One of the more interesting guests of the film festival this year was controversial film critic Mark Kermode, discussing the subject of his new book, the lamentable state of ‘modern movies’. Despite frequent accusations that Mark is arrogant, smug, and the rest of it, his talk – a rant about a) his loathing for 3D and b) his loathing for the Sex and the City/ Pirates of the Caribbean franchises – hit the nail right on the head.

In his new book, Mark bemoans the decline of what was once such a complex and intelligent industry, now kept afloat by the inordinate successes of the films of Michael Bay, dominated by ‘cinemas’ which have 18 screens and a McDonald's, but no projectionist. The central question is this – what is wrong with modern movies, and who/what is to blame? The blame, inevitably, comes back to the “multiplex-cinema chains who are sucking the very life out of interesting, offbeat ... films by glutting the market with over-produced franchise fare”.  He also asks “in a world in which Sex and the City 2 was a hit, what the hell are film critics for?” Sadly, his conclusion to this is – not very much. As he discusses, whilst producers and directors happily blame critics (normally Kermode) for their various fails and flops, critics in fact have very little sway within the industry. If they did, nobody would ever have gone to see Transformers 2.

In my opinion, the fact of the matter is that multiplexes are accessible and practical – independent cinemas, run by people who genuinely care about the integrity of the film industry, are few and far between. It is therefore the responsibility of film critics to bring lesser known films into the limelight, thus keeping the smaller theatres alive.