What do you think about movie critics?

R

RockStar

New member
I understand this.

I have to say that I love Roger Ebert's reviews, even if I don't agree with his ratings.

A very interesting read:
 
I think critics work is easy and really well payed! :nod:

But still it's a job too!
 
I really wanted Micheal Cera to win but I think he canceled himself out with the double nominations. I was happy though that Ahmad won for The Kite Runner. He breaks your heart in that film!
 
I go to www.mrqe.com all the time to read movie reviews. Some reviewers are good, some are crap. Although there are some really good reviewers out there who actually got some points to support their views (not just the bitter parts, but when they praise a movie too), I still wouldn't see or not see a movie solely based on what critics say. I am my own critic. :D Often, a movie that I thought was really great, the critics would think it's crap or only so-so, or the other way around...I thought it was crap and they thought it was at least 3 stars. I think besides personal preference, part of it could also be due to the difference in the way a critic sees a movie and how a regular viewer sees a movie. They would look into a whole lot more stuff from analyzing the director's history to picking up minor faults. For most of us, we would still notice stupid plotlines or bad acting too, but at the end of day, we just ask ourselves if we enjoyed it or not. :shrug:

I often don't agree with Ebert. The thing is, sometimes I feel like he is only saying a movie is good or is bad just because he thinks this is the kind of rating he should give or that most critics would give. :rolleyes: For example, his review for Mulholland Drive, he clearly didn't get the movie and was much confused, but he gave it four stars anyway. The so-called reasons he gave for supporting it to be a good movie were very vague and unconvincing. The reasons were very random and didn't really reflect any insight at all. It was almost like he was thinking "I must give this movie 4 stars. But what reasons should I give? Err...how about I like it cuz it's like a weird dream? Yeah, people would buy that." :rolleyes:
 
A lot of the time movie critics are failed screenwriters, or others who tried to get into the movie industry themselves at one time.

I think this plays a huge part in their bias as they do see it as a way to "get even" with the industry that rejected them. For example, Roger Ebert wrote "Valley of the Dolls" -- A schlocky '70s B-Movie about Hollywood's decadence and corruption -- Yet he sits there and says films like "Independence Day" are "pure corn ball". If that isn't the kettle calling the pot black... ;)
 
Thanks for posting the noms and winners!

So Lust, Caution lost Best Foreign. No surprise in Best Supporting Actor/ Actor, Director, Animated, Family and Bes Picture Picture.
 
I've heard that Julie Christie is brilliant in this film and is a lock for Best Actress at this years Academy Awards. I'll have to bump Away From Her up on my netflix queue :)
 
One thing that always sticks out in my mind is the fact that critics are people who get paid to watch movies for a living. I remember being in college(was a journalism major) and taking my first arts reporting class. The professor went on and on about not showing that you liked the film to much because it would damage your reputation as critic. The emphasis according to my teacher is on the critical. in other words, you are not really a critic unless you are critical of what you are viewing. So, I tend to put it down to posturing. These people need to justify what they are doing by trying to discern art from the mass of junk out there. In the end what they say is just their opinion. Fans won't always agree and I worry about the influence that they can have. But, movies that are critically acclaimed are not always liked by most people. I tend to fall in the middle. I tend to agree many times with critics but only to a degree. I enjoy fluff but it doesn't change the fact that its still fluff. I hope I'm making sense here.
 
that makes me so very happy for a number of reasons.....one of my favorite canadian actresses, sarah polley, directed and wrote this film specifically for julie christie.....and from what i've read she had to actively pursue and beg julie ("lara" of 'doctor zhivago') to accept the role.......it's always good to see a film by, and in this case a young, female director, one who's being recognized for the choices she's making...

this is my favorite performance by a female actress, in any motion picture, this year....

and imo it's very very nice to see a beautiful older actress recognized for a superb performance, over some much younger actresses in roles that aren't quite as good as this one....
 
Wow, a thread in which I agree with everyone! :lol:

Tonight I read a review that gave a movie 2 stars out of 5 because it was a rip off of every movie about older women with younger men... Thing is I haven't seen every single movie about the subject, I'm not a film student or a critic and the more reviews I read, the happier I am to be just a regular movie fan.

Critics are always bitter about how bad movies are, etc. But that's because maybe they've seen too many movies, read too much into them, think everything should have serious depth, etc.

I have the luxury of ignorance and maybe that allows me enjoy movies like 28 days and St. Elmo's Fire.
 
