A Sad Day in Movie History -- Terminator Salvation

Angrist · 05-18-2009, 05:39 PM

As long as it's better than T3, it's fine with me. I always was a bit unsure about how much good you can do after Judgment Day.

Typhoid · 05-20-2009, 03:41 AM

I'm still excited to see this movie.
Since when did a movie-critics review actually make a movie bad, and change your personal opinion.
For me, never.

manasecret · 05-20-2009, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I'm still excited to see this movie.
Since when did a movie-critics review actually make a movie bad, and change your personal opinion.
For me, never.

That's not the point and I see this comment so often (not at GT) that I have to reply.

The point is saving myself $15 or more (for the me and the gf) by not seeing in theater a movie that in all likelihood will be terrible. I will eventually see this movie, but only when I can rent it for $1 from Blockbuster.

I have gone against the consensus before with Vantage Point. Worst. Decision. EVAR.

KillerGremlin · 05-20-2009, 01:49 PM

To further elaborate, I have like 4-5 critics that I always read because they write good reviews and usually they are right when I see a film. I don't have a strict methodology for criteria to see a movie, but if a movie is getting mixed reviews (50-65%) and I am interested in the film then usually I'll go see it without hesitation. If a movie is getting higher than 65% than I'm not so concerned with reviews because regardless if the movie is good, it all comes down to what you personally enjoy. If a movie is getting bad reviews I usually am cautious when I go see it, but I'll still go see movies that get bad reviews if I like the premise behind the film.

Critics are a companion guide. I also try to read user reviews on Amazon and other websites, because your Joe-average often has good thoughts and opinions that critics do not.

I read this painfully boring book in my freshman English class (my teacher was a film/english major) called Film/Genre by this douche bag guy, Rick Altman. It was full of a bunch of jargon and references to other works so it was a sucky read. He basically set up this model where critics influence the movies. But I thought the model was missing the $$$ factor aka "reason Michael Bay is successful."

It's funny as fuck. Rick Altman wrote this long, drawn-out book explaining movies, probably took him hours out of his life. Matt Stone and Trey Parker accomplished the same thing in a few South Park episodes making fun of the popcorn flick/Michael Bay archetype.

Anyway, back on topic, Terminator Salvation is still getting bad reviews. 33% from top critics, 35% from everyone else. That's still not terrible odds for Terminator fans - 1 in 3 people enjoy the film. I'll probably go see it. I mean I'm obligated to. If the movie turns out to be shit then we know the REAL reason Bale got upset on set.

Edit: Vantage Point was awful, btw. After the fourth cut back to the beginning everyone in the audience was groaning. That's what I call audience participation!