Topic: About critics

[Eric]

It seems that almost every time I check how so called "critics" rated a movie, it turns into a smartass contest as soon as one of them writes a bad one.  It's as though the movie doesn't count anymore and the only thing that does is to be harder than the previous one.

[Jimmy]

They do bad reviews in our province

Everytime I see one for any french canadian movie it's like it was the best movie ever made in the world

But to anwser your question you have to choose your critic at least on the web since most people reviewing movies know nothing about film history. A good reviewer like Nathaniel Thompson is very useful but a dumb one who have no clue about what he is talking about like Tom Becker is worst than useless.

[Dragonfire]

I don't bother with a lot of reviews from critics.  With ones I have read within the last few months, it does seem like - at least for some of them - that they set out wanting to tear apart the movies they see, especially if they are one of the bigger movies of the summer/year/whatever and that they will rip apart whatever movie they target regardless of how good the movie actually is.  With some of them, it really seems like they make up their mind ahead of time and nothing will change it.  Yes some of the popular movies aren't....high quality, but they can still be fun and entertaining.  A lot of critics seem to have forgotten that or never knew it in the first place. 

[addicted2dvd]

I stopped reading/watching "professional" reviewers many years ago... as I quickly found I seldomly.... if ever agreed with them. Don't think I checked one out in the last 20 to 30 years.

[DJ Doena]

I only read the german Spiegel's website reviews and then tend to do the absolute opposite of what the critics are saying. If they praise it, it's probably an übersophisticated snoozefest and if they tear it to shreads, it's probably a highly enjoyable summer blockbuster.

The most grating reviewer I've ever read is a german guy by the name of Rüdiger Suchsland who writes - amongst other sites - for the aforementioned Spiegel Online. Most of the time it appears as if he hasn't really watched the movies he's reviewing but washed the dishes in the kitchen while listening to the movie in the living room. And yet je piles on how this part was bad and this part reflected Nazi ideology - but you can sure about one thing: if he praises a movie, you never want to see it in your life.

[Blair]

Critics aren't worthless; they serve a purpose for some. But they aren't as important as the pedestal they are put on by being called "critics" instead of just "someone that watched the movie."

A critic's review isn't going to be able to indicate if individuals are going to like the movie (unless they are sheep and do whatever the reviewer says.)

[Dragonfire]

I don't read much from critics anymore.  It is only once in a while..and I'm not sure why I bother.  There have been some for new movies in theaters that I saw the movie and it really does seem like the critic was writing based off of the press release or something instead of having actually watched the movie.

[Achim]

The most grating reviewer I've ever read is a german guy by the name of Rüdiger Suchsland who writes - amongst other sites - for the aforementioned Spiegel Online. Most of the time it appears as if he hasn't really watched the movies he's reviewing but washed the dishes in the kitchen while listening to the movie in the living room. And yet je piles on how this part was bad and this part reflected Nazi ideology - but you can sure about one thing: if he praises a movie, you never want to see it in your life.

So, this goes to show that reviewers can be useful...

[DSig]

So ... what is the difference between critics and reviewers?  Although I don't spend much time at all reading 'reviews' I do scan a few and get the 'flavour' of what each person saw.  Heck i even read what people write here <G>.
For me the problem is when the 'reviewer' gets too serious.  I think that to often they can't get past the 'craft' of the film.  Maybe because they can't do it themselves.