Always funny when someone criticises a film on here (or Twitter) and another person replies with, “Oh no, I was really looking forward to it!” Keep looking forward to it! Go see for yourself! Don’t be so in thrall to someone on the internet!
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Yep!
This is the thing with film critics I like, a bad review won’t dissuade me from seeing something I’m excited for, it might push me to wait for a disc release rather than a trip to the cinema.
But good reviews will send me to seek out something I hadn’t previously considered.
some movies people hate at first or fall asleep to end up being some of their favorite films down the road/favorite filmmakers. art takes some getting used to :)
Trust your instincts more with films that interest you, I say. Even if it doesn’t work out, time spent with a film you don’t love isn’t always time wasted.
Part of that is we lay viewers generally find that critics skew heavily towards positive or rave reviews. Whereas someone we know (or just another layman) who says the film stank, well we take more notice of that. In recent years I've watched scores of critically acclaimed films that were shite.
I don’t think that’s true of most working critics — the bulk of the reviews I write are mixed, in line with the general balance of what’s released. If you principally follow critics on social media, however, naturally they post more about what excites them.
One does tend to see films getting very effusive reviews across the board, which then turn out to be damp squibs, at best. Whereas if you see coverage of a prestige film (sainted director, etc) and they're like 3 stars, say, then you *know* it is going to be atrocious. 2/2
Well I'm not trying to slur your profession, and would not be commenting on your posts if I didn't have some respect for your writing. But I do find that, not just with films but with music, books etc too, if you needed a collective noun for a body of critics it'd be a 'consensus'. 1/2
I’m forced to tell my movie loving friends all the time that while they can be enlightening and help inform mine, I don’t value other people’s opinions on art more than my own. Usually this is to justify going out of my way to see some craptacular movie but still.
Comments
This is the thing with film critics I like, a bad review won’t dissuade me from seeing something I’m excited for, it might push me to wait for a disc release rather than a trip to the cinema.
But good reviews will send me to seek out something I hadn’t previously considered.