I do it for the movies

Alert the media! The critics and the audiences don't see eye to eye. Audiences flock to see movies that critics pan! No shit... really?
And why is that?
1. Audiences are stupid. They are not as stupid as the Hollywood studios think they are, which is the acme of imbecility, but they are stupid enough to buy the moronic trash the studios put out.
No critic is going to come out and say it, but it is a fact. Audiences are stupid because they don't read good books and they watch too much TV. Too much TV makes people stupid.
Also, they want to go to the movies to be entertained. They have come to expect movies to be like a rollercoaster ride in an amusement park, no coherent narrative, but a lot of thrills. You can blame Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Lucas for that.
2. Marketing. I believe the reason why Pirates of the Caribbean II is such a hit is a) because the first one was a goof and people enjoyed it, so they want to see more.
b) I don't know if you've noticed but every single corporation in America seems to have a tie-in with merchandising for the movie. It is relentless.
c) Good luck trying to find good movies outside the major urban areas in this country. It is extremely difficult. The movie offerings in suburbia are a wasteland. People don't have much of a choice.

So AO Scott asks in his article, what are critics for?

Critics are irrelevant. They do not affect in any important proportion whether people go to a movie or not. And that shouldn't be their purpose either. Movie critics are people who love movies and they really serve no purpose but to educate people about movies. So people can expect more out of a film. Perhaps a critic will make an individual impression and someone will go out on a limb to see a film that otherwise they would not see. Now that everything is on DVD, critics can guide consumers to check out worthy movies. Hopefully someone out there will discover the joys of a good film. I think is not for the audiences that critics write, but for the sake of the movies themselves.