In the past I have always made it a point to not listen to movie critics. Most often, when they pan something, I find it to be entertaining. And why is that? To quote Kurt Russel in John Carpenter’s The Thing, “because it’s not like us.” Therein lies the problem. They are not like us, the comic fan, the superhero fan, the science fiction and fantasy fan, who live for this stuff. They are always looking for the next Art Film, an adaptation of the last, boring, great American novel. They equate great acting to people sitting in a room angsting about their angst. Up until the scene where the angst breaks the character and they angst over that. Every once in a while they will give kudos to some groundbreaking scifi or fantasy film, or perhaps an action flick. You know, the kind of stuff the general public eats up. Rarely, unless there is something else at play.
Over the years I had seen many reviews of superhero films where it was obvious that the reviewer had never read a comic or seen an animated feature, much less a live action hero flick. One in particular that rattled me was the review of a Chicago critic for the movie Thor. He loved seeing Thor without his power, a fish out of water story he said. But as soon as Thor got his “silly superpowers” back, the movie went downhill for him. I think for most Marvel fans that was when the movie really kicked off. We wanted to see Thor throw that hammer and destroy something with it. But, then again, that reviewer wasn’t like us. After several years the critics have changed their tune, and now they give many superhero movies glowing reviews, sometimes too glowing (see Captain Marvel). They have jumped on the bandwagon, so to speak, trying to keep themselves relevant in a world where they are increasingly less so.
Audiences don’t tend to agree with the critics. Proof? Captain Marvel, 79% critic score, 59% audience score, and that after some sketchy maneuvering by Rotten Tomatoes. I won’t go into that here. There is plenty on the internet about it already. Star Trek Discovery, 83% with critics, 48% with viewers. How about the newest rendition of Dr. Who? Rotten Tomatoes took down one of their pages, which had a near perfect critic score, and I think a 37% audience score. They still have one page up for the Doctor Who: New Season Premiere, with no critic ratings (did they purge them?) and an audience score of 17%. I don’t trust Rotten Tomatoes either, since they have shown they will manipulate their figures to suit someone’s narrative (will post on narratives later). More proof? Alita: Battle Angel, probably my all-time favorite movie, had a 60% critics score, and a 94% audience rating. Recently, RT published a poll for the best movies of 2019 so far, and Alita was not on it, since only critic scores were tallied. The response, on Twitter, was overwhelmingly in favor of Alita. Well, how about that.
A lot of these rating sites that tally critics scores are tied in to someone in the business. Most are not independent platforms that can say what they want. Even some of the major critics, the ones whose opinions can seal the fate of major productions, are in someone’s pocket. As told by the Latin Times, one reviewer, working for a publication with sixty million readers, gave a favorite movie a horrible rating. Turns out he also works for ABC, which is owned by Disney, which had a competing film coming out soon after. Of course, this same ethically beyond reproach gentleman gave the Disney film a glowing review. It’s different on the internet among the Youtube community. Alita was loved by the majority of internet reviewers. Chris Stuckman, a great Youtube reviewer with over 1.4 million subs, really liked it. Many smaller, and by smaller I mean from several thousand to several hundred thousand subs, loved it. The problem is, most people still get their opinions on movies from papers and publications, and until that changes these sycophants, people not like us, still wield too much power over the fortunes of film.
Critics killed the movie Dredd. I thought Dredd was an okay film, but it collected a fanatic cult crowd who loved it. Just not in time to save the movie and ensure a sequel. Later enough critics got on board with the fans to raise the rating. Critics tried to do the same to Alita, attempting to destroy it, and which is now sitting at $400 million worldwide, with an extended run in China to the 21st of April. I think it’s going to kill DVD sales, which should raise the total enough to get that sequel, especially with James Cameron pushing for it. Dredd still didn’t recover in time. Fortunately, Alita grew bigger through the internet and word of mouth. The problem is, not enough people know or care enough to look on Youtube.
