Flixster


I've been on Facebook for a while now and I have come to the conclusion that it is just a gigantic marketing tool. In fact, the Pirate and Zombie and Werewolf applications were invented by marketers to see how the Facebook community works and how they could exploit it. It must've worked because Mark Zuckerberg, the inventor of Facebook, recently sold a small percentage of it to Microsoft for $246 million. Still, it is a handy way to keep in touch with friends and I'm not going to delete my account anytime soon.

One of the applications (or apps) that I use for movie review and sharing is Flixster. I am consistently amazed at the stupidity of some of the users. I understand that taste is subjective and that one person's trash is another person's treasure, and that's not what I find so odd. No, it is people who give a 4-star rating to movies they don't like, or the people who rate a movie based on the attractiveness of the leads, like this one, an actual "review" of the movie Stardust,
"i freakin love this movie itz like the best the dude is freakin hawt and robert de niro is freakin funny he is like soooooo adorable...lol".


I understand, only slightly, the attractiveness of the leads angle. I myself posted a blog back when I was on Myspace "reviewing" the movie Underworld, which was simply, "I'd let Kate Beckinsale bite me on the neck." But that was on my blog, not on a movie review site. But the practice of giving a 4-star rating to a movie you don't even like confuses the hell out of me.

Have these people never seen a really good movie? Possibly. 90% of what comes out of Hollywood is crap, crap, crap. I will never understand how movies like Meet the Spartans can be the "#1 movie in America" or why they feel like they can recycle stupid ideas like Underdog and expect people to buy it. But buy it they do, even really crappy movies can make millions, and ultimately that's what Hollywood is all about.

So here's a comparison between Flixster, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and my own ratings on the movies I have just mentioned as well as a few of my favorites: (Sorry about the gigantic white space, if you see one)
























































































Movie



Flixster



IMDB



Rotten Tomatoes



Me



Stardust



4/5



8.1/10



75%



2.5/5



Meet the Spartans



3.5/5



2.5/10



3%



NA*



Underdog



3/5



3.8/10



15%



NA*



Underworld



4/5



6.6/10



30%



2.5/5



Citizen Kane



4.5/5



8.6/10



100%



5/5



Plan 9 From Outer Space



3/5



3.5/10



60%



3/5



The Princess Bride



4/5



8.2/10



95%



5/5



Das Boot



4.5/5



8.5/10



96%



5/5



Saving Pvt. Ryan



4/5



8.4/10



94%



5/5



Shooter



4/5



7.1/10



47%



.5/5



Home of the Brave



3.5/5



5.4/10



23%



1/5

The lesson learned here is that I should get my movie info from Rotten Tomatoes, they seem to be closest to my own tastes.

*I don't want to see these, I will not see these.

Comments

Anonymous said…
God, I miss hearing you rant about movies. Seriously, I would download a podcast of just you reading that review of Stardust

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