Advertisement

Feedback: Yes, Melissa McCarthy is sexy, plus the Sonny Bono-Lady Gaga connection

Share

She’s sexy, and we all should know it

I really enjoyed Amy Kaufman’s [“Spoofing Happily Ever After,” Jan. 13]. But one person who never gets mentioned in conversations like this is Melissa McCarthy. The work she does in her movies to promote the sexiness of women who aren’t traditionally considered beautiful is wonderfully subversive.

In “Spy” she was seen as sexy by the men in the movie and ends up sleeping with Jason Statham after turning down Jude Law’s dinner invitation. In “Life of the Party,” whether or not it’s a good movie, she sleeps with a very sexy college boy and no one makes a joke about it.

Advertisement

In her films, her age and weight are inconsequential, which is just as it should be.

Mitch Kohn

West Hollywood

Learning some historical truth

During the strike, I hope lots of LAUSD students got to visit MOCA to view Cameron Rowland’s exhibit [“Slave Economy Lingers in ‘D37,’ ” Jan. 16 by Christopher Knight]. The displayed relics hark back to the slavery-based economy that propelled the U.S. to superpower status.

Who knew, as Rowland’s display reveals, that in 1860, the economic value of slaves exceeded the invested value of all the nation’s railroads, factories and banks combined?

Not me. My mid-1950s grade-school teachers told us white kids that states’ rights issues, not slavery, provoked the Civil War. My thanks to Rowland for countering long persistent efforts to whitewash American history.

Rona Dolgin

Los Angeles

Bang the drum, languidly

Any film critic’s Academy Award best picture ballot [“A Critic’s Dream Oscars Ballot,” Jan. 20], that does not include “Roma,” “Green Book,” “Leave No Trace,” “Vice” and “A Quiet Place” is simply not credible. Justin Chang seems to prefer languid, grim, self indulgent fare like “The Rider,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “First Reformed,” and “Hereditary.” Of course, critics must march to their own drummer, and more power to them. However, we, the moviegoing public, rely on them to guide us to good entertainment. Those choices are akin to watching paint drying on a house and, mark my words, will largely walk away with minimal award recognition.

Advertisement

Richard R. McCurdy

Burbank

::

In his Oscar “dream ballot,” film critic Justin Chang wryly requested that readers not barrage him with emails challenging his choices. That witty comment made me smile until I realized there was no easy way for that to happen. The Times writers no longer include their email addresses in their bylines. If readers wish to correspond with a writer, they have to go digging for their email address.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but given that most daily newspapers are struggling to maintain circulation, wouldn’t offering readers the opportunity to engage in feedback be an inducement to subscribe?

David Macaray

Rowland Heights

Editor’s note: Contact information for Los Angeles Times staff writers and critics (including Justin Chang) are listed on their bio pages and with most online stories.

Sonny deserves some credit

That was a well-sourced, if a bit snarky, review, of Lady Gaga’s “Enigma” jazz show in Las Vegas [“Jazz or Pop, it’s the Same Message,” Jan. 22]. One point left out: The song “Bang Bang” was written by a much underrated songwriter — Sonny Bono.

Paul Zimmelman

Marina Del Rey

The conversation continues online with comments and letters from readers at latimes.com/calendarfeedback

Advertisement

calendar.letters@latimes.com

Advertisement