I will not go too much into the reasons I didn’t like Captain Marvel (and no, I didn’t see it, but heard enough from friends who did to think I didn’t miss anything). It had nothing to do with politics, feminism, whatever, though I don’t like being beaten over the head with anything political in my escapism movies. The same with literature. People want to escape into the books they read, not be reminded of all the real-world problems, real or imagined, going on today. Captain Marvel had a great opening because, frankly, it was a Marvel Film, and Marvel had built expectations in their properties into a huge fanbase over the last decade. And of course most of the critics got on board because, Disney. The problems I had with Captain Marvel was an OP character who wasn’t interesting enough to pull for, and retconning the MCU to shoehorn her in. Call me a sexist misogynist if you want. I don’t think I am, and at this point in my life my own opinion of myself is a thousand times more important than that of a thousand screeching SJWs (will go into more of Social Justice culture in a later post. They might not be what you think.) But simply put, this was a badly written screenplay, with a hero who had no weaknesses and couldn’t be harmed. Boring.
Captain Marvel was protected by Disney. They offered invitations for early screenings to popular critics. And if the critics panned it, they might not get invitations for the next big event. In fact, there was a video on Youtube about how some critics were really afraid to offer an honest opinion on the film. They were afraid of the screeching hate mob that would come for them. Read some of the reviews on RT, and while they might have given the movie a certified fresh label, their numerical rating and their writeups didn’t seem to mesh with that label. There were so many who said the cat stole the show, like they didn’t have anything else positive to say.
Alita, on the other hand, was being distributed by a studio that was about to fade away, into the welcoming arms of Disney. They did very little marketing, very little promotion, and they had nothing to offer critics. We’re not going to invite you to our next big release? When there would never be another big Fox release that wasn’t owned by Disney. Please.
Anyway, I don’t trust them, never will, and will make up my own mind about what movies I will see. If the trailer looks interesting, and there are people I know and trust saying good things about it, I’m in. I might even go see it just based on the trailer. If the Rolling Stone pans it, that might be enough for getting me to see it as well. Or I will count on the Youtube critics to point me in the right direction. After all, They are like us.
Youtube Reviewers I follow:
Chris Stuckman: Great independent reviewer who gets into the structure of the film, but is also a comic/scifi nerd.
Beyond the Trailer: 800K subscribers, with movie reviews and trailer reactions. I like her.
Tyrone Magnus: African American mega-reviewer with over 1.5 million subscribers.
Youngrippa59: African American perspective on films. And despite the difference in ethnicity, he is my brother in the things he loves.
Shadeversity: An expert on ancient weapons, he still does a movie once in a while, and does a great review.
$3 Theater: From Mundane Matt. Great reviews from someone who knows the movie industry.
Odin’s Movie Blog: Another medium sized channel from a guy who not only reviews, but also breaks down the numbers. Not always right, but when he’s wrong, he will admit it, unlike the hacks in the papers and magazines.
There are many others. They are easy to find on the internet. I recommend listening to these people, ignoring the professional critics, and allowing the hacks to die from obscurity. They don’t always agree, so watch several to get a good idea of the general consensus.
Doug BrotherofCats Dandridge 
Well said. Captain Marvel – just a plod of a film. Stodgy and a bit boring.
The acting wasn’t too bad – though everyone has done better work – but just a stodgy plod of a poorly written film.
The SJW stuff – there but so what? It wasn’t too heavy or pronounced, just a general call for social justice – that’s cool.
But yeah, the cat really stole the show – lol.
The most boring thing about the film was the tired, hackneyed, over done repetitive, yawn filling, not again plot that the government has betrayed you.
Get off the grass.
Of your he / it /she has!
God that’s a tedious plot.. and in every second film these days for the last twenty-five years. No wonder no one believes the government.
Boooooooring!
Alita – now that was a serious kick-add film. Real action by a true female superstar… and the love interest does the decent thing as well and doesn’t go down the treason plot hole that every Disney film seems addicted too (and you kind of expect the male character too… but no he grows a set and grows up… as does one of the female leads).
And Shazam. Great fun – diversity without a word said or a clod of SJW thrust down your throat. Just a cool script and good fun and showing how natural mixing it all up is.
Like you, Doug, I agree the official critics ain’t worth crap. Captain Marvel a plod a 2 starts and a big yawn – waste of good acting talent.
Please have the scriptwriters go stand in the naughty corner for a few hours – an L for Lack of effort.
Alita and Shazam. That’s why I go to the movies… and read comics and science fiction like your.
