Any movie above 60% on Rotten Tomatoes is fresh, so Clones made it with only 7% to spare. That said, both 67% and 87% would be passing grades on an exam, but I'd take the 87%. (By the way, "Days of Thunder" was 39% on RT.)
You're falling victim to it too by bringing DAYS OF THUNDER now. What was the point of that? To prove that critics like STID more? I know that Tony Scott flick is a terrible movie, I watch it because it's unintentionally hilariously bad (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMhmoyKdziU ). Same with TOP GUN, especially. Heck, I think 67% is
extremely generous for CLONES.
It's no big deal if someone didn't like STID. Really. Though I guess they would think the discussion would be far more interesting if RT and the box office and other positive things that show the movie was popular weren't brought up, because they remind those who didn't like it (not that there's anything wrong with that) that they are in a minority. A rather small one, too (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I don't think there needs to be any reminding that it's popular and those who are critical of it are in the minority.
Everyone is well aware of that (well, almost)
. What makes it annoying is that it shifts the discussion away from the film and onto the "people like it" topic. It's what BigJake calls a diversion. It feels like a cheat. How much more interesting would a discussion of the film be if you were to just talk about the film itself and its own merits without factoring how popular it is? If you want to talk about it's popularity, I'm sure there's a thread about it. Like... This one! Strange as that sounds. But I'm sure there are plenty of ways to talk about what makes it good or bad and how both can be perfectly valid.
My point is that often when someone brings up tomatometer or box office in almost
any thread here, it's usually done as a way of ending the discussion over something like whether the script is actually any good or not, or at least comes off as such (especially with a smarmy smilie face just to rub it in). Is it totally off base to say that a film can have a bad script actually come out good in spite of that said script? Orci and Kurtzman's other films get heavily criticized and of all the films only the three films (that were directed by Abrams) have a "fresh" rating. What is it that makes these three films stand out from all the other ones they're credited to? I always point to Abrams and the cast. The high marks I will give the films is that Abrams brings energy into his flicks (contrasting the utter bore that is NEMESIS) and that he brings a cast together that has great chemistry. I can believe that people enjoy these films mainly because of those aspects and I can't blame them. I like them too, I just think the scripts are very underwhelming, but not everybody is critical over things like insane plot contrivances, because in the end they're swept by Abrams' direction and the camaraderie of the cast.
Or you could just dismiss my entire post with snark, smilie faces, box office results and tomatometers. Do it. DO IT!