Armond White Says Awards Shows Lessen "The Importance Of Criticism"

Well, we suppose it wouldn't be an awards season without Armond White chiming in. Last year, he was the center of minor storm of controversy after he allegedly heckled Steve McQueen during the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony (and while he denied he did anything of the sort, he already had a reputation for being something of a boor during the show in previous years). But in 2014 he crossed the line and was ousted from the group, and the NYFCC also issued an apology to "12 Years A Slave" studio Fox Searchlight. But White is back in 2015 and is now worried about the state of film criticism, because if he can't heckle filmmakers, what has become of the cinematic discourse?

Okay, I'm being a bit cheeky, but White's guest column at The Hollywood Reporter finds him clumsily using his own ejection from the New York Film Critics Circle as a symbol that film criticism is in a perilous state. It's a messy, all-over-the-place argument, but here's some...