"If [film] critics want to avoid irrelevance, they might relinquish their duties made redundant by the internet, and focus on reviewing film in terms that draw from their deep knowledge of film as a unique artform."

Film as film

by Malcolm Thorndike Nicholson 

/ MARCH 4, 2014

What’s the point of movie criticism?

"The review blueprint was drawn many years ago. But these days, fewer and fewer people read reviews to find out what a film is about or whether they should go see it—they have Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes for that. If critics want to avoid irrelevance, they might relinquish their duties made redundant by the internet, and focus on reviewing film in terms that draw from their deep knowledge of film as a unique artform. Almost every review—whether in newspapers, magazines or websites—currently follows a similar blueprint: plot synopsis, recap of director’s work, brief appraisal of the acting and/or writing, cursory sentence about the camera work and/or score, and then a long dissection of the narrative and themes. Take out a few details and one may as well be reading a theatre or book review."