DORÉ

I only read them afterwards, from a good source. I also love the mistery but if we are talking about blockbuster mainstream silly movies i read the review just in case. Lately movies are not what they were.

I completely agree with you. In fact if I like a film I often avoid reviews afterwards as well because much as I enjoy exercising my critical faculties, sometimes I just want some good entertainment and if I read someone else’s opinion I’ll end up agreeing with the problems they see in it.

Contrairement à toi j’ai du mal à aller au ciné sans avoir jeté un œil aux critiques, il me suffit de voir le nombre d’étoiles sur allocine attribué au film par mes critiques préférés pour être presque certaine que le film me plaira ou pas. Ça va sans doute paraître un peu cliché parisien mais je me réfère principalement à Telerama, Positif et Les Inrocks. Ce n’est pas de ma faute s’ils ont les memes gouts que moi ;). J’avoue que les rares fois ou je suis allée voir un film sans rien savoir ou bien juste à la tête de l’affiche, j’ai été déçue… Mais le goût de la surprise est aussi une manière de considérer le cinéma et je te comprends totalement !

Je dirai ni l’un ni l’autre. Je ne vais pas très souvent au cinéma alors je ne lis pas tellement les critiques :) Ce n’est pas ça dumoins qui m’attirent pour aller voir un film en particulier. C’est plus le casting, le scénario, l’affiche du film joue beaucoup pour moi aussi. Comme pour la couverture des livres, c’est ce qui me donne envie.
xx http://wildlysweet.blogspot.fr

I love reading reviews afterward!

For very bad movies I love to read Anthony Lane’s hilarious reviews in the New Yorker, but I don’t like David Denby as much. Manohla Dargis and David Thomsen are among my favorite living film critics.

same here

I tend to read reviews before I see a movie, but after I see a movie that I really like I read all the reviews I can get my hands on and then some.

I think Anthony Lane over at the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/anthony_lane/search?contributorName=anthony%20lane) has really grew reviews that are really well written and interesting to read.

I hate reading them before. They instantly ruin any excitement I have to see them. I don’t even like it when my friends go to see movies before me, then want to tell me what they think.

I don’t really even like reading them after, especially if I like a movie. I don’t want someone to come in and point out something that will ruin it for me.

Case in point: Man of Steel

I went to see that movie solely because I got to watch Mr. Hot Ass Henry Cavill running around in no shirt and a tight costume. I didn’t give a shit if it was some critically-acclaimed, Oscars sweep of a movie. After walking out of the movie, thoroughly having enjoyed it…when my husband decided to spend the entire ride home talking nonstop about all the things the movie “got wrong.” I’m sorry, I haven’t read a single Superman comic, and I don’t have a film degree – the movie served its purpose for me. I don’t care if it was “authentic to the comics,” and I certainly didn’t care if anyone liked or hated it. But listening to him talk ad nauseum about how bad it was…that kind of killed it for me.

Never again – the next time I watch a movie because Henry Cavill is in it, I go alone. :-)

ps – If you’re Henry Cavill and you’re reading this…I thought it was a great movie, and your Midwest accent was incredibly convincing. I should know – I’m from Ohio. ;-)

I agree with you Heather P.- Man of Steel was awesome even if it wasn’t completely true to the comics and I didn’t laugh once the whole movie (intense!) It was visually spectacular and really engaged you!

Garance – I really like your approach and I’m going to adopt more. Usually when I see the trailer for a movie, I feel disappointed by the actual movie cos it’s nothing like the trailer or because the trailer literally tells you the entire plot and there are no surprises. It’s also so fun, if you’ve really enjoyed a movie, to research it after by reading the reviews – it helps the magic linger on a bit.

Me concernant, uniquement après, et c’est souvent systématique. Notamment quand la fin m’a choqué, ou laissé un doute. Mes critiques préférées sont celles de Inception (tellement tellement d’interpretation) ou de Shutter Island.
Les film romantique et romanesque comme Anna Karenine aussi me plaisent… :)

http://alicebradshow.blogspot.fr/
http://alicebradshow.blogspot.fr/

J’aime les bandes annonces.
Les affiches sont importantes. Une belle affiche, une synopsis peut me faire prendre une place, rarement les acteurs.
“Pire”, côté réalisateur woody allen me fait rentrer dans une salle….juste parce que c’est Lui.
Et Nicole Kidman aussi…! C’est assez récent.

