I just read the article in question. (It's here.)

Thing is, I wouldn't really call it a review per se. It's basically someone who doesn't like something that's both popular and acclaimed, trying to justify her dislike. Which only works if you do a much better job marshalling your argument than she does. She comes across pretty petulant and snooty. But it's really more a pop culture opinion essay than a critic's review.

"I don't get it, so there must not be anything to get"

That's really less that critics as a class are contemptable, but that this particular critic is idiotic enough to think that her opinion is more correct than the hundreds of thousands of people who've given their money over and over again and made the trilogy so successful.

Nope-because I'm sure almost all of them have written that sort of review about other films.

Okay, but maybe those films actually warrented such a review? I mean, not all movies are LotR, so some of them actually deserve such a scornful review, in which case those reviewers should be contempted, n'est pas?

I'm sure almost all of them have written that sort of review about other films.

You hold them in contempt because you're sure they've done something you dislike?

It seems a little broad to me, but that's perhaps because I have very little opinion of critics as a class, other than they kinda do the same job. But only kinda, and in different ways.

And for me it's just part of the evaluation process to figure out how closely a given critic's tastes match mine, and therefore how much their opinion should matter to my decision whether or not to watch a given movie.

EE spoilers! Yay!

Eomer weeping at the fields, Eowyn and Faramir, maybe even some Eowyn going "Yeah, I lived, whoopee, so what?" and Aragorn getting angsty.

And the Mouth! I'm hoping for lots of Mippin rage/fear/grief on that one.

Yes, the changes do make it a different movie. If this keeps up, they may have to make an Oscar category for "Best Movie You Didn't Get To See Until The EE."

Okay, but maybe those films actually warrented such a review?

But of course that is subjective. If someone likes something I hate (truly likes it-not just mindlessly takes it in as filler for a couple of hours of their lives) then it has something in it of value for them. The fact that it might have nothing of value for me doesn't change that. And though I will always take my subjective view over that of anyone else, I never lose sight of the fact that that is exactly what it is-MY view. Professional critics, otoh, are paid to forget that. (At least many of them no longer use the imperial "we" that implicitly assumes the reader's agreement.)

But of course that is subjective. If someone likes something I hate then it has something in it of value for them. The fact that it might have nothing of value for me doesn't change that. And though I will always take my subjective view over that of anyone else, I never lose sight of the fact that that is exactly what it is-MY view.

So, you're holding in contempt an entire class of people for doing exactly what you do with every movie you see, just because they get paid to do so, and you do not? (though, as with rottentommatoes, that's actually not necessarily the case, either -- some of those reviews are given freely, and thus no different at all)

Professional critics, otoh, are paid to forget that.

Huh. I always kind of figured they were paid to give film reviews, their attitude when doing so naturally varying from person to person.

But as played in the movies Arwen annoyed me so much it was all I could do to not audibly chant "Dump the elf! Dump the elf!" everytime Aragorn had screen time with Eowyn.

Heh. I feel similarly, except I'd substitute "girl-elf" for "elf" and "Legolas" for "Eowyn".

much like the potentially EE Legolas drinking game

The what now? What is this?

Edit: and ooh! to those ROTK EE spoilers (esp. the Mouth of Sauron bit).

The what now? What is this?

It was a scene that was in one of the documentaries (Beyond the Movie, IIRC) that showed Gimli goading Legolas into a drinking game, and Legolas ... well, speaking more than all his lines in the movie put together. And then starting to drink.

I can't imagine it having a place in what we saw in the theatre, but for my own personal education? I wanna know.

At work they've got these xeroxed pictures of Agent Smith with a empty caption balloon, and people are supposed to fill in the balloon with something witty. If I can find a blank one, I'm writing "I miss the long hair and the pointy ears and the nifty crown."