> But then, once everybody caught up to them and realized, hey, this DOES suck*, somehow the prejudice against critics remains.

I forgot to append my footnote to that post.

* I actually liked Independence Day and still do, although not as enthusiastically as when I first saw it. Siskel and Ebert's thumbs down was moderate, however, and a "moderate thumbs down" is probably pretty close to how the movie is considered today. Certainly it does not inspire the loathing that Godzilla and Armageddon do.

Not that reflecting the public's tastes is the job of a movie critic anyway. It's to express his own opinion, reflective of the public's or not, and nothing more.