Thursday, October 17, 2019

Slap me right in my face why don't you

It’s not every day that I am put in my place, but every once in a while it’s funny to have a thing like this happen:


In case you can't read what it says, I will retype it, to drive the stake further into my own heart:

"DEREK ARMSTRONG

Derek Armstrong's reviews do not count toward the Tomatometer. This is not a Tomatometer-approved critic, and this critic's reviews are not published on a Tomatometer-approved publication."

It was something I found when googling myself, and no, I don’t google myself very often. (When I do I get a lot of hits from a retired NHL player, and they can be annoyed to wade through.)

It relates to two reviews that got posted to Rotten Tomatoes (not by me) when I wrote for All Movie Guide between 2000 and 2011. Two random reviews, it would appear: Lymelife (2008) and The Living Wake (2010). 

The wording of it sounds almost like a warning, like “Don’t take any wooden nickels! Don’t take any opinions from a critic not recognized by the Tomatometer!”

I knew there was a reason I prefer Metacritic.

2 comments:

Chris said...

Look on the bright side, at least you are a film critic.

Derek Armstrong said...

Well 'tis true, but these days, is anybody really a film critic? There are only a couple hundred people in the world who can actually make a living at it. It's probably more but I would not be surprised if it were fewer. The rest of us have to hustle and take what we can get.