C’est drôle je fonctionne à peu près comme toi. Je déteste lire les critiques avant d4aller voir un film en revanche je suis prudente avantd’aller voir un film, je me fie souvent à mon intuition … et je me trompe rarement (ouf!). Ensuite je lis les critiques sur les sites des Gaumont, UGC et autres…

My favorite sources: The Dissolve (I tend to agree with most of the writers and I feel like they are very fair), Pajiba (especially Amanda Mae Meyncke), Cinesnark, the writers Roger Ebert’s site, Doug Loves Movies podcast. With most of these sources, you get the main stream movies, but also the smaller films that are really enjoyable, but usually go unnoticed.

I could go on and on about this topic since movies have always been my jam, and I’ve been reading reviews as long as I could read. I’m the nerd that loves watching trailers, but I’m also really picky about them. If I know that I already really want to see a movie and I want to experience it without any type of influence to cloud my opinion (e.g., Before Midnight, Inception), I avoid all reviews, clips, interviews, etc., so I’ll experience it with an open mind and clean slate. But there are movies that I know I want to watch (usually because of an actor or director), but I’m not precious about it, and I don’t mind watching the trailers or peeking at the reviews (though I won’t read the whole review) – those would be Elysium, Skyfall, Marvel movies, anything with Albert Brooks, Terrence Malick, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Thompson.

Then after I watch the movie, I approach my favorite movie sources to see if we agree, get their take on any aspects that might have been confusing, and find out what that movie meant to them. On that note, my favorite movie sources are those that approach movies from a positive place, meaning they want to like movies. I get so turned off my reviews that are snarky or act as if movies have to earn their approval. When I evaluate a movie, I think about what the movie was trying to achieve and whether it was successful in its goal. And I love reading reviews that shift my point of view, even if it’s just a little bit and help me see a movie a different way. When I read a well-written review for a movie that I’ve seen, I feel as if I’m part of a community that celebrates film.

Reading the comments on this topic, I’m reminded of how much people lean on reviews to guide them. My therapist told me she won’t see a review with less than 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. But I have been led astray with that method – I’ve hated movies that have received overwhelming praise. Also, there are so many hidden gems that have gotten middling to poor reviews, but I think they’re woefully underappreciated (like Joe vs. the Volcano – love that movie to bits!).

I don’t read the reviews but I like to see a summary of the overall reviews. http://www.rottentomatoes.com compiles all of the reviews and lets you know the percentage of good reviews there are. I only watch movies that are 70% and up!
http://liveitinerantly.com

I always read them after I’ve seen the movie, but I do love watching trailers! My friend Karen always reads reviews before and I have to remind her not to spoil it for me by saying something got a sucky review. But I do like reading reviews afterwards, particularly when I leave the theater unsure if I really liked it or not (Blue Jasmine). And I love dissecting a movie right after seeing it with someone, especially if we have very different opinions. Just saw a preview for Mademoiselle C. Can’t wait!

[This is not a plug, but…]

I go to rottentomatoes.com and look at the percent of “top critics” that gave the movie a good review – anything below 75% and I read a few critics I respect and see if it’s the sort of movie I’ll like even if some people didn’t (I’m very forgiving of rom-coms).

Thing is, I spend so much less money on movies than I did when I lived in LA – thankfully! I don’t need to see every darn thing just to keep up with conversation. So I want to spend my money and time wisely – not experimentally. The consensus numbers at rottentomatoes seem to be the best way to not waste time while not ruining the surprise.

What – are there no fans of wittertainment among the readers of this blog???
At least at the time I’m posting this, nobody has mentioned Mark Kermode.
In other words: NYT and New Yorker are doing a nice job (and yes, Anthony Lane’s reviews are a great read – I even own a book with a selection of them, and all the movies are by now old, but it’s still fun to read), but their critics don’t come close to Mark Kermode. His blog, but even more his show with Simon Mayo. I wish I hadn’t heard of their podcast yet, bc then I’d still be in for the treat that is every single episode…
As for reading reviews – I like to read reviews generally, just to know what’s out there, what’s coming next, who is involved in the projects, etc. I’m a bit more careful about reading the reviews of those movies I definitely want to see. Sometimes, I choose to not read them in advance. Yet – unless it’s a badly written/argued review – I don’t think that the knowledge of the review spoils the movie experience itself, at least not for me – it’s more often the case that reading a review afterwards starts to irk me… Because I, too, have seen the movie, it becomes like a discussion where I have no possibility of voicing my own opinion.
I generally avoid watching trailers though. They either don’t give you any sense of what the movie is actually about – or (and that happens more and more) they show you all the best (or at least central) scenes from the movie, so they are merely really bad spoilers. What are the people who put them together thinking?!

