98 Movie Critic Quotes
Following is our list of movie critic quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about movie review.
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Famous Movie Critic Quotes
I was never a true journalist, I was a movie critic. — Guillermo Cabrera Infante
Film lovers are sick people. — Francois Truffaut
A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car. — Kenneth Tynan
A drama critic is a person who surprises the playwright by informing him what he meant. — Wilson Mizner
Critics are usually kinder to cheaper movies than to those they perceive to be big Hollywood releases. They cut you a lot more slack if you spend less money, which makes no sense. — Ethan Coen
I am not a critic; to me criticism is so often nothing more than the eye garrulously denouncing the shape of the peephole that gives access to hidden treasure. — Djuna Barnes
The notion of directing a film is the invention of critics - the whole eloquence of cinema is achieved in the editing room. — Orson Welles
I see a lot of movies. I love films as a spectator, and that's never obscured by the part of me that does the work myself. I just love going to the movies. — Daniel Day-Lewis
Critics are men who watch a battle from a high place then come down and shoot the survivors. — Ernest Hemingway
A movie isn't a political movement, a party or even an article. It's just a film. At best it can add its voice to public outrage. — Ken Loach
A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it. — Alfred Hitchcock
When you look at a movie, you look at a director's thought process. — Oliver Stone
A man is a critic when he cannot be an artist, in the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier. — Gustave Flaubert
Good cinema is good cinema. It makes you feel like you need to work. Just yesterday I saw a good film, but even if I'd seen a bad one, I'd feel, "Oh my god, what a bad job, I can do better." — Agnes Varda
A film is never really any good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet. — Orson Welles
Short Movie Critic Quotes
- People go to the movies to see things they haven’t seen before. Call me a radical. — David Fincher
- There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors — Francois Truffaut
- Movies are like an expensive form of therapy for me. — Tim Burton
- Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck. — Eli Wallach
- If a movie is described as a romantic comedy, you can usually find me next door playing pinball. — George Carlin
- The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic. — Oscar Wilde
- Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter what the movie's about. — Steven Spielberg
- Critics are like eunuchs: they know how, but they can't do it. — Paul Bocuse
Film Criticism Quotes
Inside me, 'Dragon Ball' became a thing of the past, but later, I got upset at the live-action film, revised the script for the anime film, and complained about the quality of the TV anime. — Akira Toriyama
The best thing I can think of would be to create a union between something as beautiful and powerful and wonderful as Hollywood films and a criticism of the status quo. That's my dream, to make such a German film. — Rainer W. Fassbinder
The best thing I can think of would be to create a union between something as beautiful and powerful and wonderful as Hollywood films and a criticism of the status quo. That's my dream, to make such a German film. — Rainer Werner Fassbinder
My favorite laser disk ever was the laser disk for The Graduate, which had a commentary track that wasn't even the filmmakers, it was a professor, some film criticism guy who just happen to be this amazing commentator who went off into the whole theory of comedy. — Jay Roach
What critics call dirty in our pictures, they call lusty in foreign films. — Billy Wilder
Films are dreams. Many, many critics say to me that my films are not good because they are too unbelievable, but this is my style. I tell stories like they are dreams. This is my imagination. For me, it would be impossible to do a film that is so precise, that resembles real life. — Dario Argento
I am very critical! I hate watching myself but I know I have to because I'm going to be asked so I need to have some sort of semblance of what the films with me are like. But it's not an enjoyable experience watching yourself. I hate it less than I used to but I still don't enjoy it. — Daniel Radcliffe
It's hard to see a film one time and really "get it," and write fully and intelligently about it. That's a review. That's not film criticism. — Richard Linklater
I don't want to be a part of the demographics. I want to be an individual. I wear each of my films as a badge of pride. That's why I cherish all my bad reviews. If the critics start liking my movies, then I'm in deep trouble. — John Carpenter
There was a cultural war going on, the '60s was going on. All the film critics were square. — John Waters
Movie Review Quotes
I read a review on the Herald, it says it takes 40 minutes to get to the first sex session apparently and the whole movie only contains 11 minutes of forbidden fruit. — John Key
North Korea referred to The Interview as absolutely intolerable and a wanton act of terror. Even more amazing: not the worst review the movie got. — Tina Fey
We set up a beta site, a test site, with movie, music and book reviews. If you're reading them and you want to buy a book or a ticket for a movie that's reviewed on the site, you can do that without leaving our site. — Jay Chiat
Occasionally an unsuspecting innocent will stumble into a movie like this and send me an anguished postcard, asking how I could possibly give a favorable review to such trash. My stock response is Ebert's Law, which reads: A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it. — Roger Ebert
I think the job of movie reviewing can be really tough. If a film has layers that need to be thought about, it's easy to get missed the first time around. — Roland Joffe
Some movie I was in, I forget which one, some awful little movie, a reviewer said, What is Jessica Walter doing in this movie? And I said, Hello? Trying to make a living? — Jessica Walter
