I'm going by what I've noticed lately on Rotten Tomatoes, mostly because you can get a broad range of views on a film. Basically, critics lately seem to be out-of-touch with the general concensus, a big recent example being "Bohemian Rhapsody", which many critics felt didn't focus enough on gay rights.

Then again, neither did Freddie. That aside, do you feel that movies fail on a fundamental level just because they're not (and I hesitate to use this phrase) pushing an agenda?

By no means do I consider gay rights to be unimportant. However, a movie not having a strong female lead, not featuring a minority, and/or not focusing on a progressive issue can still tell a story successfully.

As sort of a counter to my own point, I would have loved if Sokka and Katara (in The Last Airbender) were not played by the whitest kids I've never met. However, the true crushing failure of that movie to me felt like the terrible pacing, mediocre acting, sloppy choreography...so many things...and all because there are so many things that make up a complete movie.

Other movies, such as Thor: Ragnarok or any of the first 3 Transformers movies fail (in my opinion) at being immersive, because the characters spend too much time tripping over each other trying to make the audience laugh, almost as if they're supposed to know they're only in a movie.

But Bohemian Rhapsody was very well-recieved...outside of the critic community. Should the takeaway be that we are being pressed to call out every missed opportunity to make a statement about current issues, or rather than the critic community is a poor gauge of how much most people will actually like a movie?