WETA Around Town: Nell Minow on “The Big Sick”
Posted on June 20, 2017 at 2:50 pm
Is it the Critics’ Fault if People Don’t Go to the Movie?
Posted on June 12, 2017 at 2:31 am
They’re blaming the critics again. Quartz’s Ashley Rodriguez writes:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Baywatch were never going to be critical darlings. The former is the fifth film in a franchise that should have been retired years ago, if Hollywood had any mercy at all. And the other is an action-comedy about lifeguards. Enough said. Both movies led the domestic box office to its worst Memorial Day weekend showing in nearly 20 years.
In the fallout, are Hollywood producers blaming the writers? The actors? Themselves? (Of course not.) No, they are reportedly blaming Rotten Tomatoes.
They say the movie-review site, which forces critics to assign either a rotten or fresh tomato to each title when submitting reviews, regardless of the nuances of their critiques, poisoned viewers against the films before they were released.
Don’t kill the messenger. If people want to show a little caution before spending the money for a movie ticket by checking with a trusted critic or even a quick look at an aggregate score, then that is their right. If the studios do not like the reviews, they should make better movies. The fact that the audience score is almost always higher than the critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes is due to a selection bias; the people who buy tickets for a film do so because they think they will like it and once they’ve spent the time and money they are literally invested in the film. More important, that score is on Rotten Tomatoes for any potential ticket-buyer who would like to be guided by it.
Eater at the Movies — A Critic With….Taste
Posted on May 3, 2017 at 3:32 pm
I love people who write about movies from a specialized perspective and was delighted to discover Eater at the Movies, a column by Joshua David Stein about food in movies and movies about food — television, too.
There’s commentary about Pop’s Diner in “Riverdale,” based on the Archie comics:
In its Riverdale iteration, Pop’s once-comforting neon sign has been mined for all its creepy echoes of small town America. The neon flickers and what was once a beacon is now a luminous cicatrix in the dusk. The sign is a sign. The entire series operates on the premise that that which seems benign must be malign.
And he writes about “The Founder,” based on the story of McDonald’s. He reviews the film as a whole, not just the depiction of food preparation and consumption. He doesn’t like “Mr. Church,” but he correctly identifies “Tampopo” as one of the all-time great food movies. Bon Apetit!
Nathan Rabin’s New Movie Site
Posted on May 2, 2017 at 3:44 pm
Nathan Rabin is one of my favorite critics and I am currently reading his book My Year of Flops: The A.V. Club Presents One Man’s Journey Deep into the Heart of Cinematic Failure with great pleasure.
He has just started a new website, Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place, where he’ll be writing about movies, Weird Al Yankovic (they wrote a book together), and lots of other stuff. If you are as big a fan as I am, you’ll want to provide some support via Patreon.
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists: Movie of the Week — Their Finest
Posted on March 23, 2017 at 8:00 am
I am really enjoying being a part of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ panel for their new Movie of the Week feature. This week’s pick is the touching and entertaining “Their Finest,” about filmmakers in WWII England, starring Bill Nighy, Gemma Arterton, and Sam Claflin.
Each week, AWFJ will pick a movie of particular interest to women, either people of the people behind the camera or the story itself. Be sure to check out each week’s selection.