I feel like it’s the opposite. You are losing touch with the critics. As today there are so many and you are not as “faithful” towards one source anymore. You are getting reviews from all sorts of sources, good and bad.
Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
141–150 of 421 posts
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#142So the main takeaway here for me is that more low budget (“indie” or “film festival”, my terms) movies are getting to theaters and being loved by critics, but people hate them. My wife and I have a rule in our household. Anything that was awarded at a film festival (Sundance in particular) I will not watch with her. This analysis backs up the feelings I’ve had that lead to that agreement… Any movie that does well wit…
>Any movie that does well with critics or at a film festival has “a strong message” or “teaches us something”.
If you find that every time you watch a film festival movie you are being lectured too, I think it has more to do with your wife's film choices, not the indie circuit. Nicolas Cage's Pig was a very well received movie at plenty of film festivals last year, and it's just about a chef searching for a pig.
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#143So the main takeaway here for me is that more low budget (“indie” or “film festival”, my terms) movies are getting to theaters and being loved by critics, but people hate them. My wife and I have a rule in our household. Anything that was awarded at a film festival (Sundance in particular) I will not watch with her. This analysis backs up the feelings I’ve had that lead to that agreement… Any movie that does well wit…
To cover the comments, particularly the guy whose comment is dead, yes, raunchy comedies. Also 90% of the Blockbuster movies.
Perhaps I’d have done better if I said I don’t like being preached at.
For an example, Juno: Yes, I get it, unwed mothers are bad. Should I watch a Lifetime special about it just so I can cry about how horrible things are?
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#144So the main takeaway here for me is that more low budget (“indie” or “film festival”, my terms) movies are getting to theaters and being loved by critics, but people hate them. My wife and I have a rule in our household. Anything that was awarded at a film festival (Sundance in particular) I will not watch with her. This analysis backs up the feelings I’ve had that lead to that agreement… Any movie that does well wit…
> Any movie that does well with critics or at a film festival has “a strong message” or “teaches us something”. If you find that every time you watch a film festival movie you are being lectured too, I think it has more to do with your wife's film choices, not the indie circuit. Nicolas Cage's Pig was a very well received movie at plenty of film festivals last year, and it's just about a chef searching for a pig.
Yes, I’m sure there is a movie here and there. Honestly, I don’t care enough to even compare the list anymore, that’s how we came up with the rule.
Edit: and I think we’ll all try to forgive you for recommending anything with Nicholas Cage…
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#145I feel like the mass of people are ossifying around the familiar. People like re-watching the same stuff that they've already watched, they're comfortable these days watching reboots of the same superhero movies. They like big budgets and flashy special effects. They don't like being challenged by anything. Even when it comes to something like online forums, something like reddit is mostly a wasteland of the same 50…
My theory is that: You make a massively appealing thing by removing what people don’t like, not by adding something they do. The truly mass market media is devoid of substance because of that.
Hence why I feel that the most interesting things are those which are polarizing.
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
What sorts of films don't lecture?
>What sorts of films don't lecture? the kind that confirm my existing ideology. i don't know if you've noticed, but people who do things that i understand are totally normal, and people who are different from me have dumb ideas. it's annoying when they talk.
Blah, blah, blah…
Not every moment has to be a teachable one.
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#147Film critics want triumphs. Audiences want to be entertained. Will Smith was a ridiculous, inauthentic disaster in King Richard, but won Best Actor anyway.
The critics don't decide the Oscars, the academy does. It's more a political thing than a statement of quality.
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#148I suspect film might just be dead as an artistic medium that can be enjoyed by lots of people. I maybe go to a movie theatre once every couple of years these days, the rest of the time I watch things at home. It’s a hard ask to set aside two contiguous hours (or more!) to watch a film when there are so many good series or video games that demand less contiguous attention. People will rant about attention spans I gues…
Almost all my friends echo your sentiment that film is much harder to commit to than a TV show; and I can't disagree more. Watching a TV series means I'm committing to 8+ hours per season, across many days of my life. A film, even a 2 hour one, I watch in an evening and can enjoy taking it in in full, with all questions that it wants to answer itself being answered. A TV show will end with cliffhangers each episode just to make sure it demands your attention again tomorrow night.
That's not to say TV=bad, movies=good; just that IME respect your time way more and are easier to commit to most nights.
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
also consider the fact that you might have a 40 year old reviewing videogames when the target audience is like 4 years old. my kid and the typical video game reviewer probably have different opinions about the latest paw patrol game.
I sometimes hear this, but I disagree. If you're 40 years old, you need to be able to consume any kind of media and then place yourself into the mindset of a younger person and judge it from that mindset - because you used to be that younger person. Truly exceptional media is good enough to transcend the age barrier and is enjoyable for everyone, e.g., The Incredibles is enjoyable for young kids because it's a cartoo…
The funny thing is that games used to be FAR more punishing than they are today. Give an 8 year old (or hell, a 16 year old for that matter) Super Mario Bros. Watch their reaction when they get to World 1-3 or something and then lose all of their lives and realize that the game doesn't care, they have to start ALL the way from the beginning. Compare that to Elden Ring, which has difficult boss fights but otherwise isn't any harder than any level of one of those old games.
Re: Are film critics losing sync with audiences?
#150I feel like the mass of people are ossifying around the familiar. People like re-watching the same stuff that they've already watched, they're comfortable these days watching reboots of the same superhero movies. They like big budgets and flashy special effects. They don't like being challenged by anything. Even when it comes to something like online forums, something like reddit is mostly a wasteland of the same 50…
I thought the reboots were in order to retain property rights, and that with 2-3 years between reboots aimed at teens, there are a new batch of teens. So it seems like a win-win: renew property rights and lure in the new batch of teens.