Posted in: Movies | Tagged:

Why Does It Seem Like Critics Hate Everything?

Published Sat, 18 Feb 2017 15:15:19 -0600

Last updated Sat, 18 Feb 2017 15:17:41 -0600

There is a complaint that most critics get from time to time; why do you hate all the movies? It's usually at the bottom of some sort of scathing review and then used as ammo to discredit the critic's opinion. "You hate all movies so why should I trust what you say?" There are several reasons why it seems like critics hate all movies, though first we must begin with a metaphor.

Let's say you only drink one beer a year, and that beer is Keystone Light. So that means that Keystone Light was the best beer you had all year. Likewise, it comes down to the sheer number of movies that critics see in a year. If you only see one movie a year and that movie is Transformers, then Transformers was the best movie you've seen that year. The average American will see about three movies a year. A critic will see two movies a week, and that is a light week. If the critic is at a film festival she could see over twenty movies before the festival is even over. The sheer number of movies that a critic consumes on a weekly basis means they get tired of tropes a lot easier.

For example; xXx: Return of Xander Cage was just a brainless action film; as a critic we've seen that exact same gunfight four times in the last six months. A romantic comedy is maligned by the critics but loved by the public because critics have seen the same movie more times than they can count. This is why critics tend to get really excited about something that is weird or different. There are movies like Midnight Special, Melancholia, and Pan's Labyrinth which are loved by critics because they are unique and different. When you're sitting through the fifth 'family drama' movie you've seen this year, something new and different feels like a breath of fresh air.

There is also the difference in genre. If an audience member is going to go to the movies they are dropping a minimum of $6 on a ticket plus another $10 in concessions. If you are going to spend that kind of money, then of course you're going to seek out something that you are interested in. This is something else people sometimes fail to realize; we see movies even if we have zero interest. I hated Fifty Shades of Gray but I went to Fifty Shades Darker because it's my job. When people think about a critic's job, they compare it to their own movie-going experience, when in essence, they are completely different things. We need to do our jobs so we can make a living so we're going to have to see Rock Dog whether we like it or not.

The release schedule also plays a roll. While it is becoming less and less relevant these days, there are certain times that certain kinds of movies come out. A huge blockbuster will release in the summer while the kids are out of school. A horror movie releases in November. The Oscar bait comes out at the end of the year because The Academy is full of old people who can't remember a movie that came out more than a few months ago. Also, if a movie is going to qualify for an award, then it must release before the end of the year. That is why critics get giant piles of screener DVD's and why there are staggered release dates for movies like Jackie.

As there are peak zones, there are dead zones as well. The most prominent is the beginning of the year. This is when studios tend to dump movies that they don't have a lot of faith in with the logic being that everyone is out of money from the holidays, so the first thing that goes out the window are frivolous things like going to the movies. Mid-August to the beginning of October is also considered a bit of a dead zone because it's too late for the summer movies and everyone is back in school, but too early for the Oscar voters to remember your movie came out. This window gets smaller every year with huge blockbusters coming out earlier and earlier. The industry hasn't quickly adapted to the changing market, so we have these huge blocks during which nothing comes out, and what does is mostly garbage.

jackie What does that mean for the audience versus critic dynamic? Well, the fact of the matter is that the sheer volume that critics see makes the differences more obvious. While the audiences might love that dumb action movie, the critics might hate it. It's not so much that critics are out of touch; they just can't do their jobs without seeing an overwhelming amount of movies. This isn't just true for film critics but for anyone who reviews media for a living. A game reviewer will play a huge amount of games in a year, a book critic will read a huge amount, and a food critic will eat out much more than the average American, so of course they are going to be bored more easily.

So, no, critics don't hate everything, but the nature of the job does mean that our opinion can be very different from the opinions of the audience. It's the nature of the job, and you as a moviegoer or gamer or reader must decide whether or not that opinion will sway you. I usually recommend finding a critic that you usually agree with, and following their work instead of looking at scores overall. The lazy state of modern filmmaking means there is going to be more bad than good. As critics, we see it all and the bad, sadly, outweighs the good.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!