Kevin Smith shares his opinion on the current state of filmmaking for independent creators 

Rotten Tomatoes is owned by Fandango, which is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal is itself a division of Comcast. Not Fox.

The problem with Rotten Tomatoes is nobody understands how it works. 90% Does not mean it's a 9/10 aggregate. It means that 90% of critics/audience thinks it's at least a 5 or 6/10. So a perfectly 'fine' movie looks like a masterpiece to someone who looks at the score and does not realize what it means. It sucks though, hate that site. Dunno why people use it as a gauge at all.

The 90's were a special time for indie films..with Smith and Tarantino breaking out

Met Kevin Smith like 6 years ago at a comic con with my brother. One of the better celebrity interactions I’ve had, took time to talk to us during the photo op for probably longer than the photographer wanted us to stick around for.

I used to love going to the theatre, cell phones and bad manners changed that. Can't get through any film now without multiple phones going off, people texting and taking calls, smart watches strobing an LED every few minutes- it's more distracting than being at home. Forget about asking them to save it for later, people think causing a public disturbance is an inalienable right. I only go to empty shows like Kevin describes, if I'm going to a movie i specifically pick shows that will be sparse

I think the problem is most people don’t know how Rotten Tomatoes gets the score. Let’s say 10 critics review a movie using a 5 point scale. If all ten of them give a 4 out of 5, Rotten Tomatoes says they are all positive reviews and it gets 100%. If 9 of them give 5 out of 5 and 1 gives 1 out of 5, then it will have 90%. Like Kevin said, don’t see a movie based on the reviews. Go to the movies you think you’ll enjoy and hope for the best.

I will watch the move out of admiration for Kevin Smith. If I don't like it, oh well. I like Kevin Smith, and that was worth it.

The problem with Rotten Tomatoes and other aggregate website like it, is they stoped aggregating legitimate film educated Critics with expanded knowledge of film and arts for Marketers. Who have as much knowledge about film and arts as the average film gower therefore can't give a complex and insightful opinion on the subject. But Kevin is also right, in the end only your own opinion matter on what you like.

I get annoyed with the constant assertion that the public must just be tired of these kinds of films, and that's why they're not coming to the theatre. No its the $25 a head ticket, plus food, drinks, whatever. It's moved into the realms of luxury now, so you can't go see everything all the time.

Anybody who uses RT as a metric is already in trouble.

It doesn’t help at all that the film studios have shortened the theatrical to streaming time frame. Some people will just wait the month or two and see it at home.

Times are changing quite rapidly but I’m sure movies will still play a big part in our lives however we watch them😊

Michael: The number on Rotten Tomatoes does not reflect the quality of the film. A very mediocre film can have a 90% on RT because that simply means 90% of critics thought it was "better than bad". How do you not know this already? Rotten Tomatoes is an absolutely archaic consensus tool. Fellow Cinephiles: It is well past time to switch to a new model. Metacritic seems to "get it" from what I can tell. ( I am no shill for them. If someone has a better alternative, please tell.)

I totally agree with Kevin Smith on his analogy of movie theaters eventually becoming like Broadway theaters... you will be able to have that movie theater experience, but it'll cost you big money to do so. And if you think Broadway-style theater is expensive, try seeing an Opera in person. :D

I am definitely a once in a blue moon theater guy. I have installed home theaters for 30 years. I have what some people would call a man cave. I popped my head out to see the force awakens. And I haven’t been out since. Even with a good size, Walmart TV in your standard living room, the theater can’t compete. Unless you are a theater buff or on a date, which by the way a movie on a date is the worst idea. Hey let’s go not talk to each other for three hours. 😂

People also would rather stay home so they dont get shot while in a theater.

Love going to the movies! But geez, cinema etiquette leaves a lot to be desired these days. When I saw Indy 5, ppl were taking selfies in the cinema, lighting up the joint with a blinding bright flash, and talking rock concert loud the whole way through. That was pretty much the last time I went to see a new release. Still go to old movies tho - most recently _Star Wars_ marathons and _An American Werewolf in London_ - they seem to attract a different audience. So yeah, I mostly watch movies at home on my big screen TV now. Nah, it's not the same. But at least I can enjoy the movie...

