The funny thing about being a critic is it doesn't actually require any qualifications.
this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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Most film critics are failed directors…
prepared for the downvotes here, but I cut my teeth in journalism in arts criticism and deeply respect some of the people I've known in the field.
I think this kind of opinion - and the irony does not escape me that I'm performing a sort of criticism here - is rather misinformed.
Yes, anyone can be a critic in the same way that anyone who can, slowly and haltingly, play a C Major scale, can be a musician.
But I believe, like my metaphor, that if you were to dive into successful and recognized critic's (/musicians) work you'd find a lot more depth than you'd expect.
If any — Who are the critics you dislike, and why? If any — who are the critics you do like (even begrudgingly), and why?
I don't believe all critics are unqualified or unhelpful, just that the barrier for entry is so low that any "critic review" shouldn't facially be held as more valid than an average consumer's view.
IMO the worst reviews tend to be from large gaming journalism companies. There's a lot of systemic problems with them like crunch, people writing reviews on genres they don't have experience with, nepotism, and them inflating the scores of AAA titles so publishers continue to give them early access allowing them to release reviews in time. These aren't all necessarily the fault of the writer of each of their reviews, but do degrade the credibility of the review.
Sticking with games there's good journalism that comes from independent reviewers, like Dunkey, but they'll typically have a specialty in a particular genre. My general go to is usually reading Steam user reviews, but only taking to heart those voted most helpful that actually give critiques and praises. Independent critics or user reviews in my eye have the great benefits of not being beholden like large studios.
Someone did a great breakdown comparing user and critic game reviews and outlining the gaming industry's issues in this video: https://youtu.be/YGfEf8-SNPQ?si=
Off of digital media entirely Project Farm is probably one of the best out there if you're looking for tools.
I've worked as a film critic, and I was shocked by other critics. They didn't have the knowledge of cinema, directors etc to say anything meaningful other than just what they thought. The they have the film a random (seemingly) star rating or dice toss.
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You suck!
Consider yourself critiqued! That'll be $50.
The only qualifications to being a critic is having people listen to you.
Early feelings at the time about Willis feel very similar to the problem John Krasinski has. Krasinski wants to be an action star, and in a vacuum is legitimately good at the roles, but he is so well known for comedy that there is a hurdle to overcome in the minds of the audience.
Willis was obviously able to overcome his image as a pure comedy guy thanks in part part to the strength of Die Hard.
I was too young to watch Moonlighting when it was on TV, so I never knew Bruce Willis as anything other than an action and drama guy until he was on Friends for a few episodes, and then I thought he was out of place.
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I never watched the office so I don't have that impression of him, but his face just looks too much like a Pixar character for me to take him seriously as an action hero. I did enjoy Jack Ryan but I felt like a different actor would've been better.
I feel that way about Jack Black. I could not take him seriously in King Kong.
Critics for movies tend to shit on everything I like. Critics for video games tend to overrate games highly way too much.
I don't know about game critics, but movie critics have (usually) studied film on an academic level, and watched a whole fuck ton of movies for the purpose of breaking them down and analyzing them. They're not watching and/or thinking about movies like most people. Of course they will judge them differently.
Yeah. I basically focusing on nitpicky professional details and missing the "is this movie entertaining/fun" part.
You can differentiate between if a film is "objectively" good and subjectively enjoyable to yourself.
The problem is critics are people who always value the new and interesting, and good acting. Because they watch a lot of movies, day in day out.
Sometimes normal viewers just want something dumb that's exactly what they expect.
For me, it's not Bruce that's great in Die Hard. It's Rickman. Die Hard 3 does better on the protagonist side because of the chemistry between Jackson and Willis, but again it's the classically trained theatre actor doing a lot of the heavy lifting, single-handedly stopping it from turning into an episode of Blue's Clues.
In his latest movie, Bruce Willis plays a cop trying to rekindle his ailing marriage. A classic romantic comedy setting which unfortunately gets bogged down by a bizarre terrorist sub plot which ends up taking way too much screen time.
Sadly we're going to recommend giving this one a pass.
The issue was Bruce Willis at the time was more or less regarded as a comedy star as his last several movies were romantic comedy's.
