My life as a trying-hard wannabe cinephile has been made easy because of sites like Wikipedia, Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, Twitch and tv.com. Basically these sites give me information, reviews and also ratings that help me know and filter things that I want to watch. I only watch movies or shows that can be described as one of the following
- it is critically acclaimed or award winning
- it is a blockbuster (except when reviews say that it sucked big time)
- it has attained a cult status or started a trend or genre
- it is frequently referenced in pop culture or has affected pop culture
- it stars my favorite actress (except when reviews say that it sucked big time)
My criteria seem to list all the reasons why one will watch a movie or show except for entertainment or to pass time. However, I really rely on ratings from Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes so that I can avoid movies that are disappointing (i.e. bad). Although this is not a foolproof method, it makes culling good from bad a lot easier. Also these ratings are derived from critics so there is little noise that usually comes from user generated ratings. For my anime needs, there's Anime News Network, AniDB and MyAnimeList. Although their ratings are user-generated, I find them a bit trustworthy since these are made by anime fans themselves. However for East Asian movies and dramas, I can't find a definitive ratings/review aggregator. Twitch reviews Asian movies and dramas but the site is not as comprehensive as what Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic do for mainstream releases in the West. IMDB virtually lists all films but I can't find their ratings agreeable. Also information on East Asian movies and dramas are scarce and can usually only be found in Wikipedia, Drama Wiki of D-addicts and AsianMediaWiki. So, I really wish that East Asian film and drama fans will put up a critics' reviews and ratings aggregator to help other fans. Anyway, this can be a profitable venture.
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