It was a pleasant surprise to see Nathan Rabin, a movie reviewer and contributor to the Onion AV Club, had written an article for Cracked yesterday. Even better, it ties into this week's discussions about anonymity on the Internet and the importance of context.
"How To Make Money Using Inaccurate Pop Culture Reviews" begins with Rabin pointing out various recent "scandals" that were caused by writers not actually doing any research. He points to a critic who bashed comedian Amy Schumer based on tiny excerpts of her stand-up and a scathing review of the animated film "Inside Out" that was written based entirely on the film's character designs and trailers. What's telling about both of these articles is that, when called on their lack of research, both critics claimed that further research wasn't needed and that they stood by their methods.
Rabin goes on to write four very funny (and occasionally NSFW because of language) reviews for recent movies, coming up with ridiculous claims on the flimsiest of evidence. I'll have to rewatch "Ant-Man" now that Nathan pointed out the Neo-Nazi connections I apparently overlooked. While I don't think any of them could be mistaken for real, accurate reviews, the tone is completely accurate; I have the feeling that Rabin has wanted to do a spoof piece like this for a long time.
Make sure to read the comments as well; Cracked's commenters like to play along with joking articles like this and the spoof continues with them.
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