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Does Review Bombing Actually Hurt Movies, TV Shows And Video Games?

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Does Review Bombing Actually Hurt Movies, TV Shows And Video Games?

In this age of culture wars over various entertainment properties, fans have limited options in making their voices heard. There’s complaining on social media, but there are also the high-profile review sites and services that act as recommendation engines for content.

The New York Times recently published an article about how review bombing on a place like Goodreads harms authors by creating bad buzz, whether or not the reviewers in question have read the book. One book was accused of being “anti-black,” and that social media narrative translated into loads of one-star reviews on Goodreads which directly hurt the novel.

In the wider entertainment industry it’s a bit different, and review bombing is used with such frequency, it’s almost become easy to ignore it most of the time, with a few exceptions. And it works differently across movies, TV shows and video games.

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Movies – The end-all be-all for movie reviews is Rotten Tomatoes, which takes into account purely whether a review is positive or negative, and uses that to create a “fresh” or “rotten” rating, with rotten anything below a 60%.

At one point, the issue of review bombing got so bad that Rotten Tomatoes introduced a verification system to prove you’d actually bought a ticket to see a particular film. This was instituted after so-called fans review bombed the MCU’s Captain Marvel with ferocity in response to comments lead actress Brie Larson had made about the movie press being too male-dominated. It remains the lowest fan-scored Marvel movie at a 45%, but after that, we saw fewer extremes for movies like this. And it did not prevent Captain Marvel from making $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office and spawning a sequel out in a few months.

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For movies, there’s also a narrative that critics are disconnected from fans and hate big flashy blockbusters, so it’s the user scores you have to listen to. That doesn’t reflect reality. The glut of superhero movies actually showcase that in many instances, critics score these types of movies higher than fans, and least in the MCU.

But often it’s the case that critic or fan reviews just don’t matter, or at the very least, it’s unpredictable. DC’s The Suicide Squad scored a 90% with critics and an 82% from fans, but was a box office failure in part because general audiences thought it was going to be a bad sequel to a bad original with a close to identical name. No one really cared about the positive scores. Top Gun Maverick, meanwhile, with its 96% critical rating and 99% audience score, reflected the hugely positive word of mouth that had the recognizable IP and its huge star make that a rare, non-superhero box office smash. But again, sometimes all the positive fan reviews in the world do nothing. Shazam! Fury of the Gods had an 86% score from fans, but was one of the biggest superhero flops ever. There, the middling critic reviews (a 47%) were correct.

TV – Again, even with TV shows and movies on Metacritic, it’s Rotten Tomatoes that people pay attention to here, though probably less so for TV than movies. There are generally fewer TV critics than movie critics (which makes little sense in this day and age), and scores very much skew higher for shows, so much so that they’re almost always higher for critics than fans.

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Review bombing is probably a larger problem with TV, given that unlike movies, there is no verification system for who has watched a show or not. Again, this comes up most often in superhero, sci-fi or fantasy series where fanboys have the most opinions. Marvel’s She-Hulk had an 80% critic score but a 32% audience score mainly based on its “goofy” tone and female-focused narrative examining misogyny in many episodes. We don’t know if it will get a second season or not yet. We can also see this on IMDB with their helpful graphics that often show lots of perfect 10s opposite 1 star reviews as warring camps try to control the narrative over something like Ms. Marvel (seen above).

Absolutely terrible reviews can help sink a series. Netflix’s Resident Evil series made it to #1 on the service, but a 26% audience score, one of Netflix’s lowest ever, certainly didn’t help the argument to renew it, and it was promptly cancelled. But here we have to debate what the definition of “review bombing” even is, given that sometimes a show is just…bad, and the reviews reflect that.

In the streaming era, reviews often simply do not matter at all, and it comes down mainly to watch time and budget, especially on places like Netflix. That can lead to some seemingly baffling decisions, like Netflix cancelling a series like Teenage Bounty Hunters with a 94% critic score and 96% audience score simply because it wasn’t watched enough. The 99% rated Tuca and Bertie was cancelled and had to be picked up by another network. If you make your way through Netflix’s most popular shows ever, almost all of them are somewhere between a 75% and 85% fan rating, with critic scores being all over the place (95% for Squid Game, 71% for Wednesday, 57% for Dahmer, all megahits). Here, all forms of reviews probably matter the least.

Video Games – Now we arrive at the place where fan-based review bombing happens the most often, but is probably the most ignored at this point. Unlike the previous two fields, the video game industry is home to warring factions in the console wars, or extremely reactive fans who respond to technical issues or general game problems with ultra-low scores.

But what happens is that this occurs so often, most people have grown content to ignore user reviews on Metacritic at this point (there are no video game reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for whatever reason). What frequently happens is some new console-exclusive release will come out, and the other side tries to sink it with poor scores without playing it (this recently happened initially with PlayStation-exclusive Final Fantasy XVI, and has happened with Xbox games too). Metacritic does not “verify” user reviews, they simply put a delay on being able to score games until they are out for a day or two, but it does little to deter the practice.