So multiplexes, which destroyed independent cinemas, are now being destroyed by streaming, which helps more indie films be seen. Can't say Im particularly moved.

The business needs to evolve. The theater has to evolve the experience, its why I dig movie eateries like Cineopolis, Alamo, and the like. The AMC and Regals of the world are on literal life support at this point. Its also the studios that need to start putting out more comedies and interesting dramas instead of everything being a tent pole film.

I am an indie filmmaker. I have a home theater, projector, sound system, al that jazz. I agree with Kevin, cinema will become like theater. And then it will be good again. Select films, appreciating audience.

As a parent of a teenager who's a film lover, my kid and her movie nerd friends do not have any sort of attachment to the cinema the way I did when I was their age in the 90s. They don't specifically feel they have to see a movie on a big screen because most of the media they consume is consumed on their schedule, on their own devices, almost for free. I think the fact that the youth have lost this sort of connection for the cinema is a big reason why theaters are struggling to fill seats. When I was a kid, going to the theater on a Friday night was the thing to do for people my age, today there's just so much other stuff competing for eyeballs, spending the money and time to travel to Gen Z probably feels archaic.

I'll never stop going to the theater because I've just always loved the experience and love film. But there has never been a better time to go because of what Kevin said; there just aren't that many people in the theaters. So I'm ok with paying a little more because the experience is 10 times better now that all the annoying people stay home.

"thats just noise" God Bless Kevin Smith

The posters in this room are all I need to know about the hosts taste. Nice.

When I was a kid I'd be at the movie theater every week. Saturday matinees, watch two movies for 5 bucks. With the options available and the prices nowadays it's just not worth it any more.

I love and respect Kev. even if he does a movie I don't particularly love, I like Kevin himself and like his passion for the art and how he'll just make the films he wants to make and doesn't give a fuck what market it appeals to. He makes Kevin Smith movies. A problem I see now as a filmmaker myself is that there's too many content creators flooding the web, too much influencer shit, and people have to attention span for "films" and this RU-vid platform used to be full of short films by super indie creators like me, but now it's basically just MR Beast-type stuff, people talking, reviewing things... it's commercials, products, etc. and lately I've been more interested in going to a theater because I just get sick of the decision fatigue and isolation that streaming / online yields...

05:06 Smith is right. The old model of the big multiplex theatre showing to hundreds of people is dead. There are a number of cinemas open still near me, but most of them cater to a very specific audience. They all have the big armchair style seats (some have whole sofas), some serve proper bar food as well as the usual popcorn stuff and some (not all) but a lot have bars so you can buy a beer/glass of wine/gin & tonic or a whiskey with your viewing. And whilst they do show some current movies, they’re usually pretty limited as to which they show (tends to be anything aimed at an older audience) but they mostly show classic films! It’s good in some ways, bad in others. Harder to find a family film to go to with the kids. But as an adult film fan it’s great (save for the price of course which is extortionate for everything- the ticket, the drinks, the food…everything!) 😂

I can already sadly see in the history books already: "cinema is the new vinyl"

Michael’s been hanging out on Film Twitter for too long

i'm skeptical of completely divorcing critical engagement and a given art. for creators, it makes more sense to me because they're far more likely to be bombarded with thoughts about them that are hurtful: however, the collective conversation about art, individual work and the philosophical state of the industry (and the world at large), is a crucial and healthy leg of the cinematic experience. that said, aggregation and "score braining" of the scene has absolutely impacted how we seek and curate film, and that should be proactively curtailed.

I love the cinema going experience and have always tried to support it. When my local independent cinema closed I stop going and the main reason was my lack of interest in big Hollywood movies being shown at the chains and people just flat out being rude and having zero regard for other cinema goers. No one seems to behave or for the most part actually watch the film they paid for. I would love to say its kids but most of the time its adults talking, looking at their phones or acting like giant slobs. At least with a small independent place I knew it was people who really wanted to see the film and cared for their fellow movie goer. Its just seems to be missing now

I have a general rule for myself when choosing a movie. If i like the director and casts prior movies, then i see their newest movies. Especially if those same filmmakers dont make too many movies within a few years. Cinema is an art. It takes time to make art.

