Deciding for Yourself

I had a very interesting appearance on the David Oatney Talkcast a few nights back and we got into talking about the Golden Flopas and the issue of whether you should see a movie before deciding its bad news.

It’s a difficult issue, and I think it’s one of conscience and preference. Thinking about it over the past few days, here are my thoughts.

I should say, first of all, people can do what they will.  These are my own opinions and I’m not judging anyone.  Let everyone be convinced in their own mind, as the Good Book says.

I tend not to see movies that are considered questionable on moral or political grounds. I’ve never seen “The Contender” (nor has most of America), “Saved” or the various anti-religion flops liberal that get headlines. Then again, I don’t give them a lot of space on my blog as I don’t find them interesting topics of discussion.

There are many reasons for this. First of all, I really don’t have time to watch every movie put out by Hollywood. Compared to many other bloggers, I rarely go to the movies. When I do, I do it mainly to have a nice time with my wife and take her out for something special. Seeing a film in theaters means little to me, as given my humble upbringing, I think we may have seen a dozen movies (if that) when growing up.

 To decide which movies I want to see, if I am going to go, I consult movie reviewers. One of my favorite’s is Plugged In Online, which is a movie site that provides reviews of the quality of the movies, but also nicely lays out the body count. I’m not a huge fan of tons of  swearing, potty humor, sexual situations, or extremely gory violence on the screen. Plugged In provides a nice body count, so I have an idea of whether the film is going to be something that, whatever its artistic merits, I really am not going to enjoy it.

I view a movie review the same way I’d view a computer review or a Car Review. If reviewers tell me the car they test drove  blew up five miles from the lot and I get similar reviews from other people, I’m not going to test drive the car. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been talked out of buying an inexpensive gadget. (MP3 player, digital camcorder, voice recorder, etc.) when I read reviews on Amazon from people who tried it and found it was no good. I don’t see any reason to treat movies differently.

Overall, I’d say I’ve done quite well. In the past year, I’ve attended six movies and enjoyed all six and really have felt like I’ve spent my time well. I’ve been entertained (which ultimately is supposed to be the purpose of these movies) and stuck to my standards. Others may do as they will, but that’s my decision and I’m sticking to it.