Announcing “The Brett Arnold Appreciation Society”!

Since it’s December, that means that every single regional critics group and society is coming out of the woodwork to announce their annual awards. Many of these groups you will not have heard a single peep from for the remainder of the year so far, and you won’t hear anything else from them until this time next year. Some of these groups have a history of having splintered off from other groups that did not allow them into their membership. I know most of these stories.

And yet, it’s in the spirit of the holidays, I’ve decided to do and say something about what I consider to be one of the greatest injustices being perpetrated by the current studio/critics status quo on one particular individual.

I barely have time to read any reviews beyond the ones I might have to edit/post from other writers at Above the Line. Despite my constant snark to the contrary, there are actually a number of critics who I have a great respect and fondness for, who I do try to read whenever I possibly can: Candice Frederick, Nick Schager, Steven Whitty, Owen Gleiberman are just four of them. 

But there’s one film critic whose opinion on movies I value more than any other and whose opinion on every movie I’m quite familiar with, because I make a concentrated effort to keep up with them… 

That man is Brett Arnold aka @BrettRedacted on X.

I literally have no idea how I first found out about Brett’s horror podcast “The New Flesh” (@TheNewFlesh on X) with Jesse Hassenger (aka @RockMarooned on X), but it is and has been the ONLY horror podcast I listen to regularly, as the two of them have the most comprehensive views on everything horror (or tangentially horror) on a weekly basis, and that includes reviews. I don’t always fully agree with their opinions, but every show is thoroughly entertaining, and it includes all sorts of horror-related news on top of any weekly reviews.

And then in the past couple years, Brett started the podcast “Roger (Ebert) and Me” with Mark Dujsik (@MarkReviews), in which the two guys review between 7 and 8 or even more movies EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Now, I know how hard it is to review so many movies in print each week (as Mark does) but for the two of them to take time every week to put together such a great show, one that I try very hard not to miss each Friday, makes me wonder how anyone might not consider Brett to be an “accredited film critic.” The two of them have watched and reviewed hundreds of movies this year that range from tiny indies, to foreign films, to the big studio movies.

I chat with Brett regularly, and hear many of his concerns and complaints about how he is being treated. I feel the obligation to hold specifics of those conversations to some degree of confidence, but constantly, I’m left feeling that I need to do or say something to help him, beyond offering my own friendly advice. 

I suggested he joined the Critics Choice Association (of which I’m a member) but he gets turned down. I keep expecting to see links to his podcasts on Rotten Tomatoes, and nothing happens there. Meanwhile, I listen to and greatly appreciate both of his reviews shows whenever I have time to listen to them, and I’m constantly impressed with his constant hard work and perseverance (as well as that of his co-hosts) despite these setbacks. Brett Arnold is as dedicated a film critic as anyone else I know.

A little tangent here, but I feel that anyone who thinks that being a film critic is easy should pay attention to this next part: 

Let’s say that I’m a film critic, and I’ve been assigned to review a movie by someone who will actually pay me for that work. Let’s say that movie is released by a studio that has no desire to send out a screener. Many of the studios still hold their NY press screenings up at 68th and Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side. I only know a handful of NYC critics who can even AFFORD to live up there, so you have to figure that most critics are either coming from downtown or one of the boroughs. I live on the Lower East Side so the bare minimum of hours I need to commit in order to write ONE review is between four and five hours. It takes me about 45 minutes to get up to 68th and Broadway, so that’s 90 minutes right there. Movies tend to run two hours plus, so that’s 3 ½ hours of my time before I’ve even written a single wo. The going rate per review runs the gamut, but I generally won’t write a review for less than $50, and I’ve heard of some critics getting $350 or MORE per review, which absolutely blows my mind.  To me, that amount is unreasonable and fiscally irresponsible, and yet, if a critic is getting paid only $50 per review, and they need to spend 5 hours in writing, transit, watching the movie… that’s just $10 per hour, less than the bare minimum wage in New York State. That’s less than those dumb kids working at Popeye’s make for barely being able to do what should be the simplest job on the planet. (I worked in fast food. I know.)

That is the environment in which Brett is trying to make a living while facing all sorts of hurdles and setbacks that do not need to be put in his path. It’s bullshit, and it’s exactly the type of inequality and caste system that’s clearly laid out in Ava DuVernay’s Origin and Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste, on which that movie is based. Critics are raving about this movie while being fully involved in perpetrating and being a part of a similar caste system that’s been laid out in the world of film criticism that constantly tries to cut down and make life difficult for hard-working film critics like Brett.

This is another tangent, but I remember about seven years ago, I felt I was being treated unfairly by Disney, and after a number of incidents, I decided to speak up about it. I ended up being banned from Disney screenings and junkets for nearly 3 ½ years. At that time, not ONE fellow critic or colleague or editor or even people I considered friends spoke up or had my back. NOT ONE. In fact, I was publicly attacked for speaking up, because no one in this fucking business wanted to have their own money train derailed by doing so. During that time, Disney was flourishing with regular blockbuster hits with their Marvel and Star Wars releases. Anyone in my boat and not able to review or cover these movies probably thought they were doomed as an integral part of this industry and specifically film criticism. I received a lot of flack and problems getting work during that time, but I survived, and I proved that Disney was not the only game in town. I guess the rest of the world is now realizing what I’ve always known.

The point though – as stated in the subject line as I further bury my lede – is for me to announce: 

THE BRETT ARNOLD APPRECIATION SOCIETY

This is a new critics group with only a single member: Brett Arnold. While I am the founder of the BAAS, I do not consider myself a “founding member” other than the fact that I felt the necessity for such a critics group/society to be formed so that Brett can get the respect he has earned, and that includes being invited to screenings without having to chase them down. (Mind you, I still have to do this myself after 22 years in the business, because NOTHING CHANGES.)

Brett had absolutely no idea I was going to write this, but hopefully he understands that I’m doing so in an effort to right a great wrong being perpetrated in the Corporate Studio/Publicity/Critical Industrial Complex. Brett should be a member of the Critics Choice Association – formerly the Broadcast Critics… of which podcasting most definitely would be considered broadcasting. Brett should be admitted to one of the New York-based critics groups, since he is indeed a film critic based in New York. Brett’s reviews should be included on Rotten Tomatoes. And Brett should not constantly have to fight to get invited to New York press and critics screenings along with our colleagues.

What Brett does with this new critics group is up to him. It’s his group, and he’s the only member. If he wants to announce the annual BAAS Awards every year, that’s up to him. If he immediately wants to disband the society, because it’s too much extra work and the annual fees (of $0.00 a year) are too high, then that’s in his right as well. 

But I want people to know that if nothing else, he is appreciated by me, someone who remains fairly low on the totem poll, despite reviewing movies regularly for more than 22 years now, while watching others – many who I literally went out of my way to help when they were starting out – be given all sorts of opportunities, as they do the bare minimum to earn them and do even less to thank me for my efforts. Merely posting your movie opinions on social media or Letterboxed does not make you a film critic… and yet… that’s enough to get many invited to press screenings that Brett struggles to attend. Meanwhile, he produces two absolutely fantastic review podcasts every single week without fail, and those efforts seem to go unappreciated.

If nothing else, I hope you’ll click one of the links above or on his Link Tree, check out some of Brett’s podcasts and listen to some of his reviews. Hopefully you can admire his hard work and perseverance as much as I do, because the fact that we’re reached a point where *I* need to come forward and give him the credit he’s long past due, should tell you how ABSOLUTELY FUCKED the current state of film criticism really is.

Hope you and your family have a great holiday, Brett, and that you won’t have to deal with any of this crap in 2024.