MrGrunge
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2011
- Messages
- 3,797
But that's the whole point of this forum! To argue about stupid things that don't matter!
And so to continue arguing about stupid things, I have to disagree when you say the audience determines a good movie. That privilege belongs to the film crew (directors/editors/sound/music/production/etc) - those are the only people who can determine the quality of the movie because they are the people with all the creative power. The audience determines the success of the movie, not it's quality.
Critics, on the other hand, don't 'determine' anything - they merely look for a film's technical faults/prowess and report them. Sometimes their pre-release reports can effect how much exposure/advertising a film receives (which in turn let's the producers know how many theaters the movie will play in [if any] and for how long), but for the most part critics are widely ignored by general movie-going audiences because their expectations have already been set by trailers/marketing.
That said, film criticism is important for the industry. There needs to be a check and balance for Hollywood's penchant for extravagance and style over actual substance and it's the critic's job to call them out on it. Critics tend to be very well-versed in film techniques and film history and as a result are good at determining where a filmmaker cut corners, or was otherwise lazy/inept in his portrayal (although, granted, much of film is subjective and not all critics are equal in their assessments). As long as there is some reasonable voice of dissent shouting into the ether of the great Hollywood machine, there is accountability, which is itself a form of quality control.
Then again, Grown Ups 2 beat out Pacific Rim this weekend with a $41 million gross, so there really is no accounting for the depth of stupidity in this country.
