I think it’s a popular misconception that movie sites that also run movie ads must therefore be shilling for some corporate or studio gods, but in my experience with Cinematical and other reputable film sites, that’s just not the case.

Nick, your premise is just fundamentally incorrect. If you go to Rotten Tomatoes, you can look up the review stats of most of Cinematical’s writers. James Rocchi, for instance, recently gave negative reviews to Eagle Eye, Choke, and Slacker Uprising, and a mixed-positive review to Miracle at St Anna. He totally slammed Babylong AD and Hamlet 2, giving them 1/5 stars on RT. Hardly the mark of an easy film lay.

Scott Weinberg agrees with the Tomatometer 76% of the time. Recent negative reviews from him (many of which ran on his other outlet, FEARnet) include Seed, Babylon AD, Scorpion King 2, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Speed Racer and What Happens in Vegas.

On the other hand, several critics who I would never consider to be easy film lays have agree ratings right around where Cinematical’s critics sit: Glenn Kenny agrees with Tomatometer 78% of the time, Peter Howell rates a 77%, and even Karina Longworth, who can be contrarian in her response to certain films, has a 76%.

Hell, even Erik Childress, who makes a sport out of monitoring film critic quote whores to call them out on their filthy dirty whoring, rates a 72% agree rate on RT.

My own agree rating on RT weighs in at 75%. If you looked at all my Cinematical reviews over the nearly 4 years I wrote there, though, I expect it would be heavily weighted towards positive reviews, because on the balance, I reviewed way more films on the fest circuit than mainstream releases; I try to choose which movies I want to see carefully so as not to waste precious hours of however many minutes of life I have left in this iteration watching shit; and when I see a little indie film at a fest that’s not very good, I’m generally more inclined not to review it at all rather than slam it while it’s still a hatchling.

Admittedly, RT isn’t an entirely accurate barometer, as there are a good many verifiable quote whores whose reviews go on there, and a fair number of chaff amidst the wheat, but still. In my own experience as an editor at Cinematical, I’d say that any assertion that Cinematical writers love everything they see is just patently false.

Please ask any person who’s ever written for Cinematical, including Kim, whether they were ever pressured (by myself or someone at AOL) to say positive things about a studio film. Please do that, and then come back here and write a comment from the position of someone who actually knows what the fuck they’re talking about.

And I’m done here.

Erik

Nobody’s perfect, we ain’t, that’s for sure. It’s just an observation. A lot of other people have said worse things about other blogs, etc…

Please disperse, nothing to see here.

Please explain how I’m missing the point of that statement.

And I think you’re forgetting that the people from Cinematical are allowed to, dare I say, defend themselves when they’re accused of being “whores”

Seriously folks, do your research here, and bad mouth the sites who go out of their way to praise shit like Epic Movie in order to be quoted in the commercial. Don’t bring it down on a group of people who work their asses off at festivals and look to champion excellent smaller films the world — and most of the press — would rather throw to the curb.

Thanks,

Erik Davis
Editor-in-Chief, Cinematical.com

Let us know when you have anything else to contribute beyond your dirty toes…

If you feel like giving an opinion, expect others to develop an opinion of you.

And I do think Cinematical is quote heavy (but I don’t consider that a bad thing).

If you think there’s something wrong with seeing, enjoying, and praising a Canadian indie flick while attending a film festival, I’d assert that you’re in the wrong business.

This morning is the first time I’ve thought about Just Buried in over a year. And yeah, I’ll be pleased if my “blurb” helps to sell a few extra tickets — although I don’t really think it will.

Scott weshouldonlybesolucky Hutcheson – wearemoviegeeks.com

William Goss,
Cinematical.com

And if you think Cinematical is among one of the most-quoted outlets on the ‘net, I’d respectfully suggest you do a little more research.

Best,

Scott Weinberg
Managing Editor, Cinematical.com