Is What You Like, Good? Anthony O. Scott, Samuel L. Jackson, & The Debate Over Quality

Film critic Anthony O. Scott recently incurred the wrath of actor Samuel L. Jackson over his weary review of The Avengers. The following remark is a solid microcosm of Scott’s feelings about the film:

The secret of “The Avengers” is that it is a snappy little dialogue comedy dressed up as something else, that something else being a giant A.T.M. for Marvel and its new studio overlords, the Walt Disney Company.

It’s a backhanded compliment, certainly, but Scott’s thesis is that The Avengers is not a work of art (even commercial art) so much as it is the horse to which Marvel and Disney have both hitched a lot of merchandising carts. Some films just feel that way, like when Elvis made movies that weren’t there to touch our souls but because Col. Parker knew The King’s career would benefit from the publicity. 

In any event, this review prompted the coolest actor of our era to take to Twitter. Jackson urged:

#Avengers fans,NY Times critic AO Scott needs a new job! Let’s help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do!

— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) May 3, 2012

This kicked off a minor Twitter war, culminating in the following exchange between Jackson and George Green (@kramercapriati):

Actually, sometimes IT DOES! @kramercapriati

— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) May 3, 2012

There’s nothing new about any of this, of course. We comic book readers have heard the rest of you gripe for the last decade how sick you are of capes in movies, and the debate between popularity and quality goes all the way back to when Adam tried to get Eve to be content with all the fruit in Eden except that one apple. One thing that wasn’t available in the Garden of Eden, though, was Flickchart.

At first glance, one would expect The Avengers to absolutely crush other movies on a site like Flickchart where the average community member is very much in that movie’s prime demographic. What credibility can a site like Flickchart have anyway? Its users have named The Dark Knight “The Best Movie of All Time.”

It’s certainly true that the certified classics of cinema haven’t placed as highly here on Flickchart as they have on pretty much any ranked list compiled by critics or film historians. It’s the source of much debate even among those of us Flickchart evangelicals. Consider, though, that just making a ton of money off the fanboy demographic wasn’t good enough to earn any love here for Michael Bay’s Transformers series; the highest rated of that series was the first film, presently at #1275 between Catfish and Dead Man Walking.

What Anthony Scott really seems to want is a more thoughtful comic book movie for a more discerning fanboy. Though he doesn’t seem to feel The Avengers is that film, it’s an ideal that is very much embraced by those of us who are not contented to be wowed just because something that used to be on our Underoos is now sixteen feet tall on a screen causing explosions. Every time a movie turns up in a Flickchart ranking matchup, users have the chance to voice whether they were satisfied by it. At some point in every ranking decision to be made, we ask ourselves “Which movie was better?” but we also ask, “Which did I like more?” There is an ongoing debate whether those are the same question. Doesn’t the fact you like it mean it’s good? I personally do not think so. I am firmly in the camp that what one likes and what is good may be two different things entirely. The example I often give is The Godfather; it’s a good film and I respect it… but it left me cold and I can’t say I necessarily liked it.

It’s not my place to tell anyone how to assess the films they’ve seen, or how to Flickchart. What I can say, though, is that the fluid nature of the global Best Movies list means that our community is stronger with as many participants as possible. Whether you agree with Anthony O. Scott that, “while The Avengers is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting” or if you side with Samuel L. Jackson that any critic who doesn’t worship at its altar should have his “jaundiced ass” fired, Flickchart is the perfect forum to weigh in not just with some comments, but in a way that will help shape our canon of films.

This post is part of our User Showcase series. You can find Travis as TravisSMcClain on Flickchart. If you’re interested to submit your own story or article describing your thoughts about movies and Flickchart, read our original post for how to become a guest writer here on the Flickchart Blog.