Review Culture in Film

Previous entries on this blog have explored how critics and audiences have differed in their reactions to certain films - critics despised Bright  (2017) but audiences responded far more positively, and critics showered praise on Blade Runner 2049 (2017) but this universal acclaim couldn't convince a large proportion of the general public to buy a movie ticket, resulting in a lacklustre box-office total. Numbers and viewing figures heavily indicate that there is a large and growing disparity between film reviewers and a general movie-going audience, so I conducted a survey entitled 'Review Culture and Audience Engagement' to gauge if audiences are affected by critical response to a film or whether review culture is becoming less relevant due to the rise of social media. Out of a total of 25 responses, 21 of them were completed by people in the 16-24 age bracket. 3 responses were given by people in the 25-35 demographic whilst only 1 person in the 46-54 demographic comp

We are living in an era where films garner fan bases like they never have done before due to the presence and popularity of social media. Nowadays, "liking" or "loving" a film simply isn't enough - to truly express your commitment and adoration of a film, it seems one must set up a social media account (primarily a Twitter one) and effuse over the film's properties, such as its leading actors and its director. A number of films over the past few months have ignited fans' passions and resulted in a twitter community of its own. One of these films has been Call Me By Your Name (dir. Luca Guadagnino 2017).  It's based on the Andre Aciman book of the same name about a love affair between a 17 year-old American-Italian boy and a visiting 24 year-old American Jewish scholar in 1980s Italy. The film stars Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer as Elio and Oliver respectively. Due to the film's LGBT visibility and romantic story, it has received a wide f

Helen O'Hara You've written for numerous publications such as Empire, Daily Telegraph, Digital Spy and GQ, was a career in film journalism/criticism always your main aspiration? Yes and no. I always loved film, and started reading Empire in my teens, but I was far too sensible to aim for that originally. I actually went all the way through college and law school and qualified as a barrister before giving up in sheer boredom. As luck would have it, an internship came up at Empire a couple of months later and I managed to get it despite a total lack of qualifications or experience. It helped that I read the mag and website religiously and knew their style very well, and my basic film knowledge was good, so that saw me through. Were there any particular reviewers whose work you appreciated/admired? I didn't really pay attention to named reviewers before getting into journalism myself, but I'm a big fan of Anthony Lane and Dorothy Parker's collected work. I

There's a significant shift happening in the entertainment industry - women are no longer staying silent. Not silent about sexual abuse and harassment in the work place. Not silent about unequal opportunities. Not silent about the gender pay gap. Women have been given a voice, and with that voice, they intend to project it loud enough to shatter the glass ceiling. The ripple effect of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements had spread far and wife, revealing that it's not just famous actresses and musicians that have suffered in silence. It's every woman across every industry, including film criticism where there is a huge gender disparity. Actress and Hollywood star Jessica Chastain has vocalised her disapproval at the dismal statistics surrounding film criticism, stating in 2017 in an interview with  The Guardian : Jessica Chastain "Critics are the ones that suggest to an audience what stories are valuable and worthwhile and when you have 90% of film critic

David Ehrlich The glaring divide between audience and critics has never been more pertinent than it has in the last year or so, and my previous blog posts explore this phenomenon using the films Bright (2017) and Blade Runner 2049 as case studies.  I reached out to film critic David Ehrlich and interviewed him regarding this issue amongst other pressing components that are entailed in his profession, such as the consideration of audience and readership.  Ehrlich was previously a Staff Writer at rolling Stone, Associate Film Editor of Time Out New York, the US editor of Little White Lies Magazine, the Senior Editor of Film.com and a contributor to various outlets including Vanity Fair and The Guardian.  Ehrlich is currently the Senior Film Critic for IndieWire. This interview took place over email on 1st February, 2018. How would you describe your film taste and what are some of your favourite films? This is a hard one! Maybe the hardest   one of all. I like movies about mov

It had been 35 years since Ridley Scott's  Blade Runner.  Upon its release, it underwhelmed at the box-office and divided critics but in the three decades that have passed, it has become a staple of the sci-fi genre and heralded as one of the best films of all time. French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, responsible for hits such as  Sicario  and  Arrival , was chosen to the expanding fictional universe with  Blade Runner 2049  and faced the pressure of delivering not just a piece of entertainment, but a cinematic experience that could match the impact of it predecessor. The critical reception was overwhelmingly positive and nearing upon universal acclaim. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film a maximum 5/5 stars, summarising his review of the film with "a gigantic spectacle of pure hallucinatory craziness". Meanwhile, the UK's leading film magazine Empire also awarded it 5 stars, "As bold as the original Blade Runner and even more beautiful (espe