Reviews that Aren't Reviews

Anyone else get cheesed about this or is it just me? People who post reviews about movies that haven't been released yet. I understand that most films are pre-screened but there are quite often reviews that say things like "I haven't seen this film yet, but the trailer looks great." or my favorite " I read the book and they'd better not screw this one up."

An example - there's a review up for Speed Racer that goes like this "I saw the trailer for this movie in the theatre when I went with some friends and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. It looked really good. Can't wait for it to come out!"

I know there's an option to flag the review as "not a review" but seems to never work. I assume that it takes more than one person flagging to remove it, but anyone know just how many it takes to remove it?

Some others with non-reviews:
The Dark Knight
Horton Hears a Who
Hellboy 2 ( Netflix doesn't have box art yet and there's already bogus reviews)
Iron Man
Leatherhead (no box art yet, 2 reviews)
etc.
etc.

Tags: flagging, reviews

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by beeswax on July 22, 2008 at 6:00pm: Maybe you should post this one on UncleBob's "problems with instant watch" -- it's a thread in either Netflix Site or Gripes & Unfocused Rage.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brody on July 21, 2008 at 3:29pm: There are already 7 reviews for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brody on July 21, 2008 at 3:40pm: This one is great.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brody on July 21, 2008 at 3:53pm: This one doesn't even make sense.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robowriter on July 22, 2008 at 7:41am: How about these two? (Wow I'm getting all the wallpaper and buttons, I can embed links behind the firewall again!)

It would not download so I could view it.It would not download so I could view it.It would not download so I could view it.It would not download so I could view it.It would not download so I could view it.It would not download so I could view it.

Did not receive this until today 4/10/06 Mail comes around 3:30pm! Seems to be more time in between Movies!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by BigBen on July 22, 2008 at 8:04am: I have a question for everyone. Generally if the reviewer has made any attempt at all to put something about a movie in their review I give it the benefit of the doubt. However, I am starting to notice quite a considerable amount of reviews that are simply "I couldn't give it zero stars", or "don't waste your time".

I don't know that I would use the not a review flag, but "I gave it one star only because the system wouldn't let me select zero stars. Nuff said." is about as far from useful as I can imagine a review being. If you don't even take the time to say anything about what you didn't like, then how am I supposed to take any credence in what you said? This goes the same for some of the "best movie I have ever seen" category too.

Does any one else feel that these aren't really reviews?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by thatboy on July 22, 2008 at 9:30am: Reviews of the type you're talking about I mark 'not helpful,' but don't flag as 'not a review.' As long as they say anything about their opinion, as in "This sucked!!! Don't rent!" I won't flag it. The only exception being if they spent an entire paragraph ranting about a cracked disc or late arrival or some other non-movie related issue before getting to their one-sentence opinion.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robowriter on July 22, 2008 at 11:27am: Dit-to, thatboy. "This sucked!!" is an authentic review (even if not a helpful one as far as depth of supporting argument).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by thatboy on July 22, 2008 at 9:19pm: Conversely, I'm sure some have read my 1-star reviews and said, "Jesus, he just goes on and on. Why can't he just say 'This sucked' and move on?"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by BigBen on July 22, 2008 at 9:57pm: Least you know you have an opinion and you want to communicate more to the readers. "That sucks" is not only an opinion, it is a piss poor description of what is wrong with a movie. Some people really like campy, and some people like B grade movies.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by I'm Not a Turnip on July 22, 2008 at 10:26am: Unfortunately, a poorly written review is still a review. I recently saw one that was simply the word "insipid" repeated about 50 times. It did absolutely nothing to help me weigh the value of the author's opinion, but it was a review no matter how poorly constructed. Ditto for the annoying "zero stars", "don't waste your time" etc.

I think in the spirit of things only "reviews" that are actually customer support issues or clearly state the author has not seen the movie should be reported as Not A Review.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robowriter on July 22, 2008 at 11:33am: "Insipid" is about the movie. "Zero stars" is not possible or relevant so arguably not a review on its own. Annoying, yes, but still a review.

Historically the not-review threads here and flags on the site have been for "I couldn't/didn't watch the movie because disc/audio/Netflix put a bad/broken/wrong movie in my queue/mailbox."; ▶ Reply to This