What is it about a movie that grabs your curiosity and excites you enough to run to the theater?

Is it the reviews? Are you such a movie fan that you watch every movie possible? Is it the genre, the actors, the plot? Obviously there is a combination of many reasons that most people decide to watch a movie.

Here are My 6 Factors in Choosing a Movie:

1. The Trailer. A quick, effective trailer with a snip of great acting can definitely do the trick. Sometimes, that's all it takes to yank me to the theater. If that trailer is outrageously captivating, I'll do my best not to learn any more about the movie until I see it for myself. If I hear a conversation about the movie, I will walk away or literally block my ears just to see it fresh for the first time-without anyone's critique. The trailer for the movie Crash had me at the theater door opening night.

2. Controversy. If there’s even a dash of clashing views about the film, and it has one other interesting characteristic about it such as a great director etc., I’m there. Some examples of controversial films that grabbed my attention are Boxing Helena, Do the Right Thing, Kids, The Passion of the Christ and Faces of Death. This is not to say that I enjoyed some of these movies, but my curiosity was satisfied one way or the other.

3. The Plot/Topic. A movie that seems effective due to its content alone is can certainly get my attention- even if I’ve never heard of the actors or director. There is always new talent out there, so why judge a movie simply on its actors or director before you watch it. The plot for these movies should be deep with a unique story. An example of one of these movies is The Lover.

4. The Director. I will RUN for any film directed by the following people:

Quentin Tarantino

Robert Rodriguez

Martin Scorcese

Paul Haggis

5. Genre. Did someone say horror? I’m in. I am a horror freak not to mention a tear-jerker fanatic. Of course, the horror movie can’t be something cheesy like Child’s Play or Puppet Master- I want to bite my nails! That’s right…I’m talking about The Sixth Sense, The Excorcist, Texas Chainsaw, Pet Sematary… I am totally flexible with Dramas. In this case I’ll check out anything that seems decent.

6. The Actors. The following actors will get me to the movies without even seeing a preview:

Al Pacino

Will Smith

Cate Blanchett

As you can tell, movie reviews were not on my list. I love to write them and when I do I’m very careful not to give anything away. If I think there’s no way around giving some part of the plot away, I’ll simply write about the cast or director and producer. I don’t want to hear reviews before I go to the movies. I want to form my own opinion. I’ll listen to someone’s review if I m not interested in a film hoping to hear something good about it. It seems that critics have lost part of their audience. Movie critics seem to be targeting an older audience, while younger people are more apt to check out upcoming trailers and reviews online or get recommendations from their friends.