History Main / ReviewerStockPhrases

* If it resembles a better-known work in the same genre, you might see "invites comparison to..." This can [[ComplimentBackfire backfire]]. ("Invites comparison to ''LordOfTheRings''. ''Lord Of The Rings'' was great. This is crap.")

* Popular science books will often feature quotes comparing the book to the work of famous science writers in that field, whether or not the structure of the book’s structure and/or the author’s style really resembles their famous colleague’s—- books about space are “in the tradition of CarlSagan”, for oceanography, JacquesCousteau, Jane Goodall for wildlife biology, and so forth.

* Film reviews of blockbusters often feature "This Year's X": "''Film/StarTrek'' is this year's ''Film/IronMan''", for example. "The Next X" is similiar, also for people who can't comprehend that something can stand on its own without being compared to something else.

* Games Radar has a [[http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-100-lamest-game-industry-clichs/a-20080722111130434045 database]] of Reviewer stock phrases, with ''100'' entries.

** Historians/biographers, and even the man himself, have noticed that starting with 1993's ''Black Tie White Noise'', his first solo album of TheNineties, critics '''love''' to use some variant on the praise "his best album since ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''" when reviewing his work. That 1980 [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] album was followed by the mainstream mega-seller ''Let's Dance'' and then the [[Main/DorkAge dork ages]] of his mid-'80s output and the group Tin Machine, so it was regarded as "his last great album" for many years.
** '''Every''' article or review about David Bowie '''will''' use the word "chameleon" in one of the very first sentences.

* Bill Anschell's humor piece "[[http://www.billanschell.com/jazzcritic.html How to Be a Jazz Critic]]" is structured as a list of stock phrases and snowclones, with the variable words multiple-choiced or omitted.

* Something alone the lines of "I don't normally read stuff like this" is suspicious and a blatant attempt at appealing to fans outside of the book's genre. Whatever it is?

* [[http://blogcritics.org/top-20-most-annoying-book-reviewer/ The top 20 most annoying book reviewer cliches and how to use them all in one meaningless review]]

* If a CutAndPasteTranslation has a bad dub or {{Bowdlerize}}s content to be shown on kid's television, "like {{Creator/4Kids|Entertainment}}" is the go-to insult for the studio that translated it.

* "Cute Girls Doing [x]" is used for {{Iyashikei}} series or just about anything featuring a mostly-female or {{improbably female|Cast}} cast.

** The phrase has a nastier inverse; LighterAndSofter works of any kind ({{Reconstruction}}s, parodies, more idealistic) are said to be lone idealistic beacons "in a post-[Relevant Dark Work in their Genre] world".

* If a WidgetSeries isn't being called "aggressively Japanese", it's "too anime" (as if either were Widgets by nature).

* This is, perhaps, the oldest stock phrase in the book: "Fans of X will love Y. Everybody else...." It's been a staple of game reviews ever since their inception and, to this day, is frequently seen in reviews (mostly for SoOkayItsAverage [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]]). IGN, as far back as 2000, ridiculed this cliche in [[http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/03/28/pd-ultraman-battle-collection-64-import their review]] for a horrible Japan-only Nintendo 64 game based on the ''Series/Ultraman'' universe.

* This is, perhaps, the oldest stock phrase in the book: "Fans of X will love Y. Everybody else...." It's been a staple of game reviews ever since their inception and, to this day, is frequently seen in reviews (mostly for SoOkayItsAverage [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]]). IGN, as far back as 2000, ridiculed this cliche in [[ http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/03/28/pd-ultraman-battle-collection-64-import their review]] for a horrible Japan-only Nintendo 64 game based on the ''Series/Ultraman'' universe.

* This is, perhaps, the oldest stock phrase in the book: "Fans of X will love Y. Everybody else...." It's been a staple of game reviews ever since their inception and, to this day, is frequently seen in reviews (mostly for SoOkayItsAverage [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames licensed games]]). IGN, as far back as 2000, ridiculed this cliche in their review for a horrible Japan-only Nintendo 64 game based on the Ultraman universe: http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/03/28/pd-ultraman-battle-collection-64-import

** If the game is lower octane with a focus on campaign, then expect comparisons to Half-Life 2. This is often a compliment.

* You can tell how much a reviewer likes a game with elements from an earlier, more famous game by vocabulary alone: they'll use "loving sendup/homage" if they liked it, "clone" if neutral or belligerent, or "ripoff" if they ''really'' hated it.

* "Quirky RPG" is a phrase often found in the company of ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' inspired games.

* "Quirky RPG" is a phrase often found in the company of VideoGame/{{Mother}} inspired games.

* "Pedestrian" sees a lot of use among the more pretentious media critics.

** As a book aggregate site, plays this trope straight in its user reviews, except it adopts an entirely different and unique set of cliches due to its web-based format and Millennial-dominated userbase. These show up most often in the negative reviews, and/or reviews for YoungAdult (YA) books. The most [[{{egregious}} egre]][[HypocriticalHumor gious]]? ''"I wanted to like this book. '''[[BlatantLies I really did!]]'''"''

* On ThisVeryWiki, it used to be common to find examples that are the "poster child" or "patron saint" of the trope in question.

** Similarly, "X! Just X!' or "X, full stop." It's gotten so bad that these are considered ZeroContextExamples, and one is encouraged to replace them with something informative.