Even beyond the weather and lack of classes for many students, summer is still fantastic. With free time and PTO comes spending money on the good times of the season, though, and the movie industry knows it. The summer movie season started last month, so countless trailers will be spreading around the internet for a while. During the annual flood of trailers, it's hard not to notice a kind of redundancy in the comments that critics make about any given movie. It sounds like they're just tossing phrases around to catch some interest.
No need to fear; these floating, vaguely positive quotes do mean something. As I've translated before, I'll translate again:
1. "Must-see movie of the summer" = This movie is being released in the summer
This essentially boils down to the fact that the subject is a movie that is being released in the summer. Any phrase similar to this one means practically the same thing as well. The summer is a long season for movies, so the logical choice is to just say that everything is great as it comes and hope for the best. Hey, it's worked this far.
2. "You need to see this movie" = This movie has enjoyable parts
If a critic guarantees your happiness with this movie and any necessity to see it, they're just trying to sell it. I'll be fair; the movie may have some good parts. Those parts may all be in the trailer, or even seen in the trailer yet cut out, but that does mean you absolutely need to see it.
3. "Hilarious" = There were funny moments and this was the first word they thought of to describe the best one
Movies have funny parts. If you're looking for a comedy, I would hope it would have funny parts, but sometimes you don't get what you ask for (*cough**cough* most of the spoof movies *cough**cough*). Either way, seeing the term "Hilarious" or something along those lines means that you will most likely chuckle at least once. For such hard hearts as critics, that's good enough sometimes.
4. "Best performance of [insert actor here]'s career" = [Insert actor here] acted in the movie
This line, along with " [Insert actor here] gives breathtaking performance" and other such lines can indicate a legitimately incredible performance. Just don't walk in thinking that the critics were right because you will be disappointed. Chances are, if it's Leonardo DiCaprio it'll be fantastic, though.
5. "Edge-of-your-seat action" = You may find yourself interested in the movie
Now, if you're looking for an action movie, you don't want to be bored. The purpose here is to feel the thrill of the story. If you see a comment that says anything about the action, you know, at the very least, that there is action in the movie. It may not be a gold mine of information about who blows up what while chasing whom, but it proves the action exists in the movie.
To sum up, the only person who can determine if you'll like a movie or not is you. The critics can help guide you but they tend to exaggerate. Your personal tastes may be miles away from theirs as well. So if you have some extra cash, go see a movie (go see Spiderman: Homecoming) you haven't read too much about (even if you know nothing or everything about Spiderman, seriously, do it) and let you decide if you like it or not.
