“The Death Of The Culture Of Criticism”

“All in all, it’s been a rotten tomato of a summer for America’s embattled film critics. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ broke box-office records left and right, despite a yowling chorus of negative reviews. M. Night Shyamalan cast Bob Balaban as a persnickety film critic in ‘Lady in the Water,’ then gleefully killed him off, allowing a snarling jackal-like creature to do the dirty deed. … To add insult to injury, studios have released a record number of films this year without any press screenings….” But the demotion of the critic is simply a reflection of the era, Patrick Goldstein writes.