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Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

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Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Old 03-27-16, 06:30 PM
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Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

With the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice this weekend, there have been renewed claims that "critics are out of touch" with the general movie going public, and that there is a definite "divide" between movie critics and the audiences that actually pay to see movies. Of course these claims are most loudly heard when critics negatively review a big-budget, blockbuster event movie. And yes, I know that this is not always the case, and some blockbuster movies do get generally favorably reviews from critics. However, there are a lot of blockbuster movies that get reviewed quite negatively by critics, but are favorably reviewed by people that pay to see the movie and often end up being a very financially successful movie. So why does there seem to be a divide between critics and audiences when it comes to big blockbuster movies?
Old 03-27-16, 06:49 PM
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Take something like Transformers: Age of Extinction. How many people shelled out twelve bucks for a ticket because of the rich storytelling and nuanced characterization? You're buying in for the spectacle. A movie like that is an event, and people don't want to feel left out...they want to be part of the conversation.

Plenty of movies are visual feasts, thrilling beyond description, and still manage to be well-crafted films that respect their audiences. That's why critics are harsh: they know that these movies can deliver on spectacle without being so dumb and formulaic. I mean, Deadpool is rocking a very respectable 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it's not as if writers are unilaterally turning up their noses at superhero flicks or whatever. Zootopia and 10 Cloverfield Lane are both runaway hits with critics and audiences alike. I know it's from the class of 2015, but look at The Force Awakens too.

There's not exactly any shortage of intensely negative comments about Dawn of Justice from "regular people" either. That's why week two says more about what audiences think. The opening speaks to pent-up demand; by the second weekend, folks already know what their friends think, and if they've been warned away, they won't show up.

For me, though, I don't really care about what the overall consensus is. Individual reviewers mean a lot more to me since I can get a sense of what they've thought about other movies I've liked/disliked. That's pretty much essential for someone as into horror as I am since that genre generally gets dismal scores on sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes. I'm also stubborn enough to see something that looks interesting to me, no matter how dismal its reviews wind up being. Reviews can turn me onto a movie that wasn't on my radar but rarely send me running in the other direction.
Old 03-27-16, 06:54 PM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?



Reviewers have always been a point of contention for me. I feel some just want to tear a movie apart out of some sort of power trip.

Lately however, with the rise of so many online critics, I feel they are trying to out do each other. Trying to create a headline that will trend.

The most ridiculous one I have seen lately was "Batman V Superman is the Showgirls of comic book movies" For starters Showgirls has a cult following these days, and there are plenty of other comic films that the comparison could be made, if it must.

I prefer movie reviews that say if you like X movie, or X style of movie, then you will like this.

But usually I can just watch a trailer and decide if a film is for me.

But the art critic will never die.
Old 03-27-16, 07:41 PM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Any internet blogger having the capability to be a "reviewer" certainly has lessened the respectability of a critic overall, not just for movies but for anything (games, music, etc).

Regardless, it typically comes down to general audiences enjoying spectacle and blockbusters while reviewers look for other aspects in a movie. There's certainly movies that are both blockbusters while being unique and intelligent in it's plot and story telling that are attractive to all types, but in general it's why I still hear about how people haven't seen most of the movies that are nominated for Oscars.
Old 03-28-16, 12:21 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

The premise of the thread is flawed.

If you look at the top 30 movies at the US box office adjusted for inflation, 17/30 are in the 90+% at Rotten Tomatoes, and 9/30 are 80-90%.
SW: The Phantom Menace is the only one of the top 30 earners that is certified rotten at 54%.

If you look at the top 20 in gross dollars, The Phantom Menace and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest are rotten (both at 54%), and most of the top 20 is at 85% or better.

Look at some of the biggest blockbuster series:

Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, The Winter Soldier -- 89+%
6 Marvel-verse superhero movies in the 70s
The lowest one is Thor: The Dark World at 66%

The lowest rated of the 8 Harry Potter movies is #7 at 78%.

The Hunger Games movies: 84, 89, 65, 70

Pixar movies almost all in the 90s. The only rotten one is Cars 2.


I would challenge the OP or anyone to point out the individual instances of financially successful blockbusters that were panned by critics and then affirm the quality of that movie.
Old 03-28-16, 01:33 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Because even though we know multiple car pile up wrecks on the side of the road are pretty tragic for those involved, we still slow down to look at them.

