The Critical Drinker (TV Series 2012– ) Poster

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8/10
A more neutral take
stamenkovickosta10 September 2023
From what I have seen here, people either give CD 1s or 10s. And, to be honest, I understand why.

The thing (AKA the gimmick) with Critical Drinker is that he presents himself in his reviews as that kind of drunk guy you'd find sitting at the bar, rambling about all sorts of topics, while also using humor to keep his story interesting. But, most importantly, his opinions are honest. There's no sugarcoating, pretending to like something just because everyone does or pretending that he hates something just because everyone does. All the things he says feel genuine (unless he really is that good of an actor, which I doubt). And, as with all honest opinions, people are either going to agree or disagree.

Is Critical Drinker hard right contrarian? No, he makes an argument that just because something is considered to be progressive, diverse or has strong female protagonist doesn't automatically means it's good or should be shielded from criticism. At the same time, he still praises those movies that do things such as diversity or strong female protagonist right. For him, storytelling comes first. If storytelling is good, those things aren't problematic. If storytelling is bad, then they're part of the problem.

Now, do I necessarily agree with this philosophy? No, of course not. He thrashed some movies that I liked and praised some movies that I didn't. But that doesn't mean his show is automatically bad. It's normal for people to have different opinions.

The only criticism that I can kinda agree on is that he does sometimes can go too far. For example, calling actor or actress names because the character they play is bad and/or obnoxious. Calling out actors and actresses feels wrong and is, in my opinion, something that critics should always avoid. Even those actors and actresses that are unlikeable, condescending or bad people. As a movie critic, your job should be to criticize their acting and their characters, not them as people. Of course, you can have a channel that is fully dedicated to mocking celebrities, that's completely fine if you're into that kind of thing, but if you're criticizing the movie - then criticize the movie. And that is the reason why I'm not giving this 10/10.

Beside that last point, Critical Drinker is still an entertaining series, one that I do follow and look forward to new reviews. Because what beats a drunken Scotsman thrashing movies? Not many things, let me tell you.

8/10.
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10/10
Nah, it'll be fine.
Muttley_McLad18 November 2020
Offering a knowledgeable and delicate look at various cultural, none alcoholic beverages from around the world, The Critical Drinker uses his insight to give sensitive reviews and opinions on each and every freshly squeezed sustainably organic juice, herbal brew and plant based detox wellness drink that he can find to critique.

Nah, just kidding. Prepare to have your expectations subverted.

He's a permanently leathered Scotsman, with a no holds barred attitude on what he doesn't like and what doesn't work in today's film industry and a genuinely constructive analysis of how and why he thinks that to be the case. Parts of his channel too are his 'The Drinker Recommends' and 'The Drinker Fixes' series, for which he uses his day job experience and skills as a fiction author to examine what makes the good, good and, if needs be, offer suggestions on how to change some of the absolute dross which is pumped out onto the big screen these days.

A true wordsmith with a hilariously cynical, 'I just can't be bothered' undertone to his style and very self aware play on The Drinker character that he has developed in a very short time on his rapidly growing YouTube channel and all done without a single plea to 'smash the like button, share and subscribe' too...quite the opposite in fact. For all his pleading to just 'go away now', the subscribers continue to come in their droves.
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10/10
Stunningly insightful commentary presented with acidic wit and charm
kfh-1361623 June 2020
There's not much to say beyond the headline... i wish hollywood would hire him before they turned their rubbish scripts into rubbish movies.

Mainstream cinema has gone downhill with the blockbuster hyperactive but forgettable spectacle taking precedence over meaningful, emotive and character driven scripts.

The critical drinker provides a great analysis with some good laughs along the way - give this gentlemen a TV show!
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10/10
Fantastic Channel
jimicapone18 May 2021
Finally. Someone here to say what everyone else is thinking. Blessed with sharp wit and keen insight, The Critical Drinker delivers week after week. If I had his address, i'd send him a bottle if scotch for the good work he's doing.
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10/10
An Honest Review
generationofswine13 October 2020
Well, I don't agree with some of his takes on films (at least the ones I've seen) but that hardly matters, I absolutely love listening to them anyway.

