Comments on: Negative ‘Dark Knight’ reviews bring out people’s Joker-like tendencies

By: card

card — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:15:58 +0000

I was also amazed by the comments on “Wall-E.” It seemed so weird that people were threatening all sorts of death and mishap to come to the negative reviewers of a Pixar family film.

By: schism

schism — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:19:26 +0000

I think an old Penny Arcade strip about the power of posting on the internet anonymously applies here. Anyone remember the URL of the strip? You mean this one?

By: Thoughtful Observer

Thoughtful Observer — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:22:11 +0000

I have to admit, thinking about it, that when I read a lot of negative or even so-so reviews about a movie I was really excited about, I get disappointed – not because it was negatively reviewed, but because I was hoping the movie was going to be better than that. I felt that way about Stardust. I enjoyed the movie, but was sad that it wasn’t as good as it could have been.

By: Euphonious Monk

Euphonious Monk — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:38:22 +0000

@Marc/ John Ellis
I don’t think this is the strip to which Marc was referring, but I am positive it’s the one John was talking about. Be warned, there is language of the profane variety, which, I suppose, given the subject, is only appropriate.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:48:03 +0000

I usually find that the more a critic hates a movie, the more I like it. That’s not to say that there haven’t been movies that I completely agree with the reviewer on, but I’d say that 8 out of 10 movies with a bad review, are ones that I pretty much liked. But I have to admit that I love it when the geeks come out of the woodwork…….makes you appreciate that you have a life!!! (although I post here…..does that make me a geek?)

By: Clumpy

Clumpy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:02:40 +0000

@Eric:

“I would take that a step further. What if nobody liked the movie? How would that in any way affect your ability to enjoy it? It wouldn�t. Every critic � heck, every person � in the world could think it�s terrible and you would still be able to love it. It really should make no difference at all to these people.”

Yeah – on a personal level, that’s pretty much the way I roll. The exception is with series’ or films that I wish to be financially successful, such as Hellboy or anything by Joss Whedon. I root for those numbers to go up, though I recognize my personal involvement in the process means nothing, much like our system of elections. Zing!

By: Clumpy

Clumpy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:57:54 +0000

@Matt:

“The problem is that these 30-year old men who still live with in their parents� basements and work at Burger King have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of a fictional character. Being told that a movie about said character isn�t very good is like being told that your life�s work is worthless.”

I’ve never been able to verbalize this before myself, but I think it’s true. We saw the same thing a couple of years ago when a reviewer gave some new Zelda game an 88 percent (the nerve!). Fanboys, worried that they might not be having as much fun as they think they are, took to the net in droves to call for his execution. Being unable to tell that a 9 is the number right next to 10.

It’s probably the same reason that uptight people get their shorts in a bundle when an adaptation fails to live up to the original version. In my mind, the Hitchhiker’s Guide film will always be a load of schlocky crap, not necessarily because it’s worse than any other Disney releases, or because they changed things, but because the spirit of the original work was so different. Allowing myself to admit that the movie itself isn’t that bad taken as an isolated product pretty much squelched what fanboyism I had.

By: Marc

Marc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:36:11 +0000

There was a funny Penny Arcade comic about this very issue, it had to do with fanboys bickering over game systems, throwing out lots of foul language and poorly worded ideas (nearly all in caps). My favorite bit from it was the first line addressed to another forum poster…

“F*** YOU F***ER!!!!”

I don’t know why, but that just cracks me up.

Unfortunately, I have chosen to waste my time every once in a while surfing the comments on Rottentomatoes, sometimes for laughs, oftentimes out of sheer disbelief. I should also mention to check out the comments at politico.com (or any political/news site really), for the gigantic level of stupidity on display, I would award it to those posters (merely because of their obnoxious use of cut/paste)

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:57:06 +0000

Eric, I swear to God, this had better not be your way of preparing us for a negative review.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:10:04 +0000

While all the complaining about critics who gave the movie a negative review is silly, I fully support anyone who wants to complain about Armond White’s review. But that’s only because he appears to be a nut with an agenda, and is not just reviewing the movie based on its own merits. He goes on an on about Nolan’s hipster nihilism, and how he’s pandering to teenagers and such. So, please, bash away at him.