What Happened to Chris Stuckmann?

Simply put hes no longer authentic so I no longer watch.

He’s a film snob, that’s it. And I think his fear of giving criticism is because he can’t handle criticism himself. Refusing to give any form of criticism is a major flaw in whatever he’s decided to make his channel into. Everybody needs some form of criticism, how else are we supposed to grow? And by looking at a movie, and only saying the good parts, and refusing to acknowledge the bad, it almost shows that you don’t care, because you’re refusing to offer any constructive criticism for future endeavors.

I think him becoming an actual filmmaker has created a conflict of interest for Chris as a film critic. Now that he's on the other side of the table I guess he's backtracking on the critiques because he doesn't want to be given a taste of his original medicine?

How is an artist supposed to reach their full potential without criticism... its a vital part of the artistic process.

Chris Stuckmann lost me when he became so sanctimonious that he released a video inferring he's above movie criticism. I get what he's trying to say, but to build your brand on a specific niche for 10 years and then suddenly decide you're above that niche and everyone apart of it is pretentious and irritating. Movie criticism isn't inherently negative, Chris just wants to pat himself on the back. He lectures us quite a bit on filmmakers for a guy who hasn't even released his first film. The worst part about it is I used to consider him one of the more positive film critics on YouTube. Yes he would curse and tear movies apart but it wasn't as negative as YMS, Ralph, and many other movie based Youtubers.

He is scared too death that critics will bash his movie. He has a big ego and can't handle negative feedback. Criticism is important to grow and learn and do better.

Great dissection of Chris, Joe! I honestly think you nailed it. While I do still watch most of his videos these days, it absolutely has not felt the same and I do agree that he has honestly become arrogant. I will obviously appreciate how far he has come in his life because I know it wasn't easy for him. But, I don't think his wording on things lately have been the greatest. I personally do agree with you that BvS rewrite absolutely changed him as a person.

Chris Stuckmann was an excellent film critic because he was knowledgeable about the industry, not as a professional but as a student and enthusiastic beginner uncorrupted by "Hollywood." I really enjoyed his Top 10 Best and Worst Movies of the Year from 2010 until his sad "awakening". I still watch most of his reviews, but as a complement to other reviews.

You know you do bring up a good point on how the BvS rewrite could’ve been the point where he made his turn into what he is now and all the backlash he got for that was awful and despicable, but part of me does miss the old Stuckmann. I still watch his videos, he’s really like only one of the big YouTubers from back in the day that I still watch, though every now and then I go onto Kristian Harloff’s channel for one of his podcast episodes. But nowadays whenever he post a video, while I respect him wanting to show more love to great films, it does get predictable on what he thought of the movie to where I don’t automatically click on his video right away. Plus there’s a lot other reviewers I follow, you mentioned some of them but also Double Toasted, Geekly Goods, Reel Rejects, etc. As far as the Madame Web video, I do think the backlash was a bit harsh and I don’t necessarily think he’s saying, “Give the filmmakers and writers a pass.” but it’s not always the studio’s fault, it’s the director and writer’s job to execute the product as good as they can. And yeah I think Stuckmann should learn there’s ways to be critical while also trying to be personal and a complete dick, especially if you want everyone involved in the production to do better next time. But that’s my stance, I still like the guy, but sometimes he needs work on what he has to say.

So with this vid, you kind of missed the nuance of what Chris was saying. You can either be an artist or critic, not both. Why would someone want to work with someone else who trashed their work? Its not about getting better, criticism is subjective. Why should they listen to chris stuckman?

Maybe he's finding it really hard to make a film and is terrified of getting dragged the way he dragged other filmmakers. I think his film is crowd-funded, too, so he can't really just back out of it. I genuinely want his film to be good and don't have any ill will towards the guy, but it seems to me that this might be what is going on.

Sigh. Somehow I knew exactly how this would go as soon as I saw Chris's video. It's somewhat admirable but I don't come to a movie youtuber for that kind of content and I know that's just me. I liked Chris's video about movies his opinion changed on; I've tried to be better about movies like that various Star Wars movies,X-3, Spiderman 3,Titanic and others. It's wild how this changed with your clips over the years. Love that your in the Austin Burke/Sean Chandler/Zack Pope side of YT now; they're a good group of guys. It's sad this is more interesting than anything about Madam Web.

I'm a few months late, but you really nailed my feelings about Chris. You earned a new sub. This is gonna be a little long I was a huge fan of his. Started watching him in 2015. Chris was unique in that his childhood was very similar to mine. He was definitely someone I probably would have been friends with in middle and high school and we are the same age Chris to me was the staple I would always run to whenever a new movie I was excited about dropped. I would watch him and then Jeremy Jahns. I trusted Chris to give honest , unbiased reviews to movies. If Chris liked a movie there was a 99% chance I liked it too. That was all before 2020ish. As soon as Chris got serious about being a big movie director.... And also completely breaking away from his family I guess ? I tried to stay with him but I just couldn't... On top of him completely abandoning criticism, I noticed he was giving positive reviews to movies and shows that 2015, or 2017 Chris would never have given positive reviews to (for good reason , poorly made movies and shows). His audience also changed, now I know there is such a thing as toxic positivity... I unsubscribed... Occasionally I will try to watch him again, but he isn't the same. One last thing, I think it's important to know, you don't need to be a professional film maker to be a critic, just like you don't need to be a professional chef to know if a dish tastes good. Critics are important to the movie industry. Film makers, studios and producers take notice of the things critics and the audience likes and dislikes.

Personally I feel like this video is creating totally unnecessary and unwarranted drama. I don't agree with Joe here. I just don't see these things.

Very simply put you can't be both a film maker an a film critic.

I mean... What I'm understanding is Sony hired an unexperienced director and a writer who wrote awful movies. So they hired a cheap director and writer. Meaning that yes, it's the studio's fault. Yes, sometimes studio interference is a good thing, but Sony is just crapping out this movies with no care just to keep the rights. The only one of those movies I've even kind of liked was the first Venom. Each one has gotten worse. Because Sony doesn't care about quality.

I think this is a great analysis. I also understand where Chris is coming from with this, we've all encountered the toxicity of online discourse, and crazy people who'll take a beef too far. However I also increasingly watch a lot of the 'people who are negative about everything', and I understand why are lot of those people are angry. I note very few of them are negative about the dune movie out right now, so they aren't really negative about everything. And that points to a dividing line here. When the angry people say "oh, this movie's actually good", that's when I sit up and take notice, that's useful information, because they've been broken out of their usual state. On the other hand, with Chris self-censoring like this, even for the best reasons, devalues him as a source of information: I can't trust that what he's saying is what he really feels. But at least, thanks to this video, I have a better understanding why he's taken the stance he has.

Its definitely since he started making his own movie. Suddenly "Movie makers and every one, cast crew, all of them, they must not be criticised, I should know, I make movies now". But........even film makers criticise other film makers. Its just............talking about things like that is part of being human and without criticism things will never improve.

This makes me NOT want to be a YouTuber. I'd hate to have people hunt down my family cause I didn't like a movie.

Just tell me, please, where Chris Stuckmann buys his tees?