Episode 56: Fresh Tomatoes

"And when the skies are open/we'll still be singing this/I know they're coming for me/we're not the pitchfork kids."

                                                     -AJR, "Pitchfork Kids"

   By this point everyone who knows me knows I love superheroes. It's an inseparable fact of who I am. You don't have me without that passion of mine. With as much as I love superheroes, I've seen many tv shows and movies. New superhero movies each year are a clockwork event for me; I must go see the new ones within the week it's out. 

    Now, part of consuming so much visual entertainment is the reviews that come with it. I'm sure you're familiar with the website Rotten Tomatoes. It's the biggest name when it comes to reviewers - it compiles an aggregate of critic reviews of a thing to give it a percentage score - bad things are rotten and good things are fresh. They also provide an aggregate of audience reviews. 

    The thing is, over time I've learned to pay no heed to the critic percentage, and pay little (but some) heed to the audience percentage. I figure that I am going to see the thing for myself and decide how I like it myself; not care about what other people have to say about it.

    Critics hate things that I have very much enjoyed. All the time I hear people trash on Green Lantern, but I thought that was a very good movie. People also often hate on Iron Man 3, but I think that it is firmly the second best of the Iron Man trilogy (Iron Man 2 does deserve some bashing). I also hear a lot of hatred for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Perhaps I'm blinded by nostalgia. I remember seeing that movie as an eight-year-old. It was for a friend's birthday; I was there with that friend, some others, and the main friend's dad. I remember after the movie ended, I looked at one of my friends and said "he's like, my favorite superhero now". Again, maybe it's just nostalgia, but I like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The internet will have you believe that the makers of this movie pooped out a horrid and embarrassing excuse for a film, but I think it's a good movie. There are better X-Men movies, especially Days of Future Past and Logan, but I to this day think it's a fine movie.

    For a recent release, look at Black Adam. The critic score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at a 39%, while the audience score sits at an 89%. Take it from Mr. Hardy: the movie is not that bad, but it is not that good either. I'd give it perhaps a 76%. That sounds good. Obviously my position is a lot closer to the audience score, which supports my main message of this episode: not listening to critics.

   Critics are people whose job it is to judge things. Never listen to someone who is paid exclusively to judge things. Why? These people get so used to their own opinions that they decide what constitutes a good or bad movie - and they get set in their ways. They don't think outside the box; if something checks their personal marks for a good or bad movie, that's what it is. Also, I don't mean to sound like an angry conservative flopping his keyboard at the libtards - but I think some critics are afraid to offend. They are afraid to judge something made by minorities or by LGBTQ+ people because they're afraid of being labelled a racist, homophobe, sexist, what have you. I remember when Black Lightning premiered and critics thought it was peak television. Black Panther is often called one of the best MCU movies. Both things are good, especially the latter, but they aren't masterpieces like critics would have you believe. Celebrate works made by minorities, by all means, but don't call something good just because it was made by a minority. Exact same goes for white people and straight people.

In Conclusion

  Watch the movies and shows you want and decide your own opinion on them. Don't listen to what reviews have to say, as they may conflict with how you feel. That may seem odd coming from someone who regularly reviews things. But that's because not all reviews are bad. If you're reviewing something, just make sure you have actual reasons for how you feel and that you provide and explain those reasons. Rotten Tomatoes critics will call something horrible and their review will just say something like "stinky fart bad movie". That's not good reviewing. Anyway,

see you next week!