Have you ever walked out on a movie?

[cardero]

Rosje writes: And, according to your theory, since I have only read a fifth of the entire novel, and as such, have not reviewed the entire novel, would you borrow this out from your local library and read the entire book to see if my opinion is vindicated or not,

I think that I would first have to have an associated interest in the Dune series /Frank Herbert/Science Fiction/reading books.

Rosje writes: or would this be enough for you to make a value judgement on the readability of the novel?

The only conclusion or valued judgment that I could arrive to from this example is that you really do not know if Frank Herbert’s Hunters Of Dune is a good or bad book.

If I was interested in Frank Herbert’s Dune series and I came to you and asked you if you had read Frank Herbert’s Hunters Of Dune book and asked what you thought of it and if you told me that you did not know because you didn’t finish it, that would be an honest and sufficient enough assessment of your experience with this work.

 

[Kathryn]

I think that I would first have to have an associated interest in the Dune series /Frank Herbert/Science Fiction/reading books.



The only conclusion or valued judgment that I could arrive to from this example is that you really do not know if Frank Herbert’s Hunters Of Dune is a good or bad book.

If I was interested in Frank Herbert’s Dune series and I came to you and asked you if you had read Frank Herbert’s Hunters Of Dune book and asked what you thought of it and if you told me that you did not know because you didn’t finish it, that would be an honest and sufficient enough assessment of your experience with this work.

So at what point do you determine whether or not a book, or a mini series, or a trip to a themed art museum, is crap? Do you really mean that in order to judge something, you have to experience every excruciating moment of it?

So...you would have to read all 572 pages of something, every word, down to the last sentence of tripe, in order to make that judgment?

That just seems odd to me. I can't see a five hour mini series full of ridiculous accents, poor plots, lack of historical integrity, etc. redeeming itself in the last two minutes. Seems like one could tell before that if something was poorly produced, directed, or acted.

 

[cardero]

Kathryn writes: So at what point do you determine whether or not a book, or a mini series, or a trip to a themed art museum, is crap?

Well, just for the sake of this conversation, let’s keep it to movies and literature. In post #15, I explicitly described that if I am watching a movie, I will watch the complete movie before (personally) forming my opinion. I can realistically and honestly state that this goes for books, graphic novels etc. It doesn’t matter if these items are borrowed,rented or purchased.


If I haven’t seen a movie or read a book all the way through, it would (personally) be difficult for me to invent a good or bad opinion and I would never recommend or discourage a movie or a book to someone who was interested in investing time and was asking me my opinion about a book or movie. I personally would not want to hear or read a review from someone who was not familiar or knowledgeable of the source material they were reviewing and I certainly would not want to seek a good or bad opinion from someone who hasn’t finished watching a movie or finished a book.

Kathryn writes: So...you would have to read all 572 pages of something, every word, down to the last sentence of tripe, in order to make that judgment?

Isn’t that what the authored intended the reader to do when they wrote it? If a director made a movie that was 88 minutes long, wouldn’t they expect their audience to watch all 88 minutes in order to decide if they liked a movie or not? Would you accept the word of a movie critic who reviewed a film from just watching the trailer? Could you trust or depend on a critic/friend/movie enthusiast who wrote or spoke a favorable or unfavorable critique about a movie after only watching it for 30 minutes? Can you imagine if they all did this?

Kathryn writes: That just seems odd to me. I can't see a five hour mini series full of ridiculous accents, poor plots, lack of historical integrity, etc. redeeming itself in the last two minutes. Seems like one could tell before that if something was poorly produced, directed, or acted.

As the experiencer, you can do anything you like. You can walk out of a movie, you can fast forward over the boring parts, you can begin watching a movie and then entertain those unexpected guests that just arrived to your place with the movie in the background, you can make out with your love partner in the back seats of the theater for the duration of the film and you can reserve and secure a good or bad opinion for yourself but I think it would be very difficult (or in good conscience) to recommend a excellent/good or bad/crap opinion to another on a movie that has not been watched in a way the creator(s) intended.

