Are Critics Messing with Us?

[Catman]

Movie critics never made any sense to me. Most of them seem to take their job WAY too seriously. If my job was to watch movies all day I'd be very happy-go-lucky. Hating movies is kinda ridiculous if you think about it. The only reason WE, as audience members, hate a movie is because it wastes our time AND money. Two very important things in life. But a critic is getting paid to do it. Personally, I'd never hate a movie if I was paid to see it. Could I dislike a movie? Sure. But I would never hate it. I'd just be grateful that I got paid to do something so ridiculous. There's people out there in the sun all day doing manual labor. I'm sitting in a theater with A/C watching a freakin movie. And you know what? I think a lot of critics do feel that way and they're just messing with us!

Look at this Siskel & Ebert review of Ninja Turtles 3:
http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/atm/reviews.html?sec=1&subsec=876

Towards the end, Ebert says something that made me laugh but also made me realize that the dude is just messing with us. He says something along the lines that the Ninja Turtles are too simplistic. All they do is make dumb jokes and solve problems with violence. Then, he finishes up with, "the filmmakers should ask themselves, 'what would real Ninja Turtles do?'" Real Ninja Turtles? REAL Ninja Turtles? Let's ignore for a second that real Ninja Turtles don't exist, but wouldn't real Ninja Turtles not accomplish anything cause they would be slow. Seeing as they are, you know, Turtles? And since we're on the subject, does he or Siskel not see the humor in the fact that these are crimefighting Turtles? Why are they taking a movie with such a comedic premise so serious? And if you really wanna see them take Ninja Turtles WAY too seriously go watch their review for the first two movies. So, the question has to be asked: are they for real? Are they really taking Ninja Turtles that seriously? Or they just want to pretend to be serious, so they're not on TV every week saying, "hey, guess what? We got paid to see a crappy movie! What did you do this week?" Cause, I mean, if you've reached the point where you're asking what real Ninja Turtles would do you're either an idiot or messing with us. I'll go with the latter.

 

[dark_b]

you have a point.

a lot of people are reading reviews. so were they joking with TMNT? because if they were not then they have some deep problems .

not everything needs to be ''Shakespeare''

 

[Catman]

Check out their review for the first TMNT. It's such a good laugh. They spend 5 minutes trying to wonder why people like the movie.

 

[Hound55]

Item of evidence that critics listen to one another more than actually judge movies on what they are # 47837:

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was considered worse than Spider-Man 3.

Both Fantastic Four movies, both Hulk movies and several plagues towards mankind were better than Spider-Man 3...

 

[Sam Fisher]

I hate critics anyway. I say like what you like and not what other people tell you to.

 

[WarBlade]

If my job was to watch movies all day I'd be very happy-go-lucky. Hating movies is kinda ridiculous if you think about it. The only reason WE, as audience members, hate a movie is because it wastes our time AND money. Two very important things in life. But a critic is getting paid to do it. Personally, I'd never hate a movie if I was paid to see it.

Hi,

I get paid to watch movies.

You're missing one critical element in your post and that is that even though some people get paid to watch movies, they actually have to watch the whole stinking lot. Sure, there are great movies out there that make the job really easy, but on the other hand there is also the utter crap that is just painful to sit through. Get enough of those happening in a short time frame and the job can quickly become as much a drudgery thing as many other jobs out there.

 

[dark_b]

Hi,

I get paid to watch movies.

You're missing one critical element in your post and that is that even though some people get paid to watch movies, they actually have to watch the whole stinking lot. Sure, there are great movies out there that make the job really easy, but on the other hand there is also the utter crap that is just painful to sit through. Get enough of those happening in a short time frame and the job can quickly become as much a drudgery thing as many other jobs out there.

of course you need to watch the whole movie.

people need to work 8 hours or more to get their paycheck. with critics they need to watch the whole movie.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Critics are only messing with us if you disagree .

 

[Evil Twin]

Go out and watch something like Aliens in the Attack and then try to write 2,000 well organized and thoughtful words about it that reads well. That's a job. Critics get paid to write, not just to watch movies.

