Jack Nevada Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) Discussion about movie critics. I dont read written reviews. Not because I'm trying to be cool in a "ooh, I dont care what the critics say" kinda way, but because I dont really have the time or interest in reading my reviews. I look at the Rotten Tomatoes score, think "Man, thats not good" and then go see the movie anyway. Currently I listen to film reviews on podcast form. There are two movie review shows I enjoy immensely: Spill.com and "Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews" produced by BBC. The reviewers of Spill.com aren't really good critics at all, but they are so incredibly funny and entertaining that I always look forward to their new reviews. I'm the biggest Spill.com fan you'll find. I listen to their stuff every day. Mark Kermode is another so-so critic who's a ton of fun to listen to. He's british and he works as a co-anchor in a BBC radio program with the main host Simon Mayo. Kermode reminds me a bit of Baumer: he has a ton of bizarre opinions regarding movies, but he makes it clear why he liked/didn't like a movie and also makes it entertaining. His reviewing style is energetic and opinionated which causes grief to straight man Mayo. Spill.com has so many inside jokes going on that I'd imagine getting into their podcasts would be pretty hard, but I highly recommend going to iTunes and checking out Kermode and Mayo's program. Edited August 12, 2013 by Jack Nevada Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riczhang Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I like Kermode and Mayo. That's interesting. I hate Spill. They have some ridiculously stupid opinions, and I just can't deal with that amount of idiocy. And I always liked Ebert, even though he hasn't really written a proper review in ages. Armond White is always a good read, even if for the stupidity. It's funny in a way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Old Tele Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I hate watching reviews. The vast majority of them (IMO) are either lousy on camera or spend so much time trying to be clever or quippy that their reviews are essentially worthless. The only time a video review is worth is if it's a lengthy (or even semi-lengthy) discussion between two people who know their stuff and have the ability to communicate their verbal opinions well -- aka Siskel and Ebert. However, I *love* reading reviews. Not just general reviews, but I have a couple of dozen (or more, I haven't counted) critics who I enjoy reading. Not because they like the same movies I do -- many times they don't -- but because I find their perspectives interesting and/or illuminating. Oftentimes, though, I won't read a review until after I've seen the movie in question, not only to avoid spoilers, but also to avoid knowing what their opinion is in advance. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolioD1 Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Critics are disgusting horrendous sub-humans because they sometimes have a different taste in movies from me, which also means they must hate movies in general. Also sometimes comedy movies get bad reviews so obviously they hate laughter and joy too. [/baumer] 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) I've generally come to think that I'll agree with critical consensi (that's the word, right? If not, I'm using it anyway.) most of the time. That's not to say I just agree with critics willy nilly. I've disagreed with them a few times this summer alone. Still, I'll definitely take into account what critics have to say when deciding what to see at the movies. I don't want to feel like I wasted money after seeing a bad movie. Still, if a movie ends up rotten, I'll probably see it anyway if I was looking forward to seeing it. Critics can be good indicators of what movies I'll enjoy, and even the people who don't like critics tend to agree with them more than they think. Having said that, critics aren't even my best indicators of what to see. I'll often turn to what you guys think in deciding to see a movie, too. Edited August 12, 2013 by Spaghetti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Criticism is best for exploring all facets of cinema. It amuses me when people accuse critics of bias because all critics are biased and that's what makes criticism interesting: exploring other peoples opinions. A critic's job is to watch as many movies as possible and tell their readers/listeners what filmmakers and actors deserve more attention, which brings more attention to them. The best critics aren't the ones that tell you what you should see over the weekend, but the ones that champion (or condemn) films and make you view their merits in an entirely new light. Critics aren't 'right' all the time because art is a subjective experience and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for the other. But people who watch 100+ movies a year can contextualize a film in a way the average joe cannot. They can, in all likelihood, tell you something about the movie that you didn't think of before. That's the role of a critic in the ecosystem of cinema. The tricky thing about today's all-powerful RT system is that it removes the opinion part of criticism somewhat and leaves you with the consensus vote. Someone in the TDKR thread the other day used the argument against baumer that 87% of critics "liked" TDKR so baumer's negative opinion is in the minority. That really shouldn't make baumer's opinion less valuable, but to some eyes it does, even if he has his reasons (I think he does?). 