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Your boy Miles Bradley is back in the internet saddle, and he kicks it off with a classically Milesian rant. By which I mean it’s an interesting and well-written piece (reminder, even though the above is a big ol’ link: go and read it) which I may or may not agree with. In this case, not.

“Right, this is a conversation I’d expect to be having with a fifteen year old who’s looking forward to starting Film Studies and has stolen his older brother’s De Niro boxset, not a man (with a massive face) who is paid to write about films and talk about them on TV and that. Mark says that anyone who likes a film he thinks is dumb is actually just confused and believes they like it because they’re so used to bad films. Mark, brah, first lesson of criticism/appreciation (and I feel comfortable telling you this as a totally unqualified kid with a blog! Well, I mean, no qualifications beyond A level Film Studies. AND AN OPEN HEART) - no matter how shitty or brilliant any given piece of art is, someone somewhere will think it’s amazing and someone somewhere will think it’s the worst thing ever and these are both totally valid responses.”

As Miles points out, both ends of an argument are totally valid responses. So let’s celebrate with a good old-fashioned debate/heated exchange/oiled-up bearskin wrestle, shall we?

I like Mark Kermode. This is one of those gut responses we’re discussing here, and for the record I don’t think Miles is Wrong, nor that he’s stupid for holding it (not when there’s so many other reasons at least, hur hur hur). And in part he’s right. Telling someone their opinion isn’t their opinion, actually, if they’d just think about it is snobbery of the highest order, and deeply childish.

But it’s a matter of angles. Kermode does do that, sometimes. He can get so convinced that he is Right that he’ll scream at the texts and emails of listeners to his show, unable to respond. But he’s aware of how it’s all a little ridiculous.

Look at the format of that radio show (and attendant podcast), which I suspect is the format in which people are most familiar with Kermode. He’s placed alongside Simon Mayo for a reason. Mayo plays an everyman character, a fairly pedestrian radio personality, who undermines and needles the ‘Kermode’ character. One of the show’s constant refrains is 'Other opinions are available’. Sometimes his view on stuff is off (see: worship of Inception, lack of fondness for Up) but, as he says in the article Miles pointed to:

“Never trust a critic.

Especially this critic.”

Which is not to say Kermode is being insincere. He’s clearly a very sincere, passionate individual, who given the right soapbox amps up his opinions and personality. But that just seems to be his natural response to cinema. And, for the sake of argument, flip it all round: is it wrong to try and convince someone a film/band/book/song/comic/Kenickie album that they don’t like is actually Good, is worth liking?

I like Kermode because he does that too. He’ll champion films he loves irrationally - and not just 'smart’ films - and he tends to do it in a way that’s articulate and interesting. He rarely falls victim to the confusion between Being Serious and Being Straight-Faced, and generally the better reviews are well-crafted and knowledgeable as well as being funny. The Kermode Rants are one particularly prominent example of that.

And, okay, he’s arguing about an entirely subjective issue, something that can only be 'won’ if the other side concedes to his opinion. Mostly, they don’t. Thank God. The resistance, the push and shove, is what makes it all interesting.

Case in point, the above. I hope.

(P.S. A regular platform for Mr Bradley and myself’s many disagreements would be the greatest. I still want to put a copy of Grant Morrison’s Batman under his nose and kick off that particular fight. But it would always end in a hug. A sweaty, lingering hug. So, if you want to see that, throw some money our way or something?)