Here are the list of nominees and winners :)

2008 Critics Choice Awards Nominees & * Winners

BEST PICTURE:
* No Country for Old Men
American Gangster
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Juno
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTOR:
* Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Emile Hirsch - Into the Wild
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

BEST ACTRESS:
* Julie Christie - Away From Her
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Ellen Page - Juno

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
* Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
* Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Catherine Keener - Into the Wild
Vanessa Redgrave - Atonement
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
* Hairspray
Juno
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd
Gone Baby Gone
Before the Devil Knows You are Dead

BEST DIRECTOR:
* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Sidney Lumet - Before the Devil Knows You are Dead
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joe Wright - Atonement

BEST WRITER:
* Diablo Cody - Juno
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Nancy Oliver - Lars and the Real Girl
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson's War

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
* Ratatouille
Bee Movie
Beowulf
Persepolis
The Simpsons Movie

BEST YOUNG ACTOR:
* Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada - The Kite Runner
Michael Cera - Juno
Michael Cera - Superbad
Freddie Highmore - August Rush
Edward Sanders - Sweeney Todd

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS:
* Nikki Blonsky - Hairspray
Dakota Blue Richards - The Golden Compass
AnnaSophia Robb - Bridge to Terabithia
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement

BEST COMEDY MOVIE:
* Juno
Dan in Real Life
Hairspray
Knocked Up
Superbad

BEST FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION):
* Enchanted
August Rush
The Golden Compass
Hairspray
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION:
* Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
The Company
Tin Man
The War

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
La Vie en Rose
Lust, Caution
The Orphanage

BEST SONG:
* Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - Once
Come So Far - Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley - Hairspray
Do You Feel Me - Anthony Hamilton - American Gangster
Guaranteed - Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
That's How You Know - Amy Adams - Enchanted

BEST COMPOSER:
* Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood
Marco Beltrami - 3:10 to Yuma
Alexandre Desplat - Lust, Caution
Clint Eastwood - Grace Is Gone
Dario Marianelli - Atonement
Alan Menken - Enchanted

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
* Sicko
Darfur Now
In the Shadow of the Moon
The King of Kong
No End In Sight
Sharkwater

I'm actually okay with most of them but the Hairspray wins piss me off as well as some of the things/people that were nominated. I agree with Vanessa Redgrave. Brilliant actress but not in this role.
 
Yeah, I guess you make a point though, but the whole point of critics is that you don't have to pay to see the movie if you don't want to. They are, in theory a money saving tool, at least that's what I use them for. If they don't like a movie, I'm very unlikely to go see it, but if they do, it's more likely I'll pay. The whole point is that we can't go and see and make opinions about every movie that comes out. That's why critics exist.
 
I think there like You, or I, the only difference is they GET PAID to watch the movies and WE PAY to watch the movies. I don't go by what they say, cause usually they rave on about moives, or actor's, that I find were terrible, or useless, yet, they let a talented actress/actor, or great movie, go un-noticed.

For example..


Best Supporting Actress (Critic's Choice Nominee) Vanessa Redgrave - Atonement - I have to ask WHY? She was in the movie, less then 10 minutes and didn't even act, she just spoke. I couldn't believe it. No offense to Vanessa, she's a great actress, her performance was in no way, worthy of a nomination, if anything, Romola Garai - should have been nominated for her S.A. role as Briony, cause her role was a bit larger, then Vanessa's and she actually acted in her's, but I still wouldn't feel, that her performance, would be worthy either. It was good, brief, but her performance, nor Vanessa's were anything great and worthy, like Amy Ryan, in Gone Baby Gone, now, that is a performance, that was well desreved of a nomination and I don't get why they, give out nomination's, that the performance's aren't worthy of. :shrug:

Ok, so I got a little off topic, but I was trying to make a pont, it just came out a bit off topic, on why I don't care for critics. :lol:
 
totally agree with you, but i think that critics have bad taste too, they always like movies like amelie and they think that every teenmovie is crap, i hate movies like amelie :eek:
 
I never agree with the critics cause they always rate my movies bad and the movies I hate get good reviews. I think people should make their own descins then follow the critics. I think we should decide for our own opinions if a movie is good or if it sucks.
 
Little more than an hour into the Critic's Choice Awards and I just have one thing to say... What a load of crap!!!!
 
I enjoy reading some of them. Sometimes they are good..in that a movie I wouldnt normally see had a good review...so Sometimes it gets me to check out movies like that, that I wouldnt really see.

Most of the time I just watch what I want to :)
 
I don't listen to movie critics or anyone else's opinion on movies for that matter. Just because someone else liked or hated a movie doesn't mean I will. I watch something if I think I am going to like not because of what Roger Ebert or whoever thinks.
 
I think if you can find a critic that you tend to agree with they can be a great resource. While the write of the article seems to think that you probably won't be able to find a critic that you agree with because they don't form opinions of their own now and just follow trends, I think it's possible. If you can find like a local guy that you tend to agree with, then by all means, follow him or her. I've done it before myself, found a critic in my local paper that I agree with and I usually follow him. While his reviews aren't the end all be all of my movie watching, they do factor into whether or not I go to see a movie, especially at $10 a pop.
 
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