When are people going to learn that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion? If we all thought the same, and crushed on the same things, the world would be about as boring as well that-flick-where-a-chick-plays-Dylan (my opinion! Just my opinion!).

When Tosia released her ‘’X-Files : I want to Believe” review earlier in the week (which she absolutely loved) it spurred a mass of mixed responses – as predicted – some couldn’t believe she raved so much about it, others loved that she did.

There was no way she wasn’t going to get emails about it – not for a review of an ”X-Files” film (One X-Phile threatened to burn down my house after I leaked some documents from the movie this year). If Tosia had hated the film, she would’ve been crucified by the X-Philes (or ‘Shippers’ as they call themselves). In this case, she mainly received feedback from fans of “The Dark Knight” who told her that she couldn’t like ‘’X-Files” better than the Batman sequel (we will get to that in a minute). Now just because the film – which many of them wouldn’t have even seen yet, since it hasn’t been released – would be about as painful for them as catching your dick in the car door, doesn’t mean Tosia felt that way about it.

Though most reviews of the film seem to be weighing on the negative, Tosia genuinely loved the film. Yes, she’s a fan, but that shouldn’t matter – if she legitimately loved the film, and swears it’s the most fun she’s had at the cinema all year, why shouldn’t she say that? Does she have to change her opinion simply because most of the other reviews are negative? No. She shouldn’t have to. It’s her opinion. And I told her not to change a word in her review (she considered it) just because she feared some might ridicule her. What she mostly got was “Best film of the year!? No way! Did you see The Dark Knight?!”. Yes she did see ‘’The Dark Knight”. And I can tell you – she was sitting next to me at the screening – that she didn’t enjoy it that much. Yes, she thought Heath Ledger was great, and appreciated the visuals, but she wasn’t crazy about the movie. And she’s totally within her right to feel that way. We can’t force people to love “The Dark Knight” if they don’t.

So when people tell Tosia that she can’t have enjoyed ‘’X-Files” more than ‘’Dark Knight” – it makes me sick. Why the fuck can’t she have enjoyed the former more than the latter? She should be welcome to. And of course she could’ve enjoyed it more. It was more to her liking. For her, ‘’The X-Files” was great fun.

Is Tosia allowed to like the new “X-Files” movie more than the film most of us – including me – consider the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight”? Fucking oaf she is! She can like what she wants.. she can love what she wants. If she walked out of that screening with a smile as wide as Britney’s love canal then why should she write the opposite in her review?

The funniest comment she got was : “Anyone who credits Amanda Peet with a strong performance MUST be a plant“.

What the fuck!? That was the best they could come up with!? What the hell is wrong with Amanda Peet!? Obviously this person was busy scratching something when the ‘brilliant’ “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” was on because they wouldn’t doubt Peet’s talents at all had they seen her in that. She rocked that show. And she’s rocked just as many other shows… movies. Peet – in my opinion – is great. Of course she can give a strong performance! But you go ahead and rewind that Miley Cyrus video my friend – convinced that that’s the real talent of today.

Same goes for Latauro’s review of the film at Aint it Cool News. He’s being flamed in the talkback area of the website for not liking the film. Fuck off and leave the guy alone! Again, he doesn’t have to like it. It’s his opinion – one he’s entitled to. In his review, Latauro also mentions he likes “Star Trek : insurrection” – widely considered one of the worst “Trek” movies – and you know what? He’s fuckin allowed to! I like shit movies too – and nobody’s going to deter me from enjoying them by telling me that one of those personal faves is “a poor film, you shouldn’t enjoy it”.

And yet people feel they’ve the right to say nasty-ass things to the guy (in the talkback) like “Morons like this guy shouldn’t be allowed to write for this site. It really makes you guys look dumb” and ‘’Laturo proves himself to be a sub-hercules type moron. Then again, for one of the worst, and most self serving wannabe writers on the site, that’s hardly news, now is it?” and “…that’s so retarded he thinks throwing out crazy batshit notions like “X-Files is camp” and “ST – Insurrection is the most successful Trek movie” are genius just because HE said it. I really don’t like this guy, and that’s saying a lot considering the site he “writes” for.”

