Category: Features

Critical Divide: Why Fans and Critics are Split on Venom

Why Critics and Audiences are Split on Venom 2

The 4 Biggest Reasons Why Audiences and Critics are Divided on the Film

With Venom now officially in theaters everywhere, the critical consensus is in and it wasn’t kind to the razor-toothed alien, as the film scored a paltry 31% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 35 from Metacritic. Despite many critics lamenting the poor screenplay and confused tone, this doesn’t seem to be halting the film’s path to financial success, as Venom has secured the highest opening of any film released during the month of October with an astonishing $80 million gross. Although box office returns, especially those from the first week, aren’t always indicative of favorable reception, the B+ CinemaScore from general audiences indicates that most moviegoers are pleased with the quality of the antihero origin story. This begs the question, “Why is there such a discrepancy regarding the film’s reception?”

Here are the 4 biggest reasons why general audiences had an overall positive attitude towards Venom:

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Can Horror Movies Cure Anxiety?

Are Horror Movies the Cure for Anxiety

Studies indicate that despite seeming counterintuitive, the act of being frightened from horror stories can lead to a decrease in feelings of stress.

With horror tales Hereditary and The Nun recently soaring at the box office, it’s clear that moviegoers continue to be drawn to the depraved. The question continually arises, why are we curious about witnessing horrific events befalling typically innocent and likeable individuals? Horror expert Stephen King suggests that we as a society use horror movies as a way of satisfying our unconsciously insane fantasies to balance us and maintain our mental health overall. While that is a provocative claim, in my experience there is more to the answer.

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Why is August Still a Cinematic Wasteland?

Why is August Still a Cinematic Wasteland

Typically designated as a “dump month” by studios, the final weeks of August may actually be one of the most lucrative opportunities for box office returns.

The end of Summer…a traditionally difficult time for most people. As a kid, I, like most kids, always struggled with those final weeks of August. It wasn’t merely the hazy humidity, the back-to-school blues, or family vacations being behind me. No, it was the lack of anything remotely compelling being released at the movies. In my desperation for one last hurrah before Summer concluded and the inevitable transition into a new year of school, all I had at my disposal were middling comedies, third-rate horror flicks, and action adventure films no one had asked for. In other words, the leftover films the studio wanted to quietly release.

Although as a kid I had no idea why this was, years later I learned that as with January, the final weeks of August are designated as a “dump month” by studios, meaning it is targeted as the time to release films the studio has little confidence in as they believe there is less interest in going to the movies during this timeframe. The rationale from studios ranges from kids going back to school, a lack of disposable income after spending it during earlier months of Summer, weak legs at the box office going into Fall, and historically a dearth of proven success. It’s no secret that the Summer movie season has been steadily expanding its boundaries for the past few years. With the notable success of The Winter Soldier and Fast Five proving the viability of April as well as Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad tackling the start of August, the idea of seasonality in consumer interest for films is proving to be an archaic notion. Yet the final weeks of August stubbornly remain a dumping ground for lesser quality films.

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Are Marvel Films Making Us Smarter?

Are Marvel Films Making Us Smarter?

It has become fun to bash the Marvel films.

There is no denying that despite increasing box office receipts and new records being broken with seemingly each new entry, the franchise has encountered mounting snobbery and cynicism from various critics and media outlets, as seems to be the nature with anything that is massively popular. A common criticism of the films is that they are overly reliant on prior stories with a particularly negative assessment from the New Yorker denigrating Infinity War as nothing more than a two-and-a-half-hour ad for the films that preceded it and those that will follow.

Others, such as a piece from Film School Rejects, have criticized the franchise’s adverse impact on storytelling, stating that the films’ proclivity for constantly teasing future installments with post-credit scenes reduces the impact the current stories are having. The mass genocide depicted during the conclusion of Infinity War was especially criticized as feeling inconsequential due to so many of the “deceased” characters having sequels already teased from their own respective film’s post-credit scenes. Additionally, the article criticizes how difficult it is for new fans to jump in thanks to the story being crafted in a way that requires seeing every prior film to completely understand the events depicted and fully reap the emotional payoffs.

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Is it Fair to Review TV Shows on a Weekly Episodic Basis?

Are TV Shows Worth Reviewing on an Episodic Weekly Basis?
Westworld’s polarizing finale for a mostly praised Season 2 brings up the question of whether episodes should be reviewed without first seeing the entire season.

