Originally Posted By Mr X ***Why WOULDN'T you want the plane to be flown by a pilot, the heart surgery to be done by a heart surgeon, or the climate change conclusions to be drawn by climatologists?*** This is way off the mark, if you ask me. Better to ask the plane be flown by a frequent flyer 'expert', the surgery by a hypochondriac, and the climate change conclusions done by a young earth creationist. Critics are just that, and nothing more. They criticize. Some do it well, some do well because of the shock factor, some are just hacks. But there's no expertise to it. There's no school for critics. They require no particular skills in the field they're commenting on (just as many here have no experience working in hospitality, but still write up plenty of reviews on theme parks, hotels, and restaurants).
Originally Posted By basil fan How can you NOT base a movie review on opinion and taste? I don't want to dis professional reviewers; I'm sure they do give their honest opinion. I'll certainly give them the benefit of the doubt. But they have their opinions and I have mine. The Tarzan Equation <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/tarzan.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/...zan.html</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck >>But there's no expertise to it. There's no school for critics.<< Ahem. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_studies" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F..._studies</a> <a href="http://www.humanities.uci.edu/filmstudies/undergrad/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.humanities.uci.edu/...ndex.php</a> <a href="http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/humanities/academics/filmstudies/" target="_blank">http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/h...studies/</a> <a href="http://www.tft.ucla.edu/faculty/film-tv-digital-media-department/cinema-media-studies-specialty/" target="_blank">http://www.tft.ucla.edu/facult...ecialty/</a> That's just a few top examples from my (Southern California) Google feed. YMMV. And are you seriously suggesting that Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin or Charles Solomon aren't experts? (I'll agree with you wholeheartedly if you're talking about the bloggers that clutter up the tomatometer. One more reason to prefer metacritic.) I'd still prefer that the frequent flyer guy fly the plane rather than a passenger who thinks blue planes are better than red ones.
Originally Posted By Mr X Maw, I appreciate the links but I'd be willing to bet there are at least as many critics who got their jobs without degrees than with. And I'll grant you a review from an 'educated' person might be slightly more nuanced when it comes to film noir (or classic cinema, maybe), are you really telling me these courses of study prepare a person to better analyse the relative excellence of a summer blockbuster? Cause that's pretty much what these critics are rating, are they not? Like I said...frequent fliers (and they probably know more about the airline industry and the ins and outs than most pilots; we STILL don't want em flying the planes, nor critiquing the pilots for that matter!).
Originally Posted By ecdc >>these people are experts in watching movies and they only have their individual taste to fall back on.<< While there's little question that the humanities differ from the sciences, being a film critic and understanding cinema goes well beyond "individual taste." When someone watches "Citizen Kane" or "Vertigo" (last year's best film of all-time according to BFI's Sight and Sound magazine) and says, "I don't get what all the fuss is about," they're revealing their ignorance, they aren't revealing that "Gee, all film is just subjective and everyone's taste is equal and therefore if 'Sister Act II: Back in the Habit' is my favorite film, then yeah, it's better than Citizen Kane." No. It doesn't work like that. Experts in film incorporate a lot of different functions into watching a film. Art deserves expertise too. Yes, there's a level of subjectivity to it, but there's a reason we value Michelangelo today and not a kid's macaroni spiral. Likewise, there's a reason one hundred years from now we want our posterity to understand the value of "12 Angry Men" vs The Twilight Saga. Be entertained. That's great. If someone thinks Dan Brown's books are the most entertaining things ever, fine. But I'm glad there's English teachers having kids read The Great Gatsby and Blood Meridian (not young kids).
Originally Posted By ecdc >>are you really telling me these courses of study prepare a person to better analyse the relative excellence of a summer blockbuster?<< Yes. Just like a literary critic might slam John Grisham and be told by the masses "oh, they're just a snob who doesn't get it," we still want those people around to give praise to the David Foster Wallaces of the world.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I find it fun to listen to a movie critic who has an opinion. David Edelstein does movie reviews from time to time on CBS Sunday Morning. I enjoy his perspective, and it's a bit like going to see a movie and then afterwards talking about it. I know some people go to movies, and just want to say 'I was entertained for 2 hours' and that's fine. I guess... I would much rather talk about the various aspects of a movie, from script to performances to special effects.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>#1 two weekends in a row...what a failure!<<< Just because it is a success in the US doesn't mean it has to be one Europe. The movie isn't doing that well over here nad we are not that familiar with Oz. I only liked the flying monkey and I guess that was because of Zach Braff voicing him.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>are you really telling me these courses of study prepare a person to better analyse the relative excellence of a summer blockbuster<< Relative to the other movies you COULD be spending your time on, yes.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I are not impressed with degrees. They really don't prove much at the end of the day. I recall when Mr. Siskel crticized The Black Cauldron for having voice actors with English accents in it. He wanted more Americanized accents instead. Obviously he isn't all that smart if he doesn't realize The Black Cauldron was a Welch Mythology. Of course it's appropriate for there to be voice actors with English accents in our film!! He certainly showed his ignorance with those comments. At the end of the day, professional movie critics aren't any more qualified to give an opinion than you or I. Their opinions aren't any more valuable than yours or mine.
Originally Posted By Terminus I liked it. Not a huge fan of all the casting choices, but overall, it was entertaining.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Just because it is a success in the US doesn't mean it has to be one Europe.>> Or anyone else for that matter. It's second weekend was pretty weak - $47m - and it has now opened in 85% of markets. In some territories it is grossing less than a third that achieved by Alice in Wonderland. Even markets that lap up 3D (like Russia) saw massive second week collapses (c.70%). At this rate I think it will top out short of $300m internationally (compared to nearly $700m for Alice) - it might make it to $250m domestically but that isn't breakeven. I'd be amazed if we saw a sequel - I think this one will be like TRON: Legacy - it will need a very strong script and director to get it approved. Anyhow they have plenty of other stuff to mine now that Pete's Dragon is on the slate. I guess Bedknobs and Broomsticks isn't far behind.
Originally Posted By dagobert So I guess 2013 will be another bad year for the Disney Studios, excluding Marvel and Pixar. The only other Disney movie this year is the Lone Ranger. By the way I'm really looking forward to this movie. >>>I'd be amazed if we saw a sequel - I think this one will be like TRON: Legacy - it will need a very strong script and director to get it approve<<< Is there a chance to see another Tron movie, because I really liked Legacy.
Originally Posted By leemac <<The only other Disney movie this year is the Lone Ranger.>> It is (allegedly) now a $300m movie and the tracking is very poor. I expect they will ramp up marketing spend shortly but at the moment it is tracking way behind the other major summer blockbusters (worth adding that Iron Man 3 is tracking through the roof - that will probably break $1bn). I've seen about 45 minutes of it and it didn't hold my attention at all.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Is there a chance to see another Tron movie, because I really liked Legacy.>> I found Legacy to be indeterminably dull. Absolutely nothing of interest for me. The Studio continues to claim that the script is being worked on but I'll be surprised if it ever spawns a sequel. Joe Kosinski releases his follow-up in a few weeks - Uni's Oblivion with Tom Cruise. Although it looks interested it isn't tracking well at all. It has all the gloss and sheen of Prometheus IMHO - which ain't good.