Probably more so than Rotten Tomatoes, and as much as fans would like to say otherwise, it’s the high and low scores by professional critics which make the most impact. Video game studios have been actually offered bonuses at times for 85+ Metascores, and usually anything over 90+ is a Game of the Year contender and will sell extremely well. Two of the highest scoring games in recent memory, Tears of the Kingdom and Elden Ring, set sales records for their respective studios/franchises. Two of the lowest scoring big games, Redfall and Saints Row, were sales disasters. But this has everything to do with critic reviews and almost nothing to do with any kind of review bombing.

A possible exception to this is Steam on PC, where users do have to own a game to rate it, though this mainly affects smaller games rather than large ones in terms of how that might impact sales. One interesting thing about Steam is how reviews can tell you the trajectory of a game over time. Something like Cyberpunk 2077 was thrashed at launch with poor reviews due to its buggy nature and missing features, but over time, recent reviews skewed more and more positive as fixes came in, and you can see that with Steam’s tracking of the most recent positive/negative scores.

Generally speaking, the answer is no, low fan scores or outright review-bombing rarely affects the final outcome of bigger movies, TV shows or video games. Movies succeed or fail for many different reasons. TV shows are mainly considered successes free of critic or fan scores largely based on pure watch time and budgets relative to that watch time. Video games put enormously heavy weight on critic scores while user scores are largely ignored completely, depending on the situation. It’s not exactly the Goodreads situation elsewhere in the entertainment industry.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

Movie Reviews

‘Max’ movie review: A fiery Sudeep drives this high-octane action thriller

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‘Max’ movie review: A fiery Sudeep drives this high-octane action thriller

Sudeep in ‘Max’.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Inspector Arjun Mahakshay a.k.a Max takes charge unofficially a day before his suspension ends. A huge blunder inside the station puts Max against powerful men, who come for his life. As he is faced with the improbable task of saving his colleagues and coming out unscathed from the problem, the daring cop pauses to prepare a cup of tea.

Director Vijay Kartikeyaa’s debut project is driven by a protagonist who keeps you guessing about his next move. Even if Max aims to provide unhinged ‘masala’ entertainment, the movie’s leading man isn’t a one-note character. Since the events unfold during one night, and he has limited time to cross a series of hurdles, Max puts his sharp brain to quick use. And once he enters the risky zone of facing the criminals head-on, he unleashes the beast inside him.

Max (Kannada)

Director: Vijay Kartikeyaa

Cast: Sudeep, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Ilavarasu, Uggram Manju

Runtime: 132 minutes

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Storyline: A day before reporting for duty after a two-month suspension, inspector Arjun Mahakshay faces an unexpected situation. Can he save the day?

Max is a celebration of Sudeep, who oozes style in his aggressive portrayal of an all-conquering officer. If you saw him as a subdued yet classy cop carrying a deep pain within him in Vikrant Rona (2022), Sudeep cuts loose in Max to cater to his fans, who were hungry for ‘mass’ moments involving their favourite star.

The one-man show is great fun to watch to an extent. Director Vijay scripts an old-school world where the hero emerges as the ultimate saviour of distressed people. However, as a whole, Max leaves you wanting more as you expect the protagonist to face the heat of a mighty antagonist.

Sunil, essaying the main villain, is undone by a toothless character. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar’s character of a cop with a negative shade shows promise early on but gets fizzled out eventually as she fails to make any difference to the plot. Right from the beginning, it’s apparent that both the characters are bracing for an inevitable onslaught from Max.  

It’s also quite shocking how Max has an almost incompetent team. When they aren’t blindly following the instructions from Max, the junior-level officers are scared and clueless. Ilavarasu, playing an experienced officer, delivers a measured performance. The rest of the cast, including Uggram Manju, Samyuktha Hornad, Sukrutha Wagale and Vijay Chendur, are too loud in their respective portrayals.

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One can’t blame the actors as their characters are designed to artificially amp up the tension. With a highly dramatic plot in hand, the director’s decision to showcase stronger emotions than what’s necessary dents the film.

ALSO READ:‘UI’ movie review: Upendra’s political commentary is a one-of-a-kind experience despite its flaws

The core idea of Max might remind you of Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Kaithi (2019). With so much happening in a short span of time, it’s tough to emotionally invest in the proceedings. On the other hand, Max’s racy screenplay keeps you curious about the events on screen. A superb fusion of Chethan D Souza’s action choreography and Ajaneesh Lokanath’s ensures an adrenaline-pumping experience.

Max is a star vehicle with admirable experiments from the makers. With Vikrant Rona and Max, Sudeep has deviated from traditional commercial films. The big stars of Kannada cinema are seeking change, and that’s a good sign.

Max is currently running in theatres.

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Movie Reviews

Barroz Twitter Review: Is Mohanlal’s directorial debut with the fantasy film worth a watch? Check out these 11 tweets to know

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Barroz Twitter Review: Is Mohanlal’s directorial debut with the fantasy film worth a watch? Check out these 11 tweets to know

Mollywood icon, Mohanlal has now ventured into the director’s chair and his directorial debut film Barroz has made its theatrical release today, December 25, 2024. The Malayalam fantasy movie, within hours of release, has gotten some vivid reviews from fans, who have highlighted their opinions on social media.

