Almost everybody has an interest in entertainment whether it involves movies, television, music, video games, books or public speaking. Forty-six percent of Americans go to the movies at least once a year and fourteen percent go to theaters on a monthly basis (Statista, 2019). As many people consider themselves to be moviegoers, nowhere near as many pay attention to film criticism. Whether it involves reading reviews on Rotten Tomatoes or watching film critics on YouTube, reading or watching movie reviews can be equally as entertaining as watching a movie. Many times you can agree with what others have to say and on other occasions, one can disagree with a professional who even gets paid to review content. There is no such thing as an answer to if a movie is good or bad. Rotten Tomatoes may declare a movie “fresh” or “rotten” but only you can declare if a movie is actually bad or good.
//stephenfollows.com/how-many-films-are-released-each-year
With the exception of movie theaters being closed to the COVID-19 pandemic, big budget films are released on a weekly basis. Around one hundred movies get a national release in a year (Follows, 2017). Following movie critics in a way similar to following celebrities on social media can make your experience of going to the movie theater much more exciting as one can get a glimpse of what to expect from an upcoming movie as most professional critics get to see films before its official release. In order to gain respect from their fans, no well known movie critics ever give heavy spoilers away in their reviews. If they ever do discuss spoilers about a recently released movie, they are always aware to alert their audiences on if they are about to mention something that could ruin one’s experience with a movie on first viewing. Reading or watching movie reviews makes going to the movies more exciting as it is always fun to see if one agrees with their favorite critics or not. Many critics also discuss movie news as well such as if a big casting for an upcoming movie gets announced or if a well known movie director gets hired to direct a film from a beloved franchise. It is always fun to be active and see what is going on in the world of cinema whether it involves the public’s reaction to if a new movie is worth seeing or not and the production news of an upcoming film.
Going to the movie theater usually isn’t very cheap. Theaters mainly profit from selling food and snacks at the concession stands opposed to selling tickets (Morgan, 2019). But when one becomes an avid follower of film critics, they have a better clue of what to expect and decide if the movie coming out the following weekend should be worth their money or not. Chris Stuckmann never only says things such as “this movie was boring, bad or not worth your money” without giving reasons on why he feels that way towards a certain film. In Stuckmann’s review for Dragonball Evolution, he mentioned that the movie was disrespectful towards his favorite childhood cartoon as it didn’t even attempt to follow the source material, made such beloved characters unlikable and he was also able to point out how the acting in the film was very weak, how the dialogue was poorly written and how the action sequences were very poorly choreographed (Stuckmann, 2016). Rotten Tomatoes gives every movie two percentages out of one hundred percent, one representing what the certified critics had to say and the other representing the fans who are not certified critics. The higher the percentage of a film’s tomatometer, the more the movie is recommended. The average price of a movie ticket in 2021 is nine dollars and sixteen cents (McIntyre, 2021) and that could be a fortune for many Americans. Paying attention to what critics think about a film or paying attention to a Rotten Tomatoes score can really help one decide if they believe if seeing a movie in theaters is worth their money or not.
In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilms and announced that they will be releasing new Star Wars movies and other forms of content as well. During the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plenty of exciting news was announced as beloved Sci-Fi director JJ Abrams was hired to direct the first film of the new trilogy, the news that the original actors of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa would all be returning to reprise their roles and that the film would be released around Christmas time. I learned all of that information from my favorite movie critics throughout the three year span of when the movie was announced to when it was released. Because of my new found passion for cinema, December 17th of 2015 was a night that I will always remember as one of my favorite nights of my life as I had been following the news of the production of the new Star Wars film for three years prior, I finally got to see the most anticipated movie of my lifetime. The fact that I had been so invested in film criticism and movie news before my first viewing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it made that experience very special for me.