Show the man some respect. He’s merely sharing his opinion. I don’t even know the guy and yet I can tell you right now that I’ll gladly help him club any of you trigger-happy emo freaks. Why? because we’ve all been at the pointy end of their toy lightsaber at one time or another – and don’t deserve to be there.

We all see different things in movies. We can’t all like the same thing.

Tosia and Latauro are honest reviewers. They say it as they see it. I say power to them. You want to read their opinion? Read it – just don’t try and change it.

As efilmcritic.com writer Rob Gonsalves states in a recent article, it’s Open Season on Critics at the moment.

‘’Are we all supposed to agree on what the fanboys want us to agree on? There’s no respect whatsoever for an honest dissenting view”, Gonsalves writes.

Gonsalves says reviewer David Denby has been attacked by many a Batman fan after not turning in a glowing review of “The Dark Knight”.

He, like we all have at one time or another, received a mass amount of ‘hate mail’ from folks telling me he, in a number of words, “wasn’t allowed to dislike that movie”.

‘’This isn’t genuine intellectual give-and-take discussing a critic’s take on a film; this is bullying, and since these are fanboys, it’s probably a case of the once-bullied turning into bullies. They can sit there anonymously, without fear of reprisal or getting their asses kicked, and make comments like “Douchebag! I’m gonna friggin kill you!” They make fun of a critic’s appearance, as if these fanboys were golden gods themselves; they make many, many homophobic remarks involving what a critic receives into various orifices, and if the critic is a woman, the comments get astronomically rancid”, Gonsalves observes.

Those fanboys really do need some white pills. I can tell you that if I wrote, say, a negative review of Van Damme’s latest movie today – I’d receive ten death threats by the end of the day. You can triple the amount I’d get if I wrote the same negative verdict about a Batman… or ‘’X-Files” movie.

We have all liked a film, at one stage or another, that most of the general public hasn’t. Heck, I still say “Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me” is the bomb! (Visually, I think the thing is a beast and a half; and Sheryl Lee’s performance is freakin’ amazing) but look up what kind of reception that got on Rotten Tomatoes! The critics shat all over it. I can understand why – the story was all over-the-place, the tone was way too dark, and the structure was fucked – but at the same time, I had a great time with the film. I love David Lynch films, so I probably would’ve enjoyed it to some extent anyway, but despite it’s injustices, I had a great time with it. Why say I didn’t? Just to please ‘Tim Cool’ reading the review on his laptop between uni classes? Fuck no! I’m saying it like it is. I like it. Flame me. Burn me. Bump me. Hold me. Thrill me. Kiss me. Kill me.

Earlier this year, I also gave the thumbs up to the superhero flick “The Incredible Hulk” – and yet, I was probably the only one. The movie didn’t go down well with many critics or reviewers at all, and yet, I had a great time with the movie. It was the most fun I’d had at the cinema in months. A good, fun, superhero movie… but more so, exactly what I thought a “Hulk” movie should be. I thought it deserved my four stars – you mightn’t have.

Weeksy has copped it a couple of times, too. I remember getting mail from readers after our Adelaide-based reviewer published his review of “X-Men : The Last Stand” – oh boy, did I ever! – they were ready to skin him alive and feed him to Val Kilmer’s barracuda (insert “Wonderland” joke here) after saying the movie was just as good, if not better, than the original films. I don’t agree, not all, and obviously neither do you, but the man is entitled to his opinion. Weeksy was honest – I know for a fact that he wasn’t being paid by FOX to say it was good – when he said he loved the movie. We can laugh all we want, but at the end of the day, it’s not going to change his opinion. And I respect him for that. He obviously saw something in the movie that was to his liking, when we didn’t, and that’s just fine.

