

Ask HN: Movies...friends or reviews? - shail

Say on Netflix or Amazon or Apple TV, how do you select what to watch next?
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byoung2
I ignore reviews altogether, and I don't trust friends' opinions for the most
part. The barrier to entry is low on unlimited subscription services that I
find myself just starting movies and seeing if they're interesting enough to
finish. This happens a few times per week. Compare that to the number of times
I physically removed a VHS or DVD after renting it and drove back to the store
to return it (a handful of times in 20 years). Even rarer is walking out of a
movie theater, which I've only done because of mechanical problems.

~~~
OafTobark
I'm in the same boat as byoung2 but would go further to say it applies to
everything I watch, including movies in the theater. I have found that more
than half the time, I strongly disagree with friends on whether a movie was
good or not or how good it was to begin with. Alternatively, reviews don't
really do much for me. Instead I watch trailers or get a basic understanding
of what the movie is about and decide whether or not it looks interesting.

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a3n
Descriptions. Sometimes a friend's recommendation will cause me to look up a
movie, but I virtually always decide based on what I can gather about the
movie itself, including any descriptions, actors, directors, sometimes a
trailer. Like byoung, I will ruthlessly abandon a Netflix movie, sometimes in
the first minute after the titles.

