We've all read them: movie blurbs that tell us how wonderful the latest movie is along with quotes from the critics that support the claims. Well, all is not as it seems. Many of the quotations we see are taken out of context, modified, or even from non-existent critics! The Blurbs blog exposes these media manipulations. Here's some examples from the blog:
Fantastic Four (Twentieth Century Fox)
Toronto Sun: "Fun!"
Actual line: "There are some fun moments, most generated by red-hot Johnny, and moving moments, all involving the Thing. But the overall effect is still far too juvenile to feel fantastic."
Not quoted: "Fantastic Four falls too far short of the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises to be called fantastic. How about The OK Quartet? ... lacks energy and drive ..."Deseret Morning News: "Fun!"
Actual line: "Evans and Chiklis ... seem to be the only ones having fun here."
Not quoted: "Thanks to the 'X-Men' and 'Spider-Man' movies, and now 'Batman Begins,' we've come to expect great things from movies based on comic books. Unfortunately, 'Fantastic Four' doesn't come close to living up to the standard set by those films, or to those set by 'The Incredibles,' which 'Fantastic Four' resembles to a small degree. ... 'Fantastic Four' is not as horrid as early trailers made it appear. It's sporadically entertaining but never amounts to more than 'Mediocre Four.' "Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith (Twentieth Century Fox)
A. O. Scott, New York Times: "Better than the original 'Star Wars.' "
Not quoted: Writer and director George "Lucas's indifference to two fairly important aspects of moviemaking—acting and writing—is remarkable."
It's fascinating reading. Check out The Blurbs here.
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