Critics got paid off all the time before RT became the standard.
"The Marvel EIC Chair has a certain curse that goes along with it: it tends to drive people insane, and ultimately, out of the business altogether. It is the notorious last stop for many staffers, as once you've sat in The Big Chair, your pariah status is usually locked in." Christopher Priest
There is something to be said for watching bad movies to understand what okay movies accomplish.
It's also worth noting that many movies are controversial rather than obviously good or obviously bad. If a movie's 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, a good chunk of critics liked it.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
This is true.
Rotten Tomatoes serves a purpose.
This is relevant to their credibility, but that's more about how they respond to it.
I wonder if there are customization options that they could consider, although I can see that leading down dark paths (IE- people gloating about the views of their 20 favorite critics, and things getting more and more insular.)
I'll slightly disagree in that I don't know any critic I agree with one hundred percent of the time. Critics I disagree with will still have decent insights.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
That's why I said usually.
Brad Jones does Midnight Screenings and the Cinema Snob I usually agree with his take on most films outside of the occasional Sci-Fi or the Superhero film. Now the good thing is I usually see those 2 genres regardless of critic's opinions. But if unsure and short on money there are 2 or 3 people, I check who I usually agree with in those genres to see if I want to wait until streaming or see in theaters.
My point is in my local area I know the best pizza joints to get the best stuff. One place has the best pizza another has the best hoagies, one has great salads, another has some good pasta dishes. My point is depending on what I want I know where to go I'm not dependent on Yelp or something to find a good joint. Like takeout I've done my shopping around and I got my main critic and a few backups for specialty genres I don't need Rotten Tomatoes. Also, les be honest while critics someone disagrees with can give insight, we're not talking about reading an opposing view we're talking about Rotten Tomatoes which most people don't even read the reviews they just look at the number.
Critics get employed/paid more for their communication skills than their taste - what matters more for careers is their ability to use some kind of erudite explanation, humorous analysis, etc. when discussing the films they’ve reviewed.
The fact that skill set aligns very well with the skills of a marketer is why the two professions have always had an intermixing and crossover.
Oddly enough, I tend to think that the real difference between professional critics and professional marketers is more that critics naturally become more jaded as time goes on because they are required to watch movies made for everyone and slowly develop more niche tastes, while marketeers rely on manufacturing enthusiasm.
(“Geek” critics are different because they *start* with a niche.)
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
Unless it's at home with friends than it can be fun poking fun of it. Mst3k showed us that!Seeing a bad movie doesn't do anything other give you a bad time. There is no benefit to seeing a bad movie.
Good point especially about customization.
The binary nature of RT can sometimes leave out nuance in the reviews being aggregated.
A majority of critics can give a movie 6/10 and because of how RT aggregates, it'll look like it reviewed excellently (a lot of superhero movies fall into this) when in reality said movie was average.
These are things RT needs to consider if they're going to remain relevant.