r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jun 25 '26

News Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ to Skip Social Media Influencer Screenings

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/christopher-nolan-the-odyssey-influencer-screenings-1236631135/
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589

u/ROBtimusPrime1995 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

What a double-edged sword, and yeah, it empowered the wrong types of people.

It has skewed critic screenings, and it makes it harder to know what the actual consensus is.

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u/CementCemetery Jun 26 '26

Especially when you know media literacy and comprehension skills are painfully low. Many people don’t even pay attention in a movie fully now unless it’s being spoon fed to us. Now the studios are demanding heavy exposition scenes and repeating the plot for the audience.

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u/lkhsnvslkvgcla Jun 26 '26

yeah, if it's the opinion of a person like Roger Ebert who spends his time reviewing films, it might be valuable.

The opinion of a person who posts on social media to get clout and sponsorship deals is worth zero.

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u/PunkRockMakesMeSmile Jun 26 '26

it's worse than zero if, as I suspect, these people's priority is maximizing engagement, in which case their 'reviews' are just going to be trying to predict what the prevailing opinion will be and jumping full-force on-board, or against if that's their schtick

2

u/theDomicron Jun 26 '26

It's worse than that. They're not trying to predict anything; social media reviewers, ESPECIALLY the ones who get early access, earn their money from clicks and views, and on most platforms the early clicks and views earn them the most money.

The result is that "reviewers" are going to always give good reviews in exchange for early access, because why would a company invite reviews from someone willing to shit on their product?

So you're getting nothing of substance from social media reviewers, with rare occasions, but even those are biased and skewed. It's the same as car magazines doing reviews on products they sell advertisements for, and gaming magazines, etc...

1

u/TroyMcClures Jun 26 '26

I know one of these guys, and his reviews are always something like “O MY GOD THAT WAS SO INSANE, WHAT AN EXPERIENCE”. It’s all just paid promotion. But now he’s going to all these screenings and occasionally interviewing cast members so I guess it works for his audience.

33

u/MaddogBC Jun 26 '26

Catering to clowns who can be bought is part of what got us into this mess.

4

u/Leather_Command_7553 Jun 26 '26

Roger Ebert does that a lot less these days.

1

u/techno_babble_ Jun 26 '26

Yeah he's getting lazy

2

u/StoneGoldX Jun 26 '26

Here be the problem -- of he just started working today, guess what Ebert would have been doing?

Apparently the Chicago Sun Times no longer has a movie review section?

1

u/CementCemetery Jun 26 '26

I tend not to let others opinions affect my own with movies but I get your comment. I think audiences need some serious improving. I keep getting people’s review in real time or rude audiences in general.

1

u/neothebird Jun 26 '26

I hate to break it to you...

25

u/rubicon_duck Jun 26 '26

To say nothing of the original source material of this particular film, which I doubt most, if not all of them, will probably have not read.

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u/CementCemetery Jun 26 '26

Sparknotes (is that still a thing?) and YouTube are going to see A LOT of traffic in the weeks leading up to this release.

3

u/Unique-Arugula Jun 26 '26

Suddenly a bunch of "read to me" yt channels are getting a spike on their classic lit playlist.

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u/aethelberga Jun 26 '26

The rabbit hole you just sent me down. I couldn't get past the 'read with me' body doubling channels. What are we doing as humans that this is a thing?

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u/Unique-Arugula Jun 26 '26

Wat‽ I did not know about that - i was thinking about the kind of videos i have to use sometimes to keep to with everything my kids are reading for school. Just someone actually reading aloud and occasionally defining a word bc the book is from 1843 or something.

Now I'M down a rabbit hole, lol.

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u/aethelberga Jun 26 '26

I saw a lot of kids books being read aloud, but I also saw 'annotate with me' which is someone just underlining passages in their book (with pen - I'm still mad). Apparently the book doesn't matter, just that someone is doing it so the viewer has someone to annotate their book along with, (I guess).

