What is it with movie critics?

Neil79

Neil79

Neil79

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Is it something to do with BBC or do they like absolute **** movies? Everything that's french or weird get's high ratings but movies that the general public like are shot down.

That ugly cretin Mark Komode seems to be the worst, Guardians of the Galaxy was rated as one of the worst movies this year :confused:
 
This would be a lot easier to discuss if you could be a lot more specific. But I'd rate Mark Kermode's opinion over almost anyone here, given some of the dross I've seen described as "great" on these forums.
 
I suppose you also need to look at the fact they are critiquing a movie from a critics point of view, not a 'omg my favourite comic is a movie now' point of view.

There can be a difference between something being good from an objective critical point of view and what the public at large like.

That's why things like TOWIE are extremely popular in ratings but any objective criticism could only conclude that it's utter toss.
 
I haven't seen Guardians of the Galaxy but I tend to listen to what Mark Kermode has to say about movies as he is usually pretty well informed.

Each to his own though ;)
 
Movie critics like anyone else, has preferences. So just utterly ignore them. As the chance of them liking/disliking the same things as you are low. I don't know how they even have a job. Who is basing their opinions on them.
 
Glaucus said:
Movie critics like anyone else, has preferences. So just utterly ignore them. As the chance of them liking/disliking the same things as you are low. I don't know how they even have a job. Who is basing their opinions on them.
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The trick is to find a critic whose opinions and preferences are similar to your own, or who you at least understand or can relate to, so that you know what they mean when they talk about a film. I used to rely on Roger Ebert, who was get objective anyway, but whose tastes also resonated with mine. Since Ebert's death I've been a bit stuck, but I'm getting into Kermode's reviews now.
 
Neil79 said:
Is it something to do with BBC or do they like absolute **** movies? Everything that's french or weird get's high ratings but movies that the general public like are shot down.

That ugly cretin Mark Komode seems to be the worst, Guardians of the Galaxy was rated as one of the worst movies this year :confused:
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Because most films that are popular with the public tend to not be that good? A lot of big films are often poorly scripted & acted, unoriginal and over reliant on special effects.

To be fair to Mark Kermode he is one of the better film reviewers. He is perhaps starting his review from an artistic merit point of view (nothing wrong in that as film is an artistic medium) but if a film is entertaining he will say so.

I think for future reference you'd be better off listening to Radio 1's film reviews by Rhianna Dhillon...
 
I don't think such critics exists, preferences are so diverse at the outer edges and mainstream stuff you don't need a critic for. Its usually obvious you'll like/dislike the big films from trailers. This is why imdb and others should add weighting for your outlighing scores. The scores that differ significantly from the mean, and match you to other users.
 
Glaucus said:
I don't think such critics exists, preferences are so diverse at the outer edges and mainstream stuff you don't need a critic for. Its usually obvious you'll like/dislike the big films from trailers. This is why imdb and others should add weighting for your outlighing scores. The scores that differ significantly from the mean, and match you to other users.
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I tend to find that with IMDB films are often rated more highly in the first few weeks/months after release before settling to somewhere closer to where they should be. I suspect this is because it tends to be the enthusiasts who go to see films very early on and are motivated enough to rate the film then over time more people will bring an averaging effect to the rating and bring it a bit nearer to a measured approximation. It does also mean that if you look at the "wrong" time then you're likely to find a recent film unduly highly ranked although this will usually be sorted out over time.

I rarely let a critics view influence whether I'll go to see a film - if I like the look/sound of a film then I'll watch it, I might look at a review to see what is said but I recognise that my tastes aren't necessarily going to reflect what other people think. This applies for books, music, anything where there's a subjective element.
 
Deep said:
I generally agree with all of Kermodes reviews, apart from comedies.
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Generally I'd agree with this but he did think Under the Skin was ok and when I watched it a few nights ago it was honestly one of the worst pieces of non nonsensical garbage I've ever had the misfortune of sitting through.
 
Popular films, particulary blockbusters, are usually ** Fully star out any swearing ** fests and the critics who dislike them are spot on.
 
i tend to read reviews of general public

you tend to find if a person has gone to see the film you want to see they probably want to like it as do you.
Thus if the reviews are scathing from these (ie transformers 4) i take note

films i like always get bad critic reviews
 
V F said:
Is that what you think of The Hobbit films?
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The Hobbit films are a perfect example. Take a short children's book, turn it into a 9 hour 'epic' and the people love it because they think they are watching LOTR again. Unfortunately, they're not watching LOTR, they are getting milked because they are bovines.
 
Why is that such a bad thing? You make it sound that it should never have been made. Unless, of course it's Zethor's script…
 
Zethor said:
The Hobbit films are a perfect example. Take a short children's book, turn it into a 9 hour 'epic' and the people love it because they think they are watching LOTR again. Unfortunately, they're not watching LOTR, they are getting milked because they are bovines.
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Okay then.

Sounds to me like you'd make a very good film critic. Many of them simply go against a film "to be different". The whole world could love a film or a large majority (as the viewing figures from something like the Hobbit films) but a critic will happily tell everyone it's a rubbish film.
Sorry film critics, we didn't doss around for 3yrs at "film school" and learn all about correct and incorrect shots and technique.

A film critic get absolutely no publicity if he actually tells the public want they want to hear!
 
im divided on this issue, i don't like garbage movies with rubbish acting, or no plot, at least without incredibly great fx to make me not care, however the people who are trying so desperately hard to be 'middle class' or whatever they'll actually agree with a critic about almost anything (these people are even more hilarious than those who rate towie or mic etc)

i avoided the new transformers not because a tryhard critic told me it sucked (lets face it, we all knew said critic was going to pan the movie even before you saw a trailer) but because actual fans were saying it sucked :p

ps: im actually a fan of both weird and foreign films, and other movies the average geezer would have no time for
 
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