“The Chicago Tribune says it’s the most original film of the year!”
No it doesn’t. Michael Phillips does. A single person who happened to get a job or an assignment from the paper does. The blurbs are intended to lend credibility to the review. But we can’t just take them at face value.
Especially these days, when freelancing is more common than a bi-weekly paycheck, and writers will take a job with anyone willing to give them one, hopping around publications as their particular skills are solicited.
The sub-blurbs tell the real story. Michael Phillips might have a stake in the production company, hiding that fact from his employer. A newspaper doesn’t have time to check on the interests that might be conflicting in their writers. It barely has time to check sources on articles its writers are writing. Print ain’t dead, but editorial is.
Michael Phillips might have even left out an all-important comma from his resume, and really he got his chops honed as Tom’s Guide senior editor Philip Michaels. So who is it that contends the film’s originality is unmatched in the 2018th year of our lord? Tom? The Tribune? Michael? Philip? Michael Phelps?
There’s no way to know, and there never will be again. So instead of getting your recommendations from this clown, get them from meeeeee.