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Can you credibly complain about anything after such a statement?

Here is a great Worst list video:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/6649-Worst-Movies-of-2012

As I said above, John Carter is a perfect example because it was sunk before it ever started. No argument that it was poorly marketed and that most of the blame for its lack of financial success should be laid at the feet of Disney who spent a lot of money on it and then acted like they could care less about it. But I also read so many scathing reviews of it before it ever came out that it didn’t even have a chance to get traction among those who might have been interested to see it but who were swayed not to go because of vociferous opinions as to its merit.

Should we get bent out of shape when someone doesn’t like something that we do? Not at all. Should we strive to treat creators and the fans of those creations with some dignity and respect when voicing our opinions about why their creation didn’t work for us? I should hope so.

B) How exactly does a “worst of the year” list do any real damage? What evidence do you have of that claim? John Carter won’t result in the loss of jobs because it sucked. It will result in the loss of jobs because it didn’t make enough money. Do you think the people behind the Twilight films will be out of jobs just because a critic rightfully identifies them as utter trash? Do you think Hollywood actually cares about the critics when it is making massive amounts of profit? No. It doesn’t. If it did, it would have stopped making crappy films a long time ago. But they keep making them because they make money. The notion that a critic has as much power as you claim in this particular instance is another falsehood. They might have power in small, indie circles, and perhaps for films that will not make much anyway, but John Carter was an expected blockbuster. A whole different category.

Nor am I proposing that we do away with awards for those who excel. I state very clearly that we should celebrate great achievements. And giving an award to LINCOLN for best screenplay does not, as you suggest, remind us how bad the writing is in Adam Sandler’s movies. Or at least that’s not what goes through MY mind.

What I’m suggesting is that “worst of the year” lists, that very specific retrospective approach that some critics take, goes too far. They actually do damage, serious destructive damage. And as a lover of art, it saddens me whenever someone who doesn’t make art themselves has the power to squash and destroy someone who does. It’s more than hurt feelings. It’s economics. It’s jobs.

I get that there’s a sense of mean-spirited-ness in the Entertainment Weekly list, but that’s the price we pay for art. People will hate what you do, and that magazine is simply an avenue in which such people will express themselves. It’s criticism. It’s not about being a “nice person.” It’s about marking what is good and bad from your personal subjective position. You don’t have to agree with it, but it doesn’t make the people who do that bad people. It makes them critics.

Then again, I don’t even know how one judges something that is geared towards personal taste.

Sure, “worst” lists are mean-spirited, but they are what they are.

What really bothers me is sites and newspapers that go after amateurs like college athletes who are not only not paid, they are kids who don’t deserve a bunch of shit from guys sitting on their lard butts telling them how terrible they are.

I went letter-to-the-editor ballistic when the local paper started this practice with college sports and managed to stop it. Don’t let the jerks win by saying nothing.

Now… I couldn’t get through 20 minutes of John Carter before giving up. I thought it was singularly, almost awe-inspiringly awful, and I told everyone within hearing distance that it was. Did anyone take me seriously? Sure, a few people, people who have the same kind of aesthetic. And those that didn’t just said, “Hey, I liked it!” and that was that.

At least that was it for most people. Some people, I imagine, liked me a little less when I insulted something they loved. it happens all the time when we discuss geeky topics.

This fact bothers me. Why must there always be people in the geek “community” who get butthurt when someone is critical? I don’t get upset when someone says they hate The Rolling Stones. I realize that their opinion, no matter how definitively stated, is just that. Who cares? If you don’t agree, read or watch something else. Vote with your wallet.

I agree with the suthor here and feel that these articles are just ways to fill up magazine and blog space,ways to get the writers a check for doing something instead of not doing it which is what should really happen but would force a magazine like EW to publish a magazine with blank pages (not always the worst possible outcome).

The job of critic always struck me as ridiculous,being paid to give your opinion.We can all do that job.Just because somebody is being paid to give an opinion doesn’t mean it’s better than yours.