re: A PR firm has been manipulating the Rotten Tomato scores of movies by paying critics

Pretty obvious--especially when reviewing politically polarizing content.

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I read Ebert's reviews more now than i did when i watched their show.

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Same. I love his classic movie reviews.

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Ebert was boys with a lot of Hollywood elite and would put kid's gloves on for their movies.

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Sometimes. He could be pretty critical at times too, but revisited many films later in his career, and softened his stance on some. He admitted he was "wrong" about his initial review of Godfather Part II. However, I think he downgraded The Graduate after rewatching.

I think his reviews became more lenient in general after Siskel died. I specifically remember him giving The Haunting "thumbs up" just because he liked the haunted house.

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Everything is rigged. This, economic stats, elections, etc. Nothing can be believed.

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So sayeth people until one of those metrics gives them a number they agree with.

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that is lower than i would have expected. I certainly don't look at it as much anymore than i did 5-10 years ago.

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My wife and I use RT as a guide often. We like to watch a movie on Friday and Saturday night and will scroll through different services like Prime or Apple that offer new and old movies. When we come across something that looks interesting but haven't heard of it we go to RT.

My very general rule of thumb is that if the critics like it more than the audience (not just a few points off) it is probably a movie that tried to be artsy or woke or too niche. If it's the opposite, then it's more likely to be something that is enjoyable but not a classic. If both rate it high then it's probably going to be a good movie as long as the subject matter isn't off-putting to me.

There are other factors that play into picking a movie. Subject matter is important. If it's a topic I really like (a serial killer movie) then I give it more leeway. Favorite actors or directors make a big impact. The price also matters...I'm not spending $20 to rent an average movie and may not take a chance at even $5 (I rent a lot of "shitty" movies after the wife falls asleep). The biggest factor is what else is there to watch that night. Often it's a better option to just watch a TV show or documentary even if it is movie night.

That's a long way of saying I frequently use RT to either eliminate a movie or look into it further to see if I want to watch it.

The RT critic scores aren't worth the time they take to read. I'm not a critic, I'm an audience member. The audience score especially with a high volume of ratings is a much better forecast of if I'll enjoy watching a movie.

I have a few movie reviewers I trust like a local paper guy I’ve been reading forever. Don’t always agree but he’s not on the take as far as I know. Never have trusted the “tomatometer.”

As far as products… and things like supplements in particular, theres a lot of online scrubbing and “reviewing” that are just part of the marketing program. It’s a whole industry.

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Ebert was boys with a lot of Hollywood elite and would put kid's gloves on for their movies.

Sometimes. He could be pretty critical at times too, but revisited many films later in his career

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His most famous about face was Blade Runner which he initially panned.

But wanting to be liked, he gave in to the mass cries who often brought it up on his blog (a blog btw, which had some of the best writing on movies ever after his surgery... He was far better later in life).

It would be interesting if they also looked at the movies they obviously score intentionally low. There’s a pay for play there too I’m sure.

Look at the Chapelle special Sticks and Stones or Matt Walsh What is a Woman

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Rise of Skywalker was insanely more enjoyable than the Last Jedi.

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Maybe. In the same sort of way that vomitus smells insanely better than diarrhea