fact that there are so many clueless and braindead people out there looking for someone to tell them who to spend their money on infuriates me. Form an opinion for yourself from time to time and learn to just trust an actor if you like them. Don't rely on some pompous jerk who tells you what you're supposed to think. It's ok to go see a movie with an actor that you enjoy even if everyone else is saying that the movie is crap. Some of my favorite flicks are the ones that the critics all proclaimed were huge steaming piles.
Of course, some of the movies that I've liked the least also happen to have been critical darlings. These can range from some of the biggest budget movies that end up garnering Oscar nods and/or wins (TITANIC, GLADIATOR and THE ENGLISH PATIENT to name a few) to the smaller movies that were supposed to impress me and never got off the ground. Sometimes a smaller budget 
I was always surprised that tongue wasn't forked. |
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and a hungry actor still equals crap.
This all brings me back around to the spoiler issue. People want to be told as much as possible before investing their $9+ dollars at the box office. They want to know who's in a movie, who directed the movie, what music is featured and what the story is about. They complain if the previews for a movie aren't descriptive enough, if they look too convoluted. Then they bitch after they've read in 14 different magazines and 12 different newspapers and countless other websites when some detail is given away.
For the love of all that is Awesome, people! What the hell did you expect? You don't go poking around unless you're prepared to get the answers you were looking for. It's all right and good to be curious, but that curiosity is what fuels a potential love (or hatred) of a film! Not knowing some of the details and letting the movie tell you about them rather than reading about it first. Think about it.
But in a world where people stalk their former boyfriends and girlfriends by reading the intimate details of their new lives in their blogs, what can you expect? We're a nation of people who have no concept on how to wait for things coupled with the fact that we're greedy and possessive with everything that comes into our lives. It's mine, it's mine always and it's mine right now, because I said so!!
Talk about spoiled.
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| Neglected Foster Child of Hollywood |
Every other Wednesday
Not-so-gentle musings from the girl who is saving room in her uterus for Tarantino's spawn.
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| AwesomeZara |
She's awesome, who would have guessed that?
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