Current Events > YouTube movie critics are some of the worst content creators out there

(+) Yeah! (+)

Oh boy, where to begin?

The obvious flaws first: they tend to speak with a really strange cadence, pausing before the final words in their sentence as if that adds clarity or emphasis to their point. "Wonder Woman 1984 is... wonderful."

They also have a remarkable habit of plastering their current talking point in huge white letters. Oh, good thing they wrote "DIALOGUE" on the screen, otherwise I would have no idea what they're focusing on!

But a bigger trend I've noticed is that they all hide behind the catchphrase "this is just my opinion". They're scared stiff of commenters disagreeing with them or pointing out flaws in their reasoning, so they either focus entirely on their subjective feelings about the movie, or worse, make totally non-subjective arguments but preface with "and this is only my opinion". "In my opinion, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is 152 minutes long."

On the subjectivity thing... do I really need a dozen video essayists telling me how exciting Avengers: Endgame was? I guess I just don't see the value of the content if they only talk about their personal experience with it. Shouldn't the job of a critic be to point out the technique, the craft, of the thing they're criticizing?

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Is this including Critical Drinker? If not give him a try

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Which creator inspired you to make this topic?

I remember I used to watch an amalgam of movie channels, but they all started the sound kind of samey and negative, now the only one I watch at all in the Everything Great about guy. It's much more pleasant hearing someone gush about a movie than be a prick about it.

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A character did something that was not completely logical. Is this a plot hole?

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Solo_Wing posted...

Is this including Critical Drinker? If not give him a try

He's been recommended to me but I haven't checked him out yet. Thanks for reminding me.

Cemith posted...

Which creator inspired you to make this topic?

I remember I used to watch an amalgam of movie channels, but they all started the sound kind of samey and negative, now the only one I watch at all in the Everything Great about guy. It's much more pleasant hearing someone gush about a movie than be a prick about it.

Just Write and HiTop are two that come to mind. HiTop's video on WW84 was pretty bad.

(EDIT: Patrick Willems too)

I don't mind one way or the other if they're negative, I just want something with substance.

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Solo_Wing posted...

Is this including Critical Drinker? If not give him a try

he's maybe the worst critic on YT i've ever seen lmao unless he's like satire

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hate to say it but the plinkett reviews seem like the obvious culprit for popularizing a lot of this garbage. inspired millions of people to think that nitpicking and pointing out minor inconsistencies is legitimate film criticism

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It's so cringe to see titles like "Why X is actually a SUBVERSIVE masterpiece!"


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Delirious_Beard posted...

hate to say it but the plinkett reviews seem like the obvious culprit for popularizing a lot of this garbage. inspired millions of people to think that nitpicking and pointing out minor inconsistencies is legitimate film criticism

What sucks about this is that I think they're actually good critics on the whole and that Half in the Bag/Re:View demonstrate a great knowledge of film and an appreciation for filmmaking that goes beyond minor nitpicks. I'm definitely in the camp that thinks their Plinkett reviews are their worst aged material :(

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Cheese_Crackers posted...

Just Write and HiTop are two that come to mind. HiTop's video on WW84 was pretty bad.

I haven't seen anything by Just Write but I can vouch for HiTop only ever being okay. I don't agree with a lot of his perspective.

In case you wanted to try out the positive guy my favourite of his is the Scott Pilgrim video:
https://youtu.be/4jEEk41W3DY


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LightningAce11 posted...

It's so cringe to see titles like "Why X is actually a SUBVERSIVE masterpiece!"

Only one of these I've seen is Schafrillas video about Megamind, and he's totally bright Megamind was the best animated movie that season.


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Delirious_Beard posted...

hate to say it but the plinkett reviews seem like the obvious culprit for popularizing a lot of this garbage. inspired millions of people to think that nitpicking and pointing out minor inconsistencies is legitimate film criticism

I think it's an issue of degrees. There's no problem pointing out inconsistencies if it's part of a more substantial criticism. But obviously saying that GoT is trash because of the Starbucks cup is pure hyperbole.

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I only trust Half in the Bag (RLM) even when I disagree with them. Almost all others are crap.
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I don't watch movie reviews on youtube because why would I. But I do agree with you on the use of hiding behind disclaimers I was watching a top 10 video game list and the guy rambled off this long disclaimer so we would know the list is merely his humble opinion and not a definitive list. So I closed the video.
YouTube sucks for content anyway thanks to the algorithm and people who chase trends to play it for views that is why you see so many similar thumbnails and videos that are similar in presentation. If you want to be successful you better conform to the algorithm.