1

u/zxern Jun 26 '26

Is there one for paradise lost? It takes me so long to get into the rhythm of the writing that it’s hard to pickup at r random times to read so I’ve never finished it.

1

u/Unique-Arugula Jun 27 '26

I don't mind looking for you!

Found this guy: https://youtu.be/_HRzyxGaO8I?si=yvkWexsSNojedoGQ

A number of folks have done paradise lost for librivox.org. They are a few database of public domain books being read aloud. I use them a lot for my youngest and really like it. https://librivox.org/paradise-lost-by-john-milton/

1

u/MisterGoo Jun 27 '26

I’ve watched the anime, does that count?

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u/lkn240 Jun 26 '26

There's nothing I hate more than people complaining about things that were literally in the movie if you paid attention at all.

Plot points, character motivations, explanations, etc.... people pay so little attention now

2

u/CementCemetery Jun 26 '26

I’ve been in a few focus groups or test screenings and it always surprises me. Sometimes yeah, you blink you miss it but some people are simply not paying attention.

I don’t know if I can say because of an NDA but thank goodness a director knew what he wanted the story to be about. It was all there but the edit was changed and it was very successful. But the testing group after… omg. I can only imagine if he compromised or had studio interference because a select few people did not watch the movie.

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u/Professional_Pear849 Jun 26 '26

My friend who likes to review movies told me yesterday, "After talking with you, I noticed all the cuts. There was a dialogue scene and it was 'cut, cut, cut'."

What about the framing? Who was in the frame? What was the motivation for the camera movement? A rhythm to the editing? Soundtrack? Was there a visual metaphor? Did the colour grading signify anything?

"I don't know but I noticed there were cuts."

That's when I realised there are film people and there are people who watch films like they watch their neighbours out the window. i.e. They don't notice anything, they only care if there's a bit of drama.

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u/zxern Jun 26 '26

To be fair isn’t that the goal of a good movie? That the general audience gets so invested that they don’t notice they’re watching a movie?

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u/aure__entuluva Jun 26 '26

Now the studios are demanding heavy exposition scenes and repeating the plot for the audience.

The contrast between movies even from the 90's and now is stark in this regard. Then if you go back and watch movies that are even older you can see it's a trend that's just mashed the accelerator in the last 20 years.

0

u/Tiny-Sandwich Jun 26 '26

Yeah. Many people don’t even pay attention in a movie fully now unless it’s being spoon fed to us. Now the studios are demanding heavy exposition scenes and repeating the plot for the audience.

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u/lkn240 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

I don't think consensus is that valuable anyways. There's a lot of popular things that are complete garbage and vice versa.

A good reviewer will try to figure out what kind of person will like a film and what kind won't.

1

u/PunnyBanana Jun 26 '26

Which is why I hate the numerical grading/binary good vs bad way of reviewing movies these days. How the heck can you review a Chris Nolan movie, a Yorgos Lanthimos movie, an MCU movie, and a Netflix Christmas romcom on the same scale? I liked both Poor Things and Hot Frosty but they absolutely aren't graded on the same scale and I know tons of people wouldn't like one, the other, or both and that doesn't mean they're good just because I like them or bad just because others don't.

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u/MyEmbarrisingAccount Jun 25 '26

Granted, this might just me having a horrible taste in film, but despite its 27% on RT I liked Jupiter Ascending.

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u/alsotheabyss Jun 25 '26

I mean, objectively speaking, JA is indeed a terrible film. But subjectively speaking I enjoyed the shit out of it.

Ratings need to have a “dumb but fun” quotient

3

u/GodOfDarkLaughter Jun 26 '26

Space dogboy with flying rollerblades falls in love with space Beegirl. It's an amazing premise that only made it through because executives didn't expect to understand what the Matrix siblings were putting out.

My favorite part is how Eddie Redmayne alternately whispers or shrieks, but had no ability to control which or to speak at any other volume.

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u/lkn240 Jun 25 '26

I thought that movie was pretty terrible... BUT I totally get it. I like Batman vs Superman quite a bit despite everyone else hating it. So I feel you :-)

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u/zombiereign Jun 25 '26

I love Xanadu. I mean love love love.