Well, it seems that Barroz has received mixed opinions from some fans, who have significantly highlighted how the film has not lived up to the expectations considering it being the senior actor’s directorial debut.

Fans have expressed disappointment at the fact that the film’s storyline is weaker, and it is only the specialised use of VFX that has been pulling it all together.

On the other hand, some other fans have appreciated the impeccable acting chops of Mohanlal himself, with special mention to the excellent 3D presentation appealing to mass audiences for more than one reason.

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There have been specific references to a few underwater scenes, which have been touted as an epitome of masterclass cinematic presentation, not to forget how it would not hit as a mass entertainer.

Check out the fans’ reviews about Barroz on Twitter:











Mohanlal has left no stone unturned when it comes to the jam-packed promotional spree for Barroz. The film’s cinematography has been done by the talented Santosh Sivan, while the musical score is handled by Mark Killian.

Coming to the plot of the film, it is said to revolve around the conquest undertaken by Barroz, the guardian of a treasure which has been hidden for over 400 years. This wealth has been trusted to only a true descendant of Da Gama. 

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It is inspired as an adaptation of Jijo Punnoose’s novel Barroz: Guardian of D’Gama’s Treasure. However, the scenes were rewritten by Mohanlal and Thazhathupurakkal Karunakara Panicker, including characters and locations, leading to the exit of the novelist, forfeiting his credits.

Speaking of the cast of Barroz, besides Mohanlal, it stars Maya Rao West, Cesar Lorente Raton, Kallirroi Tziafeta, Daniel Caltagirone, Aadukalam Naren, Tuhin Menon  and others.

ALSO READ: Nayanthara enjoys ‘best holiday’ in Europe with Vignesh Shivan and twins; sunsets, long walks and Eiffel Tower sum up her travel diaries; PICS

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Movie Reviews

Film Review: The Fire Inside – SLUG Magazine

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Film Review: The Fire Inside – SLUG Magazine

Film

The Fire Inside
Director: Rachel Morrison
Michael De Luca Productions, PASTEL
In Theaters: 12.25

I’m not a fan of combat sports in real life, yet I find that movies about them are nearly irresistible. Whether it’s Rocky, The Karate Kid, Warrior or the upcoming wrestling flick Unstoppable, the underdog who comes out swinging and bests their bigger, more experienced opponent always plays. It’s also nearly always the same movie, and that’s what makes The Fire Inside a knockout.

In this fact–based story, Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny, A Girl Like Grace, Oracle) is a young woman from Flint, Michigan, who has one skill and one passion: boxing. Despite limited support from her family, Claressa is taken under the wing of Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry, If Beale Street Could Talk, Godzilla vs. Kong), a coach at a local gym. As Jason becomes as much a surrogate father as a coach, Claressa trains with a ferocious determination and earns a spot on the 2012 Summer Olympic team —  Claressa “T-Rex” Shields becomes the first American woman to take home the gold in the sport at age 16. From there, Claressa goes from being a poor inner city kid with nothing to … a poor inner city kid with a gold medal overnight.  There are no endorsement deals, no professional career and seemingly no new worlds to conquer. As Claressa fights discouragement, she must find a path to lead her beyond a one time victory into a lasting better life.

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Rachel Morrison, the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for her work on Black Panther, makes a strong directorial debut, coming out swinging. She’s ably assisted by a terrific script by Barry Jenkins (Moonlight). The Fire Inside transcends the tropes of the genre by reaching the rush of climactic fight and then daring not to end there, instead delving into the reality that in Shields’  life, one triumph in the sports world doesn’t change your circumstances, especially for an uncouth young woman with no interest in playing the public relations game and selling a softer, more traditionally feminine image. We’ve heard the cliche “this isn’t just a movie about sports, it’s about life,” but such a candid look at a life-changing moment that does nothing to change your life, and learning how to face this, was something refreshingly new and honest. The often bleak and at times stunningly beautiful cinematography by Rina Yang, along with the stirring score by Tamar-kali, lift the sensory experience and go a long way to making this one a winner. 

Destiny shows potential as a breakout star, commanding the screen as effortlessly as Claressa commands the ring. Henry is the highlight of any film he’s in, and The Fire Inside is no exception, with his grounded performance keeping the film moving along and setting the tone for a story about learning that you can still lean on others while you’re believing in yourself. The sizzling chemistry between these two actors drives a poignant and entertaining story to a satisfying and believable conclusion that’s not the one you’re expecting.

The Fire Inside is a breath of fresh air in a genre that far too often settles for stale and dank. It provides enough inspirational warmth to fulfill its duties as an uplifting sports movie, but its got the stamina and the drive to go a few extra rounds and push its own limits. Unlike most boxing films, this champ doesn’t pull any punches. –Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews here:
Film Review: A Complete Unknown
Film Review: Babygirl 

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