This is why I used to love Rotten Tomatoes: between the audience score, the critic score, and the top critic score, you get three telling data points about what sort of person us likely to enjoy the movie.
I have read a lot less film criticism since Roger Ebert died though. It seems like recently anything remotely enjoyable on rotten tomatoes gets above 90.
I believe this is because the current state of things on the web advocates for consumption instead of curation, and you can see this trend in every domain not just movies/media. Multi-billion dollar corporations do not want their investments subject to a random person's criticism, and from their perspective that makes perfect sense. It was very prudent and certainly much cheaper to coopt the entire field of media critique: Metacritic is owned by CBSViacom, Rotten Tomatoes is owned by Comcast, IMDB by Amazon. The old-media reviewers can get drowned out by new-media that is beholden to these corporations for access to interviews, swag, early-access, exclusives, etc. The corporations that create the media own the algorithms that tell you if the media is good or not.
The vast majority of the web has devolved similarly. Interested in a widget? If you Google "Widget Reviews" the first page is drowned out by listicles. Google gets the ad money, the listicle website gets the referral money, Amazon gets the retailer's cut plus maybe another Prime membership. There's very little incentive for fair and honest criticism on the web and every incentive for the big players to drown it out.
Most critics are jerks, passing off attitude and masquerading opinion as deep domain knowledge. The comic book guy trope from the Simpsons or Sponge Bob.
Roger Ebert [1] and Gene Siskel [2] were my introduction to analysis and argumentation. Watching two adults getting into a argument and discussing something using some sort of rules-of-engagement fascinated me. That they viewed a piece from so many angles, criticism is a skill and an art. Opinion shouldn't occupy more than 10% of result. ;)
I didn't understand the depth of that personal and professional relationship until I saw an interview with Ebert, where he teared up at the loss of his friend Gene. [3]
Long gone now but the trio of Howard Cosells, Don Meredith and Frank Gifford enamored me similarly as a young boy, and for similar reasons to the point of today I still find sports commentary far more enthralling than the game itself.
My favorite duo today, while a biased favorite as a local are Len Casper and Jim DeShaies who are the home announcers of the Chicago Cubs. They bring a spirit and joviality influenced by deep reverence for the game of baseball that I don’t think can be touched by any other broadcasting duo in the league (this is relegated to television broadcast announcers, there are too many to name in radio I think).
Every time a Cubs hitter knocks one out onto Waveland, and Len lets out an “oh BABY that ball is GONE” I like to imagine the late legendary Haray Caray is looking down on the booth smiling upon this generation of Cubs color commentator.
Growing up in Philly, we had the golden voice of Harry Kalas and his booth partner, Ritchie Ashburn. They made it feel like you were watching the game with your favorite uncles.
They’re both gone now, and the new TV crew is ok, but their radio announcers, Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen are great. They’re funny, have a deep knowledge of the game, and they know when to let the game breath a little. Baseball and radio are such a great combination, when done well.
I have been wanting to join http://blog.scarecrow.com/ for awhile now, it is a Seattle based video rental place with lots of rare movies and videos. Years ago we rented 2001 on laserdisc and a laserdisc player. Not quite as cool as running a film projector but still a fun experience.
If it wasn't clear in my first paragraph, Siskel and Ebert were definitely in a class of their own in the professionalism and thoroughness they brought to film criticism.
In Australia we have david stratton and margaret pomeranz,
They are no longer as active, but they are always so fun to listen to because they are so passionate about film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU5I7pKLy44&t=2m20s
I have read a lot less film criticism since Roger Ebert died though. It seems like recently anything remotely enjoyable on rotten tomatoes gets above 90.