Movies, far more than the traditional arts, are tied to big money. Without a few independent critics, there's nothing between the public and the advertisers.
Vulgarity is not as destructive to an artist as snobbery.
A mistake in judgment isn't fatal, but too much anxiety about judgment is.
Reality, like God and History, tends to direct people to wherever they want to go.
Sex is the great leveler, taste the great divider.
When a picture can't make it on its own, the producers pull in a 'controversial' message - the way a couple whose marriage is falling apart decide to have a baby.