Movie Reviewers are Liars
Movie Reviewers are Liars
And what to do about it
There was a time when the word of a professional movie reviewer meant something. If Roger Ebert said to go see a movie, people did, no questions asked. No one knew or cared who Roger Ebert voted for in the presidential election. They didn’t suspect him of taking money from movie studios. And even when a viewer disagreed with one of his opinions, they still continued to trust him overall.
He didn’t like The Usual Suspects. I loved it.
He REALLY didn’t like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalow. I still love that ridiculous movie to this day.
But Ebert was to be trusted. And I genuinely admired him. So did millions of other people.
Ebert wasn’t the only big movie reviewer attached to a newspaper that people trusted, but he was the most famous. And sadly, with his death in 2013, he may be the last one.
Why?
Because no one believes professional movie reviewers anymore. And for good reasons. They’re liars. Craven, corporate liars.
When it comes to movies and tv shows, the distrust in professional critics comes through loud and clear on the site Rotten Tomatoes. In comparing the critics scores with the audience scores, it is patently obvious in some cases that 1) The critics have been paid to say nice things about a movie or show or 2) The movie or show matches the critics’ politics… and they don’t care that the movie itself is bad.
The result of this is that YouTube reviewers and Redditors have become far more trusted than anyone who works for a traditional outlet like Rogerebert.com or the NY Times.
A Double-Edged Sword
It is a good thing to democratize reviews. Having more voices allows us as viewers to pick and choose whose tastes most closely align with ours and make solid decisions about how to spend our time and money. For me, if it's not tightly plotted and laser-focused on the characters, I don't want it. So even though reviewers like YouTube’s Daniel Greene are honest, they have different tastes than mine. So I take their word with a grain of salt.
On the other hand, I know if The Critical Drinker gives it the thumbs up, then I will pay money to see it and make the time to do so.
For instance, he is the only reason I bothered to watch House of the Dragon. I was fully prepared to skip it because the last season of Game of Thrones basically ruined the franchise. But The Drinker said it was good. He said it was worth watching. So I did.
Why? Because I believe him.
I believe what he says and his good intentions. I trust in his ability to determine what makes a good plot, what makes characters believable and sympathetic, and what slow burns are worth the wait.
Even though he gets ad revenue from his videos, he didn't get any profit from HBO for recommending this particular show. He’s an actual reviewer. Not a shill.
The mainstream reviewers have lost that, and art as a whole is poorer for it. We are at peak content on so many different streaming services. There’s no way we can know what to watch. What’s good? What’s worth spending the few precious free hours I have?
No one from The Guardian or Variety will tell me. Not with any level of honesty. They’re too busy giving me studio-approved talking points. And it genuinely makes me sad.
The question becomes: what can we as consumers do to find the gold hidden in the haybales?
Support independent reviewers by subscribing to their channels, leaving reviews, sharing their videos, and (if applicable) maybe contributing to their Patreon or other subscription model.
Review movies you liked on sites like Rotten Tomatoes so other patrons can make good decisions.
If you hear about a movie that’s coming out soon, TELL PEOPLE. In the age of ad blockers and cord-cutting, it’s easy to never see movie previews. I subscribed to a channel especially to see upcoming trailers, but not everyone does. So spread the word.
Finally,
VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET. Hollywood makes decisions based on box office sales, not on streaming numbers. So if there’s a movie coming out that you want to see more of, pay to go see it. Even if you’re antisocial like me.
I’ve been known to take off work to go see a movie, just so the theater will be mostly empty. Don’t tell anyone :)
SPEAKING OF REVIEWS…
I plan to run some advertising for my books this year, but in order to get some of the best promos, I need 20 RATINGS for my book.
So if you have read Sunder of Time and liked it, I would be grateful if you could rate and review it on Amazon. That will allow me to advertise with Bargain Booksy.
(And if you haven’t read it, you can always rectify that today)
