A fresh Rotten Tomatoes score has become a highly coveted aspect of movie marketing.
I think its the destruction of our business.
I have such respect and admiration for film criticism.
When I was growing up film criticism was a real art.
And there was intellect that went into that.
And you would read Paulines Kaels reviews, or some others, and that doesnt exist anymore.
Image via 20th Century Fox
Now its about a number.
A compounded number of how many positives vs. negatives.
Now its about, Whats your Rotten Tomatoes score?
Image via Warner Bros.
Rotten Tomatoes is simply a guidepost, and it doesnt allow for nuance.
Its just insane, its hurting the business, its getting people to not see a movie.
Ive seen some great movies with really abysmal Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Image via Warner Bros.
Whats sad is film criticism has disappeared.
If youre serious about film, seek out critics whose writing you enjoy.
I can remember looking upRoger Eberts reviews for every movie I was interested in, both past and present.
Sometimes I couldnt disagree more, but I enjoyed readinghisthoughts on the matter.
Judging art is not an objective experience.
Its personal, and we all bring our own baggage to each film we see.
The joy and value of film criticism is creating a dialogue with those different from ourselves.
Lets not let something as expansive and diverse as cinema be boiled down to a number on a website.