As far as it goes, critics are humans. They have their quirks and agendas. Just like message board posters. There probably is no ideal critic that can review Wolverine, Terminator, Moon, The Hurt Locker, Julie and Julia, The Proposal, G.I. Joe, The Hangover, etc. with the fervor of the target audience for all those movies.

 

[[A]]

I don't mind critics and I don't mind reviews. I usually agree with (some of) them but.. that's all. If I wanna see a movie, I just go and see it..

 

[El Payaso]

"Are Critics Messing with Us?"

Have they ever done anything other than that?

 

[Laderlappen]

As usual, you're missunderstanding him. All he's saying is that he didnt like the movie for what seems to be good reasons, and he thought the movie could have been better. A movie doesnt have to be shakespear but can still be better.

And come on Catman. You're complaining that ciritics gives out bad reviews. If critics couldnt give out bad reviews to movies they didnt like just because they saw it for free, they would be dishonest, and the job would be completely pointless.

He's not too serious. He just reviews a movie he didnt like and says whats wrong with it. A "unserious" movie can be too "unserious". When you review a unserious film that you didnt like, you will end up sounding like him here. He did use the word 'boring' in his review which means that he doesnt think its fun or fun enough.

I think you're taaking this way too seriously.

 

[marvelman2006]

you know i never had liked any reviewers since siskel and ebert because i enjoyed there reviews overall but after siskel died i cant get behind any reviewers because they all hate summer movies.

having said that starting mid last year me and my girlfriend starting going by rottentomatoes.com because surprisingly we agree with all there reviews except a couple. I cant tell you this that they were right about every movie we have seen this year. every movie we didnt like was rotten and everyone we liked was fresh. we were gonna go see gi joe this past weekend but after seeing its score we decided to to go blockbuster instead.

as side from rottentomatoes.com i really cant stand other critics.

 

[Watchman]

Ah the invisible fanboy/critic war continues. One side continues to complain over the internet that they hate critics because they gave a bad review for a movie where they got the costume for their favorite character just right. The other side well continues not to give a **** and goes about there merry way writing about movies for money.

Critic-I didn't like Spider-Man 3 here are my reasons why

Guy on internet- WHAT? Go watch some art movie ass. Gawd I hate critics.

The internet is two-faced when it comes to critics. When it goes against their opinion they will verbally thrash critics to end with the critic continuing not to give a **** and collecting a pay check. While if they agree with them they will hold the critic up to high heavens praising, "Look, my opinion has been justified!"

But when it comes down to it, it's all opinion. So don't feel threaten when a movie you liked is despised by critics.

 

[Evil Twin]

I'm just the opposite re: individual critics vs. rotten tomatoes. Thumbs up or thumbs down isn't what I look for in a review. Or to see what an overall concensus is. I want to read actual, well formed thoughts on the movie. To understand where they're coming from.

Well written pans have convinced me to give some movies a try. Well written raves have convinced me that the movie in question wasn't for me. Looking at the bottom line is often missing the forest for the trees.

Oh, and a lot of summer films deserve the critical scorn they get. "It works if you turn off your brain", tells me that it doesn't really work. A really good movie is one that you don't have to turn your brain off for. Like Jaws. Or The Dark Knight. Summer movies should be compared to the best of the lot, and when found lacking it should be pointed out.

 

[Dr Lee]

Usually i've found the critically aclaimed movies to be utter ****.... and he ones the critics hate to be a hell of a lot of fun.

For that reason alone....I don't bother with critics.

 

[marvelman2006]

Usually i've found the critically aclaimed movies to be utter ****.... and he ones the critics hate to be a hell of a lot of fun.

For that reason alone....I don't bother with critics.

I am done with "critically acclaimed movies". I have watched movies that they say are the best of the year and everytime i was bored too tears. here are the ones i was bored with:

no country for old men
there will be blood
the reader
doubt
capote
slumdog millionaire
milk

anything that is a period piece like the bristish ones always bore me to tears. there is a reason this type of movies dont rake in money.

the only ones i dug were the wrestler, gangs of new york and gran torino.

