# Reviewers who just don't watch the movie they rate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611 "2006-02-22T10:41:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/1 "2006-02-22T10:41:41Z")
This does tee me off somewhat, inspired by [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7127676&postcount=12) in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=359836). I was reminded of the Empire magazine Sci-fi special, which I picked up thinking there’d be some good reviews or insight into some films I liked. What caught my attention was this; A review of “Fahrenheit 451” put down the film as less than excellent, solely it would seem, because the screen play was written by someone who apparantly had no idea about real media censorship. They had banned books but not taken over the media, a slip that ruined the film. Plainly the reviewer hadn’t seen the many, _many_ references to a controlled media. Cousin on the TV, the comic style “newspapers” a show on TV that could refer to “any Linda” that made Montag’s wife feel it was specially for her and her only. It annoyed me that this large part of the plot was ignored, or censored in the reviewer’s own mind 😉 Bugs me because it was an obvious mistake _and_ a film I liked. Any other reviews that annoy in this manner? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/2 "2006-02-22T11:16:38Z")
_Fahrenheit 451_ wasn’t about Stalin-style or even Chinese-style censorship. It was about ʻpablumizationʼ, something that companies and even people do to themselves in the name of avoiding controversy or ʻgood tasteʼ. No specific ideologies were banned; the ban was on _anything_ that might make you think and question the established norms. Nothing like the censorship depicted in _Fahrenheit 451_ has ever taken place. Bradbury was making explicit, and taking to its logical extreme, something always done somewhat _sub rosa_ as a reaction to the fact _everyone_ has a special interest group lobbying to make sure their interests are not impinged or their members impugned. He was imagining what would happen if some latter-day Draco wrote down as laws rules that had always been enforced through social pressures. Therefore, experience in real media censorship would be of limited use to anyone writing the screenplay. Therefore, the reviewer was a moron. And now everyone knows why. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/3 "2006-02-22T12:50:02Z")
Not exactly the same thing, bu it annoys me when the reviewer is clearly not judging the film on its own merits, but because it wasn’t what he expected it to be\*. Several reviews of David Lynch’s movie **The Elephant Man** seemed to be lengthy venting about how it wasn’t Bernard Pomerance’s play of the same name, and they were obviously wishing that it was. I was surprised at a lot of reviews of the Arnold Schwartzenegger film **Predator**. Because the original previews (if you didn’t pay attention) didn’t make it abundantly clear that this was a science fiction film about a Manhunting alien, some reviewers seemed to have gotten the idea that it was a military film about fighting Contras or something, and were pissed that it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/4 "2006-02-22T13:04:42Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I was surprised at a lot of reviews of the Arnold Schwartzenegger film **Predator**. Because the original previews (if you didn’t pay attention) didn’t make it abundantly clear that this was a science fiction film about a Manhunting alien, some reviewers seemed to have gotten the idea that it was a military film about fighting Contras or something, and were pissed that it wasn’t. Oh my God, but those people were morons. _Predator_ wasn’t that good of a film, although it stood just fine as an example of the genre and movies of that era, but it did deserve a fair shot. After all, how can you unfairly pan a film that includes two future state governors? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/5 "2006-02-22T14:40:21Z")
This is a bit different- two examples of reviews from people who have no idea about the prior source material- both from that bastion of entertainment-oriented journalism PEOPLE- The reviewer of the rumored-to-exist HIGHLANDER II noted that “As in the first movie, the Immortals are from the planet Zeist…” :eek: 😕 :eek: The reviewer of the TNT Patrick Bergin-Randy Quaid FRANKENSTEIN dismissed the claim that it was closely based on the Mary Shelly book with “but it looks more like a remake of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.” :smack: :wally ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/6 "2006-02-22T14:54:37Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > _Predator_ wasn’t that good of a film… I’m sorry, I lost you after this part. Could you repeat your statement? And this time, could you rephrase it to accurately reflect \*\*Predator’s \*\* status as one of mankinds greatest achievements? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reviewers-who-just-dont-watch-the-movie-they-rate/345611/7 "2006-02-22T16:17:31Z")
> [@Stonebow](#): > > I’m sorry, I lost you after this part. Could you repeat your statement? And this time, could you rephrase it to accurately reflect \*\*Predator’s \*\* status as one of mankinds greatest achievements? Thank you. If Derleth bleeds, ve can keeel him…