Film Critics Are Not Alright and Hollywood Thinks It's Great

Pauline Kael is already rolling in her grave

I promise, this will be my last dark and twisty look at journalism for a minute. If only to spare my own sanity. But I had to talk about a shift in film criticism that, while brewing for a good long while (at least since Haunted Mansion came out), and coupled with the entertainment journalism already on a downward spiral, just can’t be ignored. You’ll probably recall my discussion on how critics were denied pre-screening director M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap a few weeks ago, part of a continued trend of studios expecting good press and only good press for their movies.

But over the last week some more critic-related events only continue to illustrate the blurry role of critics in an influencer and Yelp-ified world. The belief that anyone can review a movie is not only alive and well, but it’s starting to take over completely.