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Top_Dawg_Critic's profile image

Top_Dawg_Critic

Joined Jan 2016
I'm a professional film critic and movie buff (every room has at least 1 TV - including my bathrooms lol) and I always look to IMDb for a summary, cast/crew details, viewing the trailer, and reading what others think of the film.

Nothing is worse than clicking on a review, only to see a plot summary. A film review should emphasize the positive and negative attributes of a film - there are separate sections for summary and plot outlines. I know some top pro film critics usually give a summary, and some of those don't even rate their viewing experience, and I question why they are a "critic". You won't get that with me - I'm all about the entertainment value and viewing experience.

What I aim to critique are the key factors that make a film: directing, writing, cinematography, editing, casting, S/VFX, length/pace, sound/score, entertainment value, etc.

I also take into account the production budget and experience of the filmmakers. You cannot equally compare a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster production with A-list actors to a low-budget indie production with B-list actors. I have much respect for new/up and coming filmmakers, and I rate them fair based on what they have to work with. You may see a B low budget film that you may not like get an 8/10, and a big A-film Hollywood blockbuster get a 6/10, only because the A film had everything it needed to be great, and the B film worked with very little (experience, budget, etc.) yet was impressive - all factors considered.

Thus it will be very rare any movie will get a 1 (unless it's riddled with fake reviews from cast, crew and friends) or a 10 (unless it is perfection in every category above) from me, but instead will range between that scale - also taking into account the filmmakers experience, budget, etc. As a rule, anything I rate either a 7 or 8, I liked enough that I will watch it again and still highly recommend. The lower numbers will be more of a critique for the filmmaker in areas they need to improve, as well as details for the potential audience to evaluate if that film is still worth seeing (e.g. loud constant annoying score - maybe you don't mind that) and will satisfy their expectations.

Additionally, those who give a film a 1/10 annoy me. Every film should have some good qualities, and it's a "scale" between 1-10, not 1 "or" 10. I've seen some reviewers give a 1 because the film isn't out yet so they think it's a fake review; Films do have early screenings at film festivals, early releases at various countries or distributors, and "award consideration" pre-releases to certain viewers and critics.

But what burns me the most, is when filmmakers spam and shill their IMDb account with ridiculous comments and clearly fake 9 & 10/10's. IMDb is a transparent opinion-based forum that relies on honest reviews from its members. Spamming a movie with many fake high reviews only tells me that the filmmakers don't even have faith in their own production, and thus have to lie to their potential audience into watching their movie. That's just pathetic, and an embarrassment to the industry and the real filmmakers out there trying their best and being honest.

The best way to see if a review is fake, click on the username; if one or a few reviews (usually the same date/s), a new account, or an account with many IMDb film criteria entries (plot, photos, summaries, film specs, etc.), that's usually a filmmaker or crew upvoting their own film - although I have myself entered/contributed missing relevant details/plot summaries etc. that I found elsewhere (Wiki, RT, etc) and I'm not a filmmaker. So, do every IMDb member a favor and report that fake review, and if that film has many 10/10, down-vote them all (and report) and up-vote the real honest reviews. It may not stop the filmmaker and his crew from posting more fake reviews, but at least all the up and down votes from members like you may help them from not wasting their time to see a flagrantly upvoted film.

Also if you see many shill fake high reviews, chances are your honest low review will get reported and deleted by all the new fake accounts. Simply keep reposting and reporting/downvoting the phony reviews. And do what I and most of the users who notice their honest review got deleted... repost and lower your rating to a 1/10. If you see lots of those along with many high reviews, it's just the honest members being angry and lowering their score in hopes of offsetting the falsely high ratings that IMDb overlooked as spam.

And if you're that filmmaker, cast/crew creating the fake upvotes, you are doing more harm than good for your own film; Members will give you the 1 for every 10/10 you post, when they may have given you a 6 or 7, as I would and have.

