I give credit to NotJon for this thread idea....

So, what do you guys think? Is the Academy Award winning movie really the "best" movie? Do the movies that win for best actor or actress or any of the other myriad of awards really get your attention?

Or do you prefer the movies that are more easy going and/or mainstream. Where would you rather spend your money? Do you trust the review of some snooty, uptight movie reviewer or do you trust your friends and other movie goers to tell you what movies are good?

I think that movies that win awards are the best ones (with a couple of exceptions, like the Razzie Awards). I mean, they wouldn't be nominated for them if they weren't that good. There are a couple of flukes though; one being Avatar. I mean, sure, the art and crap is great and all, but other things matter. The acting was a little...dull, and the story was kinda cheesy, but that doesn't matter, does it? No, lets give it two thumbs up to go with the rest of the crowd! *facepalm* At least the Hurt Locker beat it for movie of the year.

End Rant.

I'll help! I usually watch something that's on tv. If it's good enough to keep my attention, I'll keep watching. However, when I'm going to the theater with my friends, I won't even mind seeing a bad movie, just nice to be with the people you love. I normally don't care for who wins the Academy Award (I don't even know who won last year).

I will always check to see what awards they get. If I see that the movie has tons of awards I will go and see it. I also go and see it if people say that it was really good, some movies get no awards but are still great.

I think the "best" movie awards typically go to the people who are popular with the Hollywood elites. If you aren't in with them, you will never win anything. I also blame them for animation being looked down upon as exclusively kiddie stuff.

I honestly don't care for things like the Academy Awards and such. There are a couple of movies that the critics have said are terrible movies that I like, like The Little Rascals

I haven't seen that many of the newest movies yet, mainly because you would have to go to theaters just to see them, and I don't wanna go I'll just wait until the movies come to the ol movie channels

Well... "The Godfather" is the greatest movie ever made!

Absolutely not. Some I think deserve the awards they get (A Clockwork Orange, Godfather, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Titanic, etc) but some I really think don't deserve anything (Avatar, The Dark Knight, etc). I honestly don't give a crap what kind of reviews critics give movies. I like underrated movies such as Scooby Doo 2 and Jack (movie with Robin Williams in it) and ones that win tons of awards. Awards don't make a difference in my opinion.

I'm not suggesting that the movies that win awards aren't good movies... many of them are good in their own way.

I personally find that I enjoy a movie more if I don't think it's won an award. I expect more out of a movie after I know it's won an award and quite often it's not as good as I was expecting.

I don't usually see a movie because it won an award. I like to see movies according to my tastes and standards. For example, I don't go see R-rated movies, and enjoy to watch movies that are light-hearted and have a good plot.

Generally if a movie gets TOO much attention I tend to stay away from it *cough*AVATAR*cough*. Mainly because I seem to have different tastes than most everyone else. I never really look to see if something has gotten an award or not and I never look at critique reviews.

The Academy Awards started to just exist just to honor excellent movies that the Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts thought to be excellent, but it then turned out to be much more of a popularity fest.

Lagslayer : That's more of the MTV Awards than the Academy Awards, many underrated films have won the Oscar instead of the popular ones.

Whenever there's a movie with something on the cover like "The number one movie in the country"

I like to hold it next to the other "number one" movies

I don't really trust the ratings of movies, I do occasionally expect something to be good, but I'm often disappointed

I don't really think they're better. Some of the movies I enjoy the most were a flop at the box office and didn't even get mentioned at the academy awards, and avatar which did win an award didn't really get me as much so, I think some movies that do get awards are better than some, but only a few.

Hoochman : Avatar won in the category where it was supposed to, mostly the technical awards which it also lost to The Hurt Locker.

The reviews may influence whether or not I see a movie, but not always. Sometimes I see enough really good commercials that I want to see it anyway.

If I already like a movie, it's always nice to see them get recognition for doing so well. It's not necessarily the best, but I like seeing a good movie earn an award that makes it look good in the entertainment world.

Official reviews are 95% garbage that get paid a penny a word to be negative not positive the majority of the time and thats not being funny, most reviews that are paid have bias influence when they are getting their check, you may say BS but I say LA times has an article that argues your BS.

Awards do define movies when in numbers. IE LOTR ROTK got 13, by far best picture based on the awards alone. Do awards in small numbers make a difference from movie to movie and the answer is no, because sometimes they are given out to the wrong film. When it comes down to small numbers spread out to them the only ones to really look at are best picture, soundtrack, scenes etc.

And none of this should influence on whether or not you want to see in theaters or rent it or stream it. If you like it on the previews watch, screw everyone and everything else. The worst experience I had was streaming one against the critics and I rated it a C- and it was fine, wasn't angry I just spent an hour and a half on it. Now sitting through a classic like space odyssey 2001 is a different story. 3 hours of my life I will never get back. I think everyone needs to see it because its a defining point in film, but wow I fell asleep twice.

I never see a movie based on awards or reviews. I got a certain taste in movies where story matters most, usually I have a predetermined hunch of whether it will be good or not. A lot of it has to do with story, and a major turn off for movies are models. I cannot stand models being used as actors it really kills character, unless the movie is mean girls or something then that is a different story.

Main reason why I don't watch movies these days... all actors look the same and look like they came straight out of a magazine.

My favorite movies have no awards I believe... they are too good for them Also, dont the awards usually ignore horror or comedy??? That is were a majority of my favorite movies reside.