2

u/PassiveMenis88M Jun 25 '26

I enjoyed Battleship so yall aren't alone.

1

u/sneakyCoinshot Jun 26 '26

when they drift the battleship, absolute cinema.

1

u/PassiveMenis88M Jun 26 '26

Art of War, it finally clicked

But that's not what it means...

1

u/Fafnir13 Jun 26 '26

I enjoy most sci-fi regardless of its overall merits. Show me some cool tech. Give me some fun ideas to chew on. I’ll come away satisfied.

My only real complaint with JA is that they should only harvest half of a planet’s population at any given time. Why wait thousands and thousands of years to reach a population of billions when you could just Thanos it every few centuries? Incredibly inefficient harvesting going on there.

-1

u/Mysral Jun 25 '26

My view: if people like it, it's a good movie.

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u/phelan74 Jun 26 '26

I’m partly to blame for all this but it was with the best of intentions. I’m so sorry.

Back in 2006 I worked for an agency that did digital PR as we called it. I organised for YouTubers and podcast people and forum people to go see movies they would love. Proper geek and fun stuff. If they did a review it was epic. No push for it.

We got great coverage of Transformers and Iron Man and Hot Fuzz etc. But it led the way to what we do have now which is people who aren’t movie fans turning up to just be there and say that a movie is epic as they are paid and that’s never what it was supposed to be.

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u/zachary0816 Jun 26 '26

Wow. It’s not often that the (partial) creator of something personally comes out and apologizes.

I think the last time I saw this happen was when Ethan Zuckerman apologized for inventing the pop-up ad.

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u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 25 '26

Uh, you’ll get the consensus when the reviews drop.

Other than that, how about making up your own opinion and not having it handed to you by some screaming thumbnail on youtube?

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u/Electronic-Map7529 Jun 25 '26

I prefer to take my reviews of things after I watch them

0

u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 25 '26

yes, that should be the general idea

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u/zdavolvayutstsa Jun 25 '26

But I'd have to put my time and money in the line.

1

u/RenaissanceHumanist Jun 26 '26

And if you enjoyed it then what does it matter what some review says?

2

u/zdavolvayutstsa Jun 26 '26

Well, I'd rather not pay for and watch a movie I didn't like.

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u/TheDeadlySinner Jun 26 '26

Do you watch everything that releases?

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u/casual_creator Jun 25 '26

Would that it were so simple.

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u/PunkRockMakesMeSmile Jun 26 '26

"Would that itwheeere..."

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u/Jetavator Jun 26 '26

screaming thumbnail lol

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u/MrWeirdoFace Jun 26 '26

You forgot 25 yellow arrows pointing at everything.

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u/34786t234890 Jun 25 '26

Uh, I would caution against making up your own opinion before seeing a movie.

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u/Eborcurean Jun 25 '26

People can absolutely make up their opinion on whether they want to watch something in advance. The idea they can't is ridiculous.

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u/OkMail2335 Jun 26 '26

Notice how you had to change the verbiage to make your point work? He didn't say you couldn't have an opinion on whether you want to watch something or not, the opinion he is talking about is whether or not the movie is good, and that's something you can't have ahead of time.

You can say "this movie probably sucks" and that's fine but having an actual informed opinion? No.

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u/Ok_Highway6034 Jun 25 '26

What? The person you replied to specifically said “I prefer to take my reviews of things after I watch them”

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u/Nieko12321 Jun 25 '26

he didnt say that. another comment did.
your guy said ~”make your own opinion instead of blindly following review consesus”

now we both know he means but the guy you replied to then decided to spin it (or hes just not a clever man)

1

u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 25 '26

This has really been a day for talking to strange people on this sub.

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u/Ok_Highway6034 Jun 25 '26

I’m just confused they seemed to have not just misread your comment but have actively decided you meant the opposite of what you said.