Cheers
Paul
I read a lot of those critics after I’ve seen Alita: Battle Angel, yeah, I know, stupid of me. But I prefer to know what I am talking about and not just assume. And I find them unbelievably bordering on vicious slender. And having a very illogical ranking. Especially if you compare them to critics about Captain Marvel. There is a video on youtube where someone compared critics to both movies, and this is how it goes:
Alita: Is kinda silly fun – 2/5 stars
Captain Marvel: this movie is kinda boring – 4/5 stars.
But generally, I hate sci-fi produced by Hollywood, James Cameron excluded of course.
Poor world building, continuity issues, ignoring the interesting real-world implications and common sense solutions.
But what I hate most it is the thinking, what a sci-fi must have some kind of pseudo-intellectual mumbo-jumbo. The real world, the real awe about the size of the universe and all its wonders, the real technical and sociological aspects of interstellar or time travel or colonization are ignoring just to present us with some kind unscientific nonsense. See the power of love in Interstellar.
Alita had in the moon scene more sci-fi then all sci-fi movies (except Martian) in the last 10 years put together.
Very well said. I think to become a writer/critic at big newspapers/companies you have to fit into the mold, and that still apparently demands to have by now seriously dated highbrow approach to literature and movies, including massive virtue signalling and following social tendencies considered progressive. Including preaching from the pulpit to the unwashed and dumb masses that need to listen better to the wise words of the critic. While speaking Latin is off these days critics still like to use their own jargon if they want to bash or avoid discussing something.
I love reading and watching books and movies that are often dismissed as pulp fiction. Only sometimes a large enough following can be earned to warrant critics writing nicely and posthumously praising something like Robert E. Howard’s Conan novels, Dredd or Alita.
I have found many amazing authors on the internet, digital publishing is a wonderful thing, I am reading now more than ever before, and I was always an avid reader. You are of course among my favorites, and allow me also to praise B.V. Larson, Craig Alanson, Joshua Dalzelle, Jay Allan, Marko Kloos, Vaughn Heppner, Jack Campbell, Raymond L. Weil, Glynn Stewart, David VanDyke and I have for sure forgotten many absolutely kick ass authors. As usual, I have forgotten David Weber!
And then there is this … sorry show with the Hugos and Nebulas. About as detached as the Nobel prize for literature by now.
This said, audience ratings are often terrible, too. 1 points, 10 points, basically flip a coin whom to trust…^^
I find it interesting how good the recommendations by Amazon and other platforms have become by now. I fear this might get influenced more in future, but so far the system is quite good. It lead me Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1 by an author I didn’t know at all and didn’t have high expectations at all. I was quite positively surprised! 😉
Thanks for the mention and recommendation alongside such older greats as Weber and Campbell. Funny story, I grew up with Larson and Heppner in the same small town–we played D&D and wargames together as teenagers. Three top SFF authors from the same little group is an oddity, and speaks to the power of a creative and imaginative upbringing, where we did more than merely consume–we created. Larson wrote SFF stories from a young age, I was the most prolific dungeon creator, and Heppner was the oldest, the “boss,” and most often the host of our games–and like all of us, a prolific reader and collector of paperbacks. Also, Mike Maden who co-writes for the Clancy Jack Ryan books, and Micheal Maxwell who writes a mystery series are from our town and extended circle of friends and aquaintances. Must be something in the water.
As for the OP, I agree that you can’t trust critics or reviewers to be unbiased. I found Ebert before his death to be pretty relaible and fairminded, and a good indication of what I might encounter in the reviewed movies–I seldom disagreed with him more than one star difference. Also, critics and fans have differing reasons for seeing a movie. Critics are being paid for their critique, and so they will apply the criticism they’ve learned in academia. A fan is looking for entertainment and connection to their favorite characters and story. Cliches and tropes that a critic thinks are overtired may be exactly what the fan is looking for. That’s why Captain Marvel did so well at the box office–it wasn’t that bad, worth a watch at least once, mostly for certain scenes, certainly better than the last two Wolverine movies, which were deeply flawed–buy hey, I watched them once anyway because I like X-Men.
I’m always cognizant of how little SFF we had when I was growing up in the late 60s and 70s, and into the 80s and my young adulthood. The bar is so much higher now that people pan movies that would have been beyond amazing, back then. I try to approach each new big-budget SFF movie (which includes the superhero genre) uncritically, simply seeking to enjoy, discarding or ignoring what annoys me (if I didn’t take this approach, I’d never watch Arrowverse) and reveling in the fun stuff.