I built my [early] career on negative reviews. There was a cultural war going on, the '60s was going on. All the film critics were square. They hated my movies. You could never have that happen today. Critics are way too hip. — John Waters
What I expect of a movie reviewer is that he should love cinema as much as I do. — Patrice Leconte
On the first movie we got good reviews, but we were still dealing with genre stuff. It's going away. Judge the movie - is it a good one or a bad one? We know we made a great movie and it's being judged for just being a good film. — Avi Arad
I don't really say much about reviewers. It's a very tough job to get all of the depth of a movie all at once. — Roland Joffe
Art Critic Quotes
True karate is this: that in daily life one's mind and body be trained and developed in a spirit of humility, and that in critical times, one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice. — Gichin Funakoshi
Criticism is the windows and chandeliers of art: it illuminates the enveloping darkness in which art might otherwise rest only vaguely discernible, and perhaps altogether unseen. — George Jean Nathan
I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge - even wisdom. Like art. — Toni Morrison
I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is. — Jean-Michel Basquiat
When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine. — Pablo Picasso
For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime. — Bruce Lee
Where the Old Masters created an illusion of space into which one could imagine walking, the illusion created by a Modernist is one into which one can look, can travel through, only with the eye. — Clement Greenberg
Art cannot be criticized because every mistake is a new creation — Mr. Brainwash
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic. — Simone Weil
More than in any other performing arts the lack of respect for acting seems to spring from the fact that every layman considers himself a valid critic. — Uta Hagen
People Writing About Movie Critic
More Movie Critic Quotes
I lost faith in the Oscars the first year I was a movie critic - the year that Bonnie and Clyde didn't win. — Roger Ebert
'American Sniper' is a movie whose politics are so ludicrous and idiotic that under normal circumstances it would be beneath criticism. The only thing that forces us to take it seriously is the extraordinary fact that an almost exactly similar worldview consumed the walnut-sized mind of the president who got us into the war in question. — Matt Taibbi
Over the years I've never written or made movies about political themes 'cause while they do have current critical importance, in the large, large scheme of things, only the big questions matter and the answers to those big questions are very, very depressing. — Woody Allen
Working at Pixar you learn the really honest, hard way of making a great movie, which is to surround yourself with people who are much smarter than you, much more talented than you, and incite constructive criticism; you'll get a much better movie out of it. — Andrew Stanton
And I'm going to tell the truth: I didn't like that Sean Penn movie Into the Wild so much. Yes! I know it was critically acclaimed. I know it won all these awards! It's very sad that a boy is dead and all. But I thought the movie Enchanted, with the singing princess and the chipmunk and the people dancing in Central Park, was cuter. So there! — Meg Cabot
Of course the French are making very credible movies and it is still one of the greatest nations in terms of world cinema but the real problem is the decay in film criticism. — Wim Wenders
In this age of consumerism film criticism all over the world - in America first but also in Europe - has become something that caters for the movie industry instead of being a counterbalance. — Wim Wenders
Many of the critics today get airline tickets, hotel accommodation, bags, beautiful photographs, gifts and other expenses paid by the distributors, and then are supposed to write serious articles about the movie. — Wim Wenders
One of the things I've been talking about with my critical writing and my own work is that these movies are seen differently in a theatrical space. It's very important to me. I edit films to be seen theatrically, like fiction material I've worked on like Listen Up Phillip or other documentaries. — Robert Greene
There are television critics, movie critics, and theater critics too who I like and who I follow and I get genuinely bummed when they don't like something that I've written because I usually agree with them. — Aaron Sorkin
I'm told we movie critics praise movies that are long and boring. — Roger Ebert
In the court of the movie Owner, none criticized, none doubted. And none dared speak of art. In the Owner's mind art was a synonym for bankruptcy. The movie Owners are the only troupe in the history of entertainment that has never been seduced by the adventure of the entertainment world. — Ben Hecht
Like some of my other movies, 'Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes' is also a very political film, and many critics still consider it even the best of all the Apes movies, because it conveys a series of political viewpoints. — J. Lee Thompson
I mean no film is beyond criticism, but I think we've made a very modest movie. — Walter Hill
I'm very careful of not being critical of other people's movies, which work in different styles. I think some of my movies can be interpreted as critical of their subjects. — Frederick Wiseman
Look, it's nice. I like the fact that critics liked this movie, but most of the movies that I've made, you'll find a handful of people that love it and more than a few other handfuls of people hate it. If I was invested in that, I would've given up long ago. — David Fincher
The first assistant director is just so important that the choice of that person is critical to the movie. — John Frankenheimer
Foxes was a movie that didn't do a lot of business but it didn't do too badly critically and eventually they offered me other things. The interesting thing was that next I tried a film called Star Man, which Michael Douglas was producing. — Adrian Lyne
