There have been some movies that I found riveting and exciting. However, critics—people who scream from the mountain tops that their opinion should be listened to and followed—disagreed. Criticism today seems to be more about bulldozing over and destroying something rather than building something up with constructive feedback. Shouldn’t the goal be not to bring others down but to build them up and guide them to putting out the best product they can?
I cannot remember a time when I did not write. The art of storytelling drives me. And I have been lucky enough to have experienced critique groups where the criticism was constructive and not destructive. Their goal has always been to make me a better writer.
As far as criticism goes…I remember the words of a master salesman: Never let your opinion sway your judgement. He wasn’t even talking about an artistic expression. He was talking about soda. Like me, he can’t stand the taste of Dr. Pepper. Should he not offer Dr. Pepper to his customers, there are many regions around the United States where he would lose money.
I have applied this to my own life. As I wrote about in the last blog, The Road by Cormac McCarthy is my third favorite book of all time. If I had let my opinion sway my judgement, I never would have had the opportunity to enjoy that masterpiece. I tried to read the author’s 1992 book All the Pretty Horses back in college and couldn’t do it.
Before we get into this, here are two quotes that illustrate the importance I place on ignorant criticism. The French essayist Joseph Joubert wrote, Children need models rather than critics. This exemplifies that criticism should be constructive rather than destructive. The second is from Walt Disney, a man knowledgeable of how to entertain a crowd, We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public. So shall I in my writing. I write for my readers and not for the critics. On with the list, in no particular order:
- Venom
This movie starring Tom Hardy as investigative journalist Eddie Brock who happens to form a symbiotic relationship with an alien parasite. Brock is a good man. Venom, the alien lifeform, is amoral, and just wants to feed. Brock tries to reign the destructive tendencies of the alien in and use his new-learned powers to protect the community.
I loved the movie. The critic consensus was Venom’s first standalone movie turns out to be like the comic’s character in all the wrong ways – chaotic, noisy, and in desperate need of a stronger attachment to Spider-Man. The Rotten Tomatoes score was a measly 30%, while 80% of audience reviews liked it. The US box office gross was over $213 million.
Critics 0—Audiences 1
- The Boondock Saints
In a movie written and directed by Troy Duffy, two fraternal twins attempt to free the city of Boston of organized crime. It is highlighted by great performances from Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, along with Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly. However, critics say it is A juvenile, ugly movie that represents the worse tendencies of directors channeling Tarentino.
The movie had a budget of only $6 million. If you look at the box office take, it was a miserable flop, bringing in only $30,471 according to Box Office Mojo. But wait…it brought in over $50 million in video sales and created a cult following. Enough of one that a sequel was produced.
Critics 0—Audiences 2
- Equilibrium
The consensus among critics of this film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer is that Equilibrium is a reheated mishmash of other sci-fi movies. In a dystopian future, Christian Bale plays Clerick John Preston, charged with making sure people do not experience anything that can cause them to exhibit emotion—because those lead to bad things.
Everyone takes a mandatory regime of Prozium to inhibit their emotions. But there is an underground movement seeking to bring emotions back into society. Great action. Great story. It got my heart pumping. Rotten Tomatoes score of 40% comes nowhere close to the audience’s 80% approval rate.
Critics 0—Audiences 3
- Green Street Hooligans
I love real football (soccer, as we call it here). I love a story of a bullied underdog who gets a bit of fight in him and wrests control from his tormentors. That is Green Street at its heart. Frodo—er, I mean Elijah Wood—plays Matt Buckner, a Harvard University student that takes the fall for his roommate’s cocaine addiction. He is expelled and goes to visit his sister’s family in London.
While there he gets mixed up in a crowd of hooligans—we would call them gangs—that support the football team West Ham United. He goes through hell but learns not only who he is, but who he can be. It brought in less than $500K at the box office and scored a critic consensus score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes while the 87% audiences gave it more accurately reflected the quality of the movie to entertain.
Critics 0—Audiences 4
- Uncharted
Critics said that this adventure film was Promisingly cast but misleadingly titled, Uncharted mines its bestselling source material to produce a disappointing echo of superior adventure films, giving it a Rotten Tomatoes consensus score of 41%. Audiences liked it better to the tune of a 90% review rating.
This movie was a lot of fun. It gave me the same sense of excitement as when I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg worked great together in a dysfunctional mentor-apprentice relationship.
Critics 0—Audiences 5
Conclusion
When I look at these movies, there is one common aspect that underlies all of them: it is characters taking control of their situations, accepting responsibility, and doing what needs to be done without looking for some authority figure to do it for them. They are about ingenuity and a can-do attitude.
Also, I’m a bit of an anarchist: I cannot stand people telling me what to do as if I’m not smart enough to make important decisions on my own.
Do critics have an agenda?
