If you don’t know who Armond White is, prepare to hate someone more than me. Yeah, I have been accused of being a troll for not liking THE AVENGERS or SERENITY in my UnPopular Opinion columns, but this guy is something else entirely. This is the film critic who is one of the few who robbed TOY STORY 3 from 100% perfection on Rotten Tomatoes. White is the same guy who compared Paul Thomas Anderson to Paul WS Anderson and crowned the RESIDENT EVIL director as the better filmmaker. Yeah, the ultimate troll.
Reading Armond White’s reviews is akin to reading the ramblings of someone who takes film way too seriously and has an inability to just enjoy movies. But, I am not going to spend this article bashing the guy, I will let his Best/Worst of 2012 list speak for itself.
White’s list compares two films, saying one is greater than the other. The comparison of the two is sometimes completely nonsensical. Check out the two highlights.
GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, TAKEN 2 > ZERO DARK THIRTY
Neveldine-Taylor and Olivier Megaton revealed the post-9/11 zeitgeist in genre tropes, while Bigelow reduced the zeitgeist to an enigmatic comic strip, a “mission accomplished” delusion.
A THOUSAND WORDS > ARGO
Brian Robbins and Eddie Murphy dared the most personal Hollywood critique since Clifford Odets’ The Big Knife; Ben Affleck trivialized Hollywood accountability.
See what I mean? He goes on to list what films are better than DJANGO UNCHAINED, AMOUR, LIFE OF PI, LINCOLN, and many more. I tried to pass off his comparisons as juxtaposition to prove a point, but he differs from the vast majority of critics on pretty much every single movie that he reviews. if it is critically acclaimed, he hates it. I am almost thinking that he should take over The UnPopular Opinion from me!
ZERO DARK THIRTY is an excellent movie. ARGO is as well. I am pretty sure TAKEN 2 and GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE are fun diversions, but even in their best moments they pale in comparison to Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck‘s movies. This guy has zero credibility in my book as a movie fan or film critic.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but this is ridiculous.
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