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I respectfully disagree. Taste, as you would have it, is the furthest thing from subjective.
If one truly desires to determine if a film is "good," one must first evaluate that director's use of film grammar. Take this list of directorial criteria, for example:
* shot selection
* shot design
* dramatic construction
* post-production decision-making ability (editing, music
and sound)
* reveals and entrances
* coverage
* visual specificity
* is s/he capable of building dynamic relationships?
* scene design
* is s/he capable of hitting appropriate acting, narrative
and dramatic beats?
* dramatic blocking for the camera
* framing
* staging
* dramatic movement
And this is just off the top of my head.
The point is, these are the standards by which a film should be judged. Personal likes or dislikes -- biases and subjectivity -- have no business entering into the evaluation process.
In other words, an informed opinion can be seen as the result of study, research and experience: a combination of insight and erudition based on personal experience, which provides both direction and meaning to opinions and eliminates all that stands in the way of interpretation that tends to be arbitrary and intuitive.
Movies such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY are not just meant to "entertain." Film, like all art forms, has been used for a variety of reasons (to hold a mirror to society, for catharsis, to espouse political beliefs, etceteras); mindless commercialism is only its most recent manifestation.
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