I do often wonder if I rate movies higher when I see them in the cinema. There have been so many occasions where I’ve been in a cinema watching the end credits, trying to gather my belongings while brushing off popcorn and I’m already planning the review and score in my head. I start to discuss the film with my buddy/buddies and it’s almost like a group hysteria we’re all generally hyper about the film. On the odd occasion we’re all bummed out about it. I’m not 110% sure on the social psychologies involved, it’s possible that there are group laws working between us, maybe if a group of 6 are positive about a movie then the 7th person will just fall in line??
But are you more likely to give a high rating to a movie just because you paid so much to see it?? After watching a film at the cinema and writing up the review it’s usually a very impressive review. If I feel the need to watch a film later on, say on DVD, sometimes by this time I’m more vigilant to bloopers and ”issues”.. I suppose it’s my fault for getting blind sided by the wow factor of the cinema or not being able to see the screen due to being so fucking short I dunno…
Let’s review the factors here.
Time : sometimes movies have to been seen “at the time” this is one of my biggest problems with modern movies, they aren’t always as timeless as past films, and lose their potency, the effects start to look dated and unlike the timeless films of yesteryear they have a see by date, this isn’t true for all flicks but you get the idea, once an affect has been mastered it’s used everywhere and starts get stale, I recently re watched League of extraordinary gentlemen (20??) and the bad version of the gian hyde looked like he had dropped out of a Sega game.
Cost : It’s not cheap to pop into the cinema these days, unless you have an unlimited ticket you’re gonna end up paying through the nose, 22 squid to see star wars, while it’s about 8 quid on a normal night, i mean after forking out that much cash to sit in a half eaten chair, it had better be worth it right.
Peer Pressure : as I mentioned in the intro maybe it’s just a social pressure, with loads of people bigging up the movie, maybe some people are more inclined to also big up the film?? This is where I generally get outcasted, as I have a knack of speaking my mind. I don’t care if it’s the unpopular opinion.
I’m not sold on the whole idea to be honest… If i paid a week’s worth of shopping to see a film and it was shit I’m gonna say so!! I’d like to think that everyone would!? Maybe even to the point where the cost actually adds to the argument.
So maybe it’s not necessarily better when you pay, but a matter of having a bigger reaction and using the cost to back up outrageous claims. After all if I saw a mediocre movie and was going to give it a bog average 5/10 then factor in that it had cost me £40 for the pleasure of watching it (yeah okay that’s also the price of drinks and a synthetic hot dog too but it all counts) i’m not going to merely give it a 5/10, it has robbed me of my money and forced me to eat a shitty hot dog, it’s not on a revised 2/10 for my discomfort. But then why not add in every crappy factor of the day, the member of staff who looked at you the wrong way, the noisy eaters and cell phone users, the crew filming the movie from the back of the cinema for thier “school project”, yeah it can go too far.
In all seriousness, I do think that the cost can help sway a review or score as much as a scratched DVD can.
It seems that some monsters and paranormal entities are easily adapted to the big screen, I couldn’t fathom how many ghost or vampire movies have been created to date but the number of Bigfoot movies are probably outnumbered by the sightings.
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