There's simply some movies that will make money regardless of how bad a critic thinks it is. Also, don't start acting like simply because it has made a lot of money that it's any indication on the quality. Our nation buys McDonalds fast food like crazy, and we all know it's not the best in terms of quality.
Old 03-28-16, 05:14 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

i tell you why....

Chicago... not a blockbuster.... was critically acclaimed and was a piece of shit

critics are criterias for everything... everyone has a differing opinion. BVS was a great movie. Flawed? of course but it told a good story.
Old 03-28-16, 06:45 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Here are movies audiences enjoyed more than Batman vs. Superman:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
The Brothers Grimsby
Old 03-28-16, 06:48 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by stingermck
I prefer movie reviews that say if you like X movie, or X style of movie, then you will like this.
You're better off finding a critic you agree with and using their opinion. My go-to critic is Peter Travers because we usually like the same dumb stuff (exception: Battleship).
Old 03-28-16, 07:28 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

They don't, and they aren't in terms of Batman vs Superman either.

Just because a movie has a huge opening doesn't instantly mean it was well liked, it means it was well anticipated.

Originally Posted by raven56706
i tell you why....

Chicago... not a blockbuster.... was critically acclaimed and was a piece of shit

critics are criterias for everything... everyone has a differing opinion. BVS was a great movie. Flawed? of course but it told a good story.
imo, Chicago is one of the better musicals of the last two decades, and the only one I actually like. That flick made $170m in the US off long legs (it never did more than $13m in a single weekend) which means critics and audiences were more or less on the same page.

BvS is a fan service movie, which is great if you're a big Batman/Superman fan, but it wasn't a well made or particularly good movie. There were great aspects to the story, squandered by just utter poor directorial and editing choices.

Regardless, as others have stated, this is an incorrect premise overall:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $933m domestic, 92% critical approval
Jurassic World - $652m domestic, 72% critical approval
Avengers Age of Ultron - $459m domestic, 75% critical approval
Inside Out - $356m domestic, 98% critical approval
Furious 7 - $353m domestic, 81% critical approval
American Sniper - $350m domestic, 72% critical approval
Hunger Games MockingJay Pt 1 - $337m, 65% critical approval
Guardians of the Galaxy - $333m, 91% critical approval
Captain America 2 - $259m, 89% critical approval
Catching Fire - $424m, 89% critical approval
Iron Man 3 - $409m, 79% critical approval
etc;

In fact the last top performer to score less than a 60% was Man of Steel in 2013 (56%). And yeah, a lot of similarities to BvS there, but even that one got an A- audience score.

Transformers is still a huge money maker of a franchise, they're shitty as movies, but there's still an audience for spectacle, albeit they are starting to see diminishing returns (at least in the US)

Last edited by RichC2; 03-28-16 at 07:50 AM.
Old 03-28-16, 07:50 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Newspaper movie critics have to watch about ten movies per week. They don't get to choose, they have to watch them all. So I imagine that they're going to downgrade a movie that's assembled of the same old parts that they've seen twice a week all year.

I know that I get bored real fast when the fistfight begins, no matter if it's between giant robots, people in spandex, or cowboys. The same with the car chase, or the gun fight. I can't imagine how a critic must feel about them. But the general public still loves fistfights, car chases, and gun fights. So my opinion is going to be different than the general public's. Critics probably have the same difference of opinion.

Last edited by Nick Danger; 03-28-16 at 07:55 AM.
Old 03-28-16, 07:56 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

That's actually why I liked the bar fight in The Guest, it was fast, brutal and done.

And all this said, I find Critics overpraise a lot of blockbusters and indies more so than the opposite.
Old 03-28-16, 07:57 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $402m domestic, 19% fresh rating. That's much lower than 60%.
Old 03-28-16, 07:59 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by Brack
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $402m domestic, 19% fresh rating. That's much lower than 60%.
That's a 7 year old example, was keeping it more recent. And most of this conversation seems to revolve around that shitfest of a franchise.

If you want to talk about actual disconnect, it's in stuff like It Follows, The Witch, Drive, Shutter Island, Children of Men, etc; but that's for another thread.

Last edited by RichC2; 03-28-16 at 08:11 AM.
Old 03-28-16, 08:06 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?crib

Originally Posted by Nick Danger
Newspaper movie critics have to watch about ten movies per week. They don't get to choose, they have to watch them all. So I imagine that they're going to downgrade a movie that's assembled of the same old parts that they've seen twice a week all year.

