Armond White is a film critic who has gotten famous by not being a very good film critic. Well, more accurately, he thinks he’s the only very good film critic, and his reviews are almost always the complete opposite of the prevailing consensus. He called Harry Potter “the dullest franchise in the history of franchises.” He called Up a “failure” and The Dark Knight “debased,” but thought Grown Ups was “cheerful and surprisingly heartfelt.” Is he a curmudgeonly troll, or is he the only person in America who sees movies for what they really are? Who knows. However, he may have crossed a line when he bashed this year’s Golden Globe winner for Best Picture and Oscar frontrunner, 12 Years a Slave (he called it “torture porn” and called director Steve McQueen a “garbage man” at another awards ceremony.) Today, the New York Film Critics Circle voted White off the team, which might be just the way White likes it: on his own …
