http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/20/features/scott.php
Reasons to love A.O. Scott, part umpity-billion:
Way back in the early days of the Hollywood summer – the third week in May, to be precise – America’s finest critics trooped into screening rooms in Cannes, Los Angeles, New York and points between, saw Ron Howard’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s best seller, and emerged in a fit of collective grouchiness. The movie promptly pocketed some of the biggest opening weekend grosses in the history of its studio, Sony.
For the second time this summer, then, my colleagues and I must face a frequently – and not always politely – asked question: What is wrong with you people?
I’m considered by many (OK, most) of my coworkers as a movie snob. (Also a TV snob and a book snob, but those are other blog entries…) They can call me what they will – I can’t understand the low standards most people apply to their entertainment material, or how they can tolerate the witless and bloated films that generally make up the weekly Top 10. I’ll make exceptions for films like Superman Returns, whose appeal to my nostalgia supersedes its terrible acting and script, but normally I like my mindless fluff with a dash of innovation or intelligence, and I have great respect for movies that inspire me to closely follow the plot or character arcs. So, after being told by two people that Pirates of the Caribbean 2 “wasn’t that bad,” I’m forced to parrot A.O.:
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you people?