Bay is fully aware of the criticisms and tells MTV that he doesn't have an issue with the detractors:
"They love to hate, and I don't care; let them hate. They're still going to see the movie! I think it's good to get a little tension. Very good. I used to get bothered by it, but I think it's good to get the dialogue going. It makes me think, and it keeps me on my toes, so it's good."
Film series producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was also asked by ScreenCrush's recently about the criticism of the franchise, and "Extinction" in particular. His answer was quite condescending and dismissive of critics:
"Well, first of all, I think every filmmaker cares what critics think because, you know, you're being judged. I think if someone says they don't care, baloney. Does it affect the gross of the movie? Probably a little bit. But, I think the problem with critics and the big movies in general is they don't understand the format. So, they're judging it against the kind of movie experience that it is not trying to do, nor should it... What I mean is it's like they're locked into like, "OK, let's compare this to a Marty Scorsese movie or a two-hour drama."
Ryan pointed out to Di Bonaventura that the critics seemed to like "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (My review) a lot. Di Bonaventura continued, saying reviewers don't get blockbusters and the ones they do praise they are doing so because of peer pressure:
"But, my experience with the critics is that when they like a big movie, it's because they're afraid they're going to so go against the tide that they act like they liked it. That's my opinion. I think it's baloney. I don't think they understand the form of entertainment and I don't think they appreciate the form of the entertainment. So, I think in that respect, the reason critics don't hurt a lot of the big movies is because the audience is smart enough to go, "I don't care what he's talking about or she's talking about. What I care about is did I have a great experience? Was I wowed? Did I laugh? Did I feel like I was transported to a different place?” And they're judging it on story elements and things that...I'm frustrated that they don't get moviemaking today. They don't get it. I don't understand why they can't evaluate movies on different experiences. My experience when I was first in the business, I really valued critics. Because even when they didn't like something, they talked about what was good in it. So now it's like these feasts of criticism - they just love killing the whole thing. I'm not really speaking about my movies - my movies have been generally pretty well-reviewed. 'Salt' was really well reviewed, 'Side Effects' was well-reviewed. I'm a fan of film and so, OK, you don't like the movie? Nothing was good in it? That's what I’m talking about."
Later on in the interview di Bonaventura claims that critics hated the first "The Matrix" film saying:
"Everybody else wrote second reviews like a week later, sort of re-imagining the history of their first review."
Speaking for myself as a critic I do not feel pressured to like or dislike a film based on the way the critical wind blows--I will say that I go into every film with a clean slate no matter how much I know about a movie beforehand. This blog is littered with examples of my reviews that went against the grain I will give you two examples from the filmography of director Zack Snyder :
The 2009 film adaptation of the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons classic graphic novel "Watchmen"
Yes the reviews were solid but the film still gets knocked around quite a bit today by most of the geeks (of which I am one) I know. I LOVED the film.
I am still being taken to task over my reaction to last year's "Man of Steel". My mostly negative review of the reboot certainly surprised many folks.
Meantime Slashfilm also recently spoke with di Bonaventura about "Extinction" and the future of the Bots franchise...
HAPPY 238th BIRTHDAY AMERICA!
No comments:
Post a Comment