Top_Dawg_Critic

I'm a professional film critic and movie buff (every room has at least 1 TV - including my bathrooms lol) and I always look to IMDb for a summary, cast/crew details, viewing the trailer, and reading what others think of the film.

Nothing is worse than clicking on a review, only to see a plot summary. A film review should emphasize the positive and negative attributes of a film - there are separate sections for summary and plot outlines. I know some top pro film critics usually give a summary, and some of those don't even rate their viewing experience, and I question why they are a "critic". You won't get that with me - I'm all about the entertainment value and viewing experience.

What I aim to critique are the key factors that make a film: directing, writing, cinematography, editing, casting, S/VFX, length/pace, sound/score, entertainment value, etc.

I also take into account the production budget and experience of the filmmakers. You cannot equally compare a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster production with A-list actors to a low-budget indie production with B-list actors. I have much respect for new/up and coming filmmakers, and I rate them fair based on what they have to work with. You may see a B low budget film that you may not like get an 8/10, and a big A-film Hollywood blockbuster get a 6/10, only because the A film had everything it needed to be great, and the B film worked with very little (experience, budget, etc.) yet was impressive - all factors considered.

Thus it will be very rare any movie will get a 1 (unless it's riddled with fake reviews from cast, crew and friends) or a 10 (unless it is perfection in every category above) from me, but instead will range between that scale - also taking into account the filmmakers experience, budget, etc. As a rule, anything I rate either a 7 or 8, I liked enough that I will watch it again and still highly recommend. The lower numbers will be more of a critique for the filmmaker in areas they need to improve, as well as details for the potential audience to evaluate if that film is still worth seeing (e.g. loud constant annoying score - maybe you don't mind that) and will satisfy their expectations.

Additionally, those who give a film a 1/10 annoy me. Every film should have some good qualities, and it's a "scale" between 1-10, not 1 "or" 10. I've seen some reviewers give a 1 because the film isn't out yet so they think it's a fake review; Films do have early screenings at film festivals, early releases at various countries or distributors, and "award consideration" pre-releases to certain viewers and critics.

But what burns me the most, is when filmmakers spam and shill their IMDb account with ridiculous comments and clearly fake 9 & 10/10's. IMDb is a transparent opinion-based forum that relies on honest reviews from its members. Spamming a movie with many fake high reviews only tells me that the filmmakers don't even have faith in their own production, and thus have to lie to their potential audience into watching their movie. That's just pathetic, and an embarrassment to the industry and the real filmmakers out there trying their best and being honest.

The best way to see if a review is fake, click on the username; if one or a few reviews (usually the same date/s), a new account, or an account with many IMDb film criteria entries (plot, photos, summaries, film specs, etc.), that's usually a filmmaker or crew upvoting their own film - although I have myself entered/contributed missing relevant details/plot summaries etc. that I found elsewhere (Wiki, RT, etc) and I'm not a filmmaker. So, do every IMDb member a favor and report that fake review, and if that film has many 10/10, down-vote them all (and report) and up-vote the real honest reviews. It may not stop the filmmaker and his crew from posting more fake reviews, but at least all the up and down votes from members like you may help them from not wasting their time to see a flagrantly upvoted film.

Also if you see many shill fake high reviews, chances are your honest low review will get reported and deleted by all the new fake accounts. Simply keep reposting and reporting/downvoting the phony reviews. And do what I and most of the users who notice their honest review got deleted... repost and lower your rating to a 1/10. If you see lots of those along with many high reviews, it's just the honest members being angry and lowering their score in hopes of offsetting the falsely high ratings that IMDb overlooked as spam.

And if you're that filmmaker, cast/crew creating the fake upvotes, you are doing more harm than good for your own film; Members will give you the 1 for every 10/10 you post, when they may have given you a 6 or 7, as I would and have.

Finally, none of my 3000+ ratings and 1700+ reviews will ever by biased or paid for. Every rating and review will be based on my personal opinion using factors that professional critics use (and in considering everything I've said above) - instead of a film summary, and my exact rating and review can also be found on Rotten Tomatoes, and many other entertainment review outlets.