Ok…I know this is highly subjective but nevertheless I think some answers might be helpful.
It seems these days a movie, any movie, can manage to get some reviewer somewhere to say something good about it that they helpfully plaster across the top of their advertisements. I assume that most of the praises (assuming the movie truly is crap) are due to business relationships between the paper and the studio. Whether under direct orders to say something favorable or the reviewer just knows which side his/her bread is buttered on I couldn’t say.
Then we get the movie snobs. You see them in the free press alot of which the Chicago Reader (who run this message board) is one. I respect the intelligence and free hand with which the Reader’s movie reviewers do their job but I feel their intellectual snobbery on movies dripping from every review. I once asked some friends of mine (all regular Reader…uhm…readers) to name a movie the reviewer liked. No one could. Not because the reviewer hates all movies but only seems to like such obscure, left field cinema that even fairly avid cinema goers are hard pressed to relate to.
Can anyone recommend a decent reviewer not owned by the media conglomerates and not a stick up their ass snob? Someone who can review The Matrix and say it was just a damn fun movie and also be counted on to not give Final Destination 3 4 stars because (unbeknownst to us) the people signing the reviewer’s paycheck also made the movie?
I’m no expert on movie reviewers, but if you want some insight into who the review whores are, you might check out Hollywood Bitchslap. They have movie reviews, and are also committed to exposing reviewers whom they believe to be sell-outs, people who go on studio-funded junkets and praise every movie they ever see, no matter how awful.
Here’s their list, Criticwatch 2005 - The Whores of the Year. Coming in at #1 is Earl Dittman, one of the greatest nemeses of honest film critics everywhere. Here’s an article on Dittman and other “quote whores” (the term for critics who review films positively in the hope of getting themselves quoted in the movie advertisements).
That certainly solves some of the sell outs but what do I do about the snobs? Or rather, leave the snobs be…they are fine…where do I find down to earth regular people critics who do not refer to obscure 1970’s Fench television? Think I’m kidding?
Who the fuck knows what he is talking about? I bet most French people would be a bit lost much less an American. The Chicago Reader disrubutes ~120,000 copies per week…I’d be surprised if this meant anything to more than 1,000 of them.
I respect the reviewer’s knowledge…I really do. No question he knows his stuff and loves cinema. If you want cinema as high art he is someone worth listening to. But to me it is like a fine meal. We can’t all dine at the $100/plate restaurant every night. Besides…a good greasy spoon dive can satisfy as much, if not more, than some 5-star foodie haunt once in awhile (c’mon…we’ve all had Big Mac attacks).
So, I want to know that Wedding Crashers is funny and that Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo is dreck. Or rather I’d like to find the reviewer who is more the “common man” reviewer that can tell me, “Yeah…it’s kinda stupid, been done before but hell…I laughed my ass off anyway. Go see it and have fun!”
Jonathan Rosenbaum is a very knowledgeable movie writer, but the man has no filter when it comes to snobbery. He thinks nothing of going off for hours on how great the French New Wave was (he’s obsessed with the French New Wave).
While I think it’s great to champion stuff you like, he didn’t seem to get that those movies aren’t shown all throughout America all the time because they only appeal to a very select niche of people. It was a total disconnect.
It’s a shame too, when he actually stayed on point the book was really good.
http://www.flickfilosopher.com is written by a single person who gives her honest opinion about films. She knows what’s crap, she sees the redeeming values, and she knows how to say “Well, this movie wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but if you like (x) you’ll have a fun evening.” The site is not only devoted to debunking hollywood cashcows, but devotes time to art movies and recent DVD releases as well.
I use www.rottentomatoes.com as my filter. If a movie gets a 6% score, I can be farly sure I’ll hate it…above 60%, it’ll probably be worth the time spent.
He’s not for the easily offended, and he’s a little schticky sometimes, but for a “no bullshit” perspective, see The Filthy Critic. Under the character is a critic with a deep love of movies and an often keen understanding of them, as well as someone who’s fed up with Hollywood’s more egregious offerings.
I quite like Stuart Klawans, the movie review for The Nation magazine.
One thing you have to think about with reviewers is the type of reviews you want to read. Some reviewers go out of their way to avoid spoilers, but as a result end up giving incomplete or misleading reviews. Other reviewers don’t worry so much about spoiling some of the plot, but can then give a review that is more comprehensive and more representative of the whole movie. Obviously, the extent to which plot spoilers matter varies with the person and even with type of film.
I prefer not to have the plot spoiled at all, if i can help it. Hell, i often turn the TV off when a movie advertisement comes on if i know i’m going to see the film.