Undoubtedly, the first question is, where can one even find early reviews? One particular critic I've grown to enjoy (partially because, unlike many critics, he actually likes some of the movies Hollywood releases, and admits as much) is Emanuel Levy, and he seems to publish reviews for EVERYTHING. His website (http://www.emanuellevy.com) recently put up reviews for American Gangster and Dan in Real Life, looking ahead, and I'm fairly certain that he'll have reviews ready for the mid-November/Thanksgiving movies a week or two in advance. His reviews aren't terribly cynical, as many tend to be, and even if you're just taking a quick look at a movie, he makes it nice and easy with a letter grade for each title he rates.

Of course, that's just one person's opinion, so another good site is RottenTomatoes, which provides a handy list of snippets from certified critics (Levy among them, but the list also includes Variety, Rolling Stone, Roger Ebert, The New York Times, etc. — each of whom, of course, has its/their own website you can peruse to find early reviews). The snippets give one or two statements that, in a nutshell, tell whether the critic gives the movie a positive (Fresh) or negative (Rotten) review. From there, it's very easy to discern how well critics like (or how much they hate) what you may or may not have on your slate.

But really, you should take early reviews with a grain of salt when you're putting together your lineup of movies. There are exceptions to the rule, like last weekend's Reservation Road, which looked to be a prestige PTA release/awards hopeful, but scored just 38 percent positive reviews on RT. (If critics don't like a movie they are supposed to like, watch out.) Those scenarios notwithstanding, in most instances, don't let early reviews be too influential on your choices. Just because the critics don't like a film doesn't mean it won't be a box office smash.

And it's important to remember that IMDb score, the Ultimate Moguls scoring category that reviews are most helpful in predicting, is a weighted average of all votes from IMDb users — that includes regular Average Joes (maybe even Vince Vaughn himself) just as much as superheroes like me or even the guys and gals who review movies for a living. It's been a trend that some of the best-performing Moguls titles, and even top box office earners, haven't exactly been adored by critics. The Game Plan comes to mind — even with its plethora of Top 5 points and surprising (to some, not me!) box office totals, critics rate it just 29 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes's scale. There are, of course, some movies that have a poor IMDb score AND are lambasted critically (like The Comebacks) but it's generally very easy to see those coming.

On the flip side, though, just because a movie gets great early reviews doesn't mean that people will flock to the theater to see it. It may draw a few more spectators, but generally, it seems that most people have their mind made up whether or not they want to see a certain movie, and not much can change their thinking. Industry tracking numbers are much more helpful than reviews in determining whether owning a certain film would be worthwhile. If it gets great reviews, it may be technically spectacular, present compelling themes, or showcase excellent acting. The general public doesn't always care about those things, however, and might find it boring. They'd rather sit back and let their mind go for two hours than have to actively think about what they're watching. (As those who picked up Things We Lost in the Fire might attest.) So as a loose rule of thumb, whether good or bad, early reviews shouldn't force you to completely revamp your slate. Though it's cliché advice, go with your first instincts; second-guessing yourself usually leads only to trouble.

The same goes for reading opening day reviews. You might be tempted to read a bunch of reviews on opening day and quickly make a change, a last minute drop or add. Though making changes like this is still a gamble, I do think that reading reviews this way makes more sense than agonizing over what early reviewers have to say. Maybe some movie was surging in tracking later in the week and you find a bunch of great reviews early Friday. This likely means the movie will have great word of mouth, and might even perform better than expected. In that case, it could behoove you to pick it up. By the same token, feel free to make a quick move if the opposite seems to be happening to one of your other films. (It happened to me — thankfully I got rid of The Heartbreak Kid in time to save my October-December slate from being destroyed right off the bat.

Be cognizant of what kind of reviews you're reading, too. There's a difference between Peter Travers from Rolling Stone, and username ilikemovies07, or any other random poster to IMDb, or Rotten Tomatoes, or Ain't It Cool News, or the like. The latter will likely connect better with (and be more reflective of) the average moviegoer, but that doesn't mean it's a better review. Even citizens of our very own Fantasy Moguls community (hereinafter called the Fantaverse — thanks to Nicodemus for the terminology) can rarely agree on whether a film is a masterpiece, or just simply sucks (or is anywhere in between). Opinions on "no name" reviews will be even more divided than those from sources like cinemablend.com, or any number of metro newspapers (Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Post, etc.). Thus, they might even be LESS helpful in deciding whether or not a movie's worth having.

And if you search and search and search, and just can't find anything, what then? It's true, sometimes studios don't screen their movies for critics early, and generally, that's a sign that the movie is a steaming pantload. (That's one of my new favorite phrases, but I must give credit where credit is due: I heard it from one of the Green Bay Packers's radio broadcasters.) You can expect, almost without fail, that if there aren't any early reviews for a movie, once reviews DO come out, they'll be bad. Still, that doesn't ALWAYS mean the movie won't be worth having ... so if you're confident about your choice, there's no need to panic. Resident Evil: Extinction was not screened for critics, but managed 10 Top 5 points, 3 PTA points, nearly $50 million in receipts thus far, and even a respectable 6.5 IMDb score. Even in light of this, though, be careful — movies like that are the exception, not the rule. Those that don't get screened early for critics will more often than not have poor IMDb scores and only moderate box office figures, making them serviceable picks in Box Office leagues only.

As you've been hearing, next week will feature some extra input from the regular Moguls columnists, and even some special columns, to coincide with the kickoff of the new holiday/November-January season. This new season is a bit nostalgic for me; it was one year ago this weekend when I started play in my first Fantasy Moguls league! It was a Box Office draft league, and my first movie was Babel — it turned out to be one of those beneficial slow burners, earning more and more as it expanded, up 'til the end of the season. (Will this year bring a film with similar value? I'm asking my 8 ball, and ... all signs point to yes. I've already started making my lists and doing my research for next week's column — it's an extensive one!) I won't say exactly what's in store for next week, but stay tuned — it'll be great!

Mister Informative is still a bit scarred from seeing that one scene where the Japanese girl tries to be groped by her dentist ... but if you voted to give Babel a high IMDb rating anyway, then he thanks you. Ask him for his own early reviews at misterinformative@fantasymoguls.com.