He's witty, he's hysterical, he's entertaining, and that's really what I want from movie reviews. Especially since it's gotten to the point where a lot of his reviews are more entertaining than the movies themselves and even when I don't agree with them the reviews are still worth watching and thinking about.

He's entertainment and he's entertainment about entertainment. Who doesn't like it?
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Love it!
thekonq5 August 2021
That's all I can say. Really one of the few critics I agree with pretty much always.
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2/10
Hurray! Another Plinkett wannabe (as if the world really needs anymore)
walkingwithprimeval31 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Just to be clear, I'm not going to be touching upon identity politics, social justice issues or any other sort of political movement within regards to him and his blatant stance on these things, because that's not what really irks me about this guy and just to be frank, I don't actually care a whole lot about that side of his unimpressive "pretend personality" (all put-on for show). So I'm not going to be mentioning any of that stuff, here. You know the expression "No one likes a critic"? Well I think he's the reason why that saying is still out in force, today. The Critical Drinker has got to be the most, how shall I put it, PETTY internet movie reviewers I've ever come across while browsing through the online community of constructive film criticism. From what I've seen of his content, this guy simply isn't a good film critic (he's enough to make the honourable duo of Siskel & Ebert turn in their graves).

His reviewing style mostly just consists of him using what he calls "jokes", delivered with a drunkenly slurred tone of voice in his speech pattern, to disguise the fact he really doesn't have anything insightful to say on the topic at hand. A vast quantity of amateur film reviewers on YouTube use this exact same trick; they rely on an excess amount of silly off-topic humour (which half the time, isn't even all that amusing) to distract the naive person watching their reviews from the truth, that they really don't know an awful lot on the subject matter their discussing at all. And what's even more discouraging, it enables them to easily manipulate simple-minded people into think that their poorly-constructed critiques sound way more "intelligent" and important than they actually are, thus their words will inevitably be perceived as believably convincing to the average person who's being influenced by them (basically described what Nostalgia Critic, RedLetterMedia and CinemaSins do). I bet this fella's thought process behind his decision went a little something like this; "Hey now, if I talk like a drunken idiot blurting out a load of random unfunny gibberish, then maybe people will respect my lame opinions on cinema and take me seriously. Genius idea!" Well he hasn't pulled the wool over my eyes with that sort of nonsensical dribble, mostly because I don't find any of his repeating gags entertaining (it's quite pathetic).

My personal gripe with this condescending person mainly stems from his moronic "How Not To Critique Movies" video, which I honestly found to be laughable and flat-out stupid. I feel you can't really preach to people on how they're supposed to review something because that's an idiotic notion. Who are you to tell someone what their own subjective thoughts and opinions should be on a certain product, just because YOU personally don't agree with them on it (give it a rest, mate). If more than one individual with a functioning brain has seen the film/TV show in question, then said individual has every right to express their own unique viewpoint about the thing they've watched (telling them otherwise would be a pretty dumb decision). Seriously, this guy seems to be under the deluded impression that his own subjective feelings are actually objective fact when there's really not a whole lot of truth in those rambling statements he presents (well, they're more like rubbish rants than anything else), speaking about how overarching thematic narratives aren't important to the cinematic arts, even though it's literally been a part of this storytelling art-form since the very dawn of filmmaking itself (has he ever even heard of the silent '20s German Expressionism motion-pictures before, or is he just that unaware?).

Worst part of all is that he hardly even provides substantial comments on the technical aspects of moviemaking, mainly choosing to focus an overwhelming majority of his attention span on the old "Mary Sue" archetype and the studios' "woke" agenda (at this point in time, they're not remarkable or clever observations to moan about anymore). Aside from playing up as a cynical narcissist, I've also noticed he isn't able to fully articulate when it comes to discussing a movie's redeemable qualities as he's often too overly negative for much of the time with not nearly enough positive words to utter. He rarely gives any praise from what I can tell, being eagerly quick to dismiss a popular film's merits specifically. Either that, or he's simply not willing to see the good in things and give newer movies a fair chance to impress (seems as though his head's always stuck in the nostalgic past, I reckon). I realise it's fun to hate on stuff and bashing perfectly solid films is a part of that experience (The Dishonoured Wolf sure knew all about that, before he understandably decided to leave the YouTube platform altogether due to it severely affecting his personal life in a bad way), but the novelty of constantly doing so starts to wear-thin real fast and it can soon get pretty darn boring after a while (ralphthemoviemaker ain't got nothing on the Drinker when it concerns that).

