Which movie critic do you trust the most?

For me its Mark Kermode

I Like Kermode alot, disagree with him a fair bit and disagree alot with his politics but I do like him. Some great rants aswell.

I just look at Rotten Tomatoes. Sometimes just the percentage, sometimes I'll skim the top critic blurbs. I don't really have a Giant Bomb equivalent for movies.

I don't know if I've ever read a critic who I completely lined up with, but there are a number of critics I feel I have similar dispositions to. I like reading Richard Brody, Guy Lodge, and of course Rosenbaum. Even when I don't agree with them I can understand where they're coming from.

I also have some friends who are critics, so I'll talk with them too, especially if they've just attended a festival.

Armond White.

Kermode is my go to, though I listen to the podcast/radio show a lot less at the moment. But when I want to know what films are worth checking out I definitely go to Mark Kermode. Obviously I don't agree with him on everything, but then you really don't have to. I know that Kermode likes horror films way more than me, & I have more tolerance for bad superhero films than he does. And I've never found it in me to watch the Twilight series despite his surprisingly positive comments on some of them. Ditto Hunger Games. Plus as mentioned, he's very entertaining, except when he does impressions. Although actually I guess his terrible impressions are actually quite funny, even the Zack Snyder one. And when he gets talking about something like a Transformers film, well, it's joyful.

On the other hand, I really enjoy listening/watching the guys from Red Letter Media talk, but I definitely don't value their opinions as highly as Kermode. They are more pure entertainment, especially when it comes to garbage movies. Though the new series they've started about films they really, really like was a breath of fresh air from them, as they gushed about Tremors. Really enjoyed that as a break from the usual OTT negativity. They also watch films in a totally different way to me, but it's interesting hearing them go at it from that angle. But I can't think of anything I went out of my way to not watch or watch based on their recommendation.

I really miss Roger Ebert. I didn't agree with him on everything, but he had respect for a lot of movie genres that his contemporaries did not, including super hero films and other schlocky stuff, and I really loved his writing. He could make you understand why a movie was really great or really poor with just a few paragraphs, and they were so entertaining!

I think people, especially those that remember his comments on video games, have a worse opinion of him than he really deserved, and his comments were much more nuanced than just "games no can be art" like some people seemed to think. You can see his two main pieces where he talks about video games here and here, if you don't know what I'm talking about. It was over 6 years ago, so you might not have even read the pieces.

I barely ever read reviews now, since I can't say that I have found anyone who was engaging as Ebert was. I watch a lot of reviewers on Youtube though, and I like them in varying degrees. I love Red Letter Media's Half in the Bag mainly because the humor is so weird, but my opinions on the movies don't line up all the time, or even a lot. I mainly just watch it for the silliness. For more straight forward reviewers, I watch Jeremy Jahns and Chris Stuckmann, and I lean towards liking Stuckmann a bit more personality-wise and in how he presents his stuff. I also have been watching Movie Bob recently, but I find I am much less... cynical, I guess? I like a lot of newer genre films that he has really, really disliked. But I like it when he gets super ranty. And his Really That Good series is, well, really that good. The one he just did about Superman was awesome. But for his regular reviews, ymmv.

Mark Kermode. We seem to have similar tastes and his reviews are well presented and interesting to listen to.

I have to admit I stopped play close attention to having a favorite after Roger Ebert, but I think David Denby was very good until he hung up the gig in 2015. If they have to be currently working instead of currently dead or retired, then my choice is A.O. Scott for the NYT. Mr. Scott is a critics critic.

A,O, Scott
"Maybe it is too late to lament the militarization of Star Trek, but in his pursuit of blockbuster currency, Mr. Abrams has sacrificed a lot of its idiosyncrasy and, worse, the large-spirited humanism that sustained it. " ‐ Trek Into Darkness (2013)

A.O. Scott
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is among Mr. Bay’s best movies and by far the best 3-D sequel ever made about gigantic toys from outer space. I apologize if this sounds like faint praise, but let me provide some perspective. The second of Mr. Bay’s “Transformers” movies, “Revenge of the Fallen,” released in 2009, struck me as not only the worst movie of that year — measured in raw box office dollars, it was certainly among the most popular — but also as irrefutable evidence that our once proud civilization was in a state of precipitous decline. Perhaps my own enjoyment of “Dark of the Moon” is further evidence. I can’t decide if this movie is so spectacularly, breathtakingly dumb as to induce stupidity in anyone who watches, or so brutally brilliant that it disarms all reason. What’s the difference? — Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Mark Kermode is ok, but my tastes tend to differ a lot from him. He's mostly a good barometer because his tastes are something of a known quantity. I actually prefer Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian, because he's a bit more critical, and although he tends to be all over the place on Blockbusters and such, he's usually pretty good on arthouse stuff (better than Kermode). He can also write a hell of a hatchet job.

