The dark side of ratings

We're lucky to be living in a time when commenting on a film will not get one into political trouble, but the quality of film criticism and reviews has room for improvement.

In my capacity of a film critic, I was invited to several events at the end of 2016 - not only because it was a busy season for new releases, but because a furor was started about the nature of film criticism.

Some even said it was the biggest commotion concerning the role of film critics since the end of the "cultural revolution" in 1976. And I didn't know I had played a part in it.