By Carcas

A friend gushingly tells you how great a movie was. You go to the movie, watch, and leave thinking that it would have been more fun to have had a root canal for the past hour and a half with no anesthetic. How many times has something similar happened to you?

No, generally it is not a sign for you to trade your friends in for the good kind, you know, the ones that lie around, don't complain much, and do not resist you taking the weapon from their cold, grave-like grip. Generally this is just from a difference of opinion. Opinions, like other things, is something most of us have and we are each entitled to.

In time, you get to learn what your friends and associates like. If Bob suggests a movie, when every movie before that was long, drawn out, and subtitled, soon you get a hint that you will not like watching that Bob-suggested movie. Knowingly or not, you begin to learn their criteria is different for what is "good" and what is not.

You will likewise find people who take it upon themselves to offer their opinions on the matter to the masses. These people are reviewers. Most do not do such to try to make up people's minds on the subject, rather to share information and insight. Whether Gene Siskel liked a movie that I am watching is irrelevant to me as I am watching it even though his name would be more highly touted. Just as my opinion would be irrelevant to any one else watching that movie. It is those who read the review that put them to action, using the reviewer as a sort of pointer to mark those which are worth looking into and those which are worth avoiding.

Much can be said of any entertainment industry, especially the computer gaming industry.