“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. “
-Anton Ego
Critics are parasites, they don’t actually contribute much of anything good to culture or society. I never go by rotten tomatoes or metacritic. On the other hand, I do think reviews by audience members or gamers on Steam are useful. But, even so, whether or not a movie, book, video game, etc, is “good” or “bad” comes down to your own personal opinion. Like, for example, John Carter is one of my favorite movies, but it bombed at the box office and probably killed any Barsoom movies franchise.
I go by unpaid audience opinions. The opinions of people who got to see it for free to test the movie also could count, but I’d rather hear what people who bought their own tickets think.
Professional critics are full of themselves, they think their opinions define what is art. Heck, one even said notoriously that video games aren’t art. If I hadn’t already disregarded their opinions, I would have then.
I try to keep an open mind. And, my secret is, if I’m concerned about wasting my time and money or that I might hate something… I’ll read about the plot on Wikipedia. Yes, I’ll spoil it for myself. That way, I’ll get some idea what happens before I even watch it or read it or whatever. I’ve never regretted doing it, but there are times I’ve gone in without doing it and greatly regretted it.
But, I’m not saying everyone should do that. However, I will say professional critics are hacks who are parisitses and can kill movies and careers without regard to the people involved in making the art they get off on calling bad. I’ll definitely say you should keep an open mind and ignore the critics and their opinions. Heck, don’t even go by mine, form your own by doing your own research.