News

[blas87]

Bear with me, it does involve politics.

In the local paper, the person who does movie reviews is obviously more left-leaning and anti-anything than Hillary Clinton. I don't find it particularly fair that there is no one else to do reviews that is neutral or even half conservative.

This douchebag gave Boondock Saints 2 1/2 star out of 4 just because of the violence and guns and called it "poorly written", but gives movies like Precious 3 out of 4 or all 4 stars. It really pisses me off.

[Greenday]

I <3 Boondock Saints...

She sucks.

[jackfaire]

*Shrugs* If someone is a critic I automatically discount their opinion because I have never met a critic who judged a movie on how entertaining it is.

[AdminAssistant]

http://www.metacritic.com/

Honestly, if it's a local paper, she's probably someone they already had on staff that happened to like movies, not anyone with a serious film or film criticism background. Criticism is really just very informed, educated opinions, and without some credentials I wouldn't take her opinions all that seriously, to be honest.

I'm not surprised that she gave Precious a good review, since it's gotten pretty good reviews across the map. I haven't heard anything about Boondock Saints but some people do have a severe problem with on-screen violence and cannot set that aside to review the content of the film. She does have one point, excessive violence/graphics/explosions/spectacle are frequently used to attempt to overcome a pisspoor screenplay. In her mind, that might have equated to "Violence = Bad script."

ETA: Jack, I don't want a critic to tell me if a movie is entertaining, as that is a highly personal opinion. Some people find Saw extremely entertaining, while I find movies like that disgusting. I want a critic to tell me if a movie is well-made and, perhaps, if they personally found it entertaining.

[HYHYBT]

I expect the authors of news articles to keep their personal views out of it as much as possible. But it seems a bit much to expect of an opinion piece, and in fact defeats the purpose.

[Stormraven]

There's a critic for our local paper whose opinion we always look at. We know that if that person dislikes a movie, it's almost a given that we'll enjoy it. In this case, it's Science Fiction/Fantasy. The critic generally hates anything of those genres, though always tries to hide that dislike in the article.

[jackfaire]

I want a critic to tell me if a movie is well-made and, perhaps, if they personally found it entertaining.

I don't care if they personally found it entertaining because typically their idea of entertainment is not mine. Same for Well made. Well made is also a very personal thing because while I may find the dialouge believable they may not because of something as simple as they have never met people who do talk that way.

[AdminAssistant]

Same for Well made. Well made is also a very personal thing because while I may find the dialouge believable they may not because of something as simple as they have never met people who do talk that way.

Huh? Well-made is not a "very personal thing." Quality is not really subjective, and there is a difference between well-made and entertaining. For example, I found Mad Max to be very entertaining, but it is not a well-made film. Are the characters believable? Does the dialogue fit the character? Is the plot compelling? Does the story have a general beginning, middle, and end? These things are not really subjective.

And how exactly is a critic supposed to tell you if a movie is entertaining if that's such a personal thing? I don't understand what you're saying.

[jackfaire]

Are the characters believable? Does the dialogue fit the character? Is the plot compelling?

Actually other than beginning middle and end they really are.

Person A may be from a section of society where they never have met a drug dealer and so find the drug dealer in a movie to be unbelievable if he is played outside of the stereotype.

Same thing with dialouge fitting the character.

Plot being compelling. Also a personal choice I may be compelled by a plot that another person finds dull and boring, IE Life on Mars seeded Earth wow awesome to me yawn to my ex.

I don't think a critic can tell me if a movie is entertaining for precisely that reason even people who know me well have to tread softly and have to be knowledgable of my tastes.

[guywithashovel]

I usually don't pay much attention to movie reviews. I honestly think most critics just look for ways to "out snark" each other, seeing who can make the most biting, acerbic remarks about the movies they watch.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

I listen to movie critics mostly for further entertainment and occasionally to feel something out. There are a few that have a couple of decent points once you dump 90% or more of their article. Although, I can't help but agree with Spoony on more than a few points, most especially his horror as does pertain to Twilight and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Still and all, that's more of a case of finding someone biased in the same way as me, not neutrality.

[HYHYBT]

There's a critic for our local paper whose opinion we always look at. We know that if that person dislikes a movie, it's almost a given that we'll enjoy it. In this case, it's Science Fiction/Fantasy. The critic generally hates anything of those genres, though always tries to hide that dislike in the article.

If they hate the entire genre they have no basis for an opinion on any particular example of it, and should review something else instead.

[Stormraven]

I agree. For some reason, though, that critic gets to review most movies, though I know there are more than one or two critics at the paper.

[Vagabond]

I generally don't listen to critics either. I'll look on IMDB or watch previews/commercials to make up my mind.

Lately, a on/off project of mine is to create a general guideline for movies I like. Then compare how well those guidelines hold up.
I say on/off project because I'm hoping for a nice round number to remember, and I only have 2 guidelines so far.
1. There must be a body count.
(Implied body counts are acceptable, so are off-screen deaths. I like Disney movies, and no 'mother' figure ever appears in the Disney 'classics'; implied body count.)
2. There must be a NAME involved.
(A famous Actor/Actress, maybe Director - someone known for being in the Film industry. Famous People do NOT count, e.g. Paris Hilton, Shaq, etc.)