Movies today

I am a happy 78-year-old sociologist and avid moviegoer who sees almost every “good” and “bad” movie (including “explosion movies”) to keep up with pop culture. Recently, I was seduced into seeing the highly touted “The Hours.”

In the first 20 minutes I had to become involved in a depressed woman’s suicide, an unhappy housewife who hated her kid and probably her husband, a lesbian visiting her friend dying of AIDS, and a “cheer-up” conversation with a woman who needed a cancer operation. I made a quick exit from the theater to avoid depression. I also walked out on “Talk to Her” when I found out, again in the first 20 minutes, that the movie involved conversations with women in a coma.

These depressing movies are on all the Top 10 lists. Whatever happened to “Casablanca,” “Indiscreet,” “Intermezzo” -- mystery, love and romance?

Lewis Yablonsky

Santa Monica