There is so much more to a movie than the acting or the special effects. If a movie fails to be good, more people should deserve the blame than only the director. There can be so many causes of a film being good or bad from the directing, the acting, writing, cinematography, special effects, the structure of how the story was told and much more. When becoming a follower of a movie critic, one learns more about the production of a film as the critics address what went right or wrong with how well d
Becoming a member of the mainstream movie industry may depend on the luck of getting discovered by an agent. But that doesn’t take away from how talented so many actors, directors, writers, producers and cinematographers actually are. Paying attention to film criticism helps one realize how effective those individuals who worked on a movie’s impact comes into play as critics address what worked well and what didn’t with a certain aspect of the film. In Sean Chandler’s review of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Chandler didn’t believe that it was wise writing to have the character of Tony Stark give the teenager Peter Parker a pair of glasses that involved his technology (Chandler, 2019) . On the other side of the spectrum, in Chandler’s review for Avengers: Endgame, Chandler praised the Russo Brothers who directed the film for their ability to have so much fan service in their movie while also making it compelling to the story.
In 2015, it became traditional for movie theaters to release movies on Thursday evening instead of midnight premiere showings or having the first screening of a movie at the theater be on a Friday afternoon. Seeing movies on opening night can become a very fun activity as one can see movies as soon as it’s possibly available. A friend of mine mentioned to me that he was told that Han Solo dies in Star Wars: The Force Awakens before he was able to see the movie. While seeing a movie as soon as it’s available to the public, the chances would be very low of an event in the movie to be spoiled for you before seeing it. For every movie from a well known franchise, most critics release a separate video from their original review discussing spoilers to their fans who have already seen the movie the day it is initially released. It can also become very fun and exciting to hear your favorite critic’s opinions towards spoilers immediately after seeing the movie.
Since movies became a passion of mine in 2014, becoming members of fandoms can be another fun part of being passionate about movies and film criticism. Movie franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter and Pixar have several fans who are very loyal to the franchises to a point where it can become equivalent to being a fan of a sports team. Being a huge fan of Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel movies inspired me to go on a vacation to Disney World last year where one can be surrounded by others with similar interests who belong to the same fandom. Many critics out there consider themselves to be members of fandoms as fans of those critics can become attached to them sharing common interests. Franchises that are capable of drawing millions of fans can create their own cults that can bring people together who share common interests.
Chandler, Sean, director. Avengers: Endgame | Movie Review (Spoiler Free). YouTube, YouTube, 23 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSWBHtqqdiE.
Chandler, Sean, director. Spider-Man Far From Home - Spoiler Review. YouTube, YouTube, 3 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=jES4vYxEU08.
Follows, Stephen. “How Many Films Are Released Each Year?” Stephen Follows, 21 Nov. 2017, stephenfollows.com/how-many-films-are-released-each-year/.
McIntyre, Douglas A. “This Is the Price of a Movie Ticket in the Past 25 Years.” 247 Wall St, 24/7 Wall St., 29 Mar. 2021, 247wallst.com/media/2021/03/29/this-is-the-price-of-a-movie-ticket-in-the-past-25-years/.
Morgan, Clancy. “17 Sneaky Ways Movie Theaters Get You to Spend More Money.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 2 Aug. 2019, www.businessinsider.com/movie-theaters-sneaky-ways-spend-more-money-amc-regal-2019-8.
Stoll, Julia. “Movie Theater Attendance Statistics in U.S.” Statista, 4 June 2019, www.statista.com/statistics/264396/frequency-of-going-to-the-movies-in-the-us/.
Stuckmann, Chris, director. Dragonball: Evolution - Hilariocity Review. YouTube, 31 Jan. 2016, youtu.be/L-yUfsxw7es.
As forty-six percent of Americans go to the movies at least once a year, film criticism could appeal to many more people. Simply following professionals who review movies for living can make anybody's experience of going to the movies a lot more enjoyable. It is not necessary to have all of the knowledge of how a movie is filmed or what went into the production, but only watching or reading other's opinions can definitely change one's opinion on cinema in a very positive way.
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