Godzilla Minus One. Amen.

Kevin Smith has to contend with a lot of detractors. Lucky he has many who like him a lot too. While I’m not a “fan” of his, I’m not a detractor either. Sometimes he does something that catches my interest, but I can say that almost all of the interviews I’ve caught of him makes me think he’s a pretty thoughtful guy and a good human being.

When I was a kid, Drive In movie theaters where you park your car in a lot and put a speaker up on your window and watch a massive big screen TV just after sundown, right? And they had a concession stand you walked to, or sometimes they had waitresses, you could talk to them through the speaker thingy. When I was a kid, these had been the big deal but they were turning into dinosaurs. I watched them go extinct. Then I was in high school and college and I spent a couple summers working for the indoor cinema as an usher or doorman. Those had been around long before my Dad was a kid and they're still around but Kevin Smith is right, if indoor cinemas can't compete with home media? They're gonna go the way of the dinosaurs, man. When I worked at the cinema, there were days when maybe a dozen people were sitting in a theater designed to seat hundreds of people, but on the weekends we were turning people away or they'd have to wait for the next showing. The concessions were terrible with "butter oil" instead of real butter and drinks and candy bars that cost stupid prices. When home cinema became the thing I was ecstatic! Still am! I hated having to work around a company's schedule to see what I wanted to see and sit in a big room with a bunch of strangers who wouldn't shut up when the movie got good. Same thing has happened with vinyl for music. Then there were eight track tapes and then cassettes and then CDs and then DVDs and now if I wanna listen to music I pull it up on my cellphone. The future is now. When I was a kid we dreamed of science fiction becoming real and now it has. I'm totally okay with indoor cinemas going the way of the outdoor drive in theaters. Home theater is the way to go. I make my own popcorn. Drink soda or beer. Nobody sneezes or laughs or talks during the movie unless it's me and if I need to go to the bathroom I hit the pause button. I don't have to get up while the movie is still going and miss five or ten minutes cuz I had to empty my bladder. The future is now and I'm totally down. Bring on the next tech where I plug my brain into the movie and become part of the story myself! Bring it!

Booksmart was great, but bombed at the box office. Woulda been better off going straight to streaming Sadly most smaller films have almost no chance in theaters of late

Great Hoodie!!!!😊

Kevin's movies have never disappointed me because he gets it and doesn't appear to sacrifice his values.

I bring my kids to the movies on rainy days for their movies but that’s it. Wife & I used to go 2-3x a month pre kids but would rather order take out or cook something fancy & rent a movie or binge a series in our pjs on our “date” nights when the kids are at grandmas.

Check that Audience Score! Pretty consistent.

One creepy person sitting by themselves? What? He has openly admitted to going to movies by himself and calls this person who bought ticket to his theatre creepy? wtf I wouldnt go to his theatre after hearing that.

Kevin Smith: "Nothing about the entertainment industry concerns me" Then ge goes on to list problems with the industry for the next 5 min

I love going to the theatre but I also loving sitting at home and watching movies on my big ass 70" tv without having to listen to some asshole talk or chew or just be an uncourteous jackass. :)

I don't use rotten tomatoes. Even the system wasn't corrupt by being paid, it's still not a great way to measure if you'll enjoy something. Its such a wide net of people that it's harder to judge if its more right for you instead of just general audience as a total. I normally find youtube channels with similar tastes in movies so when their opinion on something will more than likely lean to how i will enjoy the film or not. It to is not perfect, but tends to be more accurate in my experience 🤷‍♂️

" The critical community" First of all, there is no critical community now. I used to be a film critic and reviewer for 8 years. Covered film festivals as a critic and before that as a journalist for over a decade . When i was working the festival beat in the 1990s and 2000s there were still film critics and real film reviewers. I left reviewing and criticism in 2010. I just came back to writing about film this year. What i find is that there are very few film critics left now. Possible reasons are layoffs from newspapers and newspaper closures as well as the rise of the internet. Secondly, the rise of video sharing platforms online such as you tube as well as social media led to the Amateurization of Film Reviews. Thus people who are not journalists ( as I had been), not academics, not writers and often not even educated formally or in film are doing film reviews. Its a mess. Plus the studios are paying these film influencers, movie tok people and you tube "film reviewers" to push their movies just as they paid people years ago to be fake film critics and pretend to be reviewers. All these you tube and tik tok reviewers you see are probably bought and paid for . Its an uncritical community maybe.

