It’s been around for more than a decade now, but internet film criticism still hasn’t really found it’s way. The problem is primarily that there’s no one out there setting a list of standards for online reviewers and reporters to adhere to. If we are ever able to stop fighting with each other long enough to get around to adopting a real code of conduct, then I’d like to suggest adopting this one.
Roger Ebert is getting better with age. Recently, he seems to have reached that stage where he is no longer interested in holding back. He’s old, and he’s telling it like it is. For instance, anyone interested in the ethics of reviewing movies for a living, should make it a point to read this. Roger Ebert’s recently published rules for being a film critic.
I’m proud to say I have, instinctively I suppose, been following nearly all of them… while I’m also ashamed to say they aren’t always followed by many others working across the aisle from me. Ok, I may have slipped on one or two of them, but only the minor ones. I do watch a lot of movie trailers. Sorry Roger. I do however stand firm on refusing to beg celebrities for lame photos. You will not see a picture on this site of me with my arm around Anne Hathway. Unless of course, she asks me real nice. Here’s a quick breakdown of Ebert’s film critic commandments, which any reviewer with any sort of integrity, even the ones who insist they aren’t really reviewers (they just blog about the movies they see), ought to make it a point to print out and stick on the side of his or her computer monitor. My printer is churning out a copy for me, right now:
1. Advise the readers well.
2. Provide a sense of the experience.
3. Keep track of your praise.
4. Do the math.
5. Do not make challenges you are cannot to back up.
6. Respect the reader's money.
7. Beware of verbal parallelism.
8. Trailers. Have nothing to do with them.
9. A trailer is not a movie.
10. Be wary of freebies.
11. Accept no favors.
12. No commercial endorsements.
13. Be prudent with free DVDs.
14. No advertisements.
15. Be prepared to give a negative review.
16. No posing for photos with Celebs!
17. Sit down, shut up, and pay attention.
Make it a point to click over to Roger Ebert’s Place to read his insightful explanations for each commandment. And if you’re a film critic, seriously guys, quit it with the lame “posing with a celebrity” photos. In the words of Roger Ebert, “Never ask a movie star to pose with you for a picture. No movie star ever wants to do this.” And… “Remember, you are a professional. You are not a friend. You diminish yourself by asking for a snapshot.”
