Even though I try to weed out the mediocre movies, I still end up watching a log of crap. SO the movies I review are the best of the so-called best.

Most indie flicks star relatively unknown or up-and-coming actors.

are excellent but that is the exception. Directing, editing, sound, visual effects, camera quality are all sub-par when compared to union produced films.

Not knocking the indies that is how people get started - but given the choice.....

Critics don’t know shit.

In fact, it would be instructive to see if a critic has any creativity of their own.

Because it’s my business, I stay aware of TV, film and theater productions. When something intrigues me, I’ll give it a try.

Sadly, much “entertainment” isn’t very good.but neither are the critics.

I’m curious how you make your choices. TIA.

When I see something good on Kanopy, there's a feature that highlights similar films. I check those out and as mentioned in my OP, if the film gets decent ratings on IMDb and RT, I put it in my queue. I also watch a fair amount of content from Netflix. Same vetting process. I currently have about 275 movies in my Kanopy queue. I also give a movie 30 minutes. If I'm not impressed, I bail.

15-30 minutes. If you haven’t hooked me by then, I’m gone.

You have a huge queue!

Occasionally I’ll follow the algorithm suggestions that Prime, Hulu, etc. offer.

The truth is that I’m not as much a viewer as my wife. Since it’s my work, I often need a break. I like to read books made of paper!

One aspect of that disappoints me relates to comedy. On so many sit-coms, the jokes are insult comedy. A wife sexually demeans her husband and the audience laughs. A boy insults his sister and it’s supposed to be funny. A boss yells at a subordinate amid roars of laughter. It’s verbal abuse masquerading as entertainment. Just my old-fashioned opinion and as Steve Martin once said, “Comedy is not pretty!”

I have a movie blog, which I usually update once a week. I also have a movie column in our local paper. They're rarely the same movies--our community is pretty conservative, so those films are slightly more family friendly. On my blog, it's anything goes! So I end up watching at least one movie a day. Although there are days where I watch three. That can be taxing on the peepers, that's for sure.

a film or series on DU or elsewhere. Some of worse garbage I have seen the critics raved about, they
are full of shit.

Lo many years ago, Newsweek had a movie reviewer who I could trust. If he liked movie, I knew that I wouldn't. If he hated one, I knew I would love it. Now, I may look at IMDB, but I don't read the reviews unless the rating is very low.

This works for me because I rarely go to a movie theater now. I wait to see if a movie I'm interested in shows up on a streaming service I subscribe to.

Rotten Tomatoes is mostly professional critics.

So, I preview and look at IMDB. I read a few reviews. If it says something like "cheesy CGI", I will pass etc.

Still, you often can't get it right.
One thing about streaming: If I don't like it, I stop watching it.

But the assholes review-bomb things way too often to put any stock at all in the starred review system. I look for discussions like yours on forums I trust for older or lesser known films and read the pop culture sites for new films. I especially like The Mary Sue for film (and book review) info. TMS is also this little leftie culture site that’s most often a joy to read.

I read film reviews in WaPo and The Guardian. Most importantly, I poll my colleagues at work. Great source of film info!