“Dazzlingly inventive, technically breathtaking, Citizen Kane reinvented the way stories could be told in the cinema, and set a standard generations of film-makers have since aspired to.”

- British Film Institute, Critics’ Top 10 Poll, 2002

“Citizen Kane is overated (sic). Also, I think some of the characters in the movie are annoying.”

- howard123, IMDB,  Tue Jun 16 2009

Aah, yes. The internet.

When addressing the question ‘Do film critics really matter?’ it’s impossible to overstate how much of an influence the internet has had on the erosion of the authority of the professional film reviewer.

Once upon a time you needed to read a newspaper, buy a magazine, or watch a weekly review show to get an insight into the latest cinema releases. These days any genius or fool with an opinion and a working internet connection has as equal a playing field as the professionals, to love, rate, assess, hate. The internet’s greatest feature – its lack of censorship – is also its greatest curse; anyone can be a published critic, and for better or worse, a lot of people are.

Film critics still exist in their traditional arenas – in daily news, magazines and on TV – but with falling circulation numbers for all manner of printed press, many renowned reviewers have had to migrate online to maintain or regain their audience, but it’s impossible to say whether their voice is still held in esteem or lost amongst the online chatter.

In print, TV and radio, well-known critics like Roger Ebert, Jonathan Ross and Leonard Maltin became celebrities because of their authoritative critiques of films and trusted tastemaker opinions. Nowadays, filmgoers are more likely to jump onto Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, websites that aggregate a large number press reviews, pull out the best reviewer quotes, and distill all the reviews to a general score. Otherwise they may visit user-generated sites like IMDB or blogs, for a man-on-the-street overview.

So do we still value the opinions of the experts as we used to? Unfortunately for the critics, it’s not looking good, considering the three main rivals they face:

Blogs

As newspapers and magazines downsize their editorial staff, reduce review column inches, and rely increasingly on widespread syndication of the same reviews to large number of publications, film critics are despairing of the state of their profession. Ebert himself declared last year that the death of the film critic “is about the death of an intelligent and curious readership, interested in significant things and able to think critically.”

That may hold true for mainstream media, but blogs still afford a free space for informed opinions, with an interactive element that is missing in print. Popular sites like Cinematical and twogaysandamovie.blogspot.com have developed a cult following based on their insightful reviews and features, which are unrestricted by word counts and uninfluenced by tricky relationships with advertisers and film studios. Meanwhile, self-confessed film geek Harry Knowles’  Ain’t it cool news has developed a huge following for its admittedly less academic news and reviews.

Particularly for niche and non-mainstream films, the flexibility of blogs has given likeminded fans a forum to gather and freely discuss their chosen genre in great detail. Whether it’s Japanese slasher films, Brazilian documentaries, Iranian dramas or Canadian porn, there is always guaranteed to be a pool of online amateur experts who will be able to demonstrate more in-depth knowledge, history, and appreciation for a specific genre than an all-round critic.

Hype, both real and manufactured

Official reviews of the new Transformers sequel have, overall likened the film to a ripe, steaming turd, with the words ‘boring’, ‘overlong’ and ‘idiotic’ popping up consistently.

Scathing reviews aside, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned $16 million from opening night midnight screenings alone, which make it the third biggest film debut ever, behind The Dark Knight and Star Wars: Episode III.

So where do the reviewers’ opinions factor in to the equation for big-budget summer films? Rubbish reviews of the latest zillion dollar CGI-orgy blockbuster often don’t make a dent on box office figures, for a film that people have been convinced they need to see, after its PR machine has put it on their TV screens, in the magazines they read, branded it on the fast food and cereal they eat, and on the novelty toys they buy their kids.

At the other end of the spectrum, surprise small-budget hits like Juno and the current sleeper hit The Hangover rode a slow but steady wave towards commercial success, aided by positive reviews, and spurred on by good old-fashioned word-of-mouth buzz.

Online Viewing

The recent media kerfuffle over the online leak of Wolverine  highlighted the fact that by the time a film has its official cinematic release, it’s more than likely already been online for several weeks, before official press reviews are even published. If you want to know what to expect from a film that’s due for release in a few weeks, a quick search of surfthechannel.com or watch-movies-links.net will not only provide you with an illicit sneak peak, but with a wealth of user reviews and comments.

The ease with which anyone can illegally watch or download new movies before their release date, has film critics, and the film industry in general, on the defensive. It’s a crude convenience that almost always guarantees poor quality sound and vision, but also avoids the risk of a bad cinema experience.  In spite of positive or negative reviews, if you’re not enjoying a film, you can just close the browser window or program. You haven’t had to pay an entrance fee or even leave your house, so it’s no skin off anyone’s nose if a movie isn’t to your taste.

It will be interesting to see what soon-to-be released film For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism can add to the debate – when the director (and critic) Gerald Peary began the film 8 years ago, he had no idea about how the industry would change. His film has unintentionally charted its decline and the film has become an apt elegy for a dying profession.