Movies. What do people talk about? Did it fail? Did it succeed? Did audiences like it? Was it good? Okay. Some more "important" questions that are apparently indicators of whether a film is good or not. Did critics like it? How much money did it make? What kind of movie is it? I believe these three questions are some of the most damning ones. The Critics As an audience, we collectively seem to believe what we're told by others on whom we bestow our confidence and trust. But that should never be unwavering belief, never blind trust. Hear what they have to say, sure. But before you form your own judgement, don't you think it's better to at least experience it yourself? Get some first hand data, so to speak? There have been times when some reviews have left me agape. This review of Disturbed's cover of Simon & Garfu...
Let's talk about the 2017 film War Machine . It's quite a good film! There, I let it out right here, at the very beginning. It served up a little seat-grabbingly intense action, a few wow-that-was-amazing-acting moments and got a LOT of laughs, all the while being firm in its identity of a "satirical film", as Wikipedia calls it . The one thing it didn't get from me is the feeling that I'd watched a mediocre film. Because it's a pretty damn good one. There are a ton of reviews out there, like this one , and this . They say stuff like "A caricature of a military leader, but not an insightful one", and that the film is trying to portray the actions of said leader but its buried under "fluff". Dude, seriously? Whoever wrote such a review doesn't understand film, or satire, or perhaps reviews. War Machine's caricature of General Glen McMahon is deliberate, and Brad Pitt does quite a good job (in a scene towards the end, Pit...