Anyway, I love movies. Watching them. Talking about them. Watching them again. And to a certain degree also reading about them!

And hello to Jason Isaacs!

I always google the film name and rotten tomatoes. This brings up the rotten tomatoes rating on the google search page. I just go Byrne rating and don’t read any reviews! I am looking forward to your book coming out. I hope you have a signing in London. Xx Polly

PS do you remember the outfit you loved a while ago which had a green silky shirt like top and white bottoms (Trager Delaney as one reader pointed out) ? Uniqlo have created a new silk shirt range which has a classic green silk shirt which you may like.

j’aime bien rien voir du tout mais avec mon fiancé en revanche pour se decider il faut regarder toutes les bande annonce! j’aime bien regarder les critiques apres avoir vu le film sinon

I did once, and it ruined the whole experience completely so i ever have again. After reading other’s people’s reviews I always either expect something amazing and am then disappointed (sad face) or write it off after reading a bad review, dont go to see it, then watch it years and wonder why i’d never seen this amazing film earlier!

Generalement, je decide d’aller au cinema pour le realisateur, les acteurs et le resume du film, puis je lis certaines critiques de rottentomatoes ou the New York Post. Je suis rarement decue.
J’ai recemment vu Blue Jasmine qui m’a beaucoup plu.

J’ai eu l’habitude de lire les critiques avant, pour me faire une idée, et bien souvent quand j’allais voir le film mon avis différait totalement ! Désormais je les lis après, ou pas du tout…

xx.

Bonjour Garance,
Bonjour chères lectrices et lecteurs,
Personnellement, j’aime avoir les critiques des films que j’aimerai voir. D’une part ça me permet de ne pas payer une place de cinéma pour rien, et d’autre part, je suis quasi-sûr ne pas être déçue et de passer un bon moment.
Ensuite pour les livres, je n’aime pas du tout lire les critiques. Je préfère largement faire ma propre opinion sur l’ouvrage plutôt que d’être influencé par les autres. En effet, nous n’avons pas la même sensibilité, et notre imagination n’est pas du tout similaire.
VOilà!
A bientôt,
Aurélise

Je me renseigne avant, je lis après.
Avant, en fait ça dépend, mais sauf exceptions rares (Terence malick par exemple ! ou quelques vieux films d’un réalisateur que j’adore) je ne vais jamais voir un film nouveau à l’aveugle. Trop de perte de temps et bien souvent, ça ne serait que répondre à la pression médiatique car, sinon, comment voir les films qui ne bénéficient pas des promos monstres de ceux qui occupent l’espace médiatique ?
Je ne sais pas comment cela se passe pour le cinéma américain mais en France, on ne voit dans les médias, en affiche etc, que les films dont les budgets promotionnels permettent une telle exposition. Là dedans il y en a qui sont excellents, dans les autres aussi. L’exposition médiatique n’est ni un gage de qualité ni un gage de médiocrité, je n’ai juste pas envie de choisir comme cela.
Ma routine : le mercredi je checke allociné, je regarde les films qui sont les mieux notés par la presse (en général), ensuite je fouille dans les 2/3 qui m’inspirent : si les “bonnes notes” viennent d’un mix le monde, libération, les inrocks, télérama, l’humanité, la croix (oui oui :) je sais qu’il y a une chance que ça me plaise. Si les bonnes notes viennent de studio magazine, cinélive, l’express et le point, un peu moins !
Ensuite il y a des films qui ont eu des très beaux avis et qui me déçoivent, et l’inverse.
En revanche je ne lis pas un seul article avant, comme ça le plaisir reste intact !
Alors, certes, je ne vais pas voir les films dont tout le monde parle mais qui semblent décevants sur un plan cinématographique, comme Gatsby ou le dernier Gondry (pour qui j’aurais un a priori positif pour le comp). Je ne peux pas en parler, mais ça ne me manque pas !
Et parfois je tombe sur des pépites où nous sommes 5 dans la salle et je me prends une telle claque que certains films me laissent une empreinte à vie… sans personne pour en parler par ailleurs !

