zlacker

Definitely felt this with IMDB and now also RT. Sometimes it’s political, but more often it seems like new mediocre movies get amazing ratings, which just didn’t add up. For a while, I thought it was just enthusiast bias but it makes more sense that there’s gaming going on. “Foreign” movies very often get shit ratings, especially when they don’t copy-paste the Anglo-Hollywood style and tropes.

In either case, my best advice for reviews in general is: take it with a big grain of salt. Ie don’t compare 7.5 with 7.8. Barbie vs Oppenheimer ratings is not gonna tell you anything useful, even if there’s no gaming going on. Never obsess over subjective measurements.

Instead, use a 5.2 rating as an indicator that it’s very likely to be bad. But if it’s say a documentary about something you have nerded out on, then it may have you glued to the screen.