Jul 10, 2016

Film Criticism is Garbage

A flaming, burning, dumpster fire. That’s how I’d describe the state of film criticism in America. It sucks, and there was a time when it didn’t. I’ve pretended to be a writer from time to time, and I do love to give a brief opinion on nonfiction films that I watch over at docuphiles.com. For the most part though I’ve been a consumer of film criticism. In fact, I fell in love with movies, and decided to become a filmmaker one night watching Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. My father would let my brother and me stay up for the opening two skits of Saturday Night Live then off to bed we’d go. However, if we “fell asleep” he’d leave us be. So many a Saturday night I’d pretend to sleep, and about the halfway mark, or first musical performance, my Dad would be asleep as well. After SNL ended on our local NBC affiliate, Siskel and Ebert at the Movies would would air. I guess it had to be 1994, and that night the two legends were discussing a perceived injustice, a snub. The documentary “Hoop Dreams” had been excluded from the documentary category of the Academy Awards. I had never heard film discussed in such a manner, I had never seen anyone discuss film/filmmaking with such passion. I went to my local video store and rented the VHS of “Hoop Dreams”, shout out to Landall’s Box Office in Portales, NM, and my life was never the same.

I’m not sure exactly what has changed, but I know it has. Of course, I’d be willing to wager that it may just be me, aging, changing, and getting tired of people telling me what to think. However, there are 2 film critics who I still admire and read regularly. They challenge and educate me and I’m grateful they continue to write and work. Wesley Morris of the New York Times, and Richard Brody of the New Yorker, are the only two critics I take seriously. The rest are more like this guy,

Self absorbed smarmy jackasses. Ok, maybe not ALL of them, but from my observations, MOST of them. I’m no scientist, and have never read enough, or done enough research to make anything more than an anecdotal note, but from everything I’ve seen and read film crticism as an art itself, is over. Maybe this is my, “get off my lawn” moment, but the more I read the more I realize that instead of writing criticism, of the history, aesthetic, themes, and storytelling most critics write from the stand point of, “here’s how I would have made this movie, and because this person didn’t make it this way, it sucks!” That’s one mode, another arises from the Comic Book Movie Industrial Complex, in which nerds take sides and review films in their hearts before they ever see them with their eyes. Read the reviews of Batman vs. Superman, then read the gushing, orgasmic reviews of Captain America: Civil War. I’m not taking sides, both movies are mediocre, and really, are pretty much the exact same in story and function, theme and style. Personal opinion, bias, and “please look at me” seem to be the main motivator of film reviews in 2016.

Ebert wrote heavily from personal experience too, yet he was able to not make his own life the final say in a movie’s quality, but rather an informative tool to his understanding of the reviewed film. Just peruse the great movies section on his website and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

Social media is the culprit, as it is with so many of our current society’s failings, in which people have all claimed their place on their own platform and scream from the rooftops Disagree, and not only are you WRONG, but you’re an idiot and a terrible person. We’ve built echo chambers on the structure of what we also claim as democratic digital platforms. Tastemaking has gotten worse, elitism has gotten worse, and those same classes of film critics and media makers have been able to build bases of “yes men” just like major corporations that are too big to fail.

Our opinions aren’t too big to fail, it’s that many film critics believe their egos are. It’s sickening, and frightening. I can imagine the outrage and mockery I’m about to receive on twitter.

EDIT: I honestly never realized anyone would read this. I just want to clarify that this refers mostly to blogs and internet only based film criticism, not to published(newspapers) works or magazines.

The twitter reaction to my opinion is great though, and pretty much proof of my thesis.