 

[rojse]

...I think it would be very difficult (or in good conscience) to recommend a excellent/good or bad/crap opinion to another on a movie that has not been watched in a way the creator(s) intended.

Sometimes, the creator might simply intend to make a lot of money selling deriviative and cliched hackwork.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I left Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith just as the helmet was being lowered onto Darth Vader's head.

Of course, I left in an ambulance because I was showing the signs of having a heart attack.

 

[cardero]

Sometimes, the creator might simply intend to make a lot of money selling deriviative and cliched hackwork.

This is true and average (read: pedestrian) movie goers could very well be blindsided by the brands of sparkle and glitter that Hollywood continually recycles year after year but the discerning movie enthusiast has developed a sense and wisdom to these tactics and tries to inform themselves (and possibly others) before committing to the experience. There is no sure-fire way to know that a movie will suck (unless one watches it in its entirety or unless one is psychic) and there are a few conservative measures a movie enthusiast can take to avoid such turkeys (avoiding movies that are remade and have numbers after their titles are good indicators).


Keep in mind that the money that movie studios use to produce future presentations is reliant on the previous residuals from public patrons who go to see their films. They have your money whether you walk out on a film or not (with the exception of Angellous_Evangellous, who if he keeps up the practice of asking for his money back, may never be admitted in to another theater ). Movie goers must constantly stay informed, we need to stop feeding the machine and possibly there may come a time when Hollywood recognizes that there is a difference between quality and quantity.

 

[ChrisP]

Couldn't agree more Cardero. I'm only 28 and already I feel like there's nothing new being made these days (with the exception of a few good men and women).

Will keep my eyes on the kiwi screens and let you know about anything good we have coming out.

 

[Kathryn]

this is true and average (read: Pedestrian) movie goers could very well be blindsided by the brands of sparkle and glitter that hollywood continually recycles year after year but the discerning movie enthusiast has developed a sense and wisdom to these tactics and tries to inform themselves (and possibly others) before committing to the experience. There is no sure-fire way to know that a movie will suck (unless one watches it in its entirety or unless one is psychic) and there are a few conservative measures a movie enthusiast can take to avoid such turkeys (avoiding movies that are remade and have numbers after their titles are good indicators).

keep in mind that the money that movie studios use to produce future presentations is reliant on the previous residuals from public patrons who go to see their films. They have your money whether you walk out on a film or not (with the exception of angellous_evangellous, who if he keeps up the practice of asking for his money back, may never be admitted in to another theater ). Movie goers must constantly stay informed, we need to stop feeding the machine and possibly there may come a time when hollywood recognizes that there is a difference between quality and quantity.

preach it!!!!!

 

[zombieharlot]

I walked out of Superman Returns. That movie was SO boring.

 

[zomg]

I left Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith just as the helmet was being lowered onto Darth Vader's head.

Of course, I left in an ambulance because I was showing the signs of having a heart attack.

Wow! That stinks!
The first time I saw Revenge of the Sith we left after he slaughters the people on the lava world. Why? My brother was having an asthma attack.

We had the doctor at the hospital write him a note so we could get a refund.

 

[rojse]

For the record, I am not discouraging the act of people walking out of movies (people can and will do this) but the fact remains, if someone walks out on a movie (or even if someone has impatiently fast forward through a video), one has indeed missed the movie (one hasn’t seen it) and has not participated in the way a movie was intended to be watched and has forfeited the value and weight of their opinion or disapproval. In other words, if someone tells me that a movie was so bad that they had to walk out on it, I am not going to believe this person.

It might even produce the opposite effect-

For I am still waiting for the production company to produce such a movie that truly insults my intelligence, that dares to offend my senses so badly, that I have no alternative but to physically remove myself from the expereince. I have not found one single title in my forty years of movie watching that has attempted to come close. Perhaps, as described by director John Waters, I would probably pay this film the highest compliment.

I challenge you to watch Disaster Movie, Cardero.

