I don't get why smug is being thrown around. He isn't smug, he's defensive. He reviews these films that he just finds vanilla and then spends 4 minutes talking about what other people perceive of these movies. "I don't like these movies but it seems everyone does" isn't being smug, and it's also a terrible baseline for review. I also really enjoy his yearly lists, which he puts a lot of time into and I feel he's nailed. But these "quickies" he does are just terrible. He's not good at being critical, unless it's for humour.
Smug is having excessive pride in ones own accomplishments. Seeing as how he thinks his opinion of a film is more important than anyone else’s and typically is contrarian from the start I’d say smug is an appropriate way of classifying yms review style.
he thinks his opinion of a film is more important than anyone else’s
I don't see where you're getting this from. He doesn't like broad appeal films because he finds them watered down and boring. Like you said, it's contrarian, but I don't see how it's smug at all. Also, the label can be placed on anyone who reviews films as they think they're opinion is important enough to broadcast. It's just not a productive way at looking at things...
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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '18
I don't get why smug is being thrown around. He isn't smug, he's defensive. He reviews these films that he just finds vanilla and then spends 4 minutes talking about what other people perceive of these movies. "I don't like these movies but it seems everyone does" isn't being smug, and it's also a terrible baseline for review. I also really enjoy his yearly lists, which he puts a lot of time into and I feel he's nailed. But these "quickies" he does are just terrible. He's not good at being critical, unless it's for humour.