I find it rich how he openly complains about how all these big Hollywood corporations, like Lucasfilm for instance (now it's part of the Disney company), keep disrespecting the dedicated fans of old franchises, while he himself is guilty of doing the exact same thing in his "Godzilla Vs. Kong" reactionary videos. Publicly calling out the people who enjoy such monster movies and creature features by summing up this devoted fandom as "Big Monkey punched Big Lizard and it made my brain happy", or something to that extent (talk about pulling an insulting jerk move). And not to mention, making them feel bad about themselves for liking the type of film they like by harshly mocking and ridiculing it in such an extremely sarcastic and mean-spirited sort of way (possibly bordering on verbal bullying), all while on the unjust grounds of him NOT knowing or understanding anything on this certain genre's long-standing traditions. Basically, what those videos boil down to is that for someone who's supposedly an avid "cinephile", they really don't know jack about the daikaiju genre of Japanese cinema. You'd have to be a right fool to talk down about a thing which you don't even care enough about to research, at all (if you're not willing to learn, then just stick to what you know). Similarly, this hypocrite has become the very perpetrator of exactly that course of action; "disrespecting the fans". My best guess is that he must've done those when he was bored out his mind and didn't have anything better to do (sad, I know).

I much preferred this bloke better in his pre-drunken speech days, back in a time when he was regularly doing those reviews of forgotten films. And his "What Happened to The Clan of the Cave Bear TV Series" and "A Ghostbusters Scene Comparison" video essays were honestly a few of his most intriguing pieces of opinionated work because he seemed authentic and very knowledgeable in those particular ones and besides that, it's way more interesting to me seeing a YouTube reviewer just being their normal natural self (you know, NOT acting like he's putting on the over-exaggerated persona of a raving lunatic character). I rather enjoyed some of the earlier stuff he put out, until his whole channel eventually derailed and quickly devolved into tiresome clickbait videos with him providing his inept critiques (which is almost comparable to the disheartening situation with Cinemassacre's James Rolfe and how he slowly lost interest in his creative passion over recent years).

But most of all, I feel sorry for the gullible fan-base he's managed to garner, who've been blindsided into thinking his throwaway content is actually well-constructed criticism (which is laughable). I sincerely hope every one of his misguided followers decide to wise-up and go seeks out the REAL wisdom of some proper credible professionals, like the aforementioned Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert I previously cited above (knowing him, he'd have laughed at both their humble perspectives). Or as an alternative option, if they really want to listen to critics on the internet that are actually both informative and legitimately hilarious all at once, then I say check out some old unedited videos curtesy of the Spill review crew's archive YouTube channel (who've since moved on to doing Double Toasted, nowadays). And as for old Drinker himself, unless he cleans up this whole act of being a dull "charisma-void" and finally gets back on track with the way his decent videos used to be, then I'd genuinely respect him much more as a content creator/online personality than I'm currently doing right now. But I can't foresee that sort of improvement ever happening, so I won't expect things to change (although I'm not entirely sure if he even bothers to actually look on his own IMDb page, at least).
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10/10
TOTALLY FRICKIN AWSOME
junk-mail-me-here26 March 2021
The Critical Drinker is one of my favorite channels on YouTube. This guy is a blast to listen to and his take on things, especially his reviews, are particularly interesting since he's a professional fiction writer. Absolutely TOP NOTCH content, can't recommend this guy's channel enough! That's all I have to so, go away now.
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1/10
Started off good, then leaned too right
This dude started off kinda good, his early Resident Evil reviews were good. Somewhere along the way though, he became some sort of far right leaning dude, aiming for that target of people. Example would be, he was praising Resident Evil games, then suddenly he disses RE3 because he said Capcom (which is an Asian company) is trying to be woke because they made Jill a strong woman. She has always been a strong woman since the 90's you idiot.

