"Film critics and scholars have a tumultuous relationship with a system that is meant to help guide readers but may also encourage some to skip the review entirely," the Wall Street Journal reports in a story on the ubiquitous star system. Boston Phoenix critic Gerald Peary, who is also the director of an upcoming documentary on film criticism, tells the Journal that he's required to hand out stars -- but he doesn't like it. "The apple has been bitten by everybody, and it's a rotten apple," Peary says. But Las Vegas Weekly critic Mike D'Angelo says he likes the system, especially when approaching a film as a fan. "I prefer that critics use some sort of scale, personally, because I don't want to know much about a movie before seeing it," D'Angelo says.
