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[CountryBumkin]

Why is it that these movies that win all the Hollywood awards - always seem to turn out to be crap?
Is the Academy Awards just a way for Hollwood to sell bad movies? Perhaps it is just one hand (producer/studio) taking care of the other hand (actors/writers).

The only way to get a good movie seems to be to pick one based on the rating given to the movie (by previous purchasers) at places like Amazon.

I know everyone has different tasts - but this smells like a conspiracy

[MrC]

I wouldn't go so far as your conclusion, but yes, of course.  The entertainment industry sells product for which it has a marked interest in generating maximum hype.  What better way than to issue awards that become ubiquitous for quality and outstanding achievement?

It is more cynical today for sure.

[CountryBumkin]

I'm exaggerating some in my post when I say "all" - but I would tend to not(!) by a movie if has won an Acadamy Award these days. Used to be, i would rush out and get the movie because it won the award. I don't know if I'm changing (movie tastes) or if the Hollywood movie industry is changing regarding a lower quality in movies (maybe the actor payouts are so high now they have to cut production costs to make money), but either way, when I see Acadamy Award winner on the cover and I toss it back into the bin.

Do you know of any websites or "review sources" where one can get a good idea of the popularity/quality of a movie.

Maybe I just have too many movies and I got the all the good ones now. i need help.

[MrC]

I personally think the key is to find two reviewers that collectively tend to align with your preferences and sensitivities (one is too few, three is too many).  In over 20 years, I haven't watched more than a handful of movies that I thought were outright bad, a perhaps a couple of dozen marginal, and the rest have ranged from good to outstanding.  And I'm sure I've seen several thousand.

I won't say who my reviews are - you can use Rotten Tomatoes or other review aggregation sites to see how reviewers align with your tastes.

I've been to the movie theater less than a dozen times since about 1998.  There are just too many outstanding movies available, especially foreign films (and I'm loathe to use the word "foreign" because that's so US-centric), that are not available in most movie houses.

I think life is simply to short to waste 2 or more hours on garbage.

Perhaps folks here can give some recommendations if you indicate your general movie preferences and critical qualities?  I'm reading in between the lines that basic action, endless explosions, and mindless dialog is not for you...

[KingSparta]

>> In over 20 years, I haven't watched more than a handful of movies that I thought were outright bad

I stopped going to movie theaters because of.

1. babies crying
2. kids yelling
3. kids running up and down the isles
4. kids kicking the backs of my chair
5. kids in the same building as me
6. did I say kids

[CountryBumkin]

I watch a lot of movies - but not in the Theaters. I like to buy the movie then rip it to my HTPC. I have a great home theater setup so there is no reason to watch anywhere else (and the Movies Theaters seem to keep reducing their size - so it won't be long before the commerical theaters are no bigger than my home theater anyways).

What I do, is I search trhough Amazon and buy used titles - sometimes a couple of cents each (plus the shipping).
When a new release comes out - if it looks good - I preorder it. Of course I'm paying full retail price for those. Just got "Paul" the other week.

The problem seems to be finding the good movies. Without a decent unbiased review it is tough (can't tell by the cover/description).

For example, I liked Jack Black in School of Rock. So I bought the movie "Gulliver's Travels" (not so good. IMO). Same for Arthur 2.
I enjoy collecting the movies as much as watching them. Now that I have a large collection, its getting tougher to find the good one.

I agree with the above comments that I need to find a reviewer with similar movie tastes. I can't complain about not finding enough reviewers though because I'm not taking the time to post my reviews to help others in the same situation.

I never went to Rotten Tomatoes site. I'll check it out now.