 

[BloodyWolverine]

Critics never really swayed my feelings about certain films pro or negative wise. Its kinda fun though prodicting and being right about what movies they will absolutely hate. 3 Actors they slam and can pretty much garantee a bad reviewed movie is. Adam Sandler, Jackie Chan and Vin Diesal.

 

[Laderlappen]

I am done with "critically acclaimed movies". I have watched movies that they say are the best of the year and everytime i was bored too tears. here are the ones i was bored with:

no country for old men
there will be blood
the reader
doubt
capote
slumdog millionaire
milk

anything that is a period piece like the bristish ones always bore me to tears. there is a reason this type of movies dont rake in money.

the only ones i dug were the wrestler, gangs of new york and gran torino.

The Reader wasnt critically acclaimed but on No Country and There Will be Blood.

 

[Watson]

The key to reviews is to find a reviewer that has similar taste in film to you and stick to reading them. If you hate historical dramas and love kung fu films, you probably aren't going to be down with a reviewer who likes the former. Good reviews will also challenge you and make you think about the movie a little differently.

Personally the only reviews I follow are on Pajiba. Funny and engaging reviews right across the board.

 

[Sarge 2.0]

Ah the invisible fanboy/critic war continues. One side continues to complain over the internet that they hate critics because they gave a bad review for a movie where they got the costume for their favorite character just right. The other side well continues not to give a **** and goes about there merry way writing about movies for money.

Critic-I didn't like Spider-Man 3 here are my reasons why

Guy on internet- WHAT? Go watch some art movie ass. Gawd I hate critics.

The internet is two-faced when it comes to critics. When it goes against their opinion they will verbally thrash critics to end with the critic continuing not to give a **** and collecting a pay check. While if they agree with them they will hold the critic up to high heavens praising, "Look, my opinion has been justified!"

But when it comes down to it, it's all opinion. So don't feel threaten when a movie you liked is despised by critics.

THANK YOU. Urgh. You saved me from posting pretty much the exact same sentiment. I'd like to add that the thread maker and the people agreeing with him woefully misunderstand film criticism (and indeed how to think about films critically but if the only movie these guys watch are geeky fangasm movies I guess it's understandable?). I'm so sick of these threads. But where there are fanboys, there will be these threads.

 

[StarkTheProdigy]

whenever a review comes out, whether good or bad, i don't read the review until after i see the movie. the only thing i look at before is the score the critics give it. the reason for that is because if i read the reviews, all of the negatives about it will be on my mind and that's all i'll focus on throughout the movie, ruining the chance of just being able to enjoy it. btw, i think it'd be an awesome job to be a movie critic

 

[Sarge 2.0]

The key to reviews is to find a reviewer that has similar taste in film to you and stick to reading them. If you hate historical dramas and love kung fu films, you probably aren't going to be down with a reviewer who likes the former. Good reviews will also challenge you and make you think about the movie a little differently.

Personally the only reviews I follow are on Pajiba. Funny and engaging reviews right across the board.

I don't see it that way. "Agree" or "disagree" are macguffins when it comes to film critics. What's important is the way in which their writing reflects how they think about movies, if they make interesting observations, etc. The verdict is irrelevent. Besides, it's more interesting when a critic disagrees with you because it can cause you to expand the way you think or strengthen your own interpretation of the movie. At least that's how I see it.

 

[SapphirePrima]

The key to reviews is to find a reviewer that has similar taste in film to you and stick to reading them. If you hate historical dramas and love kung fu films, you probably aren't going to be down with a reviewer who likes the former. Good reviews will also challenge you and make you think about the movie a little differently.

Personally the only reviews I follow are on Pajiba. Funny and engaging reviews right across the board.

IA

That is why I go to my favorite message boards or websites to get reviews not "official critics" because I usually don't agree with them.

 

[terry78]

When fanboys have a personal vendetta against a film project, they listen to critics in hopes that they bash it. If vice versa, if the critics say it sucks, then suddenly "their opinions don't matter."