I know that I get bored real fast when the fistfight begins, no matter if it's between giant robots, people in spandex, or cowboys. The same with the car chase, or the gun fight. I can't imagine how a critic must feel about them. But the general public still loves fistfights, car chases, and gun fights. So my opinion is going to be different than the general public's. Critics probably have the same difference of opinion.
They don't "watch them all" necessarily. A lot of reviewers are assigned a set of films that week unless you are it for that publication. I probably watch as many films as legit film critics. Maybe not brand new, but a wide variety of films, and I do find a lot of the review lacking in the ability to describing the film, and not just nitpicking on the parts they didn't like, and act as if that's all you need to know about a film. I expect more from a review, frankly.
Old 03-28-16, 08:10 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Your examples weren't films intending to be blockbusters.
Old 03-28-16, 08:42 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

I think you have to take each critic with a grain of salt and see what kind of movies they like. If they like summer blockbuster movies then you should read their review because they will be objective. If they just hate all blockbusters and think they cater to teenagers (which in many ways they're right) then its a waste of time to read their review.
Old 03-28-16, 09:29 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by Brack
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $402m domestic, 19% fresh rating. That's much lower than 60%.
Are you trying to claim that this is a good movie? . . . that the audience was right and the critics were wrong?
Old 03-28-16, 09:30 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by raven56706
...everyone has a differing opinion. BVS was a great movie. Flawed? of course but it told a good story.
As an aside, every time I see the acronym BVS, my first thought is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

However, my thoughts about critics, for really anything, is that overexposure leads to boredom with the commonplace, and conversely an excitement for anything unique, sometimes leading to overpraise for something just because it's different.

Also, due to the exposure to truly great performances, films, cinematography, etc, they can be more critical of just "average" quality than the standard audience goer. It's a bit like how we're less critical as kids to film and TV, but as we grow up we're exposed to more and more good-to-great stuff, and thus become able to distinguish more between the good and the bad. Critics just take this to a further extreme.

Finally, audiences typically are primed to enjoy their movie experiences. The film is likely something they have an interest in, something they've been looking forward to. They've paid money for the experience, so they want to feel that their money/time has been worth it. And it's looked on as an escape from their jobs and other responsibilities. In contrast, for a movie reviewer, the movie is their job, and they may be assigned films they may not have otherwise picked to watch. They're being compensated in ways other than just enjoyment of the film, so they're less inclined to feel like they have to enjoy it. Also, since they're assigned, the films may just generally be outside their interest area, or in a genre the reviewer has been overexposed to recently.

That said, the tendency to be overly-critical can be considered an asset when considering reviews. It means that if the reviewers like a blockbuster, there's a really good chance it's an overall crowd-pleaser.
Old 03-28-16, 09:33 AM
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Because lots of blockbusters like Michael Bay films are horrendously terrible, but audiences inexplicably seem to like them ?
Old 03-28-16, 09:34 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

I guess because, there was a time when all you had to go on was the word of a critic...

Old 03-28-16, 09:46 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

two words is all I need in order to show why I trust critics more than the general movie audience...

Adam Sandler
Old 03-28-16, 09:50 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by zero
I guess because, there was a time when all you had to go on was the word of a critic...
Yes and no. There was always "word of mouth," but that typically applied to 2nd weekend and beyond, since you needed people to go see the movie and tell you their opinion of it. Movies were much less front-loaded in the past, meaning more people tended to wait until after opening weekend, partially to avoid crowds, but also to maybe get a sense of how people liked it. If you really wanted to see it opening day though, you might only have access to one or two newspaper reviews before going to see it.

Nowadays, the "aggregate" critic scores somewhat compensate for word of mouth, since you're not relying on only one or two critics' opinions.
Old 03-28-16, 09:54 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by RichC2
imo, Chicago is one of the better musicals of the last two decades, and the only one I actually like. That flick made $170m in the US off long legs (it never did more than $13m in a single weekend) which means critics and audiences were more or less on the same page.
I so agree with you here. I hate hate hate musicals, and I somehow managed to enjoy "Chicago" a great deal. I'm guessing the people that hated it or think it's a "piece of shit" are just pissed it won Best Picture that year.
Old 03-28-16, 09:55 AM
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Re: Why do movie critics and audiences tend to disagree about blockbuster movies?

Originally Posted by Jaymole
two words is all I need in order to show why I trust critics more than the general movie audience...

Adam Sandler
Blended is at 14%. Here's one of the minority positive reviews:

May 22, 2014
Blended isn't Sandler's funniest movie or his best, but it is a big step up from the dregs he's been churning out.

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