The worst movie recomendation

[vakkotaur]

I've seen a couple emphatic recommendations to go see Gran Torino that explained nothing. One was "Drop anything and everything and go see this movie." another was "Go see this movie." My reaction when I get that sort of recommendation is one word: Why?

Those recommendations say nothing of what the movie is or is about or why I might be interested in seeing it. Or, worse, why someone might think others "need" to see it. For this particular movie, I have seen the TV promos. They tell me something: It's a gritty Clint Eastwood movie. That tells me I'm not likely to care to see it. I know that promos are often misleading, but nothing in any recommendation gives me any reason to doubt them.

Note that I have not said that the movie is bad. It's probably pretty good for what it is. But I need more than "Thou Shalt Go See $MOVIE" for any movie, let alone those that from the start come across as being something I wouldn't care for.

Comments

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that people are unwilling to post greater detail for fear of spoiling things. Which is why I often try to find a review that states my feelings close enough without blowing the gaffe, then pointing to that for my rationale.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Avoiding saying anything about it doesn't help their cause at all. I decided to try to see what the fuss was about without spending $6 or $8 and 2 hours finding out the hard way. What I found first wasn't a review, but a complete plot summary. Now I know what it's about and how it ends. Why bother seeing it?

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

In some cases (they are rare), HOW a movie is made and how the story is presented is as (if not more) important as (than) the story itself. The only examples I can think of right now are 2001:A Space Odyssey and American Beauty. Maybe The Great Race.