[KarimDaghari]

> Go by the average rating, not popularity. It’s better to watch something a million people love than something 10 million people watched and consider okay.

I agree on the principle, however there’s a trust issue.

Out of n reviews on IMDB and RT how many of them are authentic? And how much weight does a critic’s review bear on the overall score?

In my case, be it for a movie or a book (not so much for songs though) the Lindy effect applies.

[gallerdude]

Another problem is that movies with high average rating can also be really generic. A lot of my favorites are controversial, you either love them or hate them: Lost in Translation, The Lighthouse, even Frances Ha to some extent.

By sorting on average you miss the most unique.

[bsanr2]

IMDB is notorious for having BIPOC- or women-lead films average ~1.5-2 points lower than you would expect from reviews (e.g., Metacritic or RT averages). I believe there was a chan-lead op some years ago, but it's also probably just part of the site's culture.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt4975722/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5580390/

This is a long-winded way of saying, "Don't just look at numbers, be aware of context."

[bsanr2]

Downvotes don't make me any less right.