What Are Critics Good For?

As I review movies and DVDs on this site, I may make occassional mention of films I see on the recommendation of movie critics and movie review sites. Now, I myself do not always find that I agree with critics, but my general take is, if a large majority of critics say a film is worth seeing, I trust them. In fact, I trust critics even more than most of my friends. The reason is this: film critics see hundreds, if not thousands of movies every year. So, when a large majority of those critics, especially those respected for their well constructed reviews, say a particular film is good, the chances are with all the films they've seen over their life that there has to be something good about it. The site I most commonly use to gather the general critic population's take on films is Metacritic.com, but there are others like it, including Rotten Tomatoes. I also like reading Ain't It Cool News for reviews and news from similar movie-loving geek perspectives. None of these sites or critics determine how much I enjoy a film, but at least they prompt me to see films I might have otherwise never had a desire to watch the first time, let alone rewatch.

Take it or leave it, but I think critics are good for something. But maybe that's because I kind of am one.

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