So how critics will perceive your film or your work, or whether your movie is going to make $100 million at the box office, or whether you are going to be winning any awards - well, you have no control over that. — Charlize Theron
For a really long time [before writing the novel], I was watching a lot of serial killer movies and I started to wonder if this was a trend and if other people were doing the same thing. That's what happens when you suddenly have a critical perspective on your own behavior. — Lucy Corin
Paste magazine has served as a tremendous window into culture for my house. I can think of no other publication that provides such critical yet entertaining thoughts on music, movies, books and gaming as Paste. My mailbox would be a dark place indeed without it. — Derek Webb
I wanted to get my movie noticed WITHOUT spending any ad money. So I made a bit of a spectacle. I recorded lots of podcasts. I bickered with hate groups. I criticized critics. I banged pots together. I did everything I could to raise awareness without raising any money to do so. — Kevin Smith
Saving Private Ryan was probably the illest, sickest movie I've ever watched, and I didn't see anybody criticizing that one for violence. — Eminem
Writing a good movie brings a writer about as much fame as steering a bicycle. It gets him, however, more jobs. If his movie is bad it will attract only critical tut-tut for him. The producer, director and stars are the geniuses who get the hosannas when it's a hit. Theirs are also the heads that are mounted on spears when it's a flop. — Ben Hecht
I probably complained more when I was younger. The movie industry can be frustrating but I think sometimes I could have been more helpful, approaching a film as a partnership rather than being critical of a director's ignorance. I wasn't sensitive to the fact that it's very hard to direct. — Val Kilmer
[President Bush] recently challenged Iraqi soldiers still fighting U.S. troops like so: ... 'My answer is bring 'em on.' For those of you who may be criticizing Bush for acting like a movie cowboy, let me remind you. He's actually acting more like a movie cheerleader. — Jon Stewart
I'm 48. For a while after 'The Jerk' (movie) I had a feeling of failure. I was a little scared. First people discover you and they love you. You get big and then you fail. And people are glad that you fail. But I've always come back and I've started to trust myself. — Steve Martin
What's happening to movie critics is no different from what has been meted out to book, dance, theater, and fine-arts reviewers and reporters in the cultural deforestation that has driven refugees into the diffuse clatter of the Internet and Twitter, where some adapt and thrive - such as Roger Ebert - while others disappear without a twinkle. — James Wolcott
We have gotten some terrible reviews at times but if we depended on the judgment of the studios or critics, we never would have made more than one movie. — Ismail Merchant
We don't make movies for critics. I've done four movies; there's millions upon millions upon millions of people who've paid to see them. Somebody likes them. My greatest joy is to sit anonymously in a dark theater and watch it with an audience, a paying audience. — Michael Bay
I'm so critical of myself. I'm actually really, really proud of the film. It's really cool to see a movie at Sundance because everybody is so supportive. — Giovanni Ribisi
No, writing musicals is the hardest thing in the world. And it was really funny, because I remember when the South Park movie came out, there were some critics that said, 'Well it's obvious that in order to get it to be 90 minutes they filled some time with music.' — Trey Parker
I learned a lot about critics, not to really take them too seriously about movies. — Gina Gershon
Whenever a critic mentions the salary of an actor, I'm thinking, He's not talking about the movie. — Harold Ramis
When you make a movie outside the system and it's successful critically or a moderate financial success, you usually have to go back into the system and make a big hit. — Brian De Palma
In private some critics have come up to me afterwards and told me they honestly enjoyed the movie. Then they'd tell me that they're still going to have to write it up negatively. — Joe Pantoliano
I hope that they enjoy the movie. Don't be critical. Don't expect to get the same feelings you got when you watched the series when you were 10 years old. Let your kids see it and experience it on their own. — Mark Goddard
I was never a critic. I was a journalist and wrote about filmmakers, but I didn't review movies per se. I make that distinction only because I came to it strictly as someone who was just a lover of storytellers and cinematic storytellers. And I still am. I'm still a great movie fan, and I ,that love of movies is very much alive in me. I approach the movies I make as a movie-lover as much as a movie-maker. — Curtis Hanson
You look at Japan and Hayao Miyazaki's films are the biggest films ever made in Japan; domestically there and they play to critical acclaim around the world. He won't put more then 5 or 10 percent computer imagery in his movies. It's disappointing to me. It's a silly choice that some studios made to move out of animation. It's part of the unfortuneate preconception that I think the public has going into see animation. — Chris Wedge
I reject criticism because the last thing I wanted was to sit there and look at people talking. I think people are conditioned to think of documentaries now as talking heads. This movie about Valentino is not about that at all. It's about watching people in action. To the critics who wanted more talking heads, I send a dozen dead roses. — Matt Tyrnauer
When I teach criticism, the first thing I say, and this sometimes pisses off younger - I mean, students, is that, opinions are the least part of criticism. We've all had the experience of going with a friend to a movie or a concert and you leave the theater and one of you loved it and one of you hated it, and that doesn't mean that one of you is an idiot. That's the way things work. — Gary Giddins
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