Tell us how you decide if a movie or show is worth watching for $2

Posted by Alex Sinclair in Film & TV

Do you have your own personal formula for deciding if a movie is worth watching? Do you trust IMDB reviews more than Rotten Tomatoes for some genres and not for others? Perhaps you only consider watching a movie if you receive two personal recommendations.

It's estimated that there are over 500,000 films to choose from, and that's before we even consider series. With so many viewing options available, we want to know how you decide which to give your precious time. Tell us about your approach or formula using 50 words or more.

Task: Tell us how you decide if a film if a film or series is worth a try

Format: Written or video

How to submit a written entry:

Hit the 'submit to this bounty' button just below this description - do not use the reply button unless you just want to comment on the thread, as replies will not be counted as entries!
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Share a link to your post in the box that appears, then expand it so we can view the video on Just About.

Once the deadline closes, we’ll pick 12 submissions, award $2 to each of the winners, and may share them as curated content.

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Created at 10:28am, 8th March, 2024. Page last updated at 2:42pm, 16th May, 2024.
Deadline at 12:00am, 14th March, 2024.

Submissions (16)

FluXHound3/13/2024

EAsy.

I dont judge a film on cast or rating. If it looks good. Im down

Josh B3/13/2024

Won$2

I usually use a few things to help guide my choices.

I generally pay more attention to scores on metacritic; both critic and viewer reviews as I find rotten tomatoes somewhat unreliable because of the way they aggregate scores to give a fresh or rotten rating. That being said, some critics clearly just have beef with certain actors and actresses (Shia Labeouf always comes to mind - he seems to get a lot of excessive hate despite actually helping lift some of his movies out of the mundane) and score the movies unfairly.

Saying that, I would never just go with an aggregate score site if it was a movie I was unfamiliar with. Some you just know are going to be good based on cast and directors but others you have to judge just based on their likely 'popcorn factor'.

These are the movies where their score maybe 6's or 7's out of 10 but you just know they are going to be fun and silly and not really about plot. Ricky Stanicky comes to mind for this watched on the weekend and was generally panned by critics but you see the cast and just know the movie is about the laughs and not really much else!

Lanah Tyra3/12/2024

Won$2

One thing is for sure, it's not the rating the movie received. If it's an adaptation of a book (or comics if Marvel) which I have read, then I'll most likely watch it.

The other important factor is the cast, if it has one of my favourite actors in it or was directed by someone who's work I usually like, I will watch it.

If it is something completely unknown to me, then I decide by the trailer. As someone who also makes videos, I love a good trailer and if the editor did a good job, it will capture enough from the atmosphere of the movie for me to decide if it's something I would enjoy.

And since I don't really pay attention to scoring and such, going to the cinema was mostly my way of discovering new things to watch from the trailers shown before the movie. Since lockdown I haven't been out that much though so I'm sure I missed out on a lot, as the information just doesn't come through the mediums I'm active at, and I really should go out more.

So currently, I go by the recommended by a friend method and then see if I have chosen my friends wisely 😂

Emilia3/12/2024

Won$2

I think the most influential thing regarding movies/shows is the opinions of my friends. If I'm recommended something by someone I trust has good taste I am much more likely to watch it. I'm also influenced extremely easily by the presence of my favourite actors in a movie/tv show or directors (I'll watch anything by Sofia Coppola or anything with Ryan Gosling in) :0 Also Netflix recommendations can be great sometimes!!

Dean3/12/2024

Rotten Tomatoes and friend recommendations. This combined with general hearsay and advertising on how it looks compared to my tastes.