Can you base a film review without watching the whole film?

[dojj singh]

This isn't so much of a carry over from the "Walked out of a movie" (because some of them were right) but more along the lines of how much of a film do you need to see before you are confident you can stay/leave/switch channels.

I'm currently 30 minutes into the remake of Get Carter and haven't found it to be as terrible as everyone else has made out.

Of course, I may post back in 5 minutes and say that I was totally wrong lol.

But generally, how much of a film do you have to suffer before it dawns on you that your time would have been better spent watch paint dry?

[morris]

It depends how I've acquired said film and how much I have invested in it.
If I've bought it on DVD, or paid for a ticket to see it at the cinema, I've invested a few bob and will probably wait it out and hope for the best even if it's not shaping up to be a good film.

If it's something I'm watching on TV or SKY or sent from Loveshite, that puts it into disposable 'take it or leave it' category. I will give it between 20 - 30 mins to interest me. If it hasn't done it in that time; it's out. I don't give one whether a purist would argue that I can't make an informed decision by watching only a part of it. Yes - I can. I've seen so many films that my instinct guides me and I'm fine with that. Life is short, I don't have time for crap, or for something that isn't doing it for me. I know that some of the stuff I reject is not poor quality, but it's not my scene.

[Jeffbiscuits]

Half-hour rule. If a film keeps my attention past the first half an hour then i'll watch it to the end. Dull opening scenes are a death sentence for a film.

[morris]

YES. pretty much what I said, except with a budget on words.
I agree, dull opening scenes are a killer. That has me reaching for the remote quicker than anything else. Kubrick said something like "The opening frames of a film should grab the audience, immediately" and I've never forgotten that. If you can't be arsed to wow me right off the bat, why should I wait for things to improve?

There are genres I avoid: pretentious indie movies and found footage horror.
Found footage horror is lazy, lame and unscary, sending a message that you don't need film-making craft to do horror, just shaky cam and a few things moving about. Thanks, Wair Bitch Project

[prometheus]

At the end of the film, how can you judge something without viewing the whole movie?

[morris]

You can't judge an entire movie without seeing the entire movie, sure.
But I can judge, within a relatively short time, whether I consider a movie to be worth my time in watching it, in its entirety. That is what I judge and, since there is a wealth of films out there to watch, I don't lay awake at night worrying if I missed something in a film which I judged to be a piece of crap.

[dojj singh]

I think I may rephrase the question to say:

"Have you ever switched off a movie and then lay awake at night wondering if it got better JUST after you switched it off?"

Or

"Did you regret your missed opportunity to walk out of a crap film because you thought it would get better?"

[CaptainCrazy]

I stop a film if the first 5 minutes offends all 6 of my senses (6th one is behind your left ear). Life's too short to waste an hour and a half on a piece of crap.

[MrSilly]

Originally Posted by prometheus

At the end of the film, how can you judge something without viewing the whole movie?

I don't think there's ever been an instance where I've soldiered on through a film and found that the finale made up for a limp opening. If it starts bad, it's almost certainly going to end bad. I've stopped bothering now, the amount of dross I saw in the two years I owned a Cineworld Unlimited Card has seriously dampened my enthusiasm for seeing a film through if it fails to grab me in its opening act.

[morris]

Originally Posted by MrSilly

If it starts bad, it's almost certainly going to end bad.

I completely agree. I think when you've watched an absolute shitload of films, because you're getting on in years, it becomes easier and easier to tell if a film is going to float your boat fairly early on, or if it's not.