MovieChat Forums > Brother to Brother (2004) Discussion > So let me get this straight...

So let me get this straight...

posted 20 years ago by inthepalemoonlight
14 replies | jump to latest

This independent film which tackles a serious and controversial topic got raves reviews from sources such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter, it won jury and audience awards at some of the very top independent film festivals and in the IMDB comments the one viewer who wrote a review gave it a very positive one. And yet...somehow...in the Users' Ratings the film has a far lower number than "Joe Dirt."

41 users have voted and rated this film. To do so means they would have actually have had seen it. Since this film has probably been only shown a half dozen times in festivals its logical to assume that only a relatively small number of people have had an opportunity to view it. It reportedly played very well to thses crowds. However somehow that majority who seemed to love it haven't voted and only that smaller number who did not care for it have taken the time to give it a low rating. Yeah, right.

Obviously there are people voting who have not even see the film at all or perhaps there is some bored individual out there who didn't care for the movie and somehow managed to vote repeatedly. Here's an idea. Why don't all of those people who took time to catch this movie at a festival and hated it write a short or extensive review in the comments section? Tell us why the movie is so bad. Something tells me that isn't going to happen because the people voting more likely than not never saw a minute of footage.

[–] saltsan 20 years ago

You're right, NKEMP3. There's something rotten in Denmark. I just saw this film on a screener tape with three friends--we're on a committee that's considering showing it at a festival. Each of us, very different people all, enjoyed it quite a bit.

Who are those fifteen people who all gave it twos, anyway? Gay racists? Black homophobes? People who have a personal beef with the director? As you say it's more likely it's just one or two obsessed weirdoes with multiple IMDb accounts who've just revoted over and over again.

Good news is once the film is gradually released, more people will see it and give it a fair vote, and the rating will rise.

[–] musicalpianist 20 years ago

I just saw the movie at the Seattle film festival and thought it was great. The director and writer was in attendance. It was great fun hearing how he went about coming up with the story and all of the research he had to do.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] gordondbell-1 19 years ago

I'm not homophobic and I'm not racist, but I still really disliked this movie. It showed at my college earlier this year, and I was pretty turned off by it. I really respect what the director was trying to do, and I agree that it's a story that needs to be told, but I just think he did a really bad job of telling it. The black and white flashbacks felt really forced, definitely just a bunch of actors from 2004 with costumes on and a grainy film filter. The cheese factor was way too high in this movie ... having Nugent die the night after painting the kid? A little too much. I just wasn't feeling it. The movie might have succeeded in getting me interested in what went on during the Harlem renaissance, but only because it barely hinted at what made it an interesting piece of history. The editing was clunky and amateur, and the acting was so-so. Again, I respect the effort, but ...

[–] saltsan 19 years ago

BROTHER TO BROTHER just played at the Rochester Gay and Lesbian Film Festival where (virtually) everyone who saw it absolutely loved it. In the audience ballots--distributed so the festival can give an audience award to one of the films--it came in sixth out of 106 shorts and features. (I know. I volunteer for the festival and helped compute the averages.) I've since had a number of people come up to me asking when it will be back in town or when the DVD will be released, not that I'd know that.

Admittedly, the film IS just a bit clunky when compared to 90 million dollar Hollywood films, but most people go into a true independent film knowing the substance promises to outweigh the slight lack of slickness they'd get from a multi-plex product. It was in this spirit, I assume, that BROTHER TO BROTHER won that award at Sundance, the premiere independent film festival in the country.

Anyway, so the question remains, why is IMDB taking a film that has a 6.2 average and "adjusting" that to a 3.8 "weighted" average?

[–] Prettygoldenboy 19 years ago

Re: Anyway, so the question remains, why is IMDB taking a film that has a 6.2
average and "adjusting" that to a 3.8 "weighted" average?

I'll take an educated guess. I think it is safe to assume that the weighted average system is automated and that someone at IMDB doesn't personally decide which votes to count and which to discard. Brother to Brother played, as people indicated, to a group of select audiences at film festivals. But I don't think IMDB's weighted average system knows that. So let's say 40 people who saw it in Rochester decide to vote on it and give it a 9 or 10. IMDB's "weighted average" system steps in and says, "Hey. Wait a minute. all these votes from a "small" town like Rochester and no votes from anywhere else! Someone in Rochester must be voting multiple times" and it voids the votes.