I don't know if their algorithm still works this way, but the original idea behind Rotten Tomatoes wasn't that it would tell you *how* good a movie was, just what the consensus was. Giving a movie 3.5⭐ isn't a great review, but it counts towards a Rotten Tomatoes Fresh rating. A slightly better than middling movie that everyone agrees on can get a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, while an excellent but deeply divisive movie might end up with a 50% score. That means it's generally great for, "Will the average person hate this movie or not?" but it's pretty much useless for judging how much any individual will like it. Kevin's spot on, in that you should pretty much ignore it, and you should trust two sources: Your own assessment of the trailer, and the opinion of people whose tastes you know you often agree with.

The mistake is thinking that a high Rotten Tomatoes score means a film is brilliant, and it doesn't, it just means more reviewers were positive than negative. A film that everyone agrees is okay will get just as high a score as a film that everyone thinks is excellent.

How about discussing all of the Hollywood media Bots that come out leaving their comments on youtube every time a trailer for a new movie comes out.

And right there, Kevin Smith shows his integrity about critics and how he thinks in life. Bend over for those you want support from, regardless of the truth.

Inverse rotten tomatoes critic ratings and you cannot go wrong 😂💯

i don't quite understand the problem here. when you go into the theater, it's a gamble whether you're going to like it - no matter what anyone says or if you liked the marketing or not. awesome concept/director/cast movies can fall flat just like flicks with none of that can be sleeper hits. i know there may be shills in the mix but it will always come down to luck of the draw for the individual viewer, man

I never go by rotten tomatoes they’re always wrong. Plus every one’s opinion is different, everyone has different taste. Kevin not wrong about movie theaters they are getting smaller and never full of people anymore. I still love going to the theaters and there are still a few drive-ins left in California.

Blind people can tell you there's something amiss with RT, and has been for some time. Kevin, delightful as he can be is _not_ the guy to ask about it.

You should be able to review the reviews

Warners own rotten tomatoes

Problem is nobody actually understands the RT aggregation score. If a movie gets a 99 on RT from 100 reviews that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s one of the greatest movies of all time. It just means enough people liked it to give it a passing score. The movie itself could get a solid 7/10 from all the reviews and it could still get a 100-99 RT score.

Movies don’t last if it’s straight to streaming. Theaters 🎭 are way better for the experience.

Audience score is all that matters.

100%

God Kevin pisses me off. Right out the gate "Why the fuck should you care what other people think?" then mere seconds later saying he'd practically give BJs to film critics. Why should you care what other people think, Kevin? PICK ONE!

Just a reminder: This isnt the Kevin Smith who created Dogma, Clerks and other classics. This is the Kevin Smith who gave up and became a shill for the big corporate entities who now control the film industry. Anything that leaves this mans mouth is only what he is allowed to say, so he doesnt piss off those who is he beholden to so he can create another mediocre film that very few will see. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Is he talking about the theatre he owns? huge films like that sold like 12 tickets for opening night, then how are any theatres even still open at all? hell with crowds that small maybe i will start going back to the theatre, i NEVER go see films mostly because i do not like people and a room full of strangers. of course that said i also do not go see films because because they no longer make films that interest me, and a lot of that is based on the politics and messaging they are always trying to push and of course the subsequent complete lack of quality that that mindset results in. ahem "Artists" are destroying their own customer bases with their opinions and attitudes.

