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Well, talent and success are two different things. Our society and the world at large, generally speaking, is very "yang"-oriented......by that I mean, it is dominated by and most easily navigated by a certain kind of personality. Other people who are lacking in the traits our society tends to value, and usually in whom the personality has turned inward to a considerable degree, will of course have a much harder time dealing with the world and possibly be too afraid to act in it, and by virtue of this tendency be less successful. I don't think this equates to the dominant type being more talented. Ease in moving about our world, a certain degree of which is a requisite for career success, and talent in various crafts, are two different things. Particularly in something where imagination and self-development are tantamount, like music, the profoundly inward-turned person possibly could have more "talent".

I guess the conclusion to all this is that both are extremely important if you're pursuing a career as a composer.

To answer your question (which might better be answered by you giving your own opinion), I believe criticism is necessary. Nobody is the best. There are a lot of people who are bad. A ton of people who are good. A fewer number of people who are great, but none of them is the best. Trust me. So, in that regard: take ANYTHING you can to become better. If you disagree, ask yourself WHY you disagree with an opinion. Is it aesthetic? Or are you really just trying to cover up your own ignorance? I've done that before. What I always do when receiving criticism from somebody I am not sure I trust is to ask them for an example. For them to show me what they mean on staff paper or in a recording. If they are offering suggestions, they should be able to offer an example. Then you can go see for yourself if the method they are suggesting is better.

In the past, at least, several composers were what we call self-taught. I'd like to think the same could be done today. But don't mistake that for meaning you can be lazy about it and achieve great results. It's always in your interest to read and learn as much as you can. Probably one of the big benefits to studying with someone or at a school is the contacts you'd make, i.e., people who will actually perform your music. Plus, you'd be in a music-loving environment and ideas would be passed around to which you might not otherwise be exposed.

One by one... so many questions... brrr... I'm not a film composer, but I do work for media, so I probably can offer some serious insight here... 1. It's better to use a sequencer rather than a notation software because they work in different ways. A notation software will primarily produce a score, while a sequencer will produce... sequences (in other words listenable music). The difference is that no matter how hard Finale or Sibelius try they STILL cannot offer the control that a sequencer offers over samples, in which case the result of digitized music coming out from a sequencer (Cubase) is better than that coming out from a notation software (finale). And there really is no argument against that, no matter what people here will say (Tokke will chime in in favor of sibelius)... Cubase and other sequencers cannot produce decent scores and notation software only produce mediocre recordings. So... If you plan on having your music performed live (fat chance, but perhaps you have the means), then by all means use notation. If you end up using samples to produce your final recording then you WILL need to use a sequencer at some point. Perhaps not in the beginning or the actual composing process (because you may be used to composing in notation), but later on you will need to import your stuff in a sequencer to sync and make them... sound good. 2. Film scores are hard to find. For free they are illegal to find, so you won't be getting any replies here. Hal Leonard sells some scores and perhaps there are others who do that, but other than that the orchestral film composers (even the AMAZING Williams) was inspired by the classical composer, who you don't seem to appreciate too much. so studying the classical scores (which may be available in IMSLP, for example for free), would give you plenty of insights on where the film composers got their ideas.