Ignore most of the reviews

G. H. (Gman): Hehehe, you clearly didn't read the reaction from critics after fans were upset over some of their bad reviews of the Dark Knight and bad-mouth the critics. Not really excusable behavior for Batman fans, but those critics who took issue with the fan reaction can be also be seen as rather thin-skinned.  

As for enjoying movies without regard to critical opinion, be honest, in this day and age with RT being all the rage, is that really all that realistic for most casual moviegoers? Come on. You and me (and those other posters on this site) may beg to differ over the credibility of RT, but the general audience? I'm not sure they can escape from the influence of RT so easily...

Godzillatheking123,
I likely missed it because there weren't many bad reviews for The Dark Knight to pick at. Imagine a movie getting almost universal praise and the select few that aren't on board get blasted. At that point the critics and audience are in agreement against a minority and there's really no reason for Batman fans to get up in arms about something so mild.

"As for enjoying movies without regard to critical opinion, be honest, in this day and age with RT being all the rage, is that really all that realistic for most casual moviegoers?"

Considering the audience score vs. the critic score on RT, you could say yes. But then you would have to put stock in the critical score as well.

Granted, we know RT has the power to effect box office numbers (not always, but industry insiders say otherwise) which is why it's a bad idea. Again, this isn't the fault of critics this is the fault of a website, owned by a conglomerate (Disney) that's always been a very bad idea for both critics and audiences. That's sort of been one of the key points I've been driving at for the last two pages here. I'm not sure where the disconnect is.

But enjoying a movie despite the "tomatometer" is still a choice. And I see/know plenty of casual audience members that go against the grain. Or tomato.