Dan Webster of SR's Dually Noted blog responds to friend who criticized his negative review of "Lone Ranger" movie:

Afraid I wasn’t as big a fan as you. My problem is that I see so many of these things that unless it is awesomely original and funny I tend to go “meh.” Which is what I did here. First off, I was never a big fan of the LR in the first place and was curious as to how they were going to update it. My choice would have been to go dark the way Marvel did with “Batman,” minimizing the Western myths and making him a horse-riding masked avenger (a la “The Dark Knight”). Instead, the production team – led, I suppose, by director Gore Verbinski – opted for camp. Not my taste. Second, while I did smile at Johnny Depp’s work, I quickly realized that he was just channeling Captain Jack Sparrow (but now using a dead crow as his meme). And as entertaining as that might be, at times, it’s already been done. In, by my count, at least four other movies (with a fifth forthcoming).. Complete review here.

DFO: Dan admits something that I've wondered about movie critics: They see too many movies. A scene that I may enjoy reminds critics of something they've seen before -- or even several times before. They become jaded, looking for something new and impressive. That's why I read reviews. But don't trust their conclusions. I'm with Dan's friend. I enjoyed the "Lone Ranger" as fun escapism.

Question: Do you take movie reviews as Gospel?