MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Bye, bye Rotten Tomatoes...

Bye, bye Rotten Tomatoes...

posted 7 months ago by Moviefan225 (259)
19 replies | jump to latest

Rotten Tomatoes as we know it is soon going to end. In the past couple of weeks Fandango (which owns RT) has taken a few aggressive steps to phase out critics' reviews. Initially they tried to have numerous ads and info before showing critics reviews but after strong pushback have added the Critics' Consensus bar up top on every movie's page. However this is only likely to be temporary. 😞
When you Google any movie now, the RT score displayed is the audience score. It seems that the "Tomatometer" score we've been accustomed to is no longer going to be the critics score. 😞

I can say with 100% certainty that RT wants to phase out critics' reviews. Wish there was something we could do about it. 🙄

[–] Kowalski (75520) 7 months ago

PHASE OUT CRITICS...THEIR DAY IS DONE...AN AUTISTIC KID IN BELARUS CAN REVIEW MOVIES NOW...THEIR PROFESSION IS OUTDATED...AND MOST OF THEM ACT LIKE SNOBS TO SEPERATE THEMSELVES FROM THE 'non pros".

[–] Thaisticks (3020) 7 months ago

How absurd! No work of art exists in a vacuum. I have so often got from critic's reviews a fuller understanding and appreciation of a movie, and I think it would be a great loss to "phase them out." Critic's stand in the role of "society's judgement," and, while everyone can be a critic, only a few are listened to.

[–] Luffy (1236) 7 months ago

Notice that you never mention RT in your little rant. It wouldn't be okay if you learned something from a RT critic.

[–] BKB (9877) 7 months ago

And Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert are rolling over in their graves at that

[–] RoboReCop (3294) 7 months ago

Let the past die, well at least that past.

[–] howgamer (3927) 7 months ago

I don't feel like the site has been reliable for over a decade.

[–] CaptBeefBlower (242) 7 months ago

It never has been. They subjectively decide on and assign a rating to reviews which have no ratings, and then give an overall percentage rating based on reviews that are 6/10 or more, rather than giving the mean of the ratings. It's intrinsically arbitrary and misleading. Metacritic is slightly better.

Having said that, I no longer trust critics' reviews in general. There are far too many mediocre films and TV shows that get excellent ratings these days. I'm not sure whether it's down to corruption or ideological factors, but something has changed.

[–] howgamer (3927) 7 months ago

Yeah I don't rely on critics at all. Only you watching the movie can determine if you liked it, thought it was well made or acted. Critics are like trailers, not really reliable about the end product.

[–] Keelai (34853) 7 months ago

I use RT to compare common vs snobby viewpoints like the former Siskel & Ebert TV series.

I'll assume studios don't like their crappy movies being panned.

[–] parkerbot (8993) 7 months ago

They sell their scores don't they?

[–] CaptBeefBlower (242) 7 months ago

They have done, yes. A company called Bunker 15 was employed to inflate the scores of poorly performing movies by paying critics.

[–] ByTheVineyard (544) 7 months ago

Critics' reviews are proven to be 100% useless for me so I can't care less

[–] AndyKing1967 (38067) 7 months ago

My world shattered.

[–] [deleted] 7 months ago

I really don't pay attention to Rotten tomatoes. It's only interesting to see how much Critics and the general audience disagrees.

Outside of that, I usually use IMDB or reviews on Movie Chat or YouTube