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Delirious_Beard posted...

hate to say it but the plinkett reviews seem like the obvious culprit for popularizing a lot of this garbage. inspired millions of people to think that nitpicking and pointing out minor inconsistencies is legitimate film criticism

Zero_Destroyer posted...

What sucks about this is that I think they're actually good critics on the whole and that Half in the Bag/Re:View demonstrate a great knowledge of film and an appreciation for filmmaking that goes beyond minor nitpicks. I'm definitely in the camp that thinks their Plinkett reviews are their worst aged material :(

I felt Mr Plinkett being a nitpicker was part of the comedy of him being such a pathetic weirdo who reviews movies on the internet. That and the serial killer stuff were there to compliment Mike's serious legitimate criticisms. Others just didn't seem to get that.

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Quicksilver posted...

I don't watch movie reviews on youtube because why would I. But I do agree with you on the use of hiding behind disclaimers I was watching a top 10 video game list and the guy rambled off this long disclaimer so we would know the list is merely his humble opinion and not a definitive list. So I closed the video.
YouTube sucks for content anyway thanks to the algorithm and people who chase trends to play it for views that is why you see so many similar thumbnails and videos that are similar in presentation. If you want to be successful you better conform to the algorithm.

Not sure what you mean by this comment. But yes this issue seems to extend to YouTube critics of any kind. I think YouTube being free to watch is a double-edged sword. The good critics on the site are loads better than most professional movie critics.

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Cemith posted...

I haven't seen anything by Just Write but I can vouch for HiTop only ever being okay. I don't agree with a lot of his perspective.

In case you wanted to try out the positive guy my favourite of his is the Scott Pilgrim video:
https://youtu.be/4jEEk41W3DY

I gave this a watch and I enjoyed it! Certainly more than the Sins counterpart.

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Hey man, the Cinema Snob is alright

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y'all watch nerrel's review of Star Wars rise of skywalker?

It made me rethink that movie. I think he did a good job tbh.

https://youtu.be/IrMM33uHAo8

It depends on the person.

YMS is very smart and detail oriented when it comes to movies.

Mauler can be good if you appreciate his style.

RLM constantly talks about movies in an entertaining way.

PatrickHWillems has some interesting takes on movies too if you don't mind his framing devices.

LindsayEllis too

But yeah, the stuffy up their own but ones are worse, particularly somebody like "JustWrite" who still has valuable things to say, but clearly wants to be "Every Frame a Painting" without having the insight of them.

It's a function of the people you watch, for example even movie lists can be terrible shallow trash (like watchMoo) or really thoughtful and considered without being stuffy like CineFix.

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GirTheRobot posted...

y'all watch nerrel's review of Star Wars rise of skywalker?

It made me rethink that movie. I think he did a good job tbh.

https://youtu.be/IrMM33uHAo8

Rethink? As in you used to like it?

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I like YMS, IHE, and RalphTheMovieMaker. Other than that I dont really mess with that side of YouTube

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joe40001 posted...

Rethink? As in you used to like it?

No...Nerrel makes a really good case for why that movie is actually pretty good. I went from thinking the movie was complete and utter trash to thinking it was actually fine. He makes good points.

I basically hate all the stuff with Fin and Rose which was just dumb filler. The stuff with Luke, Rey and Kylo was actually really good though, and I think it pushed Star Wars in a direction it hadn't been in before.

I basically just watch them as background noise while I'm doing something else. Every now and then I'll hear a decent joke, or feel a wave of nostalgia for something I haven't seen in a long time, but the actual reviews tend to be meaningless.

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Any movie review over 15 minutes is bullshit.

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billcom6 posted...

Any movie review over 15 minutes is bullshit.

Could not disagree more.

GirTheRobot posted...

No...Nerrel makes a really good case for why that movie is actually pretty good. I went from thinking the movie was complete and utter trash to thinking it was actually fine. He makes good points.

I basically hate all the stuff with Fin and Rose which was just dumb filler. The stuff with Luke, Rey and Kylo was actually really good though, and I think it pushed Star Wars in a direction it hadn't been in before.

It's pretty rare to find a positive take on TRoS, so maybe I'll give it a watch.

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the popular movie channels are total garbage, and they just talk about comic book movies for hours anyway lol so it's a stretch to call them movie critics.

The only good one I've come across is Mark Kermode's channel

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