Reviews?

MommaTrish

MommaTrish

Well-known member
How much would you say that your decision to read or watch something is based on reviews?

I almost never look at reviews on movies and shows, but I discovered that I have to ignore book reviews until after I read said books. lol I was passing up on books - that after eventually reading when convinced by actual people I know - I ended up loving. On the flip side, I've read - or attempted to read - some truly crap books based on awesome reviews.
 
I've seen some really bad movies based on excellent reviews. Same with books (never have understood the 50 Shades thing... it was so badly written IMO) so in general I avoid reviews but sometimes you can't. Breaking Bad & Sons of Anarchy updates fill my Facebook feed but based on watching a couple episodes of each I know they are so not for me.

I read reviews with a wary eye and really have to sit & think about what the person thinks is good and bad and do I necessarily generally think the same way about those things. I read a review just really panning the latest book in a series. There was absolutely nothing good she could say about the heroine so that colored the whole review. Halfway through this scathing review we learn the reviewer is just very angry the heroine of this particular book is married and has an affair with the hero before her drunken lout husband gets himself killed. All that negativity mostly driven because of that one thing. I don't care if fictional characters have affairs so I chose to read the book. And I liked it, though it was not the strongest in the series.
 
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I take most reviews with a grain of salt because everyone is different and likes different things. If a friend has the same likes that I do, then I will pay attention to those reviews. But random ones? Meh.
 
I read reviews on any movie we're iffy about taking the kids to, just so that I'm familiar with what is in it and can make a more informed decision. I know the review site is uber-informative, so can adjust my decisions accordingly.

I rarely ever read reviews for movies or television because taste (or agenda) plays such a big role in what they say. I only use review sites for significant product purchases.
 
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Years ago I paid more attention to reviews online. These days, people are paid to write positive and negative reviews on just about everything, so I rarely pay any attention to them. I rarely pay any attention to reviews about books or shows. Even our personalized recommendations from Netflix (based upon our viewing history) are wacky.
 
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I don't read reviews for movies/shows or books online... most of the time they'll ruin the plot for me! But I will read or watch something based on so many people saying they love it. I started quite a few shows just from reading here how much so many people like them, that I loooved! Like Justified, Homeland, Game of Thrones. :) Also, when a lot of people here talk about certain books they love, I go check them out too. But I just don't read reviews online, unless it's for a product/toy whatever.
 
I've gotten so burned out on Goodread reviews. I've noticed some people ONLY post negative reviews (seriously, I've yet to see them post a positive one on a book that wasn't a pretentious piece of crap). Also, I've seen a lot of them that end up based on SOMETHING ELSE COMPLETELY. The author does something they don't like - like mention something on FB or Twitter about another book or a review - and within the next week I see a 4/5 star book turn into a 2 star book and those same negative people are filling up all the reviews and all the sudden those new reviews have 100s of likes.
 
I read movie reviews when I am debating taking Landon to a movie to see if it is something that will scare him or be offensive.

I ALWAYS read book reviews. Always. I am an amazon review reader though. SO, I read the good and bad reviews and just get a feel for it. I am usually very happy with my choice.

Tv/movie reviews for hubby and I.........never really pay attention to that. We just go see what we want to see.
 
I almost always read book reviews on Goodreads. I don't let them dissuade me from reading something I really want to read, but they're great for books I'm on the fence about. I've ended up reading and loving a lot of books that had a mediocre sounding blurb but that were getting great reviews.

I'm not that much of a tv or movie person. On the rare occasion that DH and I decide to go to a movie without already knowing what we want to see I'll read reviews, but that's maybe once every few years.
 
I read reviews for big items and TV series on Netflix that are no longer on the air. There's noting worse than watching a series without an ending. For example, I was going to watch The Secret Circle and found out it was canceled in the middle so I decided not to watch it.
 
I never read media reviews. It's the same reason I don't watch/read tutorials. I'd rather just read/watch/experience whatever it is for myself.
 
The hubs has a couple of movie reviewers he checks out for stuff we wanna watch, and I can recall only two times something has gotten a favorable review that he ended up hating (these are usually horror flicks).

I usually read the reviews on Goodreads, but I take them with a grain of salt, and I read as many as I can for the books I want to try. Sometimes I'll ask FB friends (Hi Laura!) for recs and those are better because I can explain my tastes.
 
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