A View on Film Critics.

A friend of mine and I got into a discussion today, a discussion about movie critics. He writes articles for different sources on movies he likes and dislikes, aka, he works as such a film critic. I have my own views of the profession and thought it might be interesting to post them, seeing what others of you might have to say on the topic.

This is pretty much copied and pasted, so sorry for what might not be the clearest.

Clare:
Im not sure even how to respond. Im sure its not what you want to hear, but I dont even see a reason for film critics outside of the industry. Meaning, film critics are completely pointless to the mass public. I don't listen to them myself. I dont really care what they tell me about a movie. If I want to see something, nothing they tell me is going to make me not see it, and if I dont want to see it, nothing they say will make me see it. Movies are too personal preference. Every single person has too many different tastes in what they want to see in order for some critic to tell them what they should and shouldnt see. But I do know that that is just me. Not to be disrespectful in the slightest, I dont mean it in that way at all, I do know that there are critics that totally know their stuff, but they dont necessarily know me and what I like.

J:
That's a pretty detailed way to put a common opinion. Don't take this as me trying to rebut you or defend myself but the way I see it (and that I think most critics do) is that the job is about telling people what you think and allowing them to compare their own opinion to yours as well as contributing to the general discussion surrounding film. The last thing a critic should do is tell the reader what the reader will like.

Clare:
I 100% agree with the notion of a critic contributing discussion about the film, it helps get buzz and all that jazz, and for a lot of films, the topics discussed inside the film are interesting enough for the critic to just discuss the inner workings of the plot, but I feel a lot of the public takes too much of what critics say on the final verdict of liking the film to heart, which is not the critics fault, but the publics. I hear so many times, "Oh, I dont want to see that, it got bad reviews" its like unless you give me a reason from what was said IN the review as to why you dont want to see it, I dont see why just seeing a c+ next to a movie would keep you from seeing what you wanted to see.

Anyone agree? Disagree? Thoughts on film critics?