rottentomatoes.com
Today, movie and television series critiques are being conducted by the general public. This shift is due to the fact that crowdsourcing has become the norm in many industries.
Ever since Wikipedia burst onto the scene in 2001, the trend of top-down information sharing has slowly been decreasing. By introducing the world to the first-ever encyclopedia created, updated, and monitored entirely by citizen volunteers, this shift has forever changed how we have shared and maintained information.
This model of a more peer-reviewed system of sharing information has bled into almost every major industry - from restaurant reviews (thanks to Yelp) to more citizen-based forms of journalism (a la Twitter). Movie and television reviews, too, have been revolutionized thanks to this breakthrough. Whereas authorities on the subject, such as Roger and Ebert used to dominate film critiques, today that duty now falls on regular moviegoers and TV consumers.
Many people have different opinions about whether or not this new way of reviewing film and television has been more or less accurate. Some say that it has created a more accurate system where the opinions of the masses are taken into account, while others claim that it has resulted in weaker criticism and a lower level of sophistication.
No matter which side of the debate you fall on, there is no denying that sites like Rotten Tomatoes, Meta Critic, and IMDB have completely had an impact on how we think about film and TV critiques. To the point where the authority on movies and series almost entirely depends on a project's Rotten Tomatoes rating, rather than that of a single critic. Expert opinions in this regard have become all but obsolete - more like icing on the cake than actual information.
History
Rotten Tomatoes is a website that aggregates film and television reviews. It was founded by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkley in 1998. The site's name comes from the historical practice of audience members throwing tomatoes at stage performers to indicate their dissatisfaction.
In 1998, UCLA student Senh Duong started working on a project called Rotten Tomatoes. The site was originally just for reviews of Jackie Chan's first Hollywood film, Rush Hour. Duong's motivation for creating the site was to make an aggregated review site for all US reviews of Rush Hour, which was set to release in August of 1998.
Duong coded the site in only two weeks and had it up and running in time for the release (which was delayed). This bought Duong some time to begin including non-Jackie Chan films to the Rotten Tomatoes review database. And just like that, the site was an immediate success. In the first week upon launch, Rotten Tomatoes was receiving between 600 and 1,000 unique daily visitors.
In June of 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired Rotten Tomatoes. In 2005, Fox acquired IGN, which, in turn, eventually sold the site to Flixster in 2010. One year later, in 2011, Warner Brothers acquired Rotten Tomatoes and held onto it until 2016, when Comcast's Fandango imprint finally purchased it. In that time, Warner Brothers had a minority share in Rotten Tomatoes.
Design
Rotten Tomatoes announced a rebrand in March of 2018 at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. This was the first time in the company's 19 years that they would issue new logos, icons, and web design. The rebrand, overall, took on a much more approachable and mass market-friendly look. It still retained the colorful and somewhat Nickelodeon-Esque tomato splatters and loud font choices; however, it was just toned down a bit, taking on a more professional look and feel.
The website itself is well designed. It is very organized and easy to use, with all sections of the site clearly laid out and easy to navigate. There is a multifold banner at the top of the page that helps visitors easily browse trending and featured articles and listicles. Below this is a comprehensive collection of announcements and stats that help you stay abreast of what?s happening in film and television. Quickly check-in on movies that are opening this week, the top box office hits, what?s coming soon to theaters, what?s new on TV tonight, the most popular shows on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, and the top DVD and streaming movies right now.
The site's "Certified Fresh Picks: new movies and shows with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 75% and above" is located below that. Then, you'll find the site's "Hollywood news by browsing the Videos and Trailers section, News and Features, or Top Headlines."
Content
Basically, Rotten Tomatoes aggregates reviews from critics to give an overall score. Critics rate the movies and TV shows they've seen, which makes the score reliable.
Rotten Tomatoes offers a variety of supplementary reading material, including listicles and think pieces, which gives the site a more professional journalistic feel. In addition, their news section is one of the largest and most up to date around.
This is one of my favorite sites on Rotten Tomatoes. I think it?s really underrated and has some great pieces on current media as well as retrospective pieces. If you like reading thoughtful and well-researched pieces, I would definitely recommend adding Rotten Tomatoes to your reading list. And don't forget: you can always look up tickets and showtimes on Rotten Tomatoes too!
Desktop and Mobile Experience
As I mentioned, the desktop experience of Rotten Tomatoes is nearly perfect. This is one of those websites that has managed to pack a ton of information into an easy to navigate, clean, and highly organized format. Plus, the site menu bar offers large and streamlined dropdown menus that don't impeded the user experience whatsoever.
My only issue thus far with Rotten Tomatoes is that they do not have an app. Unfortunately, I can't speak too much to the mobile experience as there is no mobile experience to speak of. That being said, the site runs just fine on mobile browsers- it is equally optimized for smartphone web browsers, it seems, with no notable glitches or intrusive ads, the likes of which you might find on other mobile sites.
Pricing and Plans
I'm happy to report that Rotten Tomatoes is 100% free to use. This isn't a freemium service - they simply don't charge for members (or guests) to do anything on the site. So rejoice!
Suggestions that I Have
I think it would be a good idea for Rotten Tomatoes to develop an app. It would make the user experience even more convenient by providing an even more convenient way to personalize content, receive updates, and enjoy all that this movie and TV review service have to offer.
Conclusion
Overall, when it comes to the most convenient way to get an accurate glimpse of movie and television reviews and ratings, Rotten Tomatoes is the way to go. Plus, if you want to stay up-to-date on all that is happening and new in the world of film and TV, you likely will not need any other site in your bookmarks. Here's to hoping that they add an app to their repertoire soon!
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