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Do you rely more on reviews of critics or friends?
When you want to visit a new restaraunt or see a movie, do you rely more on the reviews of critics or on the opinions of personal acquaintances? According to this article in the LA times (http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/la-et-goldstein8apr08,0,705961.story) people are relying less on critics than their friends. I actually still rely a lot on critics and appreciate their opinion. Do you have a favorite critic that you rely on for a good review?
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For food, I will rely on friends more than critcs, a critic could just have a bad experience at the restaraunt. And since I go eat with my friends frequently, they have a pretty good idea of what I like. But there can always be a certain dish that your friends or the reviewer didn't order that suits you perfect, so it's usually worth trying yourself.
For movies, I trust the critics a little more than friends. Except on comedies, because I like a lot of poorly reviewed comedies. But when a friend tells me 'Jumper' was awesome, I'm gonna rely on the critics.
But ultimately, I rely on what I think the movie will be like. Wheter the critics like it or not, if I like a certain actor or director, I'm going to go see it regardless of reviews. Rottentomatoes.com is my favorite source for movie reviews.
Like Victory said, Food = Friends, movies I tend to listen to the critics more, but it also depends on the critics as well.
I like the guy who does them for indy.com The Magazine. He's pretty good.
Chris Lloyd does an okay job too from time to time, when he's allowed to.
It is extra information. That can come in handy when you are on the fence. After just reading the review for "The Ruins" my interest is way more peaked than it was before. I don't rely on critics for food choices that much. I can't remember the last time I ran to try a restaurant out because of a review. Concerning movies, I almost always know what I want to see and use critic reviews as an affirmation of my assumptions. But... I almost always wait for the movies to come out on DVD.
Critics tend to have highbrow tastes that aren't always in line with the rest of America. I look at sites to give both the average critic review and the average viewer rating. Usually they're similar but sometimes the critics all bash a movie that most people love and later turns out to be considered a great film by later generations of critics. The original Star Wars is a great example. It was bashed by critics in 1977 but ended up on AFI's Top 100 American Films list decades later.
It seems like a lot of critics are frustrated wannabe filmmakers who think they know more about movies than actual filmmakers.
I usually rely on random people, but take it all with a grain of salt. Indy.com has been a good start for the Indy dining scene but I still mostly rely on Yelp.com when going anywhere!