Are You Your Biggest Critic?

A few months ago I wrote about the joys of a YouTube channel called Cinema Wins. It’s the flip side of another channel called Cinema Sins that, personally, I’m not a fan of. I appreciate well-reasoned criticism and satire, but nitpicky, negative snark just isn’t fun for me.

There’s also a channel called Honest Trailers. Its videos are much shorter than Cinema Sins, and they usually focus on a few aspects of movies that could have been better (while balancing those criticisms with some highlights from the films).

Today something special happened on Honest Trailers: the director of one of my favorite movies of the year, Kong: Skull Island, appeared on the video about his movie.

This was a highly unusual, bold move. I don’t think it would work for most people (I’ve found it’s best for creators not to participate in the comments of their reviews), but Jordan Vogt-Roberts pulls it off perfectly.

The key is that he opens with a statement about how he is his biggest critic. I’m sure 99% of creators can relate to that. He then proceeds to list legitimate criticisms he has about his own movie. It’s powerful stuff, coming from the director–it takes some thick skin to admit to your mistakes, especially in regards to a labor of love. It makes me want to see his future movies.

Do you like when people participate in satire about themselves or their creations, like when someone appears on Saturday Night Live after the show has made fun of them?

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