That's my guess. Once it opens in more areas, like it has, the ratings may change. I'm loooking forward to seeing it this Saturday. I met Anthony Mackee when he played Tupac in Up Against the Wind at the NY Theater Workshop. His performance was amazing and afterwards in autographed my program. It's admirable to see that he chose to take on the role of Perry.

[–] saltsan 19 years ago

That could be. I've noticed other films that have played primarily at festivals--some obsure foreign films--and have had their ratings averaged out in strange ways. Someone should tell IMDb to take festival screenings into account. They're as valuable as any reaction and sometimes they're the only reaction a little film is likely to get.

Someone else once told me that they heard that IMDb ignores all the 1s and all the 10s given to a film, wanting a score that doesn't take into account extreme, and therefore suspect, responses. The fact that B2B has all these 10s for highs but mostly 2s for the lows may have hurt it....

[–] Prettygoldenboy 19 years ago

I dont think that IMDB ignores the 10's. If they did, then the initial rating of The Passion of The Christ would have had a large number of votes ignored since that movie initially got a tremendous number of votes of "10" though it was from all over the country.

[–] xavrush89 19 years ago

Only regular voters votes count in the IMDb average. So the reason for the discrepancy is most likely that the people who voted on this film do not vote here regularly.

From what I've observed, the more votes a movie has, the more likely a larger percentage is from regular voters.

KAKISTOCRACY (n.) - a society governed by its worst citizens.

[–] alwaystraveling_2000 19 years ago

When making a movie choice or DVD choice, I look at IMDB just to get viewers responses and look up different things. I prefer to go by the ratings at "rottentomatoes.com" because they have national & international reviews, ratings based on the "total number of reviews". If 5 people like it, and 1 doesn't, the "meter" will show a 90% with 4 out of 5 approval. They also have "user's ratings and comments. A really good site that is not "one sided". Check it out.

By the way, "Brother to Brother" is rated quite good. Cream of the Crop Critics (which I don't know why it's seperated from everybody) rate it a 6.8 out of 10, giving it a 90% fresh rating. Out of 22 Total Reviews, 18 Fresh, and 4 Rotten. Total Rating: 82% rate it a 6.0 or better. Average rating is 6.9 out of 10, again based on a total of 22 ratings. You can also see a synopsis of some of the reviews and actually click on the link to read them.

[–] Prettygoldenboy 19 years ago

I saw this movie on Saturday night and I have to say I thought it was excellent. First of all, Anthony MacKie was wonderful, but having met him in the past, I am wondering how much of the Perry character parallels his actual life? That is irrelevant however. I found this movie fascinating. The characters were well developed and I cared about them; the scenes with the Harlem Renaissance were fascinating. I saw this move late on a Saturday evening in Manhattan and the theater was only 1/3 full at most. The audience, which consisted, I believe, mostly of Black gay couples had no reaction to the movie when it ended so I'm not sure what they thought of it. I really thought it was an excellent movie however.

[–] Redeemer123 18 years ago

Theres so many who will not deal with anything pretaining to a homosexual.I hate the practice,but its not my business.I still loved learning about our history,even from gays.Deal with the practice,not the person.

[–] kittd82 18 years ago

i barely if never click anything to vote a film on this site.
what exactly is the point of it? a few stars here is like a few thumbs up somewhere else or dots or whatever.

i'd rather read message boards about a movie then really give a care what
rating its in.

this film recently just started showing on STARZ. so obviously its not a
well known movie yet.

and i do agree with a previous post, some of the film seemed a bit clunky...
i don't think the black and white parts were necessary, its like telling
the audience "you won't be able to tell when theres a flash back...so here ya go!"

anyway! i like drawing, and i like poetry, and i like homoerotica so i did enjoy the aspects of it, but you have to admit some of its excecution was noticable.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

[–] RevolutionaryGirlAnthy 18 years ago

I don't really know that much about critizing a movie, but I do like this movie, I saw it on Stars in Black.

Asuka Langley Sôryû: It's mental static! I told you, if you HAVE to think, think in German!