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I've found that there is no single critic or reviewer that I, or anyone else in the world, can agree with 100%, and there never will be. The cool thing about film criticism is that everyone has a unique voice, and it will often lead to great discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I've found that there is no single critic or reviewer that I, or anyone else in the world, can agree with 100%, and there never will be. Except for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) We Need To Talk About Kevin is one of the best movies of 2011. Much better than The Tree of Life. See, we don't always agree. Edited August 12, 2013 by Spaghetti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blankments Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 The only reviewers I bother following are Scott Chitwood at Comingsoon.net, and the guys at Slashfilm and CinemaBlend. I generally agree with their sensibilities, and the reviews are written in an easy-to-digest conversational style. I also used to always read Ebert after I saw the movie. He had an unfortunate habit of spoiling the movie, but he always had something interesting to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Old Tele Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 All worth reading: Matt Zoller Seitz, Walter Chaw, Mike D'Angelo, Wesley Morris, Michael Wilmington, Andrew O'Hehir, Dana Stevens, David Edelstein, James Berardinelli, Anthony Lane, A.O. Scott, Joe Morganstern, Manohla Dargis, David Denby, Jim Emerson, Christopher Orr, Bilge Ebiri, Scott Foundas, Drew McWeeny, Kirk Honeycutt, Stanley Kauffman, Joe Leydon, Karina Longworth, Alex Pappademas, Kenneth Turan, Scott Tobias, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Jeffrey Wells 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mahnamahna Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 I don't listen to critics on anything Adam Sandler or kids movies (except when the RT rating is below 25%) because critics seem to go in thinking "this'll be awful". I don't care what any critic says - I find Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison and Tommy Boy to all be hilarious while I only chuckled a couple times in the 2 Woody Allen movies I've seen (Annie Hall and Manhattan) yet so many film buffs and critics seem to think he's hilarious. I've come to the conclusion critics don't know what's funny but they know their dramas, thrillers, action, sci-fi and horror Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieGuyKyle17 Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Programming Note: The Breakfast Club is airing on VH1 Classic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim22 Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 A pretty fun podcast is hosted by this forums own Film Nerd Jamie at "Think McFly Think". It is called "Movie Moan" and has some good movie reviews, fun banter and Shawn shows up from time to time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatMovieGuy Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 Like Gopher stated up top we all have our opinions, and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another, i'm glad we can all come to this understanding. So back to the critic talk, I know this guys kind of a nit picker but who isn't really. we all have a bias point of view somewhere down the line, don't we? anyway his name is the Nostalgia critic or The guy with the glasses. He doesn't do new reviews its usually older stuff and more/less the type that's easy to make fun of. he's a very funny dude, with some pretty decent idea's of his own. The Uncanny Valley: Dragonbored is a pretty good short film he made last month, check it out, if you get the time. I find his Bum reviews pretty annoying, besides that most of the stuff he does is just a good laugh. For entertainment and a review, I go to this guy http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAR Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I've recently started listening to a podcast called Do You Like Prince Movies and Wesley Morris is one of the hosts. I don't always agree but he's a good critic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAR Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 And I always like Roeper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatMovieGuy Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 reoper is decent, Roger Ebert was the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommycruise Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 I really like Richard romper and I find that interestingly enough we have a lot of shared opinions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dilusha Bandara Posted August 13, 2013 Share Posted August 13, 2013 All worth reading: Matt Zoller Seitz, Walter Chaw, Mike D'Angelo, Wesley Morris, Michael Wilmington, Andrew O'Hehir, Dana Stevens, David Edelstein, James Berardinelli, Anthony Lane, A.O. Scott, Joe Morganstern, Manohla Dargis, David Denby, Jim Emerson, Christopher Orr, Bilge Ebiri, Scott Foundas, Drew McWeeny, Kirk Honeycutt, Stanley Kauffman, Joe Leydon, Karina Longworth, Alex Pappademas, Kenneth Turan, Scott Tobias, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Jeffrey Wells You forgot Rex Reed! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
