Writing introductions is hard too. Here I gaze at my navel and ponder why it’s so difficult to write about the things we don’t like — and why it should be.
“It stinks!”
Thirty years after the animated sitcom The Critic debuted, the idea that critics only exist to dump on your favourite film persists. It probably doesn’t help that there are, in fact, a few Jay Shermans in the wild. Indeed, even the best critics have their unconscious biases.
Yet after sitting down and struggling to write about Argylle earlier this year, a film I said set “an incredibly low bar” for 2024 output, it made me think about why it’s harder to write about the films that I don’t like. More to the point, why is it more difficult to write about decently entertaining — but otherwise uninspiring — movies like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. So, what resulted was this piece of self-reflective introspection on writing and criticism. Indulge me.
Everyone’s a critic
The democratisation of critiquing films means everyone’s a critic. Quite literally. Whether commenting on social media, logging something on Letterboxd or publishing your own blog, your thoughts are now out there the very second you step out of the cinema – or even while you’re still watching the movie. It’s actually amazing, as this phenomenon creates more opportunities to share enthusiasm with fellow film fans.
That said, in recent years the all-important Rotten Tomatoes score sometimes feels as though criticism has been reduced to a mere scoreboard. Over at Salon, Nardos Haile ponders the continued relevance of ‘criticism’ in this context. She argues that the tension between ‘fans’ and critics on that platform has partly come from a misunderstanding that criticism isn’t an “attack on art” so much as a recognition that nothing is perfect. Haile says of Letterboxd:
“It has made criticism increasingly more accessible and less snobbish for people who seek it out and want to engage with opinions that differ from their own. Ultimately, the exposé has revealed that some critics can be bought, and as hard as the industry tries to drown out authentic criticism — this scandal only amplifies that we need to spotlight the importance of criticism to drown out the bogus white noise.”
Yet it’s important to note that not all reviews are criticism and vice versa. When I speak about the difference between criticism and reviewing here, I have a specific idea in my head. That is, criticism is taking a look at a work – be it film, literature or any other artform – and assessing it against certain criteria. Those are measurable things like technical aspects and aesthetics, or less objective criteria like acting or humour. Criticism goes back to the Ancient Greeks and film criticism is as old as the medium itself. Vsevolod Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein wrote seminal essays on editing and the cinematographic form at the start of the 20th century. Film students still read them today.
Reviewing is a far more subjective exercise. Did you like the film? What did you like about it? Ultimately, a review is often a series of gut reactions as to whether you think the film is worth seeing at all.
A critical look at myself
In work and life, I espouse the notion of standing on the balcony of yourself. Am I a part of the mess? Honestly, yes: at least a little bit. What I do here on The Reel Bits is a little bit of criticism and a little bit of reviewing, mostly leaning in the direction of the latter. My comments on film might be informed through thousands of viewings and reading deeply about movies, but it’s ultimately about how I’m feeling when I see them.
I’ve often said that the reason I started writing about films is because I’m a fan. I wanted to extend the experience of watching the movie beyond the cinema. Pre-Internet, it was through conversations with friends and colleagues. Now, it’s just easier to find other people who like talking about movies.
I’m basically an enthusiast, so I genuinely like most films. When I look at my own Letterboxd input, using recent years as an example, the vast majority land in the middle at 3 stars (Worth A Look here on the Bits) as you’d probably expect. I give very few 5 stars (or Certified Bitstastic) and even fewer 1 star reviews. Generally, unless the film is missing fundamental component parts of being a movie, I can find something to like about it. In fact, when I first started this site, I didn’t even give star ratings.
So, when I don’t like a movie or TV show, it’s a case of finding and listing all the reasons it didn’t jibe with me. Saying why not is infinitely harder than gushing praise about a film that moved you. It should be harder to tear down than it is to spread the good word. It doesn’t take long to hit 500+ words when you can’t stop thinking about that special movie. It’s those 3 star films that are the hardest too: sometimes there’s nothing else to say but ‘it’s fine?’
So bad that it’s good
My love of Showgirls is well documented. So is my fondness for Hallmark films, especially around Christmas Time. I have spent the last few years working my way through all of Disney, from their greatest hits to their less than stellar moments. The point is, sometimes bad movies aren’t all bad. Sometimes I very much seek them out deliberately. Those bad movies we love to talk about, relishing their often quotable camp.
So, where does that leave us? Probably back where we started, but hopefully with a firmer understanding that to ‘critique’ doesn’t always mean to put down or berate. Criticism and being harshly critical are two very different things. Likewise, just because you love a film, it doesn’t mean you can’t recognise its flaws. Perhaps I said it all before when talking about cheap romances of all things. “I can watch all the critically acclaimed festival favourites, and still have no filter when it comes to eating the cinematic equivalent of fistfuls of raw cookie dough.”
There are times when I wonder whether it’s even worth writing about the films I don’t like. Why spend time analysing the poor quality when I can instead spread the word about the good. Or the bigger likelihood is that I’ve just spent almost a thousand words procrastinating instead of writing something else.