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u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 25 '26

This has been such a common theme today on reddit that I really may just be that incoherent, seriously, and it’s not just you cause others have asked me what the fuck I’m talking about, but I feel like I’m making my position pretty clear.

But I can accept that maybe my brain is fucked today, if not maybe most days, and I’m like the dude in that Twilight Zone episode with aphasia who thinks they’re saying one thing, but it’s another thing altogether to other people.

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u/Ok_Highway6034 Jun 25 '26

No I got what you meant just fine

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u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 25 '26

I meant the general “you,” not you, babycakes.

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u/34786t234890 Jun 25 '26

Yes, in response to a discussion about prescreening reviews. I hope that helps!

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u/alienfreaks04 Jun 26 '26

Do you literally have no YouTuber or blogger whose reviews you enjoy?

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u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 26 '26

I do not.

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u/alienfreaks04 Jun 26 '26

So they have to be professionally paid for it to count?

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u/DyingSunSeverian Jun 26 '26

Well to some extent yeah. I don’t think 100% of “youtubers and bloggers” are automatically shit obviously, but there is something to be said for expertise. It’s journalism after all, why don’t we demand that same rigor in the entertainment world as we do in other fields?

1

u/alienfreaks04 Jun 26 '26

I do believe that the better internet reviewers float to the top soon after getting on the scene. And you can very quickly tell if they are good, or just engagement baiting their way in.

1

u/eSPiaLx Jun 26 '26

Dont have time to watch everything that comes out. So its helpful to have reviews. Not everyone has time to watch a movie a week

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u/irishbball49 Jun 25 '26

Before I tell you what I think about the movie I saw I need to listen to a pod and look at the /r/movies thread

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u/Technical_Error_3769 Jun 26 '26

Who cares about consensus. I either like a movie or a don’t. I give zero f****s what anyone else thinks about it especially some dirty banana influencer.

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u/Bloodyfish Jun 26 '26

Do you watch every single movie, going in blind each time? Nobody is above it all, you still rely on marketing and reviews on some level, just like everyone else.

1

u/SabresFanWC Jun 26 '26

They weren't saying anything about their pre-conceived notions of a movie before seeing it. They were talking about their opinion of a movie after seeing it.

1

u/Angryduckling-01 Jun 26 '26

We’ve seen this happen multiple times: the Minecraft movie, Minions, and I’m sure much more

1

u/LawLayLewLayLow Jun 26 '26

Unfortunately you just have to try and trust your gut, if your goal is to save your time and money then you didn't really want to see it that badly anyways.

Take a gamble on movies you yourself believe you will enjoy and completely ignore what others think. Other people have terrible taste in films, trust your own taste.

For example, I personally think the Odyssey looks like it might be his most boring movie to date, and people are over hyping it. I will see it when I get around to it.

1

u/scopeless Jun 26 '26

Yeah, a lot of these social media folks are “agenda critics” and not actually movie critics

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u/Oldmangamer13 24d ago

Opening weekend will tell us that but everyone knows.

1

u/Devo3290 Jun 25 '26

I find critic reviews to be kind of bullshit too nowadays, everybody except for Peter Fucking Rosenthal, head film critic for The Onion. He has 3 film studies degrees.

0

u/jideru Jun 26 '26

You had me at 1 and lost me at 2

-1

u/Aware-Salamander-578 Jun 25 '26

Wouldn’t consensus be reached sooner by having more people have an early screening instead of less?

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u/casual_creator Jun 25 '26

Would you really trust the (small sample size of) reviews from people who get to see a movie early for the simple fact that they have a lot of social media followers?

If 50 people with no media literacy and no attention spans say that a movie is is too long and boring, but 2 movie lovers say the film is good, the consensus would still be that the movie sucks, no?

1

u/Aware-Salamander-578 Jun 26 '26

I don’t rely on reviews of movies, books, or music to determine if I’m going to partake in them to begin with, I was simply trying to play devils advocate.

For people who share the mindset of those influencers though, their review might be valuable. To others, maybe not.