Samuel L. Jackson Slams A.O. Scott on Twitter for Negative 'Avengers' Review

11:59 AM PDT 5/3/2012 by Jordan Zakarin

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The actor, who plays S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury in the Marvel film, was angered over the New York Times critic's assessment of the movie; Scott's response sparks a back-and-forth.

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Samuel L. Jackson, who stars as the tough, eye-patched S.H.I.E.L.D. commander in the upcoming Marvel superhero epic, dispatched a tweet that hit hard at New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, who gave the film a poor grade in his review.

"#Avengers fans,NY Times critic AO Scott needs a new job! Let's help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do!" Jackson wrote on Thursday.

Scott, while giving credit to director Joss Whedon for including some snappy dialogue, ultimately concluded in his piece that, "While The Avengers is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting. The light, amusing bits cannot overcome the grinding, hectic emptiness, the bloated cynicism that is less a shortcoming of this particular film than a feature of the genre."

Scott first acknowledged Jackson's anger with a retweet of the star's missive from his own account. He later responded to New Yorker music critic Alex Ross's tweet of support, by writing, "I have to say I feel more flattered than threatened. which may prove the point a different way."

UPDATE: Jackson and Scott have traded words by proxy over Twitter. Jackson responded to Twitter user @TheFilmNest, who said, "Disappointed to hear @SamuelLJackson respond irrationally to negative review of #Avengers. People aren't entitled to their own opinion?" by saying, "That is My Opinion! @TheFilmNest & what's irrational about it? They aren't going to fire his jaundiced ass & You & I Know It!"

In response, Scott said simply, "Jaundiced?" and retweeted words of support from other critics.

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Scott is largely isolated in his negative viewpoint; Avengers has thus far earned a sterling 93 percent fresh rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The film has dominated the foreign box office, earning over $280 million in a week's time, and any negative reviews shouldn't cool its domestic gross, as it's tracking for a $150+ opening weekend.

Ironically, the New York Times just published a lengthy piece on Jackson's career.