Kevin's right about all this. Cinema's business models are all in the toilet. Distribution. Production. Why should it cost 100 million dollars to make a movie? Why should the public pay $6-8 for a medium coke? Why shouldn't a person be able to subscribe to one streaming service that guarantees availability of every movie ever made? Why aren't DVDs and Blu-Rays and 4Ks available for every Hollywood movie? Why are Hollywood execs so bad at making movies the public wants to see (a perennial question)?

He's not wrong.

Kevin Smith is just the wrong person to ask this question to. People are still willing to go to the theaters, but no one (in the filmmaking/Hollywood scene) wants to admit that the quality of the movies is just pure dogshit. They're soulless, agenda-driven and feature-length advertisements to sell merchandise. The people have had enough and will only show up to movies they truly feel passionate about (which is once or twice a year, at this point)

I think Critics job is the most useless job in the world. People let some rando tell them what to consume. I don't get it. The only reason why I watch critic TV shows back in the day was only to see the previews and to see more of what the movie was about. Times have changed and now you can see all of that online without some rando telling you what you should do.

Sweet fn Roddy piper hoodie

Could it also possibly be that..... anyone, anywhere now, can make and present a film.....but not everyone is a filmmaker? Is the experience of going to the cinema no longer an event because the truly amazing films are lost in the cacophony of the garbage that should never have seen a theater screen? So ,probably the general public no longer wants to waste their hard earned dollar on potential garbage, and you can't trust most reviews anymore that are just trying to put butts in seats to feed the corporate monster. Maybe Kevin Smith is not the most lauded and decorated artist out there, but I would NEVER doubt this man's dedication to his craft. He is one of only a few remaining, active filmmakers that cares about what he puts out there. Be it critically accepted or not. The studio system should give artists more latitude to present their visions, instead of cutting off the legs of what could be something truly great. No, not everything is a winner, but how many amazing ideas and films are being choked out of existence because of producers and executives think themselves auteurs over paper shufflers? So frustrating. I don't make film, but always enjoy a good one.....and miss what the theater used to be. And I don't think that the best films EVER make it to the academy awards.

Who the hell listens to Rotten Tomatoes, where most "reviewers" are about as smart, studied, and accomplished as Tik Tok influencers?

I think Michael picked the wrong guy to poke holes with and challenge the establishment’s way of doing things. Kevin Smith has some interesting things to say, but overall he’s with the wave through and through.

Rotten Tomatoes critics are bought off with comps and screenings by Studio’s. The audience score is a much more trustworthy and accurate gauge of a films merit, and thus will save your time and money from being wasted.

There are no movies these days that are any good, throwing millions into a movie is not going to to make it a hit, putting a good story to a movie would, but writer/film makers are running out of ideas, so remakes is what gets done, for someone who loves indie movies with a story and often not big mega stars in it, TV is the same running out of ideas

3:41 I forgot you even bought a movie theater. For Avatar 2 I was at the Hazlet Cinemark Theater 12. The other movie theater, in driving distance, I go to is the one at Monmouth mall. Both on a major highway, which are easily seen and accessible. Whereas your theater is out of the way and unseen. Like they say, it's all about: "Location, location, location", that would explain the low-ticket sales for you. From what I remember at Hazlet it was pretty packed for Avatar 2. Also, what does your theater offer that the other 2 well established theaters don't?

Y'know, a lot of people smash Kevin Smith, but he's a really intelligent dude 😎 but intelligence is seen as superior these days, and that's a shame ☹️

I don't trust rotten tomato ratings. It's absolute crap and it doesnt work. Imdb ratings is the most accurate for me. Anything 7.2 and above I watchable regardless of genre. Any comedy 6.8 and above enjoyable. Anything below that, avoid unless you're trying to learn what mad a movie bad and how to avoid it

I miss the 90’s when everything was good. Dramas, action, comedies, sci-fi, independent and whatnot all done so well. Now even big name stars/directors can’t get funding for movies. All the investors only what ridiculous massive returns for huge budget shows. I’d rather have a chance to watch twenty 15,000,000 budge movies and get 5 to 10 gems then suffer a modern blockbuster.

Kevin lost all that weight, he should reward himself with new clothes that fit.

