Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

One reason that I've backed out of regular newsposting at Classic-Horror is that there's so much crap involved in it. Cinema Blend reports that Michael Rosenbaum had lunch with Michael Bay and may therefore be taking the part of Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Bloody-Disgusting posts that this is a rumor based an unsubstantiated lunch. Then B-D adds to the poop pool when they repost an image of a lycanthropic David Duchovny, reportedly a test makeup from the new X-Files movie... but wait! Somebody points out in the comments that it's freakin' Photoshopped from a promo image for Californication.

News reporting people! Have some freakin' integrity. Even if you can't report your sources, verify the information for the love of whatever.

Geez.

It is not the film critic's job to in-touch with his or her readership. It is the film critic's job to provide a well-reasoned opinion and then to communicate that opinion clearly and concisely, such that there any person reading the review can come away understanding why the critic feels the way he or she does, with agreement entirely optional.

In the very best criticism, the person who has not seen the film will have points of interest (either in the film's favor or not) for which they can look, and the person who has seen the film comes away with something more to think about.

Indeed, the best match between critic and reader should be when the critic holds one opinion, the reader holds another, and the reader can still come away from the review feeling like they've taken part in a conversation or debate about the film, without anger or reproach.