>- social setting (with certain friends, I'd rather see...trying to get pussy, I'd force myself to see...)

ah, the latter being one of the worst ways/reasons to see a movie. i could never have respect for someone enough to want to sleep with them if they made me sit through "the happening" or some other shitty movie. seriously. a good example: if halle berry made me sit through "cat woman" (which i still haven't seen/will never see)...

>- director / cast history

but even directors make mistakes. i love me some david fincher, but even he has a alien3 in him. michael mann and steven spielberg make mistakes. other than pt anderson and maybe james cameron i'm going to do some research before just heading off to the cinerama. there's not an actor/actress that i'm just going to go blindly off to their film.

>- subject matter and trailer

i can't think of the last film i did that with. not even "cloverfield." went to that because i like most of what abrams has done in the past. didn't even see the trailer...

>- recommendations from a small handful of trusted friends

even those people can make awful mistakes... but you're right... most of the time (again -- like rt -- percentages) those friends are right.

>I have one or two reviewers I check in on, but I have honestly never gone or not gone to a movie because of a review. RT is
>just a collection of opinions, which have no consequence to me.

that said, that's how you base going on movies based on what your friends say... even your own opinions can turn out terribly wrong. m.night made great films in "the sixth sense" and "unbreakable," but has tanked since... going to see "a.i."/"grindhouse"/"magnolia" (either people loved or hated those films) based on your previously came upon opinions of director's past works, going blindly based on those opinions can lead to suffering.

case in point -- musical artists who put out a different sounding album every time out. for folks to go out to concerts expecting to hear material performed live from the first album, when the artist has moved on to something completely different only leads to disappointment. i avoid (most) bad movies like the plague. i'm sure if someone wanted to, they could visit my dvd list and pick out (at least) 100 movies/shows/etc they hated with a passion. but they'll also be able to tell what kind of shit i do and don't care for.

>it's about as good a resource as picking movies based on box office numbers.

people that pick movies (or anoint them "masterpieces" based on box office numbers alone) are mental midgets...