A reviewer is there to tell you, is the movie worth seeing in theatrical ($12 or more per person), a rental, or not at all? Ebert is a reviewer.
A critic is there to tell you, this movie did something innovative in terms of storytelling, with time, or space, or visuals, and is therefore worth seeing if you have a chance just for the quality of the craftsmanship. Even if its “a dumb action movie” the way Die Hard was in 1988, or “a silly comedy” like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, or “an over-the-top monstrosity” like Ghostbusters, still holding up today.
A critic will tell you, you may or may not like the whole movie, but things in it are worth seeing the movie, for a performance, or uniquely good craftsmanship in storytelling, or something entirely new. Like, say, Memento, or Dark City, or World’s Fastest Indian, or even say, Ghostrider.
Now, was Ghostrider cheezy? Sure. But per White, its worth seeing because Nick Cage plays an off-beat guy, an ADULT, who does an adult’s job, in a weird, loopy way, letting you see how his immortality affects him (he drinks hot coffee right out of the pot), and with a predictably masterful performance by a great Actor, Peter Fonda, as one of the villains. It also has the great Donal Logue in a small but key part.
A reviewer would tell you, don’t waste your money, not enough fun. A critic would tell you, up to you to decide, but if you do here is what is interesting, or well performed, or well photographed, or unique.
In addition, a critic is supposed to EXPLAIN why a film has emotional power over people who see it, or doesn’t. Why say, a film like POSSE retains its emotional power (because the “villain” becomes the hero by becoming human, as the “hero” becomes the villain by losing his humanity and empathy and sense of justice), and a film like Open Range or Wyatt Earp just does not hold up.
So yeah, I’ll go with White. He may be a pompous jerk, but he’s right. Films are uniquely emotionally powerful, people ought to know the tricks and techniques that film-makers use to evoke emotion or not.