With many still attempting to unpack the multitude of events and different timelines that transpired during Westworld’s recent season 2 finale, it is clear that despite having fans talking, the episode has proven to be polarizing to say the least. Reviews run the gamut from many stating that the ending was overly convoluted with others praising this complexity and unwillingness from the creators to dumb the material down for fans. It’s interesting to note that many fans who provided the finale with a mixed to negative review were in fact raving about the majority of episodes that preceded the final episode. This disparity raises the question, is a television season that is comprised of well-received episodes, but a lackluster finale a success or a failure? Should the preceding episode scores be retroactively impacted, and should television seasons be reviewed and given a score evaluation on an episodic weekly basis?

***Spoilers for The Handmaid’s Tale and Game of Thrones follow in this article:

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Lack of Diversity is Impacting Film Reviews, Only Not in the Way You Might Think

Lack of Diversity in Film Criticism is Impacting Reviews Only Not in the Way You Might Think

Coming off the heels of an overall push for diversity within Hollywood, arguably the impetus being the #OscarsSoWhite reaction in 2015, there has been a call to action from several within the industry that this same sense of inclusion be extended to film criticism. Most recently, acclaimed actress Brie Larson (Room and the upcoming Captain Marvel), upon receiving her Crystal + Lucy Award, echoed a similar sentiment when she stated “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him about [A] Wrinkle in Time. It wasn’t made for him.” Additionally, as reported by The Guardian, a recent report from the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism uncovered that of all the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for the 100 top-grossing films in 2017, 77.8% were written by men and 22% by women, with 82% of reviewers being white and only 18% from “under-represented racial groups.”

Larson’s statement coupled with this recent report raises the question of whether films focused on diverse ages, genders, and nationalities, such as A Wrinkle in Time, are being inadequately assessed, and if the bulk of critics being white males could lead to a prejudice, whereby film evaluations are reflecting a bias against diversity. While the push for different perspectives in film criticism is the natural and long overdue next step to better reflect the opinions of society as a whole, psychological research on stereotyping and prejudice indicates that such a measure for inclusion may not have the effect many are anticipating.

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Critical Divide: Why Audiences and Critics are Split on Hereditary

Critical Divide Why Critics and Audiences are Split on Hereditary

Last week, Hereditary finished within the top 5 at the U.S. box office, with its $13 million domestic gross setting a record as independent movie studio A24’s largest opening ever. A24 is responsible for some extremely well-regarded movies such as the Oscar Best Picture winner Moonlight, and similarly praised films such as Ex Machina, The Disaster Artist, and Lady Bird to name a few, proving this record to be no small feat. Additionally Hereditary scored an astronomically high 92% Rotten Tomatoes score as well as an arguably even more impressive score of 86 on Metacritic (and a perfect 4 star rating from Cinematic Insights). Despite all of this overwhelming acclaim, the film received an atrocious D+ CinemaScore from audiences, which is very much at odds with what critics have been praising about the film. This result begs the question of why this discrepancy exists.

Here are the 4 reasons why audiences and critics are split on Hereditary.

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Hold that Tweet! Why Snap Film Judgments are Negatively Impacted by Cognitive Biases

Hold That Tweet Why Snap Film Judgments are Negatively Impacted by Cognitive Biases

With the proliferation of social media it has become increasingly difficult to not encounter at least a few opinions about current hot topics when scrolling through your newsfeed. This is especially true when it comes to the latest film releases. Over the past weekend it seemed as if every time I looked through my Twitter feed I was bombarded with preliminary reactions to currently trending movies, such as the popular horror film Hereditary or the box office hit Oceans 8. Recently, during the annual Festival of Disruption, esteemed writer and director David Lynch commented on this abundance of opinions about films on social media, stating that “Unless you’re a poet, words will fail you.”

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Spoilers in Movie Trailers: Financially Savvy or Box Office Disaster?

Spoilers in Movie Trailers

Movie trailers have long been an essential component of cinema and have been evolving for some time now. A movie trailer’s purpose is to motivate the viewer to see the film when it is released in theaters, typically by showcasing the most exciting moments that will occur in a film. Trailers will often abbreviate or manipulate the order of events shown as a means of avoiding spoilers, which could obviously ruin a viewer’s enjoyment of a film. In recent years, however, it seems as though this wariness of spoiling crucial events is no longer as valued by movie studios.

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