Ill be that guy im sick of the messaging being less subtle then captain planets. I'm tired of racists lecturing me on racism, im tired of everything i love being used to tell me im a piece of shit. Reality is distopian enough you don't have to make it more miserable. This nostalgia bate is like ordering pizza and they serve you a bowl of tomato soup with cheese crutons. I don't care if its the greatest soup ever i exspected something else . Make the movie you want ,just sell me the soup not tell me its pizza.

How refreshing to hear Kevin talk from the wallet.

If i hear good word of mouth on a movie i see it in a theater. But most movies now are mediocre at best.

The host for once is letting his guest speak ... but then you having fucking pen-twillering Bob over there looking like he's waiting or the 3:00 bell to ring!

I'd say I hate the way he says Luthor, but he says Comic Con like an asshole, so it's on purpose now.

Yeah because paying a critic to say a movie is good is really going to make people watch and like that movie. 😐

I love Kevin to bits as a person, but he fundamentally represents a disgusting direction the industry almost took by promoting Killroy as an NFT. it's just a total betrayal on every level.

Rotten Tomatoes isn’t giving a true score. Say 90 out of 100 people gave a movie an average score of 7.5/10. RT will say the movie is 90% fresh or positive score, so really the movie is 75/100

Bro.... Learn how RT works. 90% just says what percentage of critics gave the film a positive review. It could be a mildly positive review, it doesn't mean it is a GLOWING or HIGH review. Example: Inside Out 2 is 90% on RT. If you actually click on the big ole score number, it will SHOW YOU the actual rating average, which in this case is 7.5 out of 10, or *drum roll* 75% Another film may be 90% and have a higher rating (9/10) or a lower rating (7/10). Seriously, just look into it a bit XD

Rotten Tomatoes is rotten, not even worth looking. IMDB is right along with it as far as bogus ratings go. Don't pay attention to any of them, they're pumped up metrics to make shareholders happy as with anything these days unfortunately. Kevin said it best, make your own decision. Honestly I feel like I'm a dying breed and am trying to hold onto cinema because that's what I grew up with. It's not the same anymore though, it's a dying past time. Went and saw Furiosa, I thought it was great! Was a shame that there were only maybe 10 people in the audience. Now it's available to purchase. Only $24.99, get the F out of here!

I disagree there’s nothing more of a downer when a movie you’ve been waiting for for years for a sequel or whatever and you you find out it comes out on Netflix and you know the production quality is gonna suck and the movie going experience is gone …Kevin sh** ing on what made him great and scared to say critics suck

"slobbering respect for the critics..." ***barf*** Wow... Kenin Smith used to be my fave director of all time. Any movie of his was a given watch as well as disc purchase. Now look at him. He's lost something, and I'm not talking about the weight.

Theaters suck. Sticky floors and seats. People chewing with their mouths open. Too expensive.

Smith is a bad, untrained filmmaker and a terrible writer. I think that might give him more of an outsider's view of filmmaking as a whole.

“Well maybe the critical community needs to wake up.” Fuck yeah!

"You know what you wanna see..." Yeah, we do. But what we've all learned is that what we want to see is not what we'll get, and the trailers will often lie - even going so far as to show sequences that didn't make the final cut, and that's leaving aside how a simple edit job (as many youtube videos have demonstrated) can change the entire tone of something, or a bit of bait and switch can happen when it comes to much-loved characters and how they're actually portrayed in the film itself.

The problem with RT is that a good number of the critics are favorably reviewing or torpedoing films based solely on the political and/or identity of the filmmakers and characters. They are no longer reviewing whether or not there is a compelling story or a fun movie to watch. That's why I watch Jeremy Jahns, the dude doesn't miss.

Warner Brothers owns 25% and NBCUniversal owns 75%.

Rotten tomatoes scores are BS

If you hate 90 percent of movies you watch, then that means you dont like movies. Just stop watching them all the time and just watch barely any movies, only ones that are super special.

Reviews are worthless shocker.

I hate RT! IMDB is the best!!

"nothing about entertainment upsets me." So many people need to adopt this brilliant philosophy.