never read reviews before , or if yes, just very lightly
I never ever agree with the Rolling Stones review…the movies they rave about I usually end up hating and viceversa
I kind of agree with The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk , those reviews are in depth even though they do tend to bash Hollywood productions and lean more towards independent movies

Liberation France is also a good source for indie movies , and if you are curious about Hollywood bashing…one of the most memorable being their terrible review of Oscar darling Argo….Liberation went all bitchy on it and i could not have agreed more on their angle , but when you are in the USA you tend to get influenced by the USA patriotic thing and forget your parameters in favour of the feel-good element that American film goers and Hollywood love.

I never ever ever agree with The New Yorker reviews

and I quite recommend the New York Times too , in general, but The Guardian does it better and are funnier . Also the comments on the Guardian tend to be very highbrow and interesting

I went to see The Butler and wrote about it here http://www.fashionsphinx.com/the-butler/ stunning film

I love love love reading film blogs and reviews online and comments after i have seen the film

fashionsphinx.com

aïe aïe aïe, pour ma part c est du moitié moitié: je lis certaine critiques avant: quand j hésite entre deux films par exemple (et que je n ai le temps d en voir qu un seul!!!), mais pour les films que j avais repéré bien en avance, je ne lis les critiques qu après!!!! tordue quoi! celles de libé et du monde principalement…..et je fuie celles des inrocks que je trouve un peu trop “c est le film pointu du moment avec les acteurs pointus du moment et tu es dépassé-si-tu-n’as-pas-vu-ca!!!!!”

Very often I like films that other people – the general public- don’t. My taste is black, white, and nothing in between, I don’t tend toward what others like simply because they like it but I will pay attention to what people like. I value my own impressions, and what really takes my breath away. Before seeing a film, I can read a review without it impacting my view but I don’t rely on it to determine what I do and don’t watch. Like any business in which you are deeply entrenched, you realize that not all reviews are impartial (after all, they are published, and publishing is a for profit business) and the distribution of a film is informed by so many economic and other factors… and by extension, the review or even the opportunity to have a film reviewed. So if I want an opinion, I will read up on/go to film festivals, synopses, my friends conversations, and following writers, directors, actors, etc. But the experience of surprise and discovery is precious and so, reviews can rob me of this pleasure. In the art world, however, I think reviews are far more interesting, informed, engaging, and creative, but that’s another story and not your question. And in fashion…. yet another.

I never read critics unless they have an amazing wardrobe (like The Great Gatsby… Or Marie Antoinette or Io Sonno il Amore) and I only read those from a fashion related point of view… But i do hear the podcasts from KCRW’s The Treatment, with Elvis Mitchell that he often interviews the director of the film and some great stories about the making and the ideas come to light… It’s Great!

Je suis fan de l’émission “Le Cercle” sur Canal +. Frédéric Beigbeder y reçoit chaque semaine 6 chroniqueurs (ça va des Inrocks à Cinélive, le Parisien, Figaro,… en passant par l’incroyable Philippe Roulier de Positif). Et j’adore Marie Sauvion, ex-critique au Parisien devenue rédac-chef de Marie France. Elle a l’oeil du critique (et la culture) et ce côté girly qui m’accrochent à chacune de ses interventions ! Je recommande !

après, after !

Je regarde les critiques avant, ça me permet de faire une sélection, j’adore Philippe q Rouiller et Marie Sauvion, ils sont géniaux et partage ma vision du cinéma. Je suis donc leurs conseils, et je ne suis jamais déçu!

Tout pareil que toi, j’aime aller à l’aveuglette au cinéma, et hors blockbusters, ce qui m’y amène souvent, c’est la beauté de l’affiche, c’est futile peut être..
Bon, parfois, il faut l’avouer, une belle BA vue au ciné, ça peut aussi vraiment donner envie d’aller voir un film qu’on aurait peut être ignoré autrement.

Bref. Et si ça te dit, même si tu dois être affreusement occupée, j’écris des critiques de film sur mon blog, parfois, souvent…
xxx