Batman, Marshall Fine, and being a film critic

This morning dealt a harsh blow to Christopher Nolan's already overhyped "The Dark Knight Rises", and one which may prove decisively crippling before the week is out. The floodgates recently opened regarding reviews for the trilogy conclusion, and that paved the way for several positive, even ecstatic, reviews to come rushing in. The excitement, hype, and one can assume general quality of Nolan's film have given it the best reviews of Nolan's career. It's something that I rather hope he deserves, and I would like to preface all this with as many well wishes as I can. Nolan puts undeniable effort into his films, as most who saw the goings on behind "Inception" will attest.

However, there will always be at least one negative review in the mix, and this time it isn't coming from Armond White, but from Marshall Fine of Hollywood and Fine, a site which is currently down, either for maintenance or avoidance of negative outlash. Any review where comparisons are made to "Transformers" is bound to get a certain amount of hostility, but given the overeager excitement that has been ballooning over the past several weeks, Fine got special treatment. Users over at Rotten Tomatoes took to the comment boards with their outrage, as they often do, in defense of the film. Defense, in this case, is wishing that Fine's site be pummeled into the ground, and pushing death threats upon him.