 

[cardero]

I challenge you to watch Disaster Movie, Cardero.

Very rarely do I preview a movie before showing a group of my friends unless I have previously approved of the movie and I know that my audience may have an interest in it. Scary Movie (the first one) was one I showed a group of friends (“cold”) that we could have easily turned off or walked away from. I don’t know what exactly was keeping us going (RF member RalphC. reluctantly remembers this moment). If Disaster Movie is anything like Scary Movie, I can imagine it is probably unwatchable.

Besides, you shouldn’t be challenging me to awful movies to get me to walk out on them (many people have tried and failed). Instead, I would prefer that people recommended me exciting new experiences based on the knowledge of what they liked and what they know I would enjoy.

 

[rojse]

Very rarely do I preview a movie before showing a group of my friends unless I have previously approved of the movie and I know that my audience may have an interest in it. Scary Movie (the first one) was one I showed a group of friends (“cold”) that we could have easily turned off or walked away from. I don’t know what exactly was keeping us going (RF member RalphC. reluctantly remembers this moment). If Disaster Movie is anything like Scary Movie, I can imagine it is probably unwatchable.

Besides, you shouldn’t be challenging me to awful movies to get me to walk out on them (many people have tried and failed). Instead, I would prefer that people recommended me exciting new experiences based on the knowledge of what they liked and what they know I would enjoy.

Well, having watched an excretable twenty minutes, I could tell you that the movie has extremely crude recent movie references that fail in their attempt to be humorous, and also fail to say anything critical about the movies it references at all. It's satire at it's laziest, a mere patchwork of recent movies are referenced against a thin smear of something that might have been a plot. Or possibly a smear on the television screen, I couldn't tell.

According to your theory, I can't really say anything about the movie without having watched the rest of it, so if you ever attempt to watch this rubbish, give me your opinion and tell me if I was wrong.

 

[cardero]

Rosje writes: Well, having watched an excretable twenty minutes, I could tell you that the movie has extremely crude recent movie references that fail in their attempt to be humorous, and also fail to say anything critical about the movies it references at all. It's satire at it's laziest, a mere patchwork of recent movies are referenced against a thin smear of something that might have been a plot. Or possibly a smear on the television screen, I couldn't tell.

I am not sure what you were expecting but this is what Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg have done for their last four movies when they took the franchise over from David Zucker and the Wayans brothers.

Rosje writes: According to your theory, I can't really say anything about the movie without having watched the rest of it, so if you ever attempt to watch this rubbish, give me your opinion and tell me if I was wrong.

If I was interested in seeing DISASTER MOVIE and I asked you how DISASTER MOVIE was and you told me that you walked out after 20 minutes, I would definitely seek a more competent review.

When I ask someone for their opinion on a movie or I am reading a judgment from a critic, I am usually on the assumption that I am getting an honest review (not a prophetic one). This honesty would have to extend to the fact that the reviewer has endured the full length of the experience.

 

[Smoke]

I have walked out on a movie, but it's been so long ago that I couldn't say what movie that was. I didn't even walk out on Barnyard, which was as stupid a movie as I've seen in years.

I did skip ahead through most of Sex and the City, but I watched it online. If I'd seen it in the theater, I'd have sat through the whole thing. Or at least until I was sure David Eigenberg wasn't going to get naked again.

 

[Delilah Roo]

I don't think I have ever walked out, I usualy rent movies. I do not like the sticky floor at the theater. But I am very picky so many movies have gone unfinished in my house. I almost never finish horror movies, I am such a wimp I get scared. Delilah

 

[NoahideHiker]

I have gone to movies with friends and hated a movie bad enough to walk out but felt obligated to let the group enjoy the movie. Then when we get out everyone says almost at the same time, "Gawd that was horrible I was going to walk out but didn't know if you guys were liking it or not.". Which is followed up by everyone saying, "You should have said something! We wouldn't have had to suffer like that!".

 

[Kathryn]

I regret to this day not walking out of "Superbad," which was, of course, super bad.