Anyways, his Tom Clancy ripoff books are trash, he hides in Europe so nobody can find him, he bashes any movie that doesn't have 100% White people, he bashes people's work but doesn't let people review his books online. But the thing is, all these companies are rich and have money flowing, they ain't gonna go bankrupt anytime soon bruh.

That is who this dude is. He was hiding his face for a long time but finally revealed his face, now we know what he is like.

10/10.
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9/10
Nah, it'll be fine
Bigideas_Baggins6 July 2021
If you are interested in such questions as: "Is it possible to draw Rian Johnson's head using just a draftsman compass?" or "How many of the old classics have to be butchered?", this is the channel for you.

Anyway, that's all I really got for a review... Go away now!!
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1/10
boring useless channel
willisugene28 March 2021
Boring channel useless movie reviews fake news boring grifter.
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9/10
Awesome Character Development
simon_laraman16 October 2020
I don't think I'd be happy if this was ever cancelled. I'm still crying over Future Man ending prematurely. Let's hope the Critical Drinker looks at The Haunting of Bly Manor, perhaps he could fix it?
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10/10
Best commentators there is
tniromin10 September 2022
The name explains what channel is all about it is a critical analysis of films , even if he finds something to be fun or fans likes them he will still review the weak points in a movie. Being facisnated and excellent in story telling him self his analysis is often educational and interesting to listen to. However with so many garbage being marketed by the main IP s you can think he is repeating stuff but the problem isnt with him its these studios repeating the same mistakes in almost similar fashion many people have many opinions on why this is happening to the movie industry and I agree with similar critics its not politics but combination of bad writing too much focus on politics and also shoving heavy political messages.

Many reboots and rehashes got the movies they recreated wrong but in this era it has become worse and critics like him do analyze why it might be happening and if fans can understand these simple shortcomings the studios should too. It might fix the industry again or movie industries from other countries will start to dominate your movie industry and in the end you might lose your soul as well.
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10/10
Fantastic Reviewer and an excellent author!
twistedtearex26 October 2022
Felt the need to leave a review here because I love the Critical Drinker's content, and I was looking on Google for an update because I heard he has an upcoming live-action adaptation in the works for his fantastic Ryan Drake series, when I saw that IMDB hosted reviews of his... YouTube channel content? Okaaaay. Clicked on the link to find what is mostly a ton of glowingly positive 10 out of 10 ratings when I noticed something interesting; when using the Google search engine to find this, the review chosen to be displayed there, on the front-page as it were, the one used to represent the expected content you will see when you click on the link to IMDB's Critical Drinker reviews... is one of the TWO appallingly negative reviews about his content, rather than one of the positive reviews, which are the majority. Interesting that. I wonder how the reviews look right now for The Rings of Power? Wonder if they have an appallingly positive review stapled onto Google's front-page for that dumpster fire.
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10/10
If iwasnoteverymoviegetsa10 this would not get a 10
ThunderKing613 July 2022
Kind of annoying.

Not funny.

Wish he could get 3 strikes for sounding annoying. Being annoying should be offensive.

He has a couple videos that were ok. The rest I just click *Don't Recommend Channel*

Plus this guy liked No Way Home I recall. I guess he's drinking too much or drank the purple stuff from the Sunny D Commercial.

Yeah just another annoying youtuber.
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1/10
rubbish channel
frenchxavier26 March 2021
Rubbish channel.

Knows nothing about movies grifter.
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1/10
Pandering Movie critic
teriqmarsei11 January 2023
He definitely panders tp his audience in a near shameful way. Most of his reviews consist over weird non important critiques with random critiques on Hollywood or anything his target audience generally hates. His knowledge about writing and story structure are subpar. Which is interesting because I think he's a writer. I can't imagine his writing is very good, but I can't say for sure.

I can see how someone would find this entertaining, but I at least expect him to have something of substance to say. But he expects his audience to be stupid it seems. Either that or he's just trying to be funny.
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