I think we’re in an age where reviewers are heavily in the pockets of studios. It’s annoying because we look to reviewers to give honest feedback. I watched neither film but IMO both trailers looked like a cash grab on Millie’s fame from Stranger Things.

Thank god I haven’t wasted life time on the first - although I suspect I’d not have then watched the second. But I agree, finding true and honest reviews seems pretty challenging these days.

Same experience, but with the first movie. Was surprised considering all the glowing reviews. Skipped the second one entirely.

Ebola Holmes. Now THATS a movie I'd watch.

I know a friend who is a huge fan of Stranger Things and made me watch the cliffhanger for the most recent one, where Millie Bobbie Brown faces off against a dude who can't shut the fuck up.

I told my friend that she pretty much seemed to have two or three expressions, and they built every season out of them (given the flashbacks to other cliffhangers): she looks mildly stunned and then remembers she has powers and then looks really angry.

In the Godzilla franchise, she was probably one of the worst of a group of not-great actors, especially in GvK.

To your point about critics: yeah, there's only a few out there I pay any attention to, and it just feels like a horrible exercise to watch films based on just one or two opinions.

Idk how anyone who saw the first would attempt the second

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>Maybe 20 minutes in, I commented how bad of an acting job Millie Bobbie Brown was doing, and she (my partner) replied, “Is this a kid’s movie? It feels like one.”

It IS a kids movie. I'm really not sure what you were expecting.

They’re not a monolith. You’re not supposed to listen to them as a whole, find a handful of critics whose taste more or less align with yours and see what they have to say.

But on top that, film criticism is a guide, not an absolute. You don’t HAVE to like or dislike something because a critic says so. But criticism can be crucial to understanding the medium better.

I hate the damage that Rotten Tomatoes has done to the current public consensus of movies.

Both movies check a ton of boxes for certain political ideologues. And considering that the movie industry and their lackeys in the journalism industry are trying to improve their PR after all the controversy about sexual abuse and pedofilia in their ranks, of course they are going to give their own movies glowing reviews.

It's a case of "Nothing to see here... OH LOOK! OUR NEW MOVIE HAS ALL THE FEMINISM! IT HAS ALL THE MULTICULTURALISM! IT IS LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY! Don't look at our wrongdoings, pay for and watch our movies, which we've specifically made to cater to your sensibilities even though in real life we couldn't care less!"

You seem fun.

Exactly this.

It's a deliberate circle jerk. Not only are the reviewers in the pockets of the studios, the studios just outright own the media companies that employ the reviewers.

And independent reviewers who don't give glowing reviews are just blacklisted. Same thing for games.

Unfortunately, I had heard it was supposed to be good as well, but having never seen the first one, we watched it first. Then proceeded to watch the sequel, hoping that it would be better. I should have known better.

Yea, because fun is the thing that's important in life. Who cares if people are horrible and do shitty things as long as you're having fun. Right?

Lol, same with me. Started the first thinking good idea might be fun.

Do you have a newsletter we can all subscribe to?

Honestly I’ve found some reviewers on YouTube who give generally good feedback and I’ve stopped looking to places like Rotten Tomatoes.

Yes, they most certainly ARE a monolith when all the media companies are owned by the same people that own the studios.

Where can I get this Ebola Holmes. Sounds intriguing

its on netflix, who pays for netflix lol

i havent watched stranger things but based on the trailer it looks awesome tbh. millie bobby brown probably does well in these movies

So do you have any actual proof that every single critic out there is “owned” by a studio? Your argument doesn’t even make sense in this case when there are plenty of Netflix properties that get shat on critically.

Everyone has different tastes. My wife and I wstched the first one last night and quite enjoyed it.

Don't bring up Ebola gave me nightmares as a kid

What are you talking about?

It has a strong female lead, and no one has ever done a female detective before! What more do you need ?! That makes it uncritiseable!

Yes this is sarcasm btw.

It's worse than a kids movie. Like most Netflix films, it's bland and neutral and meant to be watched by the whole family and is ultimately worse than either a film just for kids or adults.

We’ll, we watched both movies as a family (13+15yo kids) and everyone enjoyed them. We all thought the second was even better. I’m usually a pretty harsh critic but didn’t see anything bland or neutral about it. Like most movies, I probably won’t rewatch it anytime soon though.

I disagree - it’s not marketed that way, and it’s PG-13, with a fair amount of violence and murder.

Kids movies don’t have to be bad. Suggesting a film is for kids should really imply that it does not contain mature content. But the effort for quality writing/acting/etc should still be present as these are being produced by adults.