No one really expected this movie or knew how to approach it.
And the last thing you want is a confused movie critic with a masters in Spanish literature trying to figure out if the movie was good or not!
"This thing doesn't have a single horse? What's up with that?!"
I don’t recall the reviews of the first movie but I vividly recall LOTS of articles exclaiming about all the unnecessary violence in the second movie. One news piece had some “expert” show how many times MacLaine would have died, broken bones, etc if it were real. So much free advertising.
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Normally when critics don't like it it's a good movie.
Lots of critical have liked lots of good movies
On Rotten tomatoes the movies I've disliked most have 90s and my favourite movies are below 50
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Unpopular opinion but I don’t think this movie is good lol. I get that it’s very nostalgic and it has its moments but otherwise it’s not too different from any other late 80’s/early 90’s action film. Which is frankly not a high bar to achieve.
I understand how, in retrospect, it may feel like it isn’t groundbreaking, but do consider that before Die Hard, there really wasn’t anything quite like it.
A quote straight from Wikipedia:
It is considered to have revitalized the action genre, largely due to its depiction of McClane as a vulnerable and fallible protagonist, in contrast to the muscle-bound and invincible heroes of other films of the period.
While it did sort of fall apart and away from what made it great in the later sequels, I think it’s important to put the film into the context of when it was released and what it did to the genre.
All that to say, Die Hard fucking rules.
Exactly, this is 100% Seinfeld is Unfunny material.
In the eighties, action films preferred invincible heroes who slaughtered mooks by the dozen with casual disdain. Die Hard popularized grittier and more realistic action, with heroes who are vulnerable and suffer from character faults. It also popularized the concept of action movies confined to limited space, a setup that this very wiki calls ""Die Hard" on an X". (For example, Speed is "Die Hard on a bus.") Also, at the time it came out, people were shocked at the idea of a comedic actor like Bruce Willis being an action star. Nowadays, what with Tom Hanks Syndrome, comedic actors doing serious roles aren't nearly so amazing. Younger fans might not even know Willis got his start in comedy.
Same reason I like Dredd from 2012. They confined the story mostly to a location and one main enemy, and I think it helped a bit cause Dredd generally has no flaws and can't be beat.
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Just learned about the Seinfeld is Unfunny trope from your comment. What a helpful expression in describing media/pop culture progenitors!
Yeah it's a good way of realizing why certain things from your past felt so amazing at the time, but are seen as less impressive to people just experiencing it now. It's hard to describe just how awe inspiring The Matrix was to see in the theaters, or how incredible Golden Eye felt to play on the Nintendo 64 for the first time. Looking back, those things feel like one of a million other movies and games. But that's only because a million other movies and games were changed forever because of them.
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That was my complaint after Die Hard with a Vengeance. He became a little indestructible and lost some of the flaws that made the character exciting to watch. The first 3 are great in keeping true to the character, but the movies after DHwaV are just generic action movies borrowing a character’s name.
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it was so different because he was an anti-hero, and he got visibly beat thoroughly and never stopped being a smart ass about it.
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That's because it set the mould, and dozens of copy cats followed the formula thereafter.
It's like looking at Half-Life in 2023 as someone who never played it in 1999. It doesn't look like much of anything; but that's because everything that followed copied it.
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My kids watched it for the first time ever last weekend. They had no nostalgia or frame of reference for it and yet they both loved it - “the dumbest fun movie I’ve seen in ages”. We’re watching #2 tonight.
I've always told people they're thinking too much when they watch these movies. Just have fun. They're ridiculous, that's the point.
That's the thing, it WAS different to other action movies at the time. Im not going to say you are wrong not to like it, but it can't be denied that it blazed a trail for a new type of action movie and, as a result, is loved by millions.
I mean nobody is going to call it some high art cinematic masterpiece. But it is a fun entertaining movie.
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In 1988, what was the general consensus on "fun" or "over the top" movies? Did 80s audiences not understand how fucking cool the action movies of their era were? Was it yet another critics vs average chad movie enjoyer scenario?
The audience loved those movies, thats why they became classics. But movie reviewers were much more pretentious back then. Nowadays it is more socially acceptable for a movie critic to say they had fun with a mainstream action movie.
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