A film buff has launched a new movie review website to combat left-wing filmmakers and has already given Disney’s remake of The Little Mermaid a thumbs down.
James Carrick – who describes himself as a ‘passionate film enthusiast with [a] degree in theater and philosophy’ – launched Worth it or Woke as a conservative response to films produced by studios who appear to push for greater racial and gender diversity in their movies.
It comes after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences introduced rules which require greater diversity both on-screen and in-production to be eligible for best picture at the Oscars.
One such film, says Carrick, is Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid – a 1989 Disney classic – which he gave a rating of 37 out of 100.
The review of the film on his site reads: ‘From the creative vacuum that is modern Disney, the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid sacrifices all of the charm and fun of the original in the name of personal politics and photo-realistic fish.
The homepage of James Carrick’s conservative review website, Worth It Or Woke
The Little Mermaid is a live-action remake of a classic Disney movie of the same name
‘It boasts wooden and flat performances, glacial pacing, forced and unnatural dialogue, and questionable CGI.’
In the about page, the site promises ‘real movie and show reviews for real people who live in the real world’.
‘Don’t rely on the woke mob to help you find what to watch.’
Speaking to Rolling Stone, he said that he judges a film based on whether its ‘woke quotient (woketient) is distractingly high, tolerable, or not there at all’ with each movie receiving a ‘woke’, ‘woke-ish’ or ‘non-woke’ rating alongside a numbered score.
Receiving a similarly scathing review with a slightly higher score of 47, was Peter Pan & Wendy, which starred the black actress Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell and introduced females as part of the Lost Boys group.
Films which successfully escaped his ire include Big George Foreman, a biopic about the former heavyweight boxing champion, which received a ‘non-woke’ rating and a 92 score.
He told the entertainment publication that his website was going through ‘rapid growth’ as conservative film-lovers weren’t being helped by review sites such as Rotten Tomatoes which fail to filter any bias.
‘The disparity between critic and audience scores, as well as relentless accusations of bias by conservative readers, highlights the flaws in the [Rotten Tomatoes] system,’ Carrick said.
‘Mirroring the ‘wokeism’ that increasingly permeates the work of film-makers, many critics artificially reward activism over quality.
‘Consider that films will no longer be eligible for Academy Awards if they fail to meet race, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation quotas.’
Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss slammed the Oscars’ new diversity and inclusion requirements earlier this month and said ‘they make me vomit’.
The Academy of Motion Picture will disqualify films from Best Picture contention that do not have enough black, gay and disabled actors in the cast and crew from 2024.
But Jaws star Dreyfuss, 75, hit out at the woke rules during an episode of PBS’ Firing Line, which aired on Friday, and claimed the Academy was treating people like children by implementing the new criteria.
The actor also defended Laurence Olivier’s performance in the 1965 film Othello in which he played the lead character in blackface.
Host Margaret Hoover asked Dreyfuss what he thought about the incoming inclusivity rules and he replied: ‘They make me vomit.
‘No one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is. What are we risking? Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings?
‘You can’t legislate that. You have to let life be life and I’m sorry, I don’t think there is a minority or majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.
Dreyfuss, who won the best actor Oscar in 1978 for his leading role for The Goodbye Girl, added: ‘This is an art form. It’s also a form of commerce, and it makes money, but it’s an art.
‘And no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is.’
He then went on to defend English actor Olivier who wore blackface to portray Othello in the 1965 Shakespeare adaption.
‘Laurence Olivier was the last white actor to play Othello, and he did it in 1965,’ Dreyfuss said.
‘And he did it in blackface. And he played a black man brilliantly.
‘Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play The Merchant of Venice?
‘Are we crazy? Do we not know that art is art? This is so patronizing. It’s so, it’s so thoughtless, and treating people like children.’
Hoover asked him if ‘there’s a difference between the question of representation and who is allowed to represent other groups?’
She highlighted the case of blackface and said: ‘explicitly in this country, given the history of slavery and the sensitivities around black racism.’
But Dreyfuss responded: ‘There shouldn’t be. … Because it’s patronizing. Because it says we’re so fragile that we can’t have our feelings hurt.
‘We have to anticipate having our feelings hurt, our children’s feelings hurt. We don’t know how to stand up and bop the bully in the face.’
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