I tend to prefer RT over IMDB as a starting point because the former assesses whether a review is generally positive or negative. It gives me an idea of whethe

I tend to prefer RT over IMDB as a starting point because the former assesses whether a review is generally positive or negative. It gives me an idea of whether a movie/show is worth looking into. If even 70% of reviews are positive then I'll drill down and skim the actual reviews to get an idea of whether it's something I will personally like. If it's something like 5% of reviews that are positive, I probably keep looking. IMDB always seems to skew mid-high since they're averaging out lots of "star" ratings. Seeing 3.5 stars doesn't tell me much. But even if 90% of the reviews were "nothing amazing, but fun to watch" then there's a chance it might be fun to watch. Obviously it's just a tool for sorting and surfacing options, but it can be useful. I probably won't depend on a review aggregator to decide whether or not to go see a movie in the theater, but they are helpful when I see a movie/show pop up on Netflix or Amazon and I want to see if the general consensus is "worth a watch" or "effing terrible".