On the question of film criticism and what it adds to the experience of watching films.

The best argument for film criticism is not that it helps you understand films you would otherwise not understand — though it sometimes does this. The best argument is that it gives you company in the experience of watching.

Watching a great film alone in the dark is an intensely private experience. The film addresses you directly, as if it knew you. The critic who writes well about the same film is acknowledging that they had a similar experience, that the film's address was real, that what you felt was not private hallucination.

The secondary argument for film criticism is that it sharpens attention. Reading good criticism before or after watching a film changes what you look for and what you notice. Not because the critic tells you the right things to see but because good criticism models a quality of attention that is available to anyone.

The problem with most film criticism — including much digital film criticism — is that it functions as recommendation rather than as engagement. It tells you whether to watch the film rather than being in dialogue with the experience of having watched it. Recommendation has value. It is not the same thing as criticism.