Finally, none of my 3000+ ratings and 1700+ reviews will ever by biased or paid for. Every rating and review will be based on my personal opinion using factors that professional critics use (and in considering everything I've said above) - instead of a film summary, and my exact rating and review can also be found on Rotten Tomatoes, and many other entertainment review outlets.
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Watchlist61

eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h
8.7
eps3.0_power-saver-mode.h
Sacrifices
7.2
Sacrifices
Deja Vu
7.1
Deja Vu
A History of Violence
7.4
A History of Violence
Apocalypto
7.8
Apocalypto
John Carter
6.6
John Carter
Shershaah
8.3
Shershaah
The Queen's Gambit
8.5
The Queen's Gambit
Queen of the South
8.0
Queen of the South
Goliath
8.1
Goliath
The Sinner
7.8
The Sinner
Abigail
4.8
Abigail
Better Than Us
7.3
Better Than Us
Shot Caller
7.3
Shot Caller
Rm9sbG93ZXJz
8.0
Rm9sbG93ZXJz
Black Mirror
8.7
Black Mirror
Paranormal Activity
6.3
Paranormal Activity
The Cabin in the Woods
7.0
The Cabin in the Woods
B.C. Rock
5.9
B.C. Rock
The Chronicles of Riddick
6.6
The Chronicles of Riddick
Hotel Rwanda
8.1
Hotel Rwanda
Aliens
8.4
Aliens
Snowpiercer
7.1
Snowpiercer
Gotham
7.8
Gotham
The Goldbergs
8.0
The Goldbergs
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
8.4
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing
7.0
Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing
Undisputed 3: Redemption
7.3
Undisputed 3: Redemption
Undisputed 4: Boyka
6.9
Undisputed 4: Boyka
Happy Gilmore
7.0
Happy Gilmore

Reviews1.8K

Top_Dawg_Critic's rating
The Retirement Plan

The Retirement Plan

5.1
6
  • Sep 21, 2023
  • A missed opportunity.

    It's a shame such a great cast was wasted on this missed opportunity. As great as the casting was and as colorful as the characters were, it was the amateurish filmmaking that ultimately brought this film down.

    The story was very convoluted and lacked much clarity. Although cliched, it did have merits, especially with the help of the cast performances, excellent cinematography, and scenic location settings, but the attempts at humor were too weak and too dry to elevate any laughs.

    But the major issue with this film was the overwhelming and abundance of rookie filmmaking errors, especially the failure to direct the cast effectively, and choreograph the action scenes properly. The directing overall felt too dull and was underwhelming to create any real urgency to the narrative or its characters. If you can look past all of this, you may have a somewhat enjoyable one-time watch, even if just to see the awesome cast having fun.
    A Voice from the Other Side

    S2.E5A Voice from the Other Side

    Invasion
    7.0
    4
  • Sep 19, 2023
  • This show has become a soap opera.

    The writers are grasping at straws with yet another useless and pointless episode, that not only does it add nothing to progress the narrative, but just keeps adding more questions to the already growing list of unanswered questions. All we have here is just more melodramatics, the addition to more repetitive characters that say and do the same nonsense, and the current already useless characters circling back to the same pointless nonsense. Aside from more boring characters and lack of narrative progression, this episode also had the bonus of adding more convoluted subplots and major plot holes. We're now half way through the second season, and there's barely a total of one hour of engaging and relative sci-fi progression. At this point, I'm getting irritated and annoyed with every wajo I hear.
    Murder Syndicate

    Murder Syndicate

    3.7
    1
  • Sep 18, 2023
  • A fifth grade drama class can do way better.

    If you can think of the worst film you've ever seen, this one is so much worse, that if you can actually finish watching it until the end, you get to pick a prize from the top shelf.

    How can producer, writer and director Michael Matteo Rossi with so many filmmaking credits to his name come up with such nonsense is mind boggling. There is absolutely zero redeeming qualities in this mess. The slow pacing and painfully long dragged out 99 minutes has the worst story you can dream up. The acting was phony, forced and so unnatural, you will be on the floor laughing. The dialogue is even worse. Any action scenes are too poorly filmed and choreographed, you will shake your head at how bad they are.

    When I say a fifth grade drama class can do way better - writing, acting, directing, and every other aspect that goes into making a film, I'm not kidding. This was so bad, I can't even suggest Rossi going to film school, because after so many attempts and you still do it this bad, it's time to take up a new hobby. This was the absolutely worst film I have ever seen.
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