Tag: Critical Divide

Critical Divide: Why ‘House of Cards’ Season 6 is Collapsing for Many Viewers

House of Cards Season 6 Poster

The 5 Key Reasons Audiences and Critics are Divided on the Final Season

Despite being made available almost two weeks ago now, there appears to still be quite a bit of chatter regarding the sixth and final season of Netflix’s flagship program House of Cards. When news first came out that Season 6 would have a reduced episode count and proceed without Kevin Spacey in the key role as former President Frank Underwood, many longtime fans were rightfully concerned about the quality of the show dipping. While it would be a mischaracterization to say that critics are head over heels for the latest season, they have collectively been more inclined to praise the merits of it, with the Metacritic score and Rotten Tomatoes score seeing an improvement from last year.

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Critical Divide: Why First Man isn’t Landing with All Viewers

Critical Divide First Man

The 5 Biggest Reasons Critics and Audiences are Split on the Film

Despite soaring in terms of critical accolades, First Man seems to be crashing below box office expectations. The Neil Armstrong biopic landed in third place behind last week’s reigning champs, Venom and A Star is Born, with a $16.5 million domestic gross at the box office. Unlike director Damien Chazelle’s past films, First Man was made with a reported $70 million budget, meaning box office receipts of $20 million on opening weekend, while not disastrous, are probably less than studios were anticipating. Critical darlings such as this typically have long legs at the box office thanks to potential award buzz, but it’s troubling that the film, while not bombing, isn’t burning as brightly with audiences. While the consensus from audiences isn’t that they disliked the space drama, the film’s B+ CinemaScore and 65% from Rotten Tomatoes are light when compared to the near perfect scores critics have been awarding it.

Here are the 5 reasons why First Man isn’t landing perfectly with audiences.

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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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