Same with “Hancock”, Will Smith’s latest, which critics loathed. Weeksy loved it. And again, good on him for being honest.

He also loved… and so did I for that matter… “Superman Returns”. Weeksy wasn’t even a Superman fan – I remember he was looking forward to the movie about as much as his first spider vein. That’s how I know his glowing review was legitimate – the fact that it near pained him to admit how good he thought it was! Me too, I loved it. It was everything I wanted a “Superman” film to be.

Though I didn’t agree with either Adam on “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” – I thought it blew – I didn’t ridicule them when they said they loved it either. They’re allowed to love it. We were obviously after different things from the film – They got it, I didn’t.

I saw “Hellboy II : The Golden Army” a couple of days ago – which Frazier gave 4.5 stars to. Did I think it was that great? Fuck no, but I’m not going to shoot off an email to the guy claiming he was wrong… because he wasn’t. He genuinely enjoyed the piss out of the movie. I thought it was merely OK (Having Guillermo del Toro helm another ‘’Hellboy’’ movie is like getting Picasso to paint your house – he’ll do a great job, that’s a givin, but you’re wasting their time… and talent. Not to say del Toro’s effects-heavy ‘’Hellboy’’ sequel is a bad film, it’s not – it’s actually a fun film with lots of action, terrific characters, and wonderful creatures – but it’s a well-worn road that the Spanish filmmaker has travelled down already. There really was no need for him to take this route again – especially after the Oscar Winning masterpiece ‘’Pan’s Labyrinth’’. In the filmmaking game, you’ve got to step forward… not back. With ‘’Hellboy II : The Golden Army”, de Toro doesn’t so much improve on the first film as he does make a nice colour copy of it. Nothing has really been improved upon (the only real difference between the two films is that this one skip over the Who is he? What is he? How he did he become to work for the government? stuff) – if anything, the two films are near indistinguishable, no better or worse than one another. And considering that first film was merely a fun but forgettable diversion, it seems like an uneconomical exercise.)

Bottom line : We all like different shit. And some of your fanboys have to realize that. I know you’ll probably all still threaten to burn down my home (true story!) if I say something negative about a Van Damme movie, or you’ll complain in the Aint it Cool talkbacks if they rave about something you hate, but sooner or later, I hope some of you find some time to have a think about some of the films that you’ve loved over the years – it’s then that you’ll realize that you’ve enjoyed some shit that nobody else has. The difference between you and the reviewer though is that we’ll admit that… we have to admit that. You can keep your love of “The Waterhorse” a deep dark secret.

Mailbag

Hey Clint, Mailbag Question. If X Files 2 is a hit, do you think it will pave the way for a new X Files tv series? X Files has an international following like Star Trek. I’m surprised they haven’t tried to launch a 2nd tv series based on the concept. Any speculation? – Chris Lindsay
You know what? I was thinking the same thing myself the other day – I wonder whether they’ll do an X-Files TV series. They might even do it even if the film doesn’t hit big (and I have to be honest, I don’t think it will do huge biz). With a new 90210 soon hitting the airwaves, anything is possible.

I love your site !!! I have been visiting it for years and look for more years to come. I have one question. Is there any news about a possible Charlies Angels 3 ? – Ken
Fuck, I hope not – but thanks for the kind words, Ken!

For the mailbag, if you still do it ?1 – Any news on the karate kid remake ?2 – do you think there will there be a lost boys 3 ?3- what happened to the bloodsport 2 Van dam was trying to get of the ground ?Cheers, hope all is good with you fellas – Darren
Hey Darren, 1) Yes, it was called “Never Back Down”. 2) There will probably be a “Lost Boys 3” yeah – if the boys can stay off the juice long enough 3) “Bloodsport 2” didn’t happen because of rights issues.

Clint, how many times have you seen The Dark Knight? – Nick
Once, not nearly nerdy enough huh?