As A general rule I always go by IMDB and there number ratings ie 6.5 /7000 and also read the viewers comment on the bottom of the page
but I have found several movies that did not score so well on imdb, and bad reviews that I really liked alot. Much better then some of the movies
with higher scores and rave reviews. I have read someplace that some of those "rave" reviews are placed on there by staff and people who have to do with the selling and marketing of the movie, true? Be ashame if it was. I know some people only like shootem ups and action movies and there fine too and some of them are done well
but at the same time shouldnt be compared to a drama
IDK, I am just wondering how much stock others put into IMDB and how you deside if or if not to watch a movie, say one you have never herd of before

I never put alot of stock into IMDB reviews... catch someone on a bad day looking to bitch about something, and you got a bad review of an otherwise good movie. Personally, I think "film critics" are overrated anyway, as anyone who watches a movie is qualified to be a critic of that film... and we all know that opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one... You might hate a movie I absolutely loved, and if you went on my review of the movie to decide on whether or not to watch it, somewhere in your head you'd have a little blame chair set aside for me to sit in... its human nature. I used to read reviews from 5 or 6 diff sources, but these days, you really can only trust your own opinion.. Theres been movies I saw the trailers for, saw the reviews, and decided it wasn't worth my time watching it... then later on watching it here in the DivX section out of boredome and thinking "damn, I shoulda watched this earlier".

I don't put any stock in reviews. There have been movies people hated that I loved, and vice-versa (I remember someone long ago in the newspapers giving Highlander two stars - a four-star flick to me). If the story sounds interesting to me (I'm a sucker for sci fi, horror, comedies, etc.), and it has a cast that I like, I'm going to watch it. In fact, I AVOID reading or watching on TV anything on a flick I really want to see (like Pandorum, Surrogates, Star Trek, etc.). I want to go in completely untarnished by others' feelings. Movies are like art - they are so individual on how they affect someone.

i do read the reviews on imdb. i dont let any single one affect my judgment. however... most of the time when i watch a movie it; my rating of it usually lines up with imdb. not always but i would say 85-90% will.

I will have to agree with some of each that you said, somtimes to be off gaurd is best , if it works out well. I had never herd anything about August rush and really liked it Alot
most of the time I do for the most part agree with the numbers on imdb but not so much the comments at least not all of them like viper was saying about opinions we all have one
but one movie that really threw me off was To kill Bill The score is way high and all the reviews are good. Well I havent posted one ! I just didnt get it I guess. so only in my opinion
the movie was not good.

I find that IMDb's ratings are generally fairly accurate - and they should be, seeing as they are a general consensus. But there is always those exceptions. One person's trash is another person's treasure. I enjoy a lot of films that have low ratings on IMDb, so I always take their ratings with a grain of salt.

I figure the only way you can really know if you want to watch a movie, or not, is to watch it. That is the only way you'll ever really know if you'll enjoy it.

But what I like to do is watch the trailer for the film first. Most trailers usually do an alright job of getting a movie into a nutshell, and giving you the gist of a film. I also do the usual reading of reviews - but not just from IMDb. I find it best to search for some reviews on google (or wherever you'd like to), and see what people say about the film in question.

But like I said before...I think in the end, the only real way to know is to watch.

desided?