…on dissenting reviews of critically acclaimed movies (and in particular, Inception)
Aggregations of reviews (and the resulting “scores” at a place like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic) are useful as rough approximations of critical reception, but not only is there no reason to prize perfect scores, there is every reason to be suspicious of them. There is every reason to believe that a robust and thoughtful critical response overall will necessarily include those for whom something didn’t work as intended.
You’d think this would go without saying, but obviously for some fans, criticism is a way of thoughtlessly keeping score, not a springboard for thoughtful discussion.
I think when you have people like Armond White being contrary just to do it, it does make people a little hesitant to accept bad (or glowing) reviews that are outside the trend.
Trolls are one thing, but I still don’t understand why so many people take to heart a difference of opinion on a movie as personal criticism. I just don’t get why people seem to go from “oh, that person doesn’t like something that I do like” to “they must think I’m stupid and terrible” and then on to “they are assholes!”
I mean really, aren’t there enough legitimate reasons in the world to feel outraged without getting worked up about what someone you don’t know thinks about something that doesn’t intrinsically have anything do do with you?