Great article. I love the give-and-take between two film critics who are trying to stay true to themselves while considering movie-goers expectations and desires respectfully.
For years I've been arguing with people who say "I didn't really like 'Jurassic Park'; the story was too incredible" or "Independence Day" was just so over-the-top unbelievable and, oh, by the way, all the computer virus references in the movie are totally wrong!"
I always had the same response: "What do you expect from a movie about "ALIENS attacking the Earth?' It's just a big comic-book up on the screen."
For too long I've run into people and read reviews that take great pride in their ability to trash a movie based on their own subjective expectations by pointing out the plot in "X-files" is not believable Oh, really? Wow, you're so deep. While I do expect a film review to be objective and subjective at the same time (I can dream, can't I?) I also think that look for deep subtext in the Simpsons or Iron Man 3 is missing the point.
It's a big giant comic book up there on the screen. You either like comic book stories or you don't.
Just like you either like historical fantasy pieces like Game of Thrones or you don't. Don't waste my time quibbling about how something isn't "real enough".