But actually I think my favourite is probably Catherine Shoard for the Guardian. She takes films seriously, which I like, and her tastes align with mine, generally. Unfortunately she doesn't write enough reviews.

I also quite like Wendy Ide in the Times (like Peter Bradshaw without the propensity to be occasionally perverse) and Robbie Collin in the Telegraph (Unpretentious, always keeps the entertainment and fun factor in sight whilst still being serious and knowledgable about film)

As of recent I have been following a lot of Devin Faraci's work. He's really blunt and for the most part his tastes are similar to mine.

It was Roger Ebert (RIP), haven't really found anyone to fill that spot yet.

@jadegl sums up how I feel better than I can.

Alex Navarro and Matthew Rorie were the last movie critics I cared anything about.

Siskel and Ebert. I tend to like Brad Jones' viewpoint aside from them.

Devin Faraci is my favorite critic, I loved his writing since the olden days of chud.com

I really like the Red Letter Media guys as well, but I tend disagree with a lot of their points. Doesn't stop me from really enjoying what they have to say about movies in general of course.

Nobody, since Roger Ebert went.

None since I tend to have contrary opinions to many. For instance I found Fury Road to not be anything special, and found Tom Hardy in particular a major weak point. I recognize I am in the minority and many people greatly enjoyed the film, but it doesn't change my own personal thoughts on it. Generally speaking with movies I only agree with the majority of critics half the time and haven't found anyone who reflects my own eclectic tastes.

Full agreement here. I like reviewers that seem to go into every movie / game wanting to be entertained, but so many of them seem to derive joy from specifically belligerent and hateful criticism, and it all just becomes white noise to me.

You also couldn't be more right about Ebert enjoying genres that his fellow critics were happy to dislike. I miss him and Gene Siskel.

I don't really pay too much attention to any specific critics. I can generally gauge the reception of a movie from an amalgamation of sources. Besides that, trailers are usually enough for me to determine if I have any interest in seeing a particular film and I can make up my own mind from there.

Ive never really followed critics on movies. Only time I got close was with Screened.com.

My go to movie review website used to be Spill, they had hilarious reviews were 3-5 of them would talk about a movie. They had both raw audio which was about 20-30 min long as wel as short animated video reviews that were around 3-5 min.

Anyway that site isn't around anymore but the people behind it have branched off into two seperate movie review sites, called Double Toasted and Oneofus.

I prefer that style of review instead of the usual Youtube movie reviewer were 1 person talks into the camera for a while, the same way that I prefer to listen to the Bomb/BEAST cast to get the opinion of the GB crew about a game.

I don't follow any movie critics nor do I care what any of them think. I get recommendations from people I know in real life and then go from there.

Rorie and Al- oh, wait.

After Ebert, I stopped reading movie reviews. Just loved reading his stuff, even if I didn't always agree. My favorite writer ever.

With that being said, I still like the Red Letter Media guys a whole lot.

The hack frauds at RedLetterMedia.

Definitely. Love me some Half in the Bag.

I enjoyed Screened and love listening to Rorie and Alex talk about movies whenever we get a chance to hear it these days.

Ryan Davis.

I watched every TANG and WUTANG movie, in order, and he was right: they sucked. Except for WarGames.

I was delighted to see Mark mentioned right off the bat when I came to this thread. I largely disagree with his opinions but he's basically one of my favourite people in the world. The only podcasts I listen to these days are old Bombcasts (been working my way through them for almost 2 years, just coming up on July 2013 now :/ ugh) and the Kermode and Mayo podcast. Highly recommended.

@christaran: Clicked on this post thinking exactly this.

One more for Ebert. I always knew that if he liked a movie, I would at the very least find it interesting. Don't really follow any specific critics any more.