I can feel Kevin Smith's pain.

From Kevin Smith's SILENT BOB SPEAKS blog (http://www.silentbobspeaks.com), here's a primal scream worthy of John Lennon's PLASTIC ONO BAND album--and one I can empathize with:
"For years, cats like cranky ol’ Mr. “GET OFF MY FRIEND HOLLYWOOD’S LAWN!” would write shit that diminished me as a filmmaker because I didn’t fit into their limited definition of what a filmmaker is. I believed that shit for nearly twenty years. But I’m a grownup now – which means I’ve realized that no jackass who doesn’t do what I do for a living can ever tell me I’m bad at my art. That’s some backwards-ass bullshit right there: s’like a priest giving marital advice to newlyweds. If you don’t ever fuck, there’s no way anything you say about fucking is relevant to the discussion. No artist will ever tell another artist “You failed.” There is no failure in art, because art – like beauty – is in the eye of the beholder. No audience is a Borg collective: show 100 people the same movie and they’ll have 100 totally different experiences and reactions, far more diverse and interesting than a thumb pointing this way or that. So when the cranks get to screeching about how I’m doing it all wrong, or badly, or in some way other than I should? I know I’m on the right fucking track. When EW [presuming he refers to ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY] writes you off as a loon, that’s a badge of honor. Why be like everyone else when you can be bold and stand apart? Good or bad, be remembered for doing it your way."

Kevin Smith vs. Amy Taubin (ex-VILLAGE VOICE film critic): when filmmakers and critics fall out of love.

Here's another examination of the grey areas that filmmakers and film critics occasionally dwell in together:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/amy_taubin_responds_to_smith_attack_he_doesnt_want_to_get_into_the_substanc/

Kevin Smith's specific quote:
I always considered film critic Amy Taubin a friend. I was pretty sure she considered me a friend as well, as she called me after the Village Voice let her go, asking if I could help her get a book deal. Over the years, Amy hasn’t always liked the films I made, but at least she never made up horse-shit in her reviews. However, in a Sundance 2011 piece she filed with Film Comment, she lost my respect by being as “careless and heavy-handed” at her job (in print) as she insisted I was at my job (in film) by suggesting nobody would’ve bought Red State.

The above reminds me of when Pauline Kael (the legendary NEW YORKER film critic) turned on Robert Altman after the first half of the 1970s.

At one point, Altman even showed Kael a rough cut of NASHVILLE so the latter could write about it--ensuring Altman would get his way regarding the film's three-hour theatrical running time.

That relationship ended a year later when Kael was underwhelmed by Altman's BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS (an underrated mashup of Western motifs and sharp-edged parody of Show Business).

And here's the blog entry from Kevin Smith mentioning Taubin in the midst of discussing the forthcoming theatrical/VOD distribution of RED STATE: http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=416