Saving cinema

I had a hard time with Calendar choosing to write up critics’ opinions on improving American cinema [“A Summer of Discontent,” July 31]. Better to have gone to three directors of different walks -- some eager for change, others terrified about day jobs -- and asked for ideas about how movies should look now that people stay home and watch HBO rather than hire a sitter. Critics can talk a streak of fabulousness, but they don’t dictate tastes. Only the feature makers can rid us of the boring crud moviegoers are being offered. I believe it’s The Times’ job to ask those who make movies in the real world -- not criticize movies over at your place -- what they can rightly do to improve the climate.

RICHARD LAERMER

Los Angeles

Laermer is the chief executive of RLM Public Relations and the author of “Full Frontal PR.”

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HERE’S a suggestion for movie theater owners: Start being creative. You’ve been the same old same-old for too long. Amusement parks, legitimate theater and professional sports have season tickets available to loyal fans. Why not the movie theater chains? This senior citizen would gladly budget a couple of hundred dollars for a Monday-through-Friday season pass at the cinema. Every day is a weekend if you are legitimately retired. Where’s the discount for a lifetime of loyalty from millions of moviegoers in their beloved years of leisure?

MAX FRALEY

Costa Mesa

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WHAT I’d love to see is our own L.A. Times start a trend: Take the box office grosses out of the Calendar section and put them in the Business section where they belong. I am tired of reading my arts sections and finding out that such-and-such film was force-fed to so many million teenagers this weekend. This hurts the smaller films, the ones people tend to care about and write about and remember.

PAUL QUINN

Los Angeles