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Hollywood and movie critics have become "predictable" in pursuing a divisive political agenda in films, a conservative film reviewer says, leaving audiences alienated and frustrated.
James Carrick, founder of "Worth it or Woke?", told Fox News Digital he decided to create a movie review site that is transparent about its conservative Christian perspective, as an alternative to long-established film rating sites like "Rotten Tomatoes." The site launched in February and has reviews from current films in theaters, streaming series and favorite films that came out years ago which Carrick believes are "worth it" for audiences to see.
A film enthusiast with a background in theater and philosophy, Carrick said he hopes his site will help others "vote with their dollars" to avoiding films with woke messages if they choose. He also hopes Hollywood takes note they can no longer "ignore or talk down" to conservatives or "force a radical agenda" on them.
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He got the idea when he noticed a "trend" on Rotten Tomatoes years ago that if a movie received a high critic score and significantly lower audience score, the movie likely had leftist messages and elements in it.
"I started seeing keywords pop up and key phrases [like] ‘brave choice’… and invariably ‘brave’ meant that they swapped a long-traditional character, a long-interesting character with a different gender than what they had been or a different race," Carrick described.
"And then they're patting themselves on the back because they ‘get it,'" he added of professional critics. Carrick said often these identity casting swaps were needless distractions from the film.
Screenshot from "The Little Mermaid" (2023) from Walt Disney Studios' YouTube Channel. (Walt Disney Studios)
Disney's Little Mermaid reboot, HBO's Velma series and Netflix's "Queen Cleopatra" are all media projects which have faced criticism recently for race- or gender-swapping established characters or figures.
Carrick said he began to realize he wasn't alone in feeling the ratings system was biased when he heard comedian Adam Carolla make a game out of it on his radio show.
"It was absolutely predictable how much the professional critics would bump a particular type of movie or a movie with certain leftist themes or certain intersectional quotas being marked off or how far down they would mark something… like traditional masculinity in a positive light. And that was sort of the ‘aha’ moment for me that I wasn't alone. I wasn't just seeing things," he described.
Carrick says critics sometimes are just "snobby" in rejecting films that audiences liked, too. He cited the success of the recent Super Mario Bros. Movie, which had the largest-ever worldwide opening weekend for an animated movie.
Nintendo fans loved the film and gave it a 95% score, but critics rated it poorly at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Chris Pratt voices Mario, while Anya Taylor-Joy plays the Princess Peach character. (Universal Studios )
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Although "Worth it or Woke" explores political elements in films, the rating system gives equal weight to the film's storyline, cinematography, performance, direction, and "non-wokeness."
Carrick said he evaluates a film on its whole merit, and excludes his commentary on its "wokeness" from the actual review itself, which he sees as a strength for the site.
"I think that's actually a strength of the website versus the aggregate model for Rotten Tomatoes… [where]it doesn't take into account how much each critic likes or dislikes [it]," he said.
Fox News Digital previously reported how woke films with LGBTQ and overtly political themes bombed at the box office last year.
Transformers woke woketranformers In a new episode of 'Transformers: EarthSpark,' one character Sam reveals to a non-binary robot that she goes by she/they. (Fox News)
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Carrick was puzzled as to why Hollywood still decides to alienate its conservative audiences with far-left messages in films. But he noted how some conservative and faith-based media projects have stepped up in quality and are gaining big audiences.
He said he was pleasantly surprised when he watched "The Jesus Revolution," fully expecting the faith-based film would be "awful."
"What a pleasant surprise to see it wasn't," he told Fox News Digital. "Some very touching performances and a strong story."
Kelsey Grammer stars as Pastor Chuck Smith in "Jesus Revolution." (Dan Anderson/Lionsgate)
Angel Studio's "The Sound of Freedom," based on the true story of Tim Ballard, also received high praise from Carrick.
Carrick believes the "key" for films with "traditional conservative viewpoints" to succeed was to not be overly preachy. "You can't beat people over the head with this stuff," he argued.
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