I'm not that disturbed by this 'weird' news as you call it, and we're ever more distant from the movie critics. I'm sure you know what massive influence critics had in the 50s, 60s, 70s, a critic could make or break a film in the box office. This is not the not the case today.
VFX heavy stupid films do make millions and billions despite what the critics say. The culture industry has been shaped in a way through a feedback loop that the people do not feel the need to seek excellence in film art, they go seeking cheap entertainment and thats what the get.
Also today, with the spread of internet access, everyone who sees a movie turns into a critic of sort and would impose their worldview onto the film no matter what.
If you arrange a voting on hive, I'm pretty sure people will